Carlisle Cathedral marked Advent Sunday by launching Journey and Rest – its 900th anniversary celebrations with a varied programme of events, activities and engagement, all underpinned by its daily worshipping life.
Carlisle Cathedral marks Advent Sunday with 900th Anniversary
The Dean of Carlisle, the Very Revd Mark Boyling said:
“2022 marks the 900th anniversary of the Church we know and love as Carlisle Cathedral.
“Through these 900 years the Cathedral has served the city and county – as a house of worship, a beacon of hope and as a place of rest within the restless history of life on the Border.
“The Cathedral has welcomed and given shelter to visitors, travellers and pilgrims – from the grandest monarch to the humblest wayfarer. A daily pattern of prayer has undergirded everything.
“As we hopefully emerge from the Coronavirus pandemic, we have prepared a programme of events, activities and engagement which is aimed to allow many people, in a multitude of ways, to be part of this continuing pattern of journey and rest,” he added.
Highlights include a visit by the Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell for the Cathedral’s patronal festival next June, a public lecture by Lord Bragg of Wigton and a collaboration with historian and author Max Adams to explore how Carlisle existed at the centre of journeys of faith, power, and culture that filled post-Roman Britain.
There are concerts, including the Hadrian’s Wall Choirs’ Festival that brings together Carlisle Cathedral Choir with the choirs of Newcastle Cathedral and Hexham Abbey, and the world-renowned The Sixteen on their annual Choral Pilgrimage.
Carlisle Cathedral’s newly refurbished Fratry Hall will host a number of new exhibitions and there will be opportunities for engagement with the local communities of Carlisle and Cumbria including a project with the University of Cumbria to explore how communities from across the county have experienced the turbulence, journeys, and sometimes enforced rest during the pandemic year.
Carlisle Cathedral will engage with every Church of England school during its anniversary year too, with a labyrinth project to explore the theme of pilgrimage in a joint project with its diocese.
It will also take “God’s Tent”, a project by the Cathedral’s Canon Warden, the Revd Canon Ben Carter, on the road to be present amongst the communities of Cumbria.
The anniversary programme has been made possible with funding from the Heritage Fund and the Friends of Carlisle Cathedral.
The programme can be found in full here.
More about Christmas at your cathedrals here.
