New Diocesan Website

Yesterday the Diocese relaunched its website. The new site has a smart new look and many new features. Alongside information about the Diocese visitors can also read the latest news and find our more about the Catholic faith. There are also a number of links to other websites within the Diocese, including (of course!) the Cathedral. The site can be found at a new address: www.lancasterdiocese.org.uk, and is also accessible from the links to the right of this page.

Inside the organ

In days of persecution priests would hide in small 'priest holes' hidden behind walls, so as to escape being caught by the authorities. The conditions were cramped and often priests would remain there for days or even weeks. Today Fr Andrew got the opportunity to try something similiar (albeit in a much less threatening environment), with a visit to the very cramped interior of the Cathedral organ.

The ongoing restoration programme has seen a number of significant moments over the last few weeks. The wind has been reconnected and last week the organ made its first sound in well over a year. There is still much to do, but the progress is encouraging. Today another milestone: the first pipes were taken from the Swell, to be sent to Liverpool for restoration. The holes in the soundboard mark the spots from where the first few pipes have now been taken. Each is labelled and wrapped ready for the journey to the workshop. The picture above also shows just how much cleaning is required, and how cramped the conditions are - the wooden plank in the centre is the only place for the organ builder to stand as he works.

Looking out through some of the larger pipes in the organ case, a variety of tools can be seen. Also visible is a test console, which is due to be linked up to the Great organ in order to check that everything is in working order. Over the next fortnight or so all of the pipes on the Great and Pedal departments are due to be reinstalled and the pipes and soundboards on the other side will be taken for restoration. It will still be some time before the organ is up and running, but it will certainly be worth the wait. The work is being carried out by Willis and Sons (Liverpool) - click here for more.

Hedy Epstein

Last night a sizeable crowd came to the Cathedral to hear a talk given by Hedy Epstein. Hedy grew up in Nazi Germany but survived the horror of the Holocaust. Now she campaigns for justice for the Palestinian people. Her talk, one of several she is giving in the UK during her visit, was followed by an opportunity for questions.

In memory of Mgr B. K. O'Neill

Last weekend, to mark the feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral, we were given this grand piano by Mr Frank Watson. It is the work of the famous German piano makers Bechstein, and we are delighted by this gift. The piano is given in memory of Monsignor B. K. O'Neill, a former priest and Vicar General of this Diocese, who died in 1985. May he rest in peace.

A word from the Pope

A couple of weeks ago Bishop Campbell was in Rome, taking part in a meeting for newly-ordained bishops from all around the world. As part of the meeting he had an opportunity to meet Pope Benedict. The Holy Father asked him who he was and where he was from. The Bishop replied by introducing himself as Bishop Michael Campbell from Lancaster, to which the Pope said, "Send my greetings to everyone there." Each bishop must visit the Pope every five years, so that the Holy Father receives regular updates from the Church across the world. It is wonderful to know that, however briefly, his thoughts and prayers were with the people of our own Diocese of Lancaster. Bishop Campbell told the story of his meeting on a recent visit to the Cathedral Primary School; a report on the visit can be seen here.

The Eucharist: an exhibition

Last weekend, in the midst of all the Dedication celebrations, we launched a new mini-exhibition on the Eucharist. The display is part of the Cathedral's catechetical programme 'Curious about the Eucharist?', which begins this month and runs until next June.

This small exhibition is held in 'Inspire', the Cathedral's exhibition space under the bell tower. Various objects associated with the Eucharist are on display, and there are backlit information panels with images and quotations from Scripture.

There are a number of information panels around the Cathedral. At each point (and in this display) the aim is not simply to provide information as at a museum; rather, the displays should inform while also leading people to better understand our Catholic faith. These exhibits are not museum pieces but reminders of the living faith for which the Cathedral exists. Here, for example, the information alongside the chalice and paten speaks of the Church's faith in Christ's Eucharistic presence.

Alongside this display the 'Curious about the Eucharist' programme will feature fourteen free talks (Tuesday evenings, beginning 21st October), weekly reflections on the Cathedral newsletter, booklets and leaflets being made available and a chance to visit the sacristy to learn more about the significance of the vestments and vessels used at Mass. People from outside the parish are very welcome to come along. For more information on the talks, click here. The whole programme will conclude with the 40 Hours Exposition and the feast of Corpus Christi next June.

The Month of the Rosary

October is traditionally the month of the Rosary, and the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was celebrated yesterday. This wonderful prayer is often misunderstood; esentially it is a prayer of meditation, inviting those who pray to reflect on the mysteries of Jesus' life and the role of Mary in God's plan of salvation. St Luke's gospel tells us in several places that Mary 'pondered' the events of Jesus' life in her heart. In her we see an image of someone who thought deeply about God's action in the world, someone who considered what the events of Jesus' life on earth mean for us. The Rosary invites us to join her in pondering the same mysteries, revisiting them again and again so that we may appreciate them more fully. The Rosary is prayed publicly in the Cathedral every Sunday at 4pm; there are leaflets available at the back of the church explaining how it is prayed. Children and staff at the Cathedral Primary School are also making a special effort to pray the Rosary this month, as can be seen here.

Vespers of the Dedication

Every Sunday Vespers - the evening prayer of the Church - is sung in the Cathedral. For the feast of the Dedication, Vespers was celebrated with added solemnity.

After the morning Mass the sanctuary was transformed to make it ready for Vespers. The Cathedral looked particularly fine on Sunday - the sun put in an appearance, giving the church a even brighter feel. The new banners hanging behind the sanctuary were used for the first time at this feast; their vibrant colours complimenting the surroundings.

At 4pm the Rosary was prayed, as it is each Sunday, with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. After the Rosary there was time for private prayer in Christ's presence, before Vespers began at 4:40pm.

It was wonderful to see so many people come for Vespers. Bishop O'Donoghue presided at the liturgy, with Bishop Campbell and some of the Canons in choir. Canon Stephen and Fr Andrew acted as cantors, leading the singing of the psalms and canticles, with the congregation also in good voice.

At the end of Vespers there was Benediction; here the assembled people received God's blessing as the day's celebrations drew to a close.

In the Cathedral library after Vespers, the Bishops again had the chance to meet some of the people who had come together for prayer. Vespers is celebrated with Benediction every Sunday at 4:40pm; everyone is welcome to attend.

Mass of the Dedication

Yesterday was the feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral, the annual celebration of the day when St Peter's was first consecrated as a house of prayer. The main celebration was at 10:30am Mass.

A large congregation joined our Bishops and the Cathedral clergy for the Mass. Fr Robert Billing, the Bishops' Secretary, also concelebrated.

After the Gospel, Bishop O'Donoghue blessed the people with the Gospel book. This gesture is a symbolic prayer, asking that God may bless us as we listen to His Word; it also reminds us of the sacredness of Scripture.

Bishop Campbell preached at Mass and at Vespers during the afternoon. At Mass he reminded us that the Cathedral only comes to life through the presence of God's people, who are united with Christ as living stones, making a spiritual house (cf. 1 Peter 2:5). On this point he quoted the words of St Augustine: "This is the house of our prayers; we ourselves are the house of God." He also spoke of the witness of the Lancaster Martyrs, saying, "By their martyrdom for the faith of Christ they have passed on to us a precious inheritance which we must not squander." The full text of Bishop Campbell's homilies for Mass and Vespers can be viewed in pdf format, click here.

Children from the Cathedral Primary School played an important part, welcoming people, serving at Mass and reading the intercessions. Here some of the children can be seen bringing forward the bread and wine and presenting them to Bishop O'Donoghue.

Mass is celebrated on this altar every day, as the Eucharist is the centre of the Church's life. When the Cathedral was consecrated on 4th October 1859, it was given to God as a place where this sacrifice and the prayers of God's people would be offered. The celebration of Mass on this feast invites us all to renew our own dedication to the Lord.

This year it was a particular joy that both our Bishops were able to be present. The Cathedral is the church of the diocesan Bishop - technically it is he (not the Dean) who is the parish priest. The presence of our Bishops reminds us of the role the Cathedral plays not just as a parish church, but as a spiritual home for all the people of the Diocese.

As the procession left the Cathedral at the end of Mass, a new year in the life of the Cathedral began. Now St Peter's begins its 150th year as a house of God- many celebrations are planned to mark the 150th anniversary in 2009.

The Mass was also notable because it was the first time that Bishop Campbell has been at the Cathedral for a Sunday Mass. Afterwards he was able to meet many of the parishioners before going to the Social Centre for the parish lunch, laid on by a dedicated team of volunteers. Tomorrow the Blog takes a look back at Vespers of the feast.

The Dedication of the Cathedral

Today we celebrate the annual feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral, led by our two bishops. The consecration candles around the Cathedral, which mark the places where the walls were anointed with the oil of chrism on 4th October 1859, are lit, ready for Mass. The feast is also celebrated with a parish lunch and with Vespers at 4:40pm. More on today's celebrations to follow over the coming days.

An Open Invitation

149 years ago today, the St Peter's was consecrated as the new parish church for Lancaster; it was raised to Cathedral status with the foundation of the Diocese of Lancaster in 1924. Each year the feast of the Dedication is marked on the Sunday nearest to the anniversary. Tomorrow the Dedication of the Cathedral is celebrated with Mass at 10:30am, a parish lunch and sung Vespers at 4:40pm. Both our Bishops will be with us all day, and Bishop Campbell will preach at both Mass and Vespers. Blog readers - like everone else - are warmly invited to take part in the day. Vespers offers a chance for those outside of the Cathedral parish to take part. If you are free tomorrow afternoon, why not come along and celebrate this annual feast with us?

The Basilica in Lisieux

This is the basilica built to welcome pilgrims to Lisieux. It was consecrated on 11th July 1954, built with money raised from a massive number of donations from the faithful. It is vast - its floor space and height are roughly equivalent to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was one of the largest church building projects of the 20th century.

Inside, the basilica is richly decorated with mosaics. Above the altar there is an image of Christ, the Good Shepherd, seen with Our Lady and St Thérèse.

In the transept there is a shrine containing some relics of St Thérèse. It is continually surrounded by flowers and votive candles, as pilgrims ask her intercession.

Promises of help are seen in the mosaics: here we are reminded of St Thérèse's promise to help priests by her prayers.

Each of the side altars is linked to a different country and dedicated to saints from those lands. This altar, linked to Great Britain, is dedicated to St George and St Thomas à Becket.

The basilica is a fitting shrine to this wonderful saint, dominating the skyline just as Thérèse herself seems to dominate the town. Over the coming year the blog will bring news of the preparations for her visit to our country and our Diocese, along with more about the life of this extraordinary saint of modern times.

St Thérèse in Lisieux

Thérèse Martin was born in the town of Alençon, some distance south of Lisieux. After her mother's death when she was four, the family moved to Lisieux and came to live at Les Buisonnets; this rather grand house served as the family home from that time. Although well-loved and cared for by her father and elder sisters, she was very unhappy much of the time and struggled to control her emotions.

The family attended the Cathedral of St Pierre in the centre of Lisieux. Here Thérèse made her first confession, assisted as a sacristan and realised that her vocation would lead her to the Carmel.

The Cathedral is still the main parish church of Lisieux, continuing the work it did in Thérèse's day. Here visitors can see the confessional used by Thérèse and the high altar donated by her father.

Being dedicated to St Pierre (Peter), the Cathedral has its own statue of this great Apostle - a link with our own Cathedral church in Lancaster.

Thérèse entered the Carmel at the age of fifteen - earlier than would usually be allowed. It was with great determination that she made did so; she had to seek permission from her father and the local bishop as well as the Carmel superior. She even asked the Pope to intervene while on a visit to Rome in 1887. She spent the rest of her life there: thinking, working and praying. From 1886 she began to write the memoirs for which she would become known throughout the world.

On Good Friday of 1896 Thérèse showed the first symptons of the disease which would lead to her death. She suffered greatly over an 18 month period before leaving this world on 30th September 1897, at the age of 24. So it is that Thérèse has become a great source of grace for those who are sick, the youth and all who desire to know God. Her relics, which are usually kept under this wax image, have been to nearly 40 countries. In death Thérèse has become what she could not be in life: a great missionary. She was canonised in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997; tomorrow's post will look at the great basilica, her shrine in Lisieux.

The Town of Lisieux

Today is the feast of St Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the greatest saints of modern times. As is now widely publicised, her relics will be visiting England and Wales in 2009, including a visit to the Cathedral over the period 28th-30th September. To mark the feast, the Cathedral blog makes a 'virtual pilgrimage' to her shrine over the next three days.

Anyone arriving in Lisieux by train cannot doubt that they have come to the right place. The signs are helpful (of course!), but even more obvious is the vast basilica dedicated to St Thérèse which stands high above the station. The basilica will feature in the last of these 'pilgrimage' postings (on Friday); today we take a look around the town.

Like many towns in Normandy, Lisieux suffered a great deal towards the end of the Second World War. About three-quarters of the town was destroyed, with a number of fine buildings destroyed. Nowadays the town is pleasant enough, though with a number of less than attractive post-war buildings. The Cathedral Church of St Pierre, which can be seen above, was lucky to survive intact.

Lisieux receives vast numbers of pilgrims each year, as people flock to visit places associated with Thérèse's life and pray before her relics. This is one of several special hostels which have been constructed for pilgrims.

Wherever there are pilgrims, there are shops!

Thérèse is seen everywhere in this town; not only on Church information, but the town's own tourism office and information features much about her life and message. Images of the saint are everywhere - this one welcomes people to the Carmel bookshop. Tomorrow's post looks at some of the places that Thérèse herself would have known.