Summer Holidays
As we approach the school summer holidays the Cathedral is buzzing at present with the various University Graduations. These continue next week with John Moores University registration and gowning, throughout the Crypt.
We will then host the Hope University Graduations the following week in the Cathedral itself. It is great to see so many people around the Cathedral in celebratory mood especially as most of the students will have had to cope with studying for their degrees in the midst of Covid and all the challenges that meant for lectures and tuition. It is normally par for the course that whenever these celebratory weeks are about to start the construction wagons arrive and some part of Hope Street or Mount Pleasant is dug up affecting vehicular and pedestrian access. I’m not sure if that is termed ‘Murphy’s Law’ or not but this year it has made access to the Cathedral Car Park particularly challenging.
Our Cathedral Choirs will be finishing this weekend for the summer with most of the schools ending their term on 15th July. Perhaps this is a good time to say a big thank you to our choirs, our servers, sacristans, stewards, guides and all who have served the Cathedral throughout this year. It has been a challenging time emerging from the restrictions of these last two years and it has been remarkable how everyone has co-operated in enabling the Cathedral to return to a regular routine of worship and activities. Many thanks for all the hard work and commitment and enjoy any holiday breaks that you may have over the next few weeks.
At the end of August Fr Stephen will be moving on to become Parish Priest of Blessed Sacrament parish in Aintree. There will be a few farewell occasions and opportunities for us to wish him well in the nearer to his departure. We will be welcoming a replacement Assistant Priest in his place. Fr Derek Lloyd who was ordained on Friday will be joining us at the Cathedral from the beginning of September. After a period of ministry as an Anglican priest, Derek became a Catholic and went on to train for the priesthood at Oscott College in Birmingham. He has served in the Widnes Deanery on pastoral placement and as a deacon. We look forward to welcoming him to the Cathedral after the holidays.
Next Sunday Bishop Tom Neylon will ordain two men as Deacons at a service at the Cathedral at 3pm. They are Pearse Patrick McDonagh and Daniel Piwowar. Please pray for them and for Michael Harwood who will be ordained a priest next Friday at St Peter and Paul Crosby.
Canon Anthony O’Brien
Cathedral Dean
