Weekly Record 4 - 5 February 2012
03 Feb, 2012
IT'S ALL WINE, BEER AND BISHOPS
February is normally considered to be the low point of the year, with winter still in full swing, little daylight or sunshine, and little to look forward to or celebrate. This is not quite the case for us this year. We have a ‘bevy’ of occasions to celebrate before the onslaught of Lent at the end of the month. Not so much wine, women and song but rather wine, beer and bishops. The wine reference relates to the Wine Society’s next tasting event which takes place in the Crypt on Thursday, then the set up for the Beer Festival gets into full swing, with our own Cathedral preview night on Tuesday 14 February and then on 19 February we celebrate Archbishop Kelly’s Golden Jubilee at which there will be a sufficiency of bishops.
Archbishop Kelly will preside at Solemn Mass this Sunday and he has invited the male and female religious who work within our Diocese to join him for Evening Prayer. It is not easy for all to be there on a Sunday afternoon but it provides a good opportunity to say thanks for all that they do throughout the diocese to support the work of the Church. Sadly the numbers of religious in the diocese has declined steeply over recent years and with recent announcements regarding Benedictine and Salesian run parishes it looks set to decline even further.
Wednesday is the Anniversary of the death of Archbishop Worlock and Archbishop Kelly will celebrate the 5.15pm Mass that day and conclude with prayers at his tomb in the chapel of St Joseph in the Cathedral. Next Saturday 11 February is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes – a special day of prayer for the sick. It is also the first anniversary of Deacon Don Campion’s death this week and the 10.00am Mass in the Crypt next Sunday will be offered for him. May they both rest in peace.
Last Wednesday I received a phone call from a Global Delivery firm saying that they had a delivery for the Cathedral from Rome. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it could be and then later that day a huge lorry turned up and unloaded a palette with a full crate of boxes by fork lift truck and left it in the car park. It was full of a few thousand copies of St Mark’s Gospel in eight different European languages. When I was at the meeting in Rome a couple of weeks ago we were given an individual copy of this booklet which I thought was a personal gift. If my Italian had been better I would have realised that this was a sample of what the 12 European cathedrals represented, would receive, to distribute to their people at the start of Lent as a symbol of solidarity with one another and as a resource for prayer and reflection during our journey to Easter this year as part of this initiative entitled ‘Missio Metropolis’.
The theme that is chosen for our diocesan mission during Lent is ‘Journey and Conversations’. I think we relate much easier to the notion of conversation, when we think of our faith, than a word such as evangelisation. Conversation in its fullest sense involves listening, sharing experiences, influencing one another and reflecting and praying about things. Conversation can lead us to faith and it can also encourage and challenge us to deepen our faith.
As Lent fast approaches we pray that it will be a season when we enter into deeper conversation with Our Lord and with one another - experiencing a renewal of faith ourselves and drawing others to journey with us.
Canon Anthony O'Brien Cathedral Dean