Cathedral Record

by Dr Christopher McElroy Director of Music, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Picture: www.nickfairhurstphotographer.com Singing is an action that brings groups of people together, but also something we can each do individually. Singing has a special place in our Christian liturgical tradition. When Jesus was born, the angels on the hillside sang ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’ The Gospels tell us that Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn together after the Last Supper. Singing is something that brings joy to many, young and old alike. During the Christmas season, people gather together to sing carols in churches, homes and village squares. As one scholar describes it: ‘the Christian Church was born in song.’ Throughout the last two millennia of Christianity, music and singing have played an important part in worship. At the root of all liturgical music is the human voice: our God-given instrument. We are each, by virtue of our baptism, called to join in the joint human/heavenly choir through the summons which the priest intones each week ‘... with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominions, and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of your glory.’ For children, singing plays a particularly important role not only in their development, but in their religious, social and musical education. How many of us remember words to a song or hymn we learnt as a child? Having spent 10 years here now at the Metropolitan Cathedral as Director of Music, I have increasingly turned my mind to what I might be able to do to help improve opportunities and training in liturgical singing across the archdiocese. Having spent the last few years speaking with people from all parts of the archdiocese, identifying areas of need, seeking funding and drafting ideas, I am delighted that in early 2022 we will be launching our new Archdiocese of Liverpool Schools’ Singing Programme. This programme will see musicians from the Cathedral and archdiocese engaging with schools to further a lifelong love of singing in our children. Music, singing and the arts generally are a unique pathway through which we can engage and catechise our young people, drawing them into the Church's rich tapestry of music, exposing them to the beauty, goodness and truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Catholic faith in order to prepare and transform them for their future role in society. We have recently recruited our first staff members who will be leading singing in schools across the archdiocese as part of our new programme, so 2022 promises to be a very exciting year. Watch this space for further updates!

Canon Anthony O’Brien –Cathedral Dean

Following the Feasts of the Epiphany on Thursday 6th and the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday 9th January the early part of the month here is a quiet time of the year with exams taking place in the Crypt Halls.

Hope University hold their Winter Graduation Ceremony on 20th January. As part of the ceremony this year the University will be conferring an honorary degree to Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald. Cardinal Michael, now retired and part of the community of the Missionaries of Africa ministering in the parish of St Vincents, has spent many years working for dialogue with other religions and has served as Papal Nuncio to Egypt and Head of the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue. Cardinal Michael will also be giving a public lecture at Hope University on 17th February at 5.30 pm on ‘Human Fraternity’.

At the final Sunday of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity there will be a joint Choral Evening Prayer held at our Cathedral at 3.00 pm. I am hoping that Bishop Paul Bayes might be available to give the homily at this service which will be one of the final commitments that he will have as Bishop of Liverpool before he retires in February.

We welcome the Catholic and Anglican Bishops of England and Wales on 1st February as they come together for a short conference in Liverpool. They will be visiting both Cathedrals and having a short service in both of them led by the Cathedral Deans. We decided that the best way to show local cooperation and our close links was for us to give them a sandwich for lunch and for Liverpool Cathedral to give them cake when they get there. That’s real unity in practice!