Walking with St Peter - Part 2

As promised, today we feature some more pictures from St Peter's Walk, which is taking place each evening this week. The images in this post were all taken at last night's performance. The basic idea is this: the audience is taken back to the time of St Peter and encounters people who know him or have heard of the life of the early Church.

One such character is a merchant by the name of Melchior. He is on the lookout to make a sale (providing you have a few shekels to hand) but is also keen to tell of recent events in his area. His account is of the stoning of St Stephen and the persecution of the Christians.

This engaging scene is one of many around the Cathedral site. Elsewhere people can witness a dispute between the authorities and some early disciples about what really happened on Pentecost Day; they can join a tea party at which three gossips are discussing reports of miracles, and they can listen to an imagined radio interview with St Peter himself.

The purpose of this drama is to bring the scriptural stories to life and to explore St Peter's contribution to the life of the early Church. Alongside this there are two opportunities to find out more about how St Peter is reflected in architecture. Here a group takes a mini-tour of the Cathedral looking at images of St Peter within the church. Meanwhile, in St Walburga's chapel the audience can hear a short talk about St Peter's Basilica in Rome and the tomb of the Apostle.

Each scene, tour and talk lasts for fifteen minutes, after which time a bell rings and people are invited to choose another scene. It works very well and the audience feedback has been very positive.

A particular highlight has been the refreshments, which are given in the form of food as it might have been in the New Testament period. Each person gets a small plate of food with different items to try, thereby being given the chance to try a few different items. The refreshments are included in the ticket price. There are two final chances to come along: tonight and tomorrow (Sunday) at 8pm. Tickets are £10 (concessions £8; under 16s £6) and are available on the door from 7:30pm.

A year of prayer for priests

Last night in Rome Pope Benedict launched a year of prayer for priests. The start of the year coincides with the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is celebrated today. Over the next twelve months we are asked to pray for priests and to ask God to grant us more vocations to the priesthood. The year for priests has been chosen to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St John Vianney, who is the patron saint of Parish Priests.

Today especially we might also remember in our prayers John Moriarty, who will be ordained deacon at Ushaw College, Durham, this afternoon. John is now in the final stages of preparation for his priestly ordination, which is due to take place next summer.

Walking with St Peter - Part 1

To give you an idea of what it is and how it works, here's an early look at St Peter's Walk, the 'promenade drama' which is taking place all this week. It's been specially designed for smaller groups of people so that we can use some of the smaller (but often very beautiful) spaces on the Cathedral site. Weather permitting - as it did last night - the evening starts in the garden.

Here a brief introduction is given before people are invited to make their way into the Cathedral.

Once inside, a number of different performances take place in different areas at the same time. People take their seats in the benches and then people from each performance step forward. Then the members of the audience are invited to choose which scene to view.

With that, people make their choice and are led to the appropriate place.

Last night we had a look at what was going on in the Baptistery. Here the Ursuline sisters from St Thomas More's and some parishioners were playing the part of some of the women of the New Testament and spent their time discussing the things that Peter had said and done.

Here Peter's mother-in-law describes how she was healed by Jesus when Peter brought the Lord to her house. It was very imaginatively presented and helped to bring the scriptural accounts to life.

Each performance lasts about 15 minutes, after which a bell rings and people return to the benches. Then the cycle begins again: another choice is made and people can go to other spaces to witness other things. There is a lot on offer - including period refreshments which are included in the ticket price - and it seems that the first audience enjoyed their visit. If you'd like to come along, it takes place every evening from now until Sunday 21st, starting at 8pm. We'll bring you more pictures and reports towards the end of the week.

Saint Peter's Walk

Starting today, St Peter's Walk combines drama, music and talks to explore something of St Peter's contribution to the life of the early Church. It's essentially a sort of 'promenade drama' which uses a number of different smaller spaces on the Cathedral site. The performances run every evening (today until Sunday 21st June) at 8pm. Tickets are £10 (concessions £8, under 16s £6). No need to book - just turn up and enjoy! This event is part of the Cathedral's 150th anniversary celebrations, which are being supported by a number of sponsors. The full list can be found here.

Corpus Christi

For the feast of Corpus Christi - the Body of Christ - a picture of a Corpus Christi procession in Lancaster in 1952. Our 40 Hours Exposition ends this afternoon with Vespers, Eucharistic Procession and Benediction at 4:40pm. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see more pictures of Corpus Christi processions in years gone by, see today's post on Billington's Blog.

The Cost of Electricity

Electricity is one of those things we only think of when we no longer have it. Such was the case yesterday, when the Cathedral and presbytery were completely without power for most of the day. The effects were numerous: in the Cathedral no lights or microphones and no disabled access lift; the main organ was also out of action on the very day when it was due to come back into service! In Cathedral House no telephones, computers, photocopiers, no doorbell and limited kitchen facilities. Workmen from the electricity company came very quickly but in order to fix the problem they had to dig underneath the disabled access ramp at the main door. The result is a bit of a mess!

Everything continued in the Cathedral as usual, and the extra candles out for the 40 Hours helped provide light on the sanctuary. Power was restored at about 5pm, following a day's hard graft by a team of workers. The electricity supplier will rebuild the ramp (at their expense) during the week, and all in all have provided a very impressive service. It does mean, however, that disabled access into the Cathedral is currently only via Cathedral House. Anyone using a wheelchair is invited to contact us in advance of coming, or at Mass times to seek assistance from someone on site.

The new organ console

It's difficult to do a grand unveiling on a website, but this is our best attempt - today we can show you the first pictures of our new organ console. Replacing the console was not in the original organ restoration plan, but when the old console was dismantled it was found to be in such poor condition that it could not be adequately rebuilt. This is the result: a completely new console for the newly-restored organ.

The restoration project is not yet complete, though many parts of the organ are now playable and have been tuned. The instrument will be played for the first time at Mass this weekend (you can hear it today - all being well - at 12:15pm and 6:30pm, then again at 10:30am Mass and at Vespers at 4:40pm tomorrow). Some of the stops require some further tuning and there are some other fairly minor problems to be ironed out, but the end is now in sight.

The new console has the stops arranged in a french 'terraced' style, much the same as the original console when the organ was first installed in January 1889 (Billington's Blog carried a small feature in January - click here). There are some tonal alterations, including the addition of acoustic 32-foot stops. We will provide more details in due course.

The console has also been returned to its original position; now the organist can look down the Cathedral and will get a good view of the sanctuary. We will carry a fuller feature on the organ when the work is completely finished. The restoration work is being carried out by Henry Willis and Sons, whose website can be found here.

The Lord in our midst

Yesterday our annual 40 Hours Exposition began. As ever, the sanctuary has been decorated with flowers and candles to remind us of the importance of the Lord's presence in the Eucharist.

While there are many public liturgies and devotions during the day, there is also plenty of time for people to come for simple silent prayer before the Lord.

The 40 Hours continues until Sunday afternoon, when it will end at Vespers, which will include a short Eucharistic procession in the Cathedral. All welcome! The full programme for the next few days can be found here.

Solemn Exposition 2009

Today the Cathedral begins its annual 40 Hours Solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Today, tomorrow and Saturday the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed from 9am until 9pm, then on Sunday from 9am until the end of Vespers, which starts at at 4:40pm. Each day there will be Mass, Morning Prayer, Angelus and Midday Prayer, Sung Vespers and Sung Compline, the full Rosary and Holy Hours. If you are in the Lancaster area over the next few days you are most welcome to join us; the full timetable for the Forty Hours, which is slightly altered from the version printed on the parish newsletter last weekend, can be found here.

Organ update

In recent weeks this has been a familiar sight: organ builders silhouetted against the Te Deum window. They have been in working on the instrument every day of late, and it has become a heartening sound to hear the organ being tuned. While there is still a little way to go finalising some of the electrics and ironing out minor problems, the organ is now for the most part playable and will be used at Mass in the very near future.

This - it should be pointed out - is not the new console! This four-manual electronic organ is a replica of the instrument at St George's Hall in Liverpool. It has been loaned to the Cathedral by Henry Willis & Sons for the last few months, to fill the gap while work continues on our own instrument. Today it is being removed from the Cathedral - an encouraging sign of progress on our pipe organ, and also a remote preparation for the Flower Festival which takes place in a couple of weeks (26th-29th June).

This is where the organist has been seated for the last few months; in future he will have to make do with a more distant view of the altar!

Before and After

A few weeks ago, as part of our 150th anniversary year, the Cathedral's memorial to Dr John Rigby was cleaned up. Dr Rigby was the priest who founded the Catholic chapel at Dalton Square; when he died on this day in 1818 he was buried there. Later his body was moved into the new cemetery at the back of the Cathedral.

The pictures show just how much dirt had accumulated over 150 years! Now at least the memorial is a more worthy tribute to a man who did much good for Catholics in Lancaster. If you'd like to see a portrait of Dr Rigby or find out more about his life, see Billington's Blog.

St Thérèse: Resources for Schools

Later this week a resource pack for schools will be sent out in preparation for the visit of St Thérèse in September. The pack contains some practical information about the visit, some ideas for getting schools involved and a CD ROM of age-appropriate resources prepared by the Cathedral. Amongst the highlights is a PowerPoint presentation of the life of St Thérèse, using images specially commissioned for the visit to Lancaster. Part of the first image, which depicts the birth of St Thérèse, is shown here to give you an idea of the style and quality of the images. Every Catholic school in the Diocese will receive the pack. You will be able to download some of the resources from the Thérèse section of the Cathedral website shortly. Further details will be given on the Thérèse blog later this week.

The Three in One

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day when the Church celebrates the mystery of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the east end of the Cathedral the names of the three persons of the Holy Trinity (in Latin Pater, Filius and Spiritus Sanctus) are depicted in stained glass. The Cathedral also has a visual depiction of the Trinity in the Assumption window, as last year's post for this feast revealed.

A trip to Brettargh Holt

Year 4 children from the Cathedral Primary School spent the middle of the week at Brettargh Holt near Kendal. The retreat house is home to a community of Salesian Sisters, who run programmes for school children with the assistance of some youthful volunteers. Fr Andrew joined the group on Wednesday and celebrated Mass with them in the chapel, which was also used for other times of prayer during the day.

Some of the time was spent on workshops and activities. Here some of the children are making clay models under the watchful eye of Year 6 teacher Mrs Mattock, who was one of the staff on the trip.

Brettargh Holt is ideal for children. It is a fairly old house and so has a character that children enjoy. Here a rather tired group sit down for a few minutes in the entrance hall - one of the few short breaks between the activities.

There is also a great deal of space outside, making it great for games and sports. As you can imagine, all of them made the most of the opportunity!

Polling Day

Today the Cathedral plays a small part in the process of government, as the Social Centre is converted into a Polling Station for today's European and county council elections. It will only be a year or so, of course, and we'll be seeing this sight again - though then it will be seats at Westminster up for grabs.