Having just read the re-vamped monthly ‘Cathedral Life’ the magazine of Liverpool Cathedral with its colour photos and stained glass design front cover I must congratulate the editor and team on such a professional job. In comparison our black and white, single sheet, weekly is not of the same order but in defence if you read our newsletter in the Cathedral and the sun is shining the paper will appear to be in full colour and producing a regular weekly presents us with a very different set of challenges. Such as what do we write about this week and what is going on etc. But maybe a reminder to our readers that if they want to include something in our newsletter as long as we receive it in good time and is not innapropriate ( in terms of length, content, bad jokes etc) we would be only to happy to include it.
There are three evening talks this week. The Tuesday evening Lenten sessions on St Marks Passion led by Fr Andrew continue – a large crowd crammed into the Gibberd Room last week. It was great to see such a level of interest and hope that everyone is able to continue coming throughout Lent. The Friends of the Cathedral have invited Dean Justin Welby from Liverpool Cathedral to give a light hearted talk on his first year as Dean and living in Liverpool. This is on Wednesday evening at 6.30pm and I’ve no doubt it will be entertaining and thought provoking. The Rodney Street Association are holding their annual General meeting in the Gibberd Room on Thursday evening and I was asked if I would give a talk after the official business was concluded. It was only when I saw the notification letter that I discovered I was to talk on ‘How everyone should aim to work together to improve upon the legacy of our forebears and to thereby better promote the relevance and the significance of the locality’. Once I have read out the title of the talk I will probably only have time left to say ‘I agree’.
The Chapter of Canons meet on Thursday morning and 12.15pm Mass that day will be in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel so that the Canons can honour their liturgical function of praying periodically in the Cathedral for the Archdiocese. Archbishop Kelly will join us next Sunday and celebrate Solemn Mass for the third Sunday of Lent.
Despite being in Lent a significant amount of time in the Cathedral Office is being spent preparing for two grand occasions that are taking place in the next couple of months. Archbishop Kelly’s Silver Jubilee of Episcopal Ordination on 3rd April and a Grand Formal Dinner to mark the completion of the work on the Lutyens Crypt on 1st May. The Grand Dinner is to showcase the renewed facilities within the Crypt and to welcome a member of the Royal Household and the Right Honourable Andrew Burnham (Minister for Culture Media and Sport) to formally re-open the facilities. It is important that a wider audience are made aware of the potential and facilities within the Crypt for high profile events. The Cathedral badly needs an increase in income from these facilities to cover deficits in running costs. There will be a number of other visits and celebratory events in the Crypt over the next few months providing other opportunities for viewings – the Cathedral Friends managed to get in first with a tour and drinks reception in the Pontifical Hall after Choral Evening Prayer on 5th April.
I heard last week that the busiest day of the year for Marks and Spencers is Good Friday – how sad is that in a country that professes to be Christian!
Having just read the re-vamped monthly ‘Cathedral Life’ the magazine of Liverpool Cathedral with its colour photos and stained glass design front cover I must congratulate the editor and team on such a professional job. In comparison our black and white, single sheet, weekly is not of the same order but in defence if you read our newsletter in the Cathedral and the sun is shining the paper will appear to be in full colour and producing a regular weekly presents us with a very different set of challenges. Such as what do we write about this week and what is going on etc. But maybe a reminder to our readers that if they want to include something in our newsletter as long as we receive it in good time and is not innapropriate ( in terms of length, content, bad jokes etc) we would be only to happy to include it.
Despite being in Lent a significant amount of time in the Cathedral Office is being spent preparing for two grand occasions that are taking place in the next couple of months. Archbishop Kelly’s Silver Jubilee of Episcopal Ordination on 3rd April and a Grand Formal Dinner to mark the completion of the work on the Lutyens Crypt on 1st May. The Grand Dinner is to showcase the renewed facilities within the Crypt and to welcome a member of the Royal Household and the Right Honourable Andrew Burnham (Minister for Culture Media and Sport) to formally re-open the facilities. It is important that a wider audience are made aware of the potential and facilities within the Crypt for high profile events. The Cathedral badly needs an increase in income from these facilities to cover deficits in running costs. There will be a number of other visits and celebratory events in the Crypt over the next few months providing other opportunities for viewings – the Cathedral Friends managed to get in first with a tour and drinks reception in the Pontifical Hall after Choral Evening Prayer on 5th April.