Portsmouth Cathedral Notices Sunday 28 June Third Sunday after Trinity
Welcome from The Reverend Canon Dr Anthony Rustell
Sunday’s Gospel reading is all about welcome. We are reminded that, when we welcome others, we welcome Christ amongst us. It is that sense of welcome that the cathedral community has been trying to maintain throughout lockdown through our live streamed worship, and more recently through opening the building for private prayer.
It is wonderful to be able to once again re-open for public worship next weekend after the relaxation of the previous rules that have been in place for over three months. We can come together as a community, albeit in units of up to thirty people, to celebrate Christ’s presence amongst us and welcome others into the community of faith.
A good deal of talk in the national church has been about ‘when things return to normal’. It may well be that things will never quite return to the way they were, and there are both positives and negatives to this. On the positive side, we should note the large numbers of people who have joined us for our regular online worship in lockdown. Although our welcome and outreach were virtual and online, nonetheless we reached out and welcomed new groups of people.
As a cathedral, a key question for us to address is how we work in the future to further extend our welcome to those we previously have had little or no contact with, and so live up to our claim to be an inclusive community. We announced last week that in the autumn we will be starting a new informal 9.30am service on a Sunday morning as an accessible service for children and families. We will also be thinking about how we continue to develop our online presence so that we can welcome those who are part of the wider cathedral and diocesan community to our regular worship.
So as we welcome you back next week, we also need to think about how we can welcome others, and so welcome Christ himself.
The Reverend Canon Dr Anthony Rustell
Residentiary Canon
Visiting the Cathedral
Portsmouth Cathedral is now open for private prayer every day between 11.00am and 2.00pm. It has been wonderful to welcome people back into our building. One visitor commented:
“It was a real joy to spend an hour of prayer in the Cathedral yesterday. Everything so beautifully thought through and set out - so clever to have single matchsticks for candle lighting and so reassuring, as well as practical, to have the hand sanitizers …. A real manifestation of the love and grace of God. Heartfelt thanks.”
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who have offered their time to enable us to open. You can find more information about what to expect when you visit, including the safety measures we are taking, here.
Restarting Public Worship
As mentioned above, it is fitting that this coincides with our Patronal Festival on Sunday 5 July. Details of how we will be celebrating this special occasion are below and we look forward to welcoming you in person to the Cathedral very soon. Details of services are here.
Online Worship
We know that not everyone will be able to make a trip to the Cathedral for a service or to pray. We will be continuing our online services as normal on Facebook (see below for details), including a live-streamed service of Holy Communion every Sunday morning at 9.00am.
In the notices this week:
Welcoming Catherine Edenborough, Cathedral Curate
Patronal Festival - Sunday 5 July
Safeguarding
News from Chapter
Supporting Portsmouth Cathedral
Portsmouth Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day
Weekly reflection from the Portsmouth Cathedral Ministry Team
Online Resources
Online worship including the order of service for Sunday 28 June
Regular details of prayers and intercessions and ways to contact the Cathedral.
Welcoming Catherine Edenborough, Cathedral Curate
We are very much looking forward to welcoming our new Cathedral curate, Catherine Edenborough. She will be licensed as a Lay Worker by the Bishop via Zoom at 11 am next Saturday, 4th July, and it will be possible to join the licensing service via Facebook – further details next week, and here. Catherine will then worship with us on Sunday morning. Her usual working days will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and she is very much looking forward to starting her ministry at the Cathedral. Please hold her, and her husband Max, in your prayers.
Canon Kathryn Percival
Patronal Festival - Sunday 5 July
We really hope you will be able to join us to celebrate our Patronal Festival on Sunday 5 July.
Services in the Cathedral
8.00am BCP Holy Communion
9.00am Holy Communion (also broadcast on Facebook)
10.00am Holy Communion
11.00am Holy Communion
12noon Holy Communion
Online Patronal Festival Evening Service - 5.30pm
A service of the word including a sermon from guest preacher the Dean of Canterbury. The service will be broadcast live on Facebook. Further details here.
Zoom Festival Fizz
Crack open something fizzy and join us for our Festival Fizz, a chance to catch up with other members of the congregation and raise a glass to celebrate our Patronal Festival. The Festival Fizz will replace our usual 10.00am coffee hour on this Sunday. Details of how to join will be sent in the email notices next week.
Safeguarding
The Cathedral Safeguarding Committee met on Tuesday. A new Memorandum of Understanding and Information Sharing Agreement between the Diocese and the Cathedral were discussed and will go to the next Chapter meeting for approval. These documents help to ensure the Cathedral benefits from Diocesan safeguarding expertise and that information is shared legally and with due consideration. A new Diocesan Safeguarding Dashboard will now be used to help ensure that we are compliant with safeguarding requirements and to highlight areas for improvement. Preparations for the SCIE safeguarding audit originally scheduled for June 2020, and now likely to take place in June 2021, were discussed. Details of the Cathedral’s Safeguarding Team are here.
News from Chapter
On 10 June Chapter met to review the work being done to create a new Cathedral Strategy and Vision to carry us forward toward the centenary in 2027. A final paper on the Strategy and Vision will be presented at its July meeting. Chapter also reviewed the variety of services offered by the Cathedral, and approved a change to our future Sunday morning offering, with an additional new service at 9.30am in addition to the 8.00am Holy Communion and our traditional Sung Eucharist which will move to 11.00am. An update on preparations for reopening the Cathedral was provided.
The financial performance of the Cathedral continues to be monitored by Chapter and it was warmly noted that planned giving through direct debit/standing order as well as one-off donations have both increased (If you would like to speak to someone about the planned giving scheme or other ways to financially support the Cathedral please see the “Support Portsmouth Cathedral" section below).
The next scheduled meeting of Chapter is 15 July.
A message from the Dean:
“I am sure that for many the standout item in the Chapter summary above will be about a change to our patterns of Sunday worship. While this cannot of course come into immediate effect, given that public worship is still suspended, it may be that a little more background would be useful.
This period of lockdown, in challenging us to find new ways of doing things, has enabled us to reach people previously unknown to us, and has given an opportunity to revisit the ways we engage with those we serve in our parish and diocese. As we pray and plan for our emergence from the pandemic, we have been inspired both to reaffirm our commitment to the beauty and transcendence of the English choral tradition, and also to try something new, which we hope will draw in young families and others who don’t yet attend the Cathedral’s worship. That is why Chapter has approved the change mentioned above.
I’m grateful to Canon Kathryn for initiating the idea, and to others who contributed to the discussion, including Canon Jo and our Director of Music David Price. This is an exciting new venture that we pray in due time (September at the earliest) will be richly blessed.
My intention is to write at greater length about the return to public worship in the Cathedral, but I cannot do that until further national announcements and guidance are forthcoming. We will of course keep you regularly updated, and look forward with eager longing for the time when we can all return to our beautiful building for worship.”
Supporting Portsmouth Cathedral
Over past weeks we have been sharing some of the profound financial challenges that Portsmouth Cathedral faces. The Cathedral team has done everything possible to reduce expenditure and Chapter has approved revised budgets for 2020 and 2021 which see deep cuts of almost 40%. Even with such drastic measures, we will be unable to achieve balanced budgets and to continue our ministry in the way we aspire to without the support of our congregation.
We know many people are facing financially challenging circumstances. If you are able to, please consider making a new or increased regular or one-off donation to support our work. Every gift is hugely valued and very gratefully received. If you are a UK taxpayer, signing up for Gift Aid will enable us to claim an additional 25% of your donation from HMRC.
Ways to make a regular donation:
By Direct Debit – via the Parish Giving Scheme by calling 0333 002 1271. Lines are open Monday-Friday between 9.00am and 5.00pm. You will need your bank details ready as well as this reference information: Church name: Portsmouth Cathedral, Parish Giving Scheme parish code: 290629001
By Standing Order – please contact sophie.henstridge-brown@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk for our bank details and reference number
Ways to make a one-off donation:
By bank transfer – please contact sophie.henstridge-brown@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk for our bank details
By cheque – payable to ‘Portsmouth Cathedral Chapter’ and sent to the Cathedral Offices
Online here. Please note that online donations incur a fee from the online provider, if you wish us to receive all of your donation and Gift Aid, please use bank transfer or cheque.
Thank you to everyone who has generously increased their giving recently, we are hugely grateful.
If you would like to talk about how your gift can make a difference, please contact our Head of Fundraising Sophie Henstridge-Brown on sophie.henstrdge-brown@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk.
Portsmouth Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day
The British Pilgrimage Trust has just released details of a walking route that makes up a Pilgrimage in a Day to Portsmouth Cathedral. More information is available on their website here.
Weekly reflection from the Portsmouth Cathedral Ministry Team
For the past few weeks we have been sharing a short reflection from members of the Ministry Team. You can see all of the previous videos on our YouTube channel here.
Online Resources
A reminder that resources for prayer, worship, and family activities at home can be found on our website here
Online worship
Monday-Saturday
8.15am Morning Prayer
5.30pm Evening Prayer
8.30pm Compline
Plus Toddler Group on Wednesdays at 2.00pm via Facebook
Sunday
9.00am Holy Communion, followed by online coffee at 10.00am
5.30pm Evening Prayer
8.30pm Compline
How to join the services
You do not need to be a member of Facebook to join the services. Please use this link. when the service is about to begin. You will see a prompt asking you to join Facebook, just click ‘not now’. Orders of service for our Sunday Eucharist’s, Compline, and special services, can be found on the Resources Section of our website here
Order of Service for Sunday 28 June
The order of service for Holy Communion on Sunday 28 June can be found here.
How to join the online Sunday Coffee Hour
Coffee is hosted on Zoom. In order to maintain security details will be sent with our emailed notices.
Prayers and Intercessions
Cathedral Prayers
All those preparing to be licensed as Lay Workers: Catherine Edenborough, Hannah Barraclough, Matthew Grove and Jack Williams.
All those preparing to be ordained as Priests in the autumn: Hugo Deadman, Ruth Howlett-Shipley, Dion Mabey, Michael Moritz and Bryan Stephenson.
All those affected by COVID-19
We remember the following for whom prayer has been asked by members of the Cathedral Community: Christopher, Peter, Stephen, Paul, Marinus, Chris, Colin, Philippa, Terry, Sally, David, John, Bob, Derek, Nigel, Trevor, Emrys, Reuben, Andrew, Jonathan, Melissa, Mary, Laurence, Clare, Anne, Roger, Izzy and all those in need.
All those who have died: Jackie Taylor, Alma Marrow and Peter Wright RIP.
Requesting an addition to the prayer list
To add someone to the prayer list, please email info@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
Getting in touch
We know that this is a lonely and anxious time for many people. Please feel free to get in touch if we can help in any way, or if you just want to hear another voice!
By phone:
The Dean: 023 9282 4400
Canon Kathryn Percival: 023 9289 2967
Canon Jo Spreadbury: 023 9275 2335
Messages can also be left on the cathedral phone system 023 9282 3300 and will be responded to as necessary.
By email:
The Dean Anthony.Cane@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
Canon Kathryn Percival Kathryn.Percival@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
Canon Jo Spreadbury Jo.Spreadbury@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
For pastoral matters pastoral@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
General matters info@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk