Welcome Bishop Neylon
This Sunday we welcome Bishop Thomas Neylon, our new Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese who will preside at the 11am mass in the Cathedral. Bishop Neylon was ordained by Pope John Paul 2 in 1982 at Heaton Park, Manchester, as a priest for this Diocese and will celebrate forty years of priesthood next year. He has served in parishes in Pemberton, Skelmersdale, St Helens and Widnes and has had a great deal of parish pastoral experience. We served together as priests for a few years in Skelmersdale Team Ministry and shared some happy times working in what was then a group of seven parish areas. We were younger then and able to dash around passing one another negotiating the endless roundabouts of the new town. As our new bishop he will hopefully be presiding at some of the special occasions that take place here during the course of the year.
We heard the sad news that Dr Meg Whittle, the former Diocesan Archivist had died. Meg took on the role of archivist following the closure of Upholland College as a Seminary conserving and recording the artefacts and history of the seminary and diocese. The Diocesan Archive has been located here at the Cathedral for many years and Meg was responsible for setting all this up and worked here at the Cathedral for many years, even coming back to help in retirement. Her funeral mass will be held next Friday in her home parish in Penwortham.
There is a joint Cathedrals Service this Sunday afternoon at 3pm to ‘Commemorate the Key Workers’ at Liverpool Cathedral. It is an opportunity to remember in prayer those who died of Covid and give thanks for the sacrifices and service that of so many within our communities.
From this Monday we will revert to having the daily morning mass from Monday to Friday at 8am with Morning Prayer at 7.45am. The other daily masses times remain unaltered – but the earlier start for the first mass of the day will enable some on their way to work to have the opportunity to attend daily mass.
Canon Anthony O’Brien
Cathedral Dean
A PRAYER FOR OUR EARTH
All powerful God,
you are present in the universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with your peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty,
not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognise that we are profoundly united
with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle,
for justice, love and peace.
