Cathedral Record 1 - 7 January 2012
07 Jan, 2012
A BRIEF LOOK AHEAD TO 2012
A new year begins and this weekend we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany with the Baptism of the Lord transferred to Monday this week, then we return back to Ordinary Time. The Girls’ section of our Choir and helpers and myself will be in Cologne as you read this for the celebration of the Epiphany and the 60th anniversary of the twinning of our two Cities in the aftermath of the Second World War. I am really looking forward to visiting Cologne Cathedral for the first time and especially being there for the Epiphany.
Cologne Cathedral has a shrine to the Magi dating back to the 11th century and they have special celebrations on 6 January so it will be a privilege for us all to participate in this. Apart from the Cathedral, Cologne is known for its beer, food and cultural life but I doubt if I will get to sample much of these on such a short visit – worse luck !
This week we welcome our new Director of Music to the Staff of the Cathedral, Christopher McElroy, who has taken up his new post here. Chris was Assistant Director of the choral Outreach programme in Leeds, based at Leeds Cathedral but providing a comprehensive choral training programme for many schools and parish groups throughout their Diocese. He was an organ scholar here some years ago, and knows our Cathedral very well so we hope he settles in quickly and has a long and fruitful time here.
Looking ahead to some of the special events here for 2012, I give you just a sprinkling !
- Next month we celebrate Archbishop Kelly’s Golden Jubilee of priesthood in conjunction with the Annual Civic Mass at 3.00pm on Sunday, 19 February – when most of the Bishops of England and Wales will be here for this along with a sprinkling of Cardinals and other eminent guests.
- The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee occurs in the first week of June.
- The Church leaders on Merseyside have decided to anticipate these celebrations and the Pentecost 'Two Cathedrals' Service' and Hope Street procession will take the form this year of a thanksgiving and celebration on the occasion of the Jubilee.
- Pope Benedict has called for a Synod of Bishops in Rome towards the end of the year on the theme of ‘Evangelisation’. One of the major concerns of the Holy Father leading up to this Synod has been the growing secularisation and poor practice of the faith throughout Europe. Twelve European Archdiocese and Cathedrals have been chosen for a pilot scheme in Lent to reflect and pray about the situation and explore possible ways of re-kindling the faith in those who have fallen away. We are one of those chosen and I will be attending a meeting this week to find out what is expected of us during Lent this year. It’s going to be a busy time.....
One of the presents that made me laugh this Christmas was the gift of a small bible. When you opened it the middle was hollowed out with a hip flask inside and a message which read; ‘For those times when the church is cold and the sermon is droning on !’ What really made me smile is that I’m not sure that it is the priest who is supposed to need the drink but the suffering congregation.
Canon Anthony O’Brien Dean