On Sunday 5 October, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, resident at St Vincent de Paul and one of our deanery priests, received the red hat from Pope Francis. In fact, not only did he receive the hat of a cardinal, he was also presented with a new ring and assigned a titular church in Rome – which he had to take possession of for a few days after the ceremony.The link with the titular church is generally only an honorary designation, though in cases of cardinals from wealthy countries, they would be expected to provide some means of financial support to the Roman church. (The weekly collection at St Vincent’s won't stretch to this!). We offer him our congratulations and best wishes on receiving such an honour.
There are a considerable number of concerts and events taking place in the Cathedral during October which can be found on the website; I have just concentrated here on referring to extra services that are scheduled.
Sunday 13 October, as well as being the day of the Canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman, was also the memorial of St Edward the Confessor, so we were joined at our 11am Solemn Mass by staff, parents and pupils of St Edward’s College.
The Annual Healing Mass was celebrated on Saturday 19 October from 3pm until 6.30pm. Father Peter Morgan presided at the Mass, which was followed by a talk by Eddie Stones prior to the opportunity for prayer and healing ministries. The Pause for Hope Annual Service for those affected by cancer was on Sunday 27 October at 3pm.
We will also be having a joint (Anglican and Catholic) Cathedral celebration for the Canonisation of John Henry Newman on Thursday 7 November. This will take the form of a joint Choral Evening Prayer at 6pm, followed by a joint lecture at 7pm given by Monsignor Rod Strange and Canon Rod Garner on Newman’s influence on the Anglican and Catholic Churches. It will be held at our Cathedral and we would be grateful if you could register online for the talks (the event is free) in order to have an idea of numbers.