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A Liturgical Plan for Coventry Cathedral Appendices

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A Liturgical Plan for Coventry Cathedral Appendices A LITURGICAL PLAN FOR COVENTRY CATHEDRAL APPENDICES Approved by Chapter, February 27th 2018 1 APPENDIX 1: Canon Law B 10 Of Morning and Evening Prayer in cathedral churches: In every cathedral church the Common Prayer shall be said or sung, distinctly, reverently, and in an audible voice, every morning and evening, and the Litany on the appointed days, the officiating ministers and others of the clergy present in choir being duly habited. B 13 Of Holy Communion in cathedral churches: 1. In every cathedral church the Holy Communion shall be celebrated at least on all Sundays and other Feast Days, on Ash Wednesday, and on other days as often as may be convenient, according to the statutes and customs of each church. It shall be celebrated distinctly, reverently, and in an audible voice. 2. In every cathedral church the dean or provost, the canons residentiary, and the other ministers of the church, being in holy orders, shall all receive the Holy Communion every Sunday at the least, except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary. Canon law also has a perspective on how worship is to be conducted in cathedrals: C 21 Of deans or provosts, and canons residentiary of cathedral or collegiate churches: 4. The dean, or provost, and the canons residentiary of every cathedral or collegiate church, together with the minor canons, vicars choral, and other ministers of the same, shall provide, as far as in them lies, that during the time of divine service in the said church all things be done with such reverence, care, and solemnity as shall set forth the honour and glory of Almighty God. 2 APPENDIX 2: The Bishop and the Cathedral The relevant provisions in the Cathedral’s Constitution and Statutes are as follows: From the Constitution: 1.1 The Cathedral Church is the seat of the Bishop. It is the home of the community of Christian faith from which the Episcopal ministry and mission to the Diocese proceed. It is a centre of worship and outreach, which exists for the glory of God. From the Statutes: 1.1 The Bishop shall have the principal seat and dignity in the Cathedral Church. 1.2 After consultation with the Chapter, the Bishop may officiate in the Cathedral Church and use it for teaching and mission, for ordinations and synods, and for other diocesan occasions and purposes. At any service which the Bishop holds, the Bishop may determine its ordering, preach or appoint the preacher and decide the object of the collection. 1.3 The Bishop may preside at the Holy Communion in the Cathedral Church on Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day and the Day of Pentecost and, if the Dean agrees, on any other day. 1.4 The Bishop may preach or appoint the preacher in the Cathedral Church once on Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day and the Day of Pentecost. 2.7 The Dean shall consult with the Bishop as to the arrangements for synods and visitations and the ordering of all services held by the Bishop, and shall see that such functions and services are conducted as the Bishop may determine. 3 APPENDIX 3: Back to our roots What was it that guided our predecessors when, ten years after the bombing of Coventry in November 1940, they were ready to commission the building of the new Coventry Cathedral? What did they intend to achieve? In introducing the conditions for the architectural competition announced in June 1950, the Bishop (Neville Gorton) and the Provost (Dick Howard) explained: “The Cathedral is to speak to us and to generations to come of the Majesty, the Eternity and the Glory of God. God, therefore, direct you. It is a Cathedral of the Church of England. In terms of function, what should such a Cathedral express? It stands as a witness to the central dogmatic truths of the Christian Faith. Architecturally it should seize on those truths and thrust them upon the man who comes in from the street. The doctrine and worship of the Church of England is liturgically centred in the Eucharist. The Cathedral should be built to enshrine the altar. This should be the ideal of the architect, not to conceive a building and to place in it an altar, but to conceive an altar and to create a building. In the Anglican liturgy it is the people’s altar; the altar should gather the people, it should offer access for worship and invitation to Communion. With the altar – in the unity of worship – there is the preaching of the Gospel among our people of Coventry and the interpretation of the Word. The theology of the Cathedral we put before you to direct your thought. Prayer will be with you from the Cathedral Crypt and from the Diocese of Coventry. May God be with you in this great matter. (Spence, 1962) The anticipation of how the building would be used liturgically is reflected in the ‘Schedule of Requirements and Accommodation’ produced to guide those entering the competition. This indicates that provision would need to be made “for the following forms of worship which will take place in it: a) The Daily Service of the Cathedral Clergy and Choir within the main Cathedral. b) The Sunday Services of a regular congregation of, say, 500 people. c) Large Diocesan or Civic Services. d) Festivals of Music.” It also states that “the altar should be placed towards the ‘East’ in such a position that as many as possible of the congregation may have a clear and uninterrupted view.” Furthermore, “the Cathedral should provide seating accommodation for 1,250, amply spaced, exclusive of the Cathedral clergy and choir, with adequate room for liturgical movement. The pulpit and lectern must each be given a position of importance and dignity in relation to the altar and congregation… There should be a Lady Chapel to seat approximately 75. There should be a Guild Chapel to seat 50, a Children’s Chapel to seat 30, and a Chapel of the Resurrection for private prayer to seat 30.” 4 In addition, an organ “of Cathedral dimensions” was required, together with a location “for the Charred Cross and Cross of Nails and also for the Altar of Rubble and the stones bearing the words ‘Father Forgive’”. The vision for the Chapel of Unity is spelt out – it should be contiguous with the main building but divided from it “by a vertical boundary plane for the purpose of indicating the distinction of ownership”. The idea was that the chapel could be used independently of the Cathedral but also that worshippers in the chapel “may, if so desired, feel themselves to be part of a Service taking place in the Cathedral”. The Schedule includes some notes provided by what we now know as the Joint Council of the Chapel of Unity which specify its function as “a place of intercession for the World Church. It will have two aspects – a looking outward now onto the World Church, and secondly a looking forward to unity. Furthermore the building will embody the thought of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the waiting Church. Liturgically it will have its centre in Pentecost, and will be the Chapel of Unity and of the Holy Spirit.” Basil Spence’s report in response to this brief expresses the idea behind his design for the preservation of the Ruins and their relationship to the new Cathedral: ‘Through the ordeal of bombing, Coventry was given a beautiful ruin; the tower and spire reveal themselves for the first time in an arresting and new aspect from the ruined nave. As the Cathedral stands now, it is an eloquent memorial to the courage of the people of Coventry. It is felt that the ruin should be preserved as a garden of rest, embracing the open-air pulpit and stage, and the new Cathedral should grow from the old and be incomplete without it.’ (Spence, 1962) Spence’s original proposal was that five clear glass screens would divide the porch from the nave. His idea was that, on great occasions and on warm summer evenings, these could “be lowered so that the Cathedral is open. There is no physical obstruction, on occasions such as these, between the whole population of Coventry and the altar.” (Spence, 1962) For Spence, the first element of the Cathedral plan is the star-shaped Chapel of Unity – “as the life of Our Lord commenced with a star”. He goes on to explain that the Chapel “must express Unity, and is the Chapel of the Holy Spirit”. Its shape “represents Christian Unity; in elevation it is shaped like a Crusader’s tent, as Christian Unity is a modern Crusade…” Spence explains his thinking about the stained-glass windows in these terms: “…with the exception of the Baptistry windows and the lights over the entrance to the Chapel of Unity, all windows shine towards the altar… As in life, the colour of the windows is revealed only as you reach each stage – the past is known, the future is not. Only when the altar is reached the whole range of colour is seen for the first time. The author of this design does not see this building as a planning problem, but the opportunity to create a Shrine to the Glory of God.” It’s worth taking a number of Spence’s other observations into account. First, he draws attention to the Schedule’s resolve that “provision should be made inside the new Cathedral (possibly round the outer walls) for, say, eight ‘Hallowing Places’, each one symbolising the sacredness of one of the fields of activity which make up our human life (e.g.
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