Christian Aid Week 2020 begins on Sunday 10th May. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, house to house and other face to face events cannot go ahead. However, the charity has a vibrant, virtual Christian Aid Week to get involved in online.
Below is a message from Kate Bates, Chair of the Cathedral’s Christian Aid Committee:
Dear Christian Aid Volunteers,
I hope you are well and managing to keep safe in this unprecedented pandemic. Thank you for volunteering to help with Christian Aid this year but as you have probably worked out already, it will not be possible to proceed with our Christian Aid activities in the usual way. However, in view of the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable and desperate people, it is doubly important that we maintain our commitment and still try to do what we can to support Christian Aid.
Christian Aid Week still gives us an opportunity to celebrate and share the life-saving work Christian Aid undertakes with your support. Even in the darkest moments, love gives hope. Love compels us to fight against coronavirus alongside our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Love compels us to stand together in prayer with our neighbours near and far. Love compels us to give and act as one.
Can I encourage you therefore, to go to the Christian Aid website where you can read about some different and innovative options to support Christian Aid at this time. If you are able, you may wish to make a donation, which can be done directly through the website, though we all understand that the impact of the pandemic on individual circumstances may make this difficult. Can you also please continue to talk to your family, friends and neighbours through any appropriate means, about Christian Aid and encourage them to consider if they too can help. I send my very best wishes to you all, please stay healthy and connected with family, friends and neighbours through every possible means.
To watch Cathedral videos during Holy Week, click here
Sunday 5th April
• Today is Palm Sunday. We sadly won’t be processing with palms from the Cathedral Green this morning, but the Cathedral Choir have prepared a short service which you can view below.
This was recorded before the current restrictions on social distancing were introduced.
Click here to read the intercessions written for this morning as we prepare ourselves for Holy Week.
Saturday 4th April
• Thought for the day is based on one of the day’s lectionary readings. For the Bible online, click the following link – http://bible.oremus.org/ – then choose your version (we use NRSV in church). Copy and paste the reference (Psalm 23) into the search box and the passage will be displayed.
Once you’ve read the passage, watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Friday 3rd April
• Thought for the day is based on one of the day’s lectionary readings. For the Bible online, click the following link – http://bible.oremus.org/ – then choose your version (we use NRSV in church). Copy and paste the reference (John 12. 20-36) into the search box and the passage will be displayed.
Once you’ve read the passage, watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Thursday 2nd April
• Thought for the day is based on one of the day’s lectionary readings. For the Bible online, click the following link – http://bible.oremus.org/ – then choose your version (we use NRSV in church). Copy and paste the reference (Psalm 40) into the search box and the passage will be displayed.
Once you’ve read the passage, watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Wednesday 1st April
• Thought for the day is based on one of the day’s lectionary readings. For the Bible online, click the following link – http://bible.oremus.org/ – then choose your version (we use NRSV in church). Copy and paste the reference (John 8. 31-42) into the search box and the passage will be displayed.
Once you’ve read the passage, watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Tuesday 31st March
• Today’s Thought for the Day is about John Donne, who is commemorated in the Church’s calendar today. Watch Canon Jan’s video below or click here to view the text version.
Monday 30th March
• Thought for the day is based on one of the day’s lectionary readings. For the Bible online, click the following link – http://bible.oremus.org/ – then choose your version (we use NRSV in church). Copy and paste the reference (John 11. 28-44) into the search box and the passage will be displayed.
Once you’ve read the passage, watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Sunday 29th March
• Today is Passion Sunday. The Cathedral Choir have prepared a short service (pre-recorded before the Cathedral was closed) which you can view below. Click here to see the intercessions written for this morning as we enter the season of Passiontide.
Saturday 28th March
• Watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
Friday 27th March
• Watch Canon Jan’s Thought for the Day below or click here to view the text version.
• A poem written by a Franciscan monk from Ireland, Brother Richard Hendrick, has been shared widely on social media. Entitled ‘Lockdown’, it reflects on the global fight against the Coronavirus and the hope that persists for the future. Click here to read it.
Sunday 22nd March
• We’ve created a short service for Mothering Sunday featuring the Cathedral Choir and led by the Canon Precentor. We hope this will go some way to making up for the absence of services in the Cathedral this morning. Happy Mothering Sunday to all the mothers of the Parish and Diocese!
Saturday 21st March
• Return to this page tomorrow at 10.30am to watch a short service we’ve made for Mothering Sunday.
• For those in self-isolation, the next few months will be a challenging time. This is particularly true for those who suffer from anxiety and depression. We attach here professional advice for how to maintain our emotional well-being during this period of uncertainty entitled “How to respond effectively to the Covid19 outbreak”, by Dr Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap.
• On Mothering Sunday, Cytun alongside the Church of England are calling all churches to a National Day of Prayer and Action. At 7.00pm this Sunday, we are encouraged to light a candle in the windows of our homes as a visible symbol of our hope in prayer. More information can be found here
We are compiling a list of volunteers to support members of the Cathedral community or others who are in need through self-isolation etc.
Please contact Canon Jan if you can offer support. Please also send to her any names of people who may be in need of support, with contact details if possible.
You can contact Canon Jan by email at [email protected] or you can call her on 02921 156258.
The Cathedral anticipates making an announcement regarding services and pastoral support during the Covid-19 Crisis in the next day or two.
St David’s Day was extra special in the Cathedral this year as Canon Graham Holcombe celebrated the Eucharist on his final Sunday before retirement.
Father Graham’s association with the Cathedral began many years ago when, as a teenager he would travel regularly from his home in Port Talbot for organ lessons with the then Cathedral Organist, Robert Joyce. After some years working in the Human Resources department of the industrial component manufacturer, Borg Warner, Graham found himself living in Llandaff for what would be the first of three periods in his life. It was in his late 20’s that he trained for the ministry as a residential student in St Michael’s Theological College. He was at that time the latest in a line of seven or eight Ordinands from the Parish of St Theodore’s, Port Talbot.
In 1980, following Ordination by Bishop John Poole-Hughes, Graham ‘served his title’ in the Parish of Neath under the direction of the legendary Canon Tom Pritchard. Neath was to be his home for some four years while his work focused on the congregation of St Peter and St Paul in Cimla. Among the young people Graham nurtured in the faith in that Parish was one Paul Bennett, now a lay member of the new Cathedral Chapter. 1984 was the year in which Graham found himself returning to the City within a City, as he accepted Dean Alun Davies’ invitation to become a Priest Vicar at the Cathedral; a post he held for two years.
Then, from 1986 until 2000 Graham was the Vicar of Pentyrch which includes the communities of Groesfaen and Creigiau. As the new Millennium dawned so Llandaff became Graham’s home for the third time, when he was appointed to the post he has held until his retirement Although not initially entitled as such, it has for a number of years been the post of Canon Residentiary. Until the School appointed full-time teaching Chaplains, Graham was also Chaplain to the Cathedral School and he has long served as a Governor at Llandaff City School, the Bishop of Llandaff High School and for a period at Howell’s School. Many people in and around the Cathedral community have cause to be grateful to Father Graham for his ministry. He has for so many years been a faithful servant of the Cathedral and its congregations.
On St David’s Day, instead of the usual 9am Parish Eucharist and 11am Choral Eucharist we held a 10.30am service to mark Father Graham’s long and distinguished ministry in the Cathedral. It was wonderful to see the two congregations come together, and this extended to the music as the Parish Choir sang alongside the Cathedral Choir. Over 400 people were in attendance and following a tribute by the Dean, rose as one to give Father Graham a standing ovation. We wish him a long and happy retirement.
