Cathedral and the Future

The quake of June 13th saw the final collapse of the Rose Window. This as we all might expect drew a strong emotional response not only from ourselves but also from the wider city community. It was as Bishop Victoria put it in The Press the loss of ‘the icon within the icon”. There has been further structural damage to the building of course and at the time of writing no one is allowed into the the Cathedral. The Project Control Group is planning the best way of removing the precious items we need to recover from inside. 

In the meantime we are moving to take away the bells and the Risen Christ sculpture by Terry Stringer, all of which are outside, and to put them into safe keeping. We are arranging safe and secure storage for everything from
the cathedral including stonework, while we go through the process of determining the future rebuild. Thank you to all those who came to the first forum of Regulars to look forward into the future. The questions revolve around what do we think that the future ministry of the Cathedral is or should be. Despite the grief we all share for the loss, it is an exciting time to think as laterally as we can for the future, not only of the cathedral and our ministry and role in the life of the city and diocese, but also the future city itself as a strong, healthy and resilient collection of communities based on values which enhance human life and dignity in accord with our Christ-centred gospel. As many of you know, we are exploring some options in the short term to re establish our presence in the central city. This too is exciting and we hope to be able to be part of instilling hope and confidence in our future. In this time of uncertainty and
disquiet for so many, we the Church are called to reach out to our neighbours to love and support, and to rise up with renewed hope and determination. We can only do this by rooting ourselves in prayer, taking time to pause and to
be open to the grace of God in the midst of the hardship of our times. Dear friends, let us pray for one another and for the people of our city and diocese.