Issue 53: Summer edition 2021 InHousethe Journal of the Lincoln Cathedral Community Association Farewell to our High Sheriff’s Award editor Page 7 Page 14 Meet Simon Crookall - LCCA Chair 2021 Margaret Campion Simon has kindly agreed to take over the chairing of the LCCA from John McNeil who has resigned due to in- creased family and work commit- ments. Simon is joining us at this difficult post-pandemic time and we are most grateful to him for volunteering his time to us. Simon was born in Cheshire to a musi- cal family and his interest in all forms of music, especially church and choral mu- sic, continued throughout his university years when he was a choral scholar at Kings College Cambridge. Post universi- ty his career was in music and the per- forming arts, firstly in Scotland, where he was General Manager of the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, and then Chief Execu- tive of Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In 2005 he moved to the USA to become President of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and in 2013 he became Gen- eral Director of the Hawaii Opera The- atre in Honolulu, returning to England (and Lincoln) in 2018. It is an impressive CV and the LCCA are fortunate to have gained his interest. All through his youth, university and adult life Simon has been involved with coln to oversee the fundraising for the munity to use its time and talents in all the community and church life of every new Medical School. His current project aspects of Stewardship. He has so much town in which he lived, and throughout is Head of Development at the Voltaire to offer in his long and varied career and his career he has of necessity become an Foundation, Oxford. we are indeed fortunate that he is will- experienced fund-raiser; indeed it was in In joining the LCCA, Simon hopes to ing to join and help us to continue and this role he arrived in Lincoln where he be able to foster our existing Ministry expand our work within the community was employed by the University of Lin- of Welcome and to encourage the com- of Lincoln Cathedral. 2 Not such ordinary times... Nick Brown, Precentor In the last edition of InHouse I wrote Whilst the daily prayer of and for the signed: its worship. It was a good cus- a little about the liturgical time in Church continues the age-old traditions tom and it is a loss to have had to let which we found ourselves – travelling of our cathedral church, recent decades it go, but a gain in the scope of super- from Lent toward Easter and the cel- have seen changes and developments vision for the cathedral’s core activities. ebratory season of Eastertide which in the governance of cathedrals that has However, as events in several cathe- followed. seen the role of the wider chapter de- drals in the 1990s bore testament, there As this edition comes out, we will velop and increase. Following a number was perceived to be a need to enhance find ourselves in the time of Sundays of challenges facing cathedrals in the the expertise available across a wider that follow Trinity – a time that is now 1990s (in which we must admit Lincoln range of areas, including finance and called Ordinary Time in many places. played a part), the then new Cathedral governance, and this was significantly However, for me, this rather minimises Measure (which has the equivalent addressed by the role that the lay can- the fact that day-by-day and week by force in law to an Act of Parliament) in- ons had in bringing in expertise in these week, this time is far from ordinary as creased the membership of cathedral areas, and that the non-residentiary can- we continue to mark the passing days chapters to include both a non-residen- on was intended to fulfil as a link with in prayer, celebrate Christ’s continuing tiary canon and a number of lay canons. the parochial clergy of the diocese. presence among us when we gather for The expectation was that the routine of The life and work of the cathedral has the eucharist, and as we mark the exam- prayer, worship, education and hospi- also expanded over the past century or ple of the many saints who have gone tality would remain the key focus of the so. One writer (writing several decades before us as we mark their saints days. It residentiary canons, as it had done for ago) wrote that cathedrals in general is during this period of the year that the centuries, as is reflected by Christopher were at one time often ‘little more than daily rhythm of prayer that sustains our Laurence in recalling his time as Arch- the private chapel of the dean and chap- life serves as a steady reminder of what deacon and a member of chapter in the ter, with visitors grudgingly admitted is the foundation of our life – both as a 1970s and 80s: following a bribe to the verger’. Fortu- cathedral, and as individual members of Not so long ago the Chapter was nately, that is not how England’s cathe- the body of Christ. composed, as it had been for centuries, drals now operate and, although it may The foundation of our Christian life in of the Dean and four residentiary can- have hit vergers’ extramural income(!), prayer and worship is one of the funda- ons, all stipendiary. They held diocesan visitors are a key part of our work and mental characteristics of the Christian responsibilities independently of each an opportunity for fulfilling our mission community. As I commented in one of other but collectively they oversaw the to help people engage in the wonder the Holy Week addresses, it is this qual- maintenance of the fabric, the library, and worship of God. Together with an ity (of us entering into relationship with and the worship of the cathedral. This increased focus on the long-term main- God in prayer) that alters who we are last was a hands-on commitment: un- tenance of the structure and fabric of and changes what we do so that, how- less their other duties took them else- the cathedral (represented at present by ever imperfectly, we echo that deepest where they should all be present at the £16.5 NLHF-funded project to build love that flows from God in the words the daily offices. They took turns to be the Old Deanery Visitor Centre for the and actions of our own lives – both as Canon-in-Residence, when they were benefit of the community and visitors to individuals and as an institution. Within responsible for overseeing every activ- the cathedral, and investing in the long the cathedral community the residential ity in the cathedral, and to preside in term future of the cathedral building it- community (formed of the residentiary the absence of the Dean. I cursed this self) this means that today’s cathedral canons, musicians and vergers) main- rule many times when haring back to chapter has a huge range of demands tains this daily round of prayer and wor- Lincoln from some distant corner of placed upon it. These seeds were sown ship not only with the wider cathedral my archdeaconry to be in time to pre- in past decades, something once again community in our thoughts, but on be- side at evensong. There were plenty of reflected upon by Christopher Laurence: half of the diocese and its bishop who retired canons who could have done Though our earlier Chapter had a nar- we are called to serve. Day-by-day, the the job perfectly well. Nevertheless this rower focus, nevertheless it laid down the residentiary canons gather to pray for obligation upon the members of the features which have grown to become es- each benefice in turn, and for the vari- Chapter, always to lead the daily prayer sential in the work of the cathedral today: ous other groups, bodies and institu- of the cathedral, was I think the golden the fabric council, the shop, the refectory, tions that go to make up the wider fami- thread which gave continuity to the the appointment and training of stewards ly that is the diocese of Lincoln. activity for which the cathedral was de- and guides. These new elements call for 3 a broader membership of the chapter, Of course, at the heart of the cathe- governance of the cathedral and its with skills needed to manage them. dral’s wide range of day-to-day activi- life. It is responding to these increased ties, underpinned by its daily round of In the appointments of lay canons to demands that has been enabled by the worship, the residentiary members of chapter over the past couple of years, wider membership of cathedral chap- chapter continue to contribute their we have seen a broad range of skills ters since the 1999 Cathedrals Meas- own gifts, skills and experiences, which brought to bear on the life and work of ure came into effect, and we must be include: the cathedral to complement those of thankful for the contribution that the The dean’s experiences as a member the residentiary members of the chap- lay members of chapter make to the of bishops’ senior leadership teams, ter, including: smooth running of the cathedral – often as a former archdeacon and parish Harvey Dowdy, a trained archae- as well as contributing significantly to priest, in various roles of corporate ologist with extensive experience the life of the local church communities governance and as a leader in mis- in property management who has to which many of them also belong.
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