newscathedral December 2019 January 2020

Prayer Worship Music Arts Education Heritage Welcoming

The Days Fly By Page 3

The Manchester Sleepout 2019 Page 6

The Cathedral Crib Service Page 11

www.manchestercathedral.org The Days Fly By

David Holgate, Sub Dean and Canon for Theology and Mission

As I write this, there has been another Switch off, if only for a little while each day. Dean’s Corner day full of activity in the Cathedral. I For that time, no matter how long, attend don’t need to say which day, for every to the present moment; let time slow down day is busy here. I often think of our and keep pace with you. I say ‘no matter nave as a theatre and stage, with the set how long’ because it is not necessary to changing daily for different events, large say exactly how much time to take. Does and small. Meanwhile, in the Quire and this bother you? If so, why? I’m intrigued the chapels, the daily round of worship that the earliest mechanical clocks had goes on; three services daily. no hands, and just sounded a bell each hour, with no minutes or seconds to hurry ‘The days fly by….’ I think it was Virginia people along. Woolf who completed the sentence with Non-violence and Peace the words, ‘… death is ever at the gates,’ but I can’t locate the quotation now. I do know that it is the Psalmist who prays, ‘So The pastoral theologian teach us to number our days that we may We now have a new addition to the It is my prayer that many will visit the apply our hearts unto wisdom’ (Ps 90.12). John Swinton, in his book Cathedral Precinct in the form of statue and also the Cathedral as part The older we get, the more quickly time Becoming Friends of Time, a huge statue of Mahatma Gandhi of the visitor experience. Eventually a seems to go. Last Christmas seems just who led the movement towards an memorial to those who lost their lives yesterday and we wonder how many more introduces the concept of independent India. Gandhi did not in the Manchester Arena bombing in Christmases we may see. ‘timefulness’: the process visit Manchester and yet his message 2017 will also be erected in the precinct. How are we to respond to the pressures of receiving time as a gift of non-violence and peace to bring It is my hope that these memorials and of time and eternity? May I suggest that about change is still as relevant in our statues will help us to reflect on the need we learn to waste time a little more? To and a space in which to society today as it was over seventy to build bridges of peace, hope and love spend some time doing absolutely nothing! live. So, I wish you a timeful years ago. in our city. These spiritual virtues are so Christmas and a slow and fundamental to our belief in Jesus I had the distinct privilege of hosting (1 Corinthians 13). gentle new year. the inter-faith service in the Cathedral preceding the unveiling of the statue Every Blessing, which was attended by hundreds of people including the Lord Mayor, High Sheriff and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant Paul Griffiths. The service included prayers and readings from our diverse faith communities, as well as traditional dance and musical performances.

Page 3 Cathedral News Knife Crime Holocaust Nidhi Sinha Memorial Day: Over the past few months the Dean has been in conversation with colleagues in One of the speakers at the event Remembering the city about the need for a Knife Crime Summit to highlight the issue in our city. Nasser Kurdy who was stabbed Sam Gontarz The rise in knife crimes in other parts of in Altrincham, after coming the country has been deeply distressing and is also a rising phenomenon in back from work, spoke about (1927 – 2019) our city. the need to forgive. He forgave

Manchester Cathedral once again became his attacker and does not hold Rabbi Reuben Silverman a place for the community to gather around hatred in his heart towards him. this summit which took place in October. He felt that without forgiveness Sam Gontarz was a guest at Manchester Displaced along with a fellow Auschwitz A candlelight vigil was held outside Cathedral’s Holocaust Memorial Day in prisoner, they decided to make for Palestine on 15 October to this problem would persist. January 2019. via Italy. Unbelievably they met two other draw attention to this issue. The vigil survivors who told Sam his sister was still attracted huge interest from the local press He was born in Łódź Poland, the youngest in the Bergen-Belsen camp. Returning there and television channels with the vigil being member of a family of five. In 1939, along he was reunited with her and her friends. Christianity amongst most faiths places broadcast live on ITV and other television with thousands of others, they were all This bliss was soon shattered as she and immense importance on ‘forgiveness’. channels. Days before the summit three herded into the Łódź ghetto and forced to her friends were killed when their lorry The Lord's Prayer, in which Jesus taught people were stabbed at the city’s Arndale work. When the ghetto was liquidated they left the road. Centre heightening the importance of about forgiveness, is one of the most were deported to Auschwitz Birkenau and the summit. important prayers in Christianity. It is the separated upon arrival. Sam was the sole The journey to Palestine was diverted when responsibility of humanity to forgive the survivor, saved only by his ability to do Sam was claimed by a distant relative in Dean Rogers Govender said “We hope that sins we commit against one another. We at leather work. England. Over time he built his own business the event will raise awareness of the scourge the same time, we know that forgiveness is in the handbag trade. He married in 1958 in knife crime which is creeping out of hard, especially if one has been a victim of and raised a family. Only in later life was he London towards Manchester. such crimes. However, our prayer should be able to talk about his experiences, believing it that people would not have a need to carry In January 1945, with the Red important in the hope of being able to change “Rises in knife crime should shock us dangerous weapons and that innocent lives attitudes. all. Community and religious leaders would not be lost in this way. We offer our Army’s advance, he was placed cannot stand by while young people, in prayers and support to those who suffer on a forced march to Austria. A book about Sam is to be published next particular, are seriously injured or killed. the effects of this unnecessary crime In minus 20 degrees many died year; more information about his life and the The Manchester Knife Crime Summit is in our society. forthcoming book can be found at https:// an opportunity to deepen awareness of en route. In a hospital run by www.samgontarz.com/ the causes of knife crime, to listen to and Allied liberators, he learned he acknowledge the stories of lives destroyed, Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th and, yet, in the midst of such pain explore was a free man. Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz how, together as one community, we might will be observed in Manchester Cathedral on work to reduce the blight of knife crime in 27 January 2020 at 10am. our city and region.”

Page 5 Cathedral News Annunciation III (‘The Annunciation’ by Fra Angelico, San Marco Convent, Florence) Andrew Rudd, Manchester Cathedral Poet in Residence

She feels the future stir within her womb and gently weighs the promise in her hands. No more words now. An angel stands beside the chestnut fence, the lawn, the bloom of ordinary daisies. You are here where she is. As you reach the highest stair she welcomes you into her cell of prayer: the door, the window, and the listening ear. The Manchester Sleepout 2019 She has swept out all clutter from her mind in an intense and still expectancy; Charlotte Vale and waits, possessing such simplicity that anyone who truly seeks can find. On Friday 8th November almost 400 then fighting to stay warm. For those that For anything can happen in this place - people braved the weather and slept made it to the morning a breakfast was then out in the grounds of Manchester served before people returned to their loved the Lord is with you: you are full of grace. Cathedral to raise vital funds and ones to be in warm surroundings once again. awareness for the Booth Centre, a charity that supports people who are homeless to plan for and realise a better future. The Booth Centre first opened its doors Participants are asked to in 1995 at the Cathedral. return all sponsorship money Manchester Sleepout participants were by Friday 6th December after welcomed into the Cathedral for a which a final total of vital funds performance by Streetwise Opera - who rehearse every Wednesday morning at the raised will be announced. Booth Centre. Then Bernard shared his Thank you to everyone that personal story about sleeping rough and moving off the streets and Booth Centre was involved with the event, CEO Amanda spoke about homelessness in thank you for being a part of Manchester and the work of the charity. the solution and working to end People then bedded down outside and homelessness in all its forms. prepared for a very cold night. It didn’t rain but that didn’t stop people getting damp and

Page 7 Cathedral News The Cathedral Voluntary Choir (the Vollies)

Geoffrey Woollatt, Cathedral Sub-Organist

The Cathedral Voluntary Choir has One of the Lay Clerks at Newcastle Cathedral, had a very exciting year! In addition to Philip Almond, used to be a member of the our routine of singing Evensong at the Voluntary Choir, so it was great to see and Cathedral every Sunday, we have travelled hear him again. to Newcastle Cathedral for our annual Summer tour and to Liverpool Anglican We sang music by a wide range of Cathedral for a joint Evensong with our composers, including Richard Ayleward, counterparts at Chester Cathedral. We William Byrd, Charles Wood, & Herbert also had the privilege of performing an Howells, all performed wonderfully, especially anthem, Justorum animae by William Byrd with such a short amount of rehearsal time. at the recent Manchester Sermon, given I have written a blog about the tour which by Gillian Slovo. can be found on https://spark.adobe.com/ page/56xE7PoM2Q73Y/ which also includes During the August Bank Holiday weekend, lots of pictures from the weekend. the Vollies travelled North East to Newcastle to sing the services at the Cathedral there.

In October we made our way to Liverpool to On Saturday 14 December we will be singing sing Evensong with the Chester Cathedral our annual Family Carols Concert in the Nave Choir. It was certainly an exciting Cathedral at 7.30pm. As always, there is a experience to sing Dyson in D and Light out mix of well-known Christmas carols, such of Darkness by Edward Elgar in such a huge as Away in a manger & Ding dong! Merrily space, and with two choirs. on high (with a slight twist!) as well as more modern works like Ring the bells by Paul Our next summer tour will be to Ely Fincham. Tickets available from http:// Cathedral in August. We are very much familycarols2019.eventbrite.co.uk/ looking to forward to meeting up with our former Sydney Nicholson Organ Scholar, Aaron Shilson, who is currently Assistant The Voluntary Choir sing Organist to the Girls’ Choir there and will be playing the organ for us. Evensong every Sunday during term time at 5.30pm.

Page 9 Cathedral News Cathedral Community News Ten Years of Authorised Lay Ministry (ALM) The Cathedral Crib Service

Jamie Mackenzie Agneta Koenraads

The Cathedral’s Crib Service held on the Cathedral suddenly fills with people and On Sunday 19th of January the Christmas Eve each year is a wondrous we find costumes and seats for hundreds of Manchester ALM (Authorised Lay thing. This is a service that speaks to people. It is chaos. And yet.... Ministry) community will be gathering The original vision had always everyone of all ages and for those who with their supporters at the Cathedral to been for 300 trained and attend, with or without their families, Young people start the Gospel readings, the celebrate and give thanks for 10 years of it has become an important part of choir sings, the children quieten and start to the scheme. When the initiative started deployed ALMs, a figure that Christmas. listen and watch as the Nativity story unfolds. there was no lay ministry training was surpassed earlier this year There are moments where human frailties available in the diocese except for Children are the centre of the service. All the at the annual Commissioning appear: two year old angels, who need their Reader Ministry, so the then of children who come are invited to dress up and mums to accompany them as the host of Bolton, Chris Edmondson, worked very Service. So the January 2020 become part of the story. Some years we have angels appear before the shepherds, or the hard alongside other Church House 20 angels, numerous wise men and women, service will also mark the young worshipper who puts her own doll in staff, particularly Peter Reiss and Jayne and a hoard of shepherds, each with the the manger. Prestwood, to get something up and beginning of a Fallow Year in obligatory tea towel headdress. There is one rehearsal an hour before the service for the running … and the Authorised Lay which the community will also The joy of the Crib Service is that the key roles and the adult helpers, but otherwise Ministry scheme was born! children’s silent enactment of the nativity be taking time out to listen to the Service comes together on a wing and story, in all its chaos and glory, completely In part the scheme was a response to a a prayer. Twenty minutes before the start, God in discerning a new vision illustrates the mystery of the Incarnation. number of national reports and papers that, for the future of the scheme. at the time, were calling for a response to the serious decline in the numbers of stipendiary clergy. However, the real heart and vision behind the scheme was always about more than just ‘filling holes.’ Long before the * Quote from Setting God’s People Report, 2017. national churches’ Setting God’s People Free report, the Manchester ALM course was set up not only to give more confidence and permission to lay people who felt called to none ordained ministry but also as an explicit recognition that, ‘laity and clergy are equal in worth and status, complementary in gifting and vocation, mutually accountable in discipleship, and equal partners in mission.’*

Page 11 Cathedral News

Volition Makes a Difference The Diary December

Donna Denston Sunday 1 December Saturday 14 December Sunday 22 December Volition, the employability charity created Here at Volition we bring people together to 6:30pm Advent 12noon-1:30pm 7:30pm Festival of Nine by Manchester Cathedral, reaches its 8th build confidence, acquire skills and wherever Procession Christmas Carol Lessons and Carols birthday in Spring 2020. Most readers of possible open doors. We engage with Sing-along Cathedral New will know something about employers to increase awareness and source its work, its volunteers and its staff team opportunities. They include Hotel Football, Tuesday 3 December 7:30pm Family Christmas Eve but for a catch up read on. Lloyds, Just Bee Drinks, Hotel Indigo and 7:30pm MedEquip4Kids Carols Concert 12 noon Blessing of DWF Law Firm. Group members also choose Christmas Sing-along the Crib Volition supports individuals who are a volunteering opportunity to enable them to Tuesday 17 December 11:30pm Midnight Mass unemployed, or underemployed on part time develop skills, build confidence and add to Thursday 5 December 12:30pm Julian Prayer or zero hours contracts. New groups start their CV. Some of the highlights this autumn 7:30pm Children’s Group Lunch Christmas Day every five weeks, so people seldom have to have been planting 80 rose bushes, jarring wait very long to access support. large quantities of honey and providing a Society ‘Sing for 7:30pm Mercy Ships 10:30am Sung team to help the public on Remembrance Christmas’ Carol Service Eucharist We see people from all walks of life: from Sunday (see pictures). 12 noon Evening Prayer those with a myriad of qualifications to Saturday 7 December Friday 20 December those with none. In the past five months Volition has supported a swim instructor, Does it work? I recently asked 7:30pm LGBT 7pm ‘Prevent Breast a government vet, a market stall holder, the duty manager at my gym Christmas Carol Cancer’ Concert a junior football coach, graduates, people Concert with physical disabilities and anxiety issues for a favour for Volition. As and landscape gardeners. So why, when I began to explain about the Sunday 8 December employers are bound by equalities legislation, Service Times do people need support? The simple answer charity he stopped me and said; 3pm St John’s is that a lot of today’s recruitment processes “it’s alright I know all about Ambulance Service Midweek Services are computerised. This leaves those without Volition, I was on it”. Clearly, Morning Prayer 9.00am Mon-Fri (Wed: BCP) an ultra-conventional work history out in the Monday 9 December Holy Communion 1.10pm Mon-Fri cold. Rejections lead to despondency and Volition had worked for him. Evensong 5.30pm Mon-Thurs* 7pm Christie Charity Evening Prayer 4.30pm Fri confidence can quickly erode. Christmas Concert Saturday Services Tuesday 10 December Morning Prayer & Holy Communion 9.00am 12:30pm Julian Prayer Evening Prayer 4.30pm* Group Meeting Sunday Services 7:30pm Henshaws Matins 8.45am Carols by Candlelight Holy Communion (BCP) 9.00am Sung Eucharist (Choral) 10.30am Evensong 5.30pm* Thursday 12 December 7:30pm RMCH Charity *Please note:during the below school holidays evening services are said. All said services are at 4.30 pm Carol Concert The Cathedral Choir will be on holiday from 26 December until Monday 6 January Please note that services taking place between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day will follow a slightly altered schedule.

Page 13 Cathedral News Looking ahead Clergy Congregation Churchwardens & Stewards The Very Revd Rogers Govender [email protected] January [email protected] Reader Emeritus Sub-Dean and Canon for Theology & Mission Raylia Chadwick Friday 3 & Sunday 19 January The Revd Canon Dr David Holgate [email protected] [email protected] Saturday 4 January 2:30pm ALM Service Cathedral High Steward & Chair of Manchester 7:30pm Viennese of Thanksgiving Canon Precentor Cathedral Development Trust Warren Smith JP Christmas by The Revd Canon Marcia Wall [email protected] [email protected] / 0161 834 0490 Candlelight Tuesday 21 January 12:30pm Julian Prayer Community Archdeacon of Salford Flowers: Helen Bamping Saturday 11 January Group Meeting The Venerable David Sharples Cathedral Friends: Pauline Dimond [email protected] 10am-4pm ‘Worth Profile Ringing Master: Andy Ingham Cathedral Curate the Weight’ Fair Monday 27 January Nita Saleem, Secretary to Bell-Ringers: Catherine Rhodes 10am-1pm Holocaust The Revd Steven Hilton Cathedral Visitor [email protected] Saturday 18 January Memorial Event Centre Manager 11am Coffee Concert Cathedral Chaplains 1pm-4:30pm Be A What is your The Revd Canon Adrian Rhodes The Revd Peter Bellamy-Knights Chorister For A Day favourite film? The Godfather What music do you like? London Grammar, The Police, Coldplay What was the last book About the you read? Staff Kite Runner by Khaled Cathedral Administrator Worship & Music Administrator Julian Prayer Group Hosseini [email protected] [email protected] Where was the last place PA to the Dean Chorister Recruitment Officer you visited/holidayed? A Julian meeting is usually a group of people of [email protected] [email protected] The last place I visited was various denominations, both lay people and clergy, Dubrovnik Cathedral Office Education Officer who meet regularly in a house, church, or chapel. [email protected] [email protected] Here at Manchester Cathedral, the Julian Prayer Do you have any pets? Accounts Enquiries Director of Fundraising and Development Group meets monthly in the Quire. A Cavapoo dog called Marcus [email protected] anthony.o’[email protected] Tell us something Julian meetings vary, but are centred on contemplative Logistics Officer Visitor Centre Manager interesting or funny about prayer in the Christian tradition and welcome people of [email protected] [email protected] all denominations, as well as those seeking a place for yourself. silent prayer. A sometime keen runner, Diary Enquiries Volunteer Manager (Volition) I once ran a marathon. [email protected] [email protected] The meetings consist of thirty minutes of silent Vergers Volunteer Programme Coordinator (Volition) meditation on a theme introduced by one of the [email protected] [email protected] members followed by refreshments (bring sandwiches, drinks are provided) in the Cathedral Library. Our next Organist & Master of the Choristers Cathedral Archivist meeting is on 21 January 2020 at 12.30pm. Exhibitions [email protected] [email protected] Sub Organist Cathedral News Editor Admission to all our [email protected] [email protected] exhibitions is free.

Page 15 Cathedral News Manchester Cathedral Victoria Street / M3 1SX / 0161 833 2220 Cathedral Visitor & Conference Centre Cateaton Street / M3 1SQ / 0161 817 4817

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