Weekly Record

25 October 2009

‘Rome parks its tanks on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s lawn’. That was one of the headlines in The Times this week as an Apostolic Constitution was announced following meetings over the last 12 months between a number of traditionalist Anglican Bishops and the Vatican. The agreement will allow clerical and lay Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their Anglican liturgy and identity. It is a major new development and very different from past solutions. Quite what this will entail other than acceptance of certain key aspects of faith such as the Real Presence and the Primacy of the Petrine office and the repercussions of this in terms of our relationship with the Church of England remain to be seen. Perhaps one thing is for sure that the various ‘flying bishops’ who are involved will be brought back down to earth pretty quickly having to deal with this, negotiating with various Commissions and coping with mixed reactions from members of both traditions.

We have had a request this week from the Sony Corporation asking if they could record a DVD of ‘The Priests’ singing songs and arias from their new album in our Cathedral. After some skilful negotiations on the fee I heard Claire saying to them that her mum ‘didn’t like their first album because there was too much German on it’ (was there?) so she was assured that the second album is mainly in English with a dash of Italian including classics ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ and ‘Abide with Me’.  Anyway, they would like to have an exclusive audience for the recording so if you would like to hear them live in our Cathedral on Tuesday 10th November from 7-9pm approximately (the time may vary slightly) you can apply for tickets from Cathedral Office. They are free, but its first come first served.  It was suggested that one or two of the Cathedral priests could be available just in case any of them are unable to sing on the night but I wouldn’t wish that on any of you.

The principle events this week take place at the weekend. Next Saturday is the Annual Day of Marian Devotions at the Cathedral arranged by the Association of Mount Carmel. This had been arranged earlier in the year but had to be re-scheduled to October due to a clash with other similar events taking place at the same time.  On the final day of October – the month of the Rosary – we gather at 11.00am for the recitation of the Rosary and a period of veneration of the Blessed Sacrament. After a break for lunch there will be Mass from 2.00pm followed later by Benediction and enrolment in the Brown Scapular. You are welcome to come for all or part of the day.

Next Sunday is the Feast of All Saints and the following Sundays of November include Remembrance Sunday on 8th, Prayer for Deceased Benefactors and Pious List (with the visit of the Latin Patriarch) on 15th and Feast of Christ the King on 22nd and then Advent begins. For those of you who would want to have deceased loved ones prayed for at Masses in November and included in the Pious List could you please write the names on paper and place them in an envelope marked Pious List and pass them in to the Cathedral. 

Canon Anthony O’Brien
Dean of the Cathedral