Weekly Record

6th April 2008

Good news this week. We have now passed the halfway mark in our target of fund-raising for the Lutyens Crypt Project having passed the £100,000 milestone. This is a fantastic achievement in such a short space of time, and it is a result of a great deal of hard work and your generosity. The various fund-raising activities continue with a ‘Car Boot’ sale on 12th April. There are still many people outside of the Cathedral community who are not aware of the work taking place at present and who may be interested in having an etching on the glass corridor, or brass plaque on a step in memory of a loved one. We still need to be disseminating information regarding this. The more of you who can pass the word around the better. There is a deadline of the end of May for the glass etchings and we still need to encourage as many people as possible to support us.

The Historic Churches Committee visited the Cathedral to consider the application to remove the permanent altar and re-order the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Architects plans for this are on display in the East Apse to one side of the Chapel. The Committees’ views were generally supportive. The only real point of disagreement was over the type of rail to have on the higher level of the sanctuary floor once the altar and screen in front are removed. It was considered that this would be best in clear glass rather than wood. I think that this suggestion would be an improvement on our proposals. The process following their visit is that they report back to a larger Committee and if approval is given, perhaps with certain conditions, we will then receive a faculty to proceed within a certain time scale.

The construction work around the building has picked up speed following the Easter holiday period. There may be more noise created within the Cathedral outside of the Mass times as the men have now broken through the outer wall of the East Apse to create the entrance corridor to the lift and stairs accessing the Crypt. This work will probably continue right through to June. It is hoped that the Crypt Chapel will be able to be used during the weekdays by the end of this month so at least there will be an opportunity for private prayer around the time of the midday Mass when this occurs.

Archbishop Kelly will be presiding at the Solemn Mass this Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter. On Friday 11th April a well known choral group- The Sixteen – will be in concert in the Cathedral at 7.30pm. They will be performing music from Tudor England. On Saturday afternoon Bishop Rawsthorne will be celebrating Mass in the Crypt Chapel at 2.30pm in memory of Bishop Anthony Hitchen.

At this time of Easter please remember to pray for our young children and their families who are preparing for their first holy communion and also to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Canon Anthony O’Brien Cathedral Dean

Canon Anthony O'Brien
Cathedral Dean