To see a pdf version of the current Cathedral News with colour photos, see May (pdf)

APPOINTMENT – DEAN OF WELLINGTON

The Wardens are delighted to advise that an offer of appointment has been made and accepted for the position of Dean of Wellington. A formal announcement, delayed because the appointee’s existing overseas travel commitments preclude advice to his present parish until his return, will be made on Sunday 30th June when Bishop Justin will join us at the 10am service. We appreciate that this timing may be frustrating for parishioners, however, we are sure that you will understand our new Dean’s desire to notify his present parish in person. He will take up the appointment in January 2014.

The Wardens are working with Bishop Justin to ensure that the Cathedral is appropriately staffed for the rest of the interregnum, and hope to be able to tell you more about that shortly.

Janet Brown, Tony Fryer, Briar Gordon [Nominators]

Thursday 9th May Ascension Day

4.45 pm Our Choristers will sing from the Choir room balcony, overlooking Molesworth St - do come and support them over the road! 5.30 pm Choral Eucharist for Ascension Day Cathedral Choir, Missa Ascendens Christi Victoria

COMPANIONS ANNUAL FESTIVAL & AGM

Sunday 12th May Companions’ Annual Festival with Bishop Justin. Pre-lunch drinks, sit down lunch 1pm - 2pm served in the Loaves and Fishes Hall by Divine Caterers of Pauatahanui. $25.00 incl. Annual Meeting. Afternoon Tea. Guest Speaker: Bishop Justin. Followed by Choral Evensong 5.00 pm in the Cathedral. No RSVP is required. Members and friends of the Diocese are most welcome.

PENTECOST SUNDAY LUNCH AND CULTURAL CELEBRATION SUNDAY 19th MAY

This year we will again celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, with all our choirs singing together at 10am and then another cultural extravaganza lunch, as we’ve enjoyed the last couple of years. We want to rejoice in the diversity of God’s people in our Cathedral community, and celebrate the different cultures among us, including Kiwi cultures, and those with which we have an affinity or for which we have an affection.

Do plan to come along, sign up at the Cathedral so we can get an idea of numbers, and for the cooks among us, tell us which delicious (and unusual?) main course ethnic dish you can bring to share with the rest of us. For those who aren’t cooks, do still come along to enjoy the fun & food, please contribute a koha and/or a can for the Downtownm Community Ministry foodbank on the day, thank you.

FROM THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT

The two weeks following Easter Sunday are traditionally a quieter time for the Music Department, but two high-profile visitors to the Cathedral ensured the choir room and organ loft were humming with activity. Firstly, we were thrilled to welcome MALCOLM ARCHER to conduct both the Choristers and the Cathedral Choir in a choral workshop on Monday 8th April. A former Director of Music of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Malcolm had been invited to New Zealand to lead the RSCM Autumn Choral School in Auckland, and was touring the country working with choirs and giving organ recitals. The Choristers rehearsed some of Malcolm’s own works with him, including his stunning setting of the Responses, while the Cathedral Choir worked on Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor which they will perform in concert in August.

Former Organ Scholar of this Cathedral and now Organist and Master of the Choristers of Guildford Cathedral,KATHERINE DIENES-WILLIAMS very graciously accepted the invitation to conduct the Cathedral Choir in her own St Paul Eucharist at the 10am Eucharist on Sunday 14th April. Katherine has been incredibly generous with her time here, giving a wonderful TGIF recital the previous Friday, and showing the Cathedral Organ Scholars the ropes in an informal master class on 15th April.

COMING UP IN MAY

Wednesday 15th May 5.30 - 6.30pm Lecture/recital in Cathedral ‘The organ as preacher’ by Rick Erickson, Cantor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City, where he directs the Bach Vespers series and oversees the musical life of the parish. As organist Erickson has appeared in the United States, Germany and Sweden as recitalist, hymn festival leader, and lecturer. Sponsored by WCSP, St Paul’s Lutheran Church Wellington, ANZCO (Australian and New Zealand College of Organists). Entry: Koha.

THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY!

The Music Department offers a regular weekly series of recitals for you to enjoy every Friday of the year. 12.45pm-1.15pm. The May recitals are as follows:

3rd May Pepe Becker [Soprano]Half an hour of Hildegard Hildegard of Bingen, 12th century German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary Benedictine abbess, and polymath

10th May Richard Apperley [Organ]

17th May Rick Erickson [Organ], Cantor, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York [see above]

24th May Michael Stewart [Organ]

31st May Electro-acoustic students from New Zealand School of Music

LABYRINTH AT THE CATHEDRAL

We have borrowed a portable labyrinth for use in the Cathedral during the next few weeks. We welcome you to come and walk the labyrinth at any time, but especially on Saturday 4th May, 10am - 4pm. Brochures will be available, explaining how you might use this as an aid to prayer. World Labyrinth Day is kept each year on the 1st Saturday of May, encouraging people to walk a labyrinth wherever they are in the world at 1.00 pm on that day.

LICHFIELD LINK VISITORS

In March, Cathedral parishioners were pleased to host visitors from our Link Cathedral in the UK, Lichfield. David and Hazel Cliffe were visiting as part of a British car tour, hence the photo below of local admirers, Crispin & Elizabeth Kay, Merlene Simpson, Jay and Judy Berryman (with Canon Richard behind the camera). We were delighted to receive the gift of a recent photo of Lichfield Cathedral taken from a microlight, and are plotting to send Jay up in a microlight shortly!

SPECIAL SERVICE AT TARANAKI CATHEDRAL

On 3rd March , a special service of historical and cultural significance was held at Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary on the 3rd anniversary of its consecration. The Military Hatchments which were on the walls of the aisles and baptistry of the Cathedral were relocated to form two displays in the transept and vestry with explanatory signage. These Hatchments commemorate the Land Wars of the 1860s and carry with them a sense of some heartache to a united Cathedral of Maori and Pakeha. They were relocated to a place where they would no longer define the worship space, but could be noted as artifacts of historical note, properly explained as such, as part of our common history and heritage. This move was the culmination of years of discernment and listening , and part of this Cathedral’s journey of new beginnings. See also www.taranakicathedral.org.nz/ articles.php?articleid+60; Anglican Taonga magazine, Easter 2013.

Wellington Cathedral Vestry member Briar Gordon attended this service on our behalf. Briar comments: “It was indeed a weekend to remember. Even to an "outsider" to New Plymouth, the atmosphere of joy and reconciliation was palpable. The number of mitres in attendance was a statement in itself; the ceremony of re-hanging the hatchments was choreographed in a bi-cultural,inclusive Anglican service of liturgical beauty, culminating in the Eucharist. The hatchments had been taken down and were awaiting their re-hanging when we arrived for the service. Their rehanging was done before our eyes and by our hands as they were passed down the aisles, across the pews, or borne by carriers, young Maori & not so young, young pakeha and not so young - every one had a chance to help them on their journey to the transept. The ladders and scaffolding were in place to enable about a dozen to be re-hung - not all by any means. The ceremony was treated as a shedding of a load - though the history will not be lost sight of, just removed from centrality. It was a very potent service - though I was already attuned to the theme of reconciliation after reading Archbishop Justin Welby's sermon preached at Coventry at the annual conference of reconciliation http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2013/2/28/ACNS5330. Unmistakable messages for Lent and Easter.”

An Update on Dedicated Giving (as at 11th April 2013)

2013/14 Dedicated Giving yellow forms returned so far tell the following story: 62% of ‘known’ givers have returned their forms. (118/189) Total pledges received at 11/4/13, amount to $153,248. It is very difficult to get very meaningful comparisons when people are moving in and out of the parish for various reasons, changing their payments during the year etc. What I have done here is to take the latest list of givers for the current year, plus the information I have from the 62% of those I have had replies from, and compared those people with their pledges from last year.

Dollar “bands”/ Number of givers 2013/14 / Number of givers 2012/13.

$5000-$10000 per annum/ 2 / 2 .

$2000-$5000pa/ 20 / 25.

$1000-$2000pa/ 39 / 39.

$500-$1000pa/ 37 / 37.

0-$500pa/ 20 / 33.

Total to date 2013-14 118/ 2012-13 136

Actual receipts have exceeded pledges in 2011/12, by 10%; and in 2012/13, by 8.5%. I hope this is helpful. Janet Tiffin – Bursar

NB It is not too late to return your yellow Dedicated Giving and green Dedicated Living forms to the Cathedral office - they help with our budgeting and planning for the year. Thank you.

FROM THE REGISTERS

Baptism: Samuel Lee. Samuel Lee was baptised by the Venerable Bernard Faull, Diocesan Administrator.

Funeral: Rachel Grove

Confirmation: Tim Hodgson. Our Head Server, Tim Hodgson, was confirmed by Bishop Justin on Easter Eve, and prepared by the Revd Alison Camplin

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