Weekly Record

25 January 2009

It was only a year ago that I commented negatively on the amount of euros and dollars that were appearing in the donation boxes in the Cathedral as a result of increasing numbers of overseas visitors – remarking that ‘if we had a pound for every dollar or euro we would be much better off’! I take it all back – how the tables have turned. Now the request should be donations in any currency except sterling.

This Sunday, 25th January, is the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul. Although the Sunday liturgy takes precedence over the feast, as this is the year dedicated to St Paul, the readings and prayers for the Sunday Evening Mass will be for the feast as permissible for this year. Evening Prayer this Sunday will be a joint service at The Anglican Cathedral to conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity involving choirs and clergy from both Cathedrals. You are most welcome to attend this service at 3pm – we always receive a very warm welcome from our sister Cathedral at what is one of the special services in our yearly calendar.

Mention of the calendar of services makes me more aware of the growing mountain of correspondence resulting from the vast list of invites sent out for the Civic Mass in February. As well as those indicating whether they can come or not, there are the more embarrassing responses indicating changes of personnel etc. What I find slightly amusing regarding some of the civic changes that are out of date is that we base our information on the civic list from the Town Hall.

The Cathedral Friends Committee meet on Tuesday evening to plan events for the first half of 2009. After a number of successful talks last year it will be interesting to hear what ideas they have got up their sleeve for this year. One of the projects that they have sponsored is the purchase of planters which will add a splash of colour and class to the area outside of the entrance to the car park, which has been a bit of an eyesore for years. These will appear once the flagging is complete and the weather improves.

We hope to return to having our daily 12.15pm Mass in the Crypt from the beginning of February. The exceptions to this will be on the days when there is a funeral. We would also want to return to the tradition of keeping the anniversaries of the former Archbishops of Liverpool who are buried here. For those who are buried in the Crypt (all except Archbishop Worlock) after 12.15pm Mass in the Crypt Chapel a few brief prayers will be said at the tomb in the Pontifical Hall. Next Wednesday is the anniversary of Archbishop Whiteside (1894-1921) described by one politician of the time as ‘the mildest man who ever slit a throat’. However, we have a funeral Mass in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel that day so we will have to begin this with Archbishop Worlock’s Anniversary on 8th February which this year falls on a Sunday and brief prayers will be said at his tomb following Evening Prayer.

Finally, this week a group of staff and parishioners met in the Gibberd room for their first dancing / keep fit session. I’m not sure what Bruno, Len or Arlene would have made of it all but by the time it finished everyone had been put through their paces even if they weren’t quite the right ones. If everyone keeps it up I predict the staff will be gliding around the building with the occasional shimmy thrown in for good measure by the time the Summer comes.

Canon Anthony O'Brien
Cathedral Dean