Weekly Record

14th October 2007

On Saturday we celebrated the feast of St Edward the Confessor – 11th Century King of England, founder of Westminster Abbey, who was renowned for his charity and faith. Therefore this Sunday we welcome all the staff, parents and pupils of St Edward’s College who join us for Solemn Mass at 11.00am to celebrate their patronal feast.

Following on from that at 3.00pm the annual ‘Pause for Hope’ Service will take place. It is a time for those who suffer or have suffered from cancer, their families and those who care for cancer patients to gather in prayer and support of one another. What is always noticeable about this service is that it is always uplifting and full of hope proving that love can overcome all things.

October seems to be a month for courses and meetings. Last week Fr Ian and myself attended a clergy in – service training week. One of the activities we had to do was to draw a picture of how we saw our parish and our role in it. Drawing was never one of my strong points so it was bad enough coping with this exercise, but even worse to discover that you had to explain it to the rest of the group and they also were to comment on it! I’m not sure it taught me much about leadership but it certainly did about humility. The worst was the fact that the course leaders put them all on the walls and we had to look at them all week! Not quite the Tate Gallery.

I’m sure the Cathedral Deans Conference next week will be a much different affair- we will be too busy talking to have time to draw. This year it is held in Yorkshire and it will be an opportunity to see how Leeds, Middlesborough and Hallam Dioceses run their Cathedrals and to hear of new initiatives and good practice. Leeds Cathedral has been recently re-furbished so it will be particularly interesting to see how this has been done. The upside / downside of all this is that all these cooked breakfasts and evening meals are great but they don’t do much to help to keep you in trim. Now there’s a good theme for a clergy course!

The main activities this week in the Cathedral are education visits and blood donor sessions so as it is quiet I hope the majority of the staff have a chance to catch up on things in time for half term and the run up to November, Advent and Christmas. Next Saturday afternoon the Royal School of Church Music (Northern Cathedral Singers) are visiting the Cathedral and singing Evening Prayer at 5.00pm. Timothy Noon, our Director of Music, will be conducting the choir. Perhaps it is worth pointing out that some of the most beautiful weekly services in the Cathedral are the Choral Evening Prayer services and yet they are the least attended. At the end of the working day or on a Sunday afternoon it is a real opportunity for peaceful praise reflecting on the psalms sung by the choir - experiencing something of the transcendence and glory of God.

Canon Anthony O’Brien
Cathedral Dean