Weekly Record

21 June 2009

The Queens Birthday Honours List was published last week and all that we get to hear of from the roll of honour are the known celebrities and sports stars. Unreported and unnoticed amongst the list was that of Professor Peter Toyne who received a CBE. He was for many years Vice Chancellor of John Moores University and before that ‘chief honcho’ of Liverpool Polytechnic steering them through the transition from College to University status. Not least amongst his various commitments was his support of both Cathedrals, being a regular worshipper at Liverpool Cathedral and a great supporter of Cathedral Music. During his period as Chair of the Friends of Cathedral Music he presented us with the gift of specially commissioned furniture for the choir room on the sacristy corridor funded by their Friends Association. The honour is well deserved and we offer him our congratulations. He has retired down to London but has taken a little piece of Liverpool with him, having a lamb banana on his patio. I’m not sure what his southern neighbours think of that now that it has the royal seal of approval.

This Sunday nine children from the Cathedral parish receive their First Holy Communion at 10 am Mass in the Crypt. Congratulations to them and their families and grateful thanks to Fr Michael, teachers from the school and catechists from the parish who helped to prepare them. May we all play our part in encouraging our young children to grow in faith.

This coming week is a busy week in the Cathedral. The Union of Catholic Mothers hold their Annual Mass in the Cathedral on Wednesday evening at 8pm. There are normally two collections at this mass, one for the Mothers association and the other for the Cathedral. Last year our stewards, who were all men that night, took the collection for the Mothers Union and representatives of the Mothers took the collection for the Cathedral. I’m not sure if it was planned that way or it just happened by accident. Anyway I’m hoping that our stewards will receive UCM badges and will be made honorary members this year for doing this.

On Saturday the Diocese of Shrewsbury are having their Diocesan Mass at our Cathedral. They are gathering as a Diocese to mark the end of the Year of St Paul. Bishop Brian Noble will preside at the mass which begins at 12 noon. Our Cathedral is considerably larger than their own and is closer to the Northern section of their Diocese. Despite its proximity the Diocese of Shrewsbury comes within the Metropolitan See of Birmingham and so their Coat of Arms are not part of the two banners in the Cathedral which contain the Coats of Arms of the Northern Province. It will be interesting to see how another Diocese does things!

This week there are a number of Feastdays - Sts John Fisher and Thomas More on Monday, St John the Baptist on Wednesday and next Sunday the Feast of St Peter and Paul. Next Sunday afternoon Bishop Tom will preside at Evening Prayer during which teenagers from the Old Swan Pastoral Area will be confirmed.

Canon Anthony O'Brien
Cathedral Dean