Due to unforeseen circumstances, Brian Heasley is unable to be with us for next Wednesday’s workshop. The workshop has been postponed to March 2018, and we will advertise the new date and time early in the new year.
Alpha Australia will be in contact with those who have already booked, to arrange refunds.
Cathedrals across Australia are growing, Australian Anglican Deans report, but need to focus their mission activities to reach children and young people. Twenty Cathedral Deans from across Australia met at the recently-refurbished St Paul’s Cathedral in Bendigo, Victoria, at the invitation of Dean John Roundhill. In their discussions on mission and evangelism among children and young people they were joined by the Revd John Deane, executive director of the Anglican Board of Mission.
Many of the Cathedrals across Australia report growth in congregational attendance countering a nation-wide trend, in which the number of Australians identifying as Anglicans has plummeted. The Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, said: ‘Cathedrals in Australia are growing in spite of nationwide trends. Here in Melbourne we have experienced a 30% growth in congregational attendance over the past five years. Our Cathedrals are places that naturally draw people in, to begin conversations about faith and discipleship’. Dean Loewe reflected: ‘At St Paul’s many of our worshippers first came through our doors as visitors. Our intentional program of making visitors welcome, and explaining our faith through the beauty of our building, provides the first invitation to come and find out more about Jesus Christ, and what it means to follow him’.
Some Cathedrals have extensive ministries to children and young people. The Dean of Geraldton, the Very Revd Peter Grice, reported: ‘Our priority has been to invest in ministry among young people: our youth and families’ minister works across our congregations, links up with state schools and now our local Anglican Grammar School’. Dean Grice added: ‘Particularly in rural areas we have natural contacts and opportunities for mission with our local community through our families’. St James’ Cathedral Townsville has reshaped its worship program to place children front and centre, Dean Rod MacDonald told the conference: ‘We are passionate about ministry with children. We have a crèche, as well as special area set aside for younger children and their parents. Every third Sunday we hold a special children’s worship as our principal service’. Dean MacDonald encouraged Deans to take their children’s worship outside their buildings: ‘Last month, we went further: we took our Cathedral down to the beach and worshipped there. One of the children said to me afterwards: “This was the best service ever”.’
The Australian Deans welcomed Dean Matthias Der from St John’s Cathedral Hong Kong to their conference. St John’s has a structured families’ program that reaches some 150 young people each Sunday. Dean Der explained: ‘We have a structured children’s program that reaches toddlers, pre-schoolers, primary school children and a junior church for children aged between 8-12. Our programs are delivered in English and Chinese and centre on teaching children and young people about the Bible, our worship, and Christian living’. Asked about the reason for the strong attendance, Dean Der said: ‘We intentionally resource a group of volunteers to run our program and to support parents in nurturing children in their own homes in their faith journey’.
The Australian Deans affirmed that in order for children’s ministry to flourish, strict safeguarding procedures would need to be adopted across Australia. Some Cathedrals have employed safeguarding officers to ensure compliance. The Deans were encouraged that General Synod will be considering adopting nationwide child-safe standards, compliance and professional standards protocols. Dean-elect of Newcastle, the Revd Canon Katherine Bowyer, said: ‘It is so important that Cathedrals and parish churches are safe places for vulnerable people and children. But we not only need to be safe places but need to be seen to be safe places by the wider community’. Canon Bowyer said: ‘We call all Anglicans and especially our General Synod to express clearly that we have heard and learnt from survivors, their families, and the Royal Commission. We are serious about child safety’.
The conference brought together Deans from across Australia: 20 of 23 Deans were able to be present. Senior Dean, the Very Revd Dr Peter Catt, said: ‘The Deans’ Conference is a rich, life-giving and collaborative experience. We enjoy a deep commonality in the midst of our theological diversity. The level of support and encouragement that we experience at the conferences means that attendance is always high. This year we enjoyed the presence of two women Deans and a woman Dean-elect for the first time in the history of the Australian church’. Deans next meet at St Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, at the invitation of Dean Kanishka Raffel, from 2-7 August 2018.
On Wednesday August 23 at 3pm, Brian Heasley, international prayer director of 24/7 Prayer (an Alpha initiative) and a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ team, will be leading a prayer masterclass at St Paul’s Cathedral, as part of his Australian tour.
In this masterclass, Brian will give an overview of 24/7 Prayer’s story and approach, drawing on his experience in Ibiza, Spain to help Australian Christian leaders consider how prayer can be a key aspect of church life to encourage local mission and outreach. Brian holds a strong belief that prayer and mission must go hand-in-hand so come and be inspired for what might be heavenly possible in your context and community.
Due to the Run Melbourne event next Sunday morning, the following road closures will be in place, and some routes to the Cathedral will be affected.
Full road closure of the following from 4am to no later than 8.30am:
Partial closures of the following from 4am to no later than 9.00am:
Please note the following changes to traffic conditions on Sunday, 30 July between 4:00am – 12noon:
Full road closure of the following:
Partial closures of the following:
From 6am Saturday 29, July to 12:30pm Sunday 30, July St Kilda Road southbound service lane between Princes Bridge to Linlithgow Avenue will be closed.
There will be several entertainment zones around the event course that will include music which will be in operation from 7am to 12noon on Sunday 30, July. All music will be monitored and kept to below 72 decibels.
Road closure and event information can be confirmed by calling Sole Motive on (03) 9285 0600 or email: runmelbourne@solemotive.com.
The full ANZAC day service, held at 11am on 25 April, 2017, is now available to watch online (in two parts).
Special services have been planned for each year during the WWI centenary, and the focuses of this year’s service were the slaughter at Passchendaele, Fromelles, and Pozieres, those who said no to war, and the forgotten Aboriginal wars.
At the 10.30am service on Sunday 6 August, we will mark the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima with a special Peace Day commemoration.
The Japanese Consul-General, Mr Kazuyoshi Matsunaga, has been invited by the Dean to deliver a brief message on peace, and the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International (Japanese flower arranging) will provide the floral arrangements, which can be viewed in the Cathedral throughout the day.
Members of the Japanese community in Melbourne, and all who are committed to working for peace, are warmly invited to attend.
All are very welcome to join us for our special Sea Sunday Choral Evensong this Sunday 9 July, commencing at 6pm. On this day, we join churches around the world in remembering and praying for seafarers, their families, and those who support them.
The preacher will be the Revd Canon James Brady, and Director of Music Philip Nicholls has programmed a selection of nautically-themed music, including Herbert Sumsion’s anthemic setting of Psalm 107 – They that go down to the sea in ships.
Following the 8am service on Sunday 16 July, Canon Dr Stephen Ames and members of the 8am congregation will meet for coffee and cake, and to discuss a paper by economist and development expert Kate Raworth, which looks at how the current, outdated economic mindset needs to change to cope with the social and ecological challenges of the 21st century. Stephen will be posing the question ‘What light does our Christian faith cast on this paper to help us see how we as Christians might respond?’ Members of the 10.30am congregation (and others) are invited to come early and join the discussion – the paper is available here.
The State Funeral for Mr Lou Richards MBE will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday 17 May, at 11am.
For those wishing to attend, details of the service can be found here: http://www.vic.gov.au/news/state-funeral-service-for-mr-lewis-lou-richards-mbe.html
Please note that the Cathedral will not be open to the public on Wednesday morning. Also note that Mainly Music, 12.15pm Eucharist, and the Lunchtime Concert will not run on Wednesday.
Pentecost Sunday, 4 June 2017, sees the first joint Choral Evensong led by the joint choirs of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral Melbourne and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Marking the end of the week-long shared prayer for Christian Unity in the Southern hemisphere, the two choirs will for the first time share in leading worship together. While St Paul’s Cathedral Choir has, in the past, been privileged to perform at St Patrick’s, the two choirs have never performed together in their more than 125 year history.
The preacher at this special Evensong will be the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd John Salvano.
Anglican Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, said: “We are delighted to share in worshipping together at the culmination of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As part of the northern hemisphere’s celebrations, a first Evensong took place in St Peter’s Basilica: it’s therefore highly appropriate that we are able to share this beautiful liturgical tradition and invite our friends from St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir to sing with our own choir”. Dr Loewe said that the service would bring together more than 50 singers: “It will not only be an historical occasion, but quite a spectacular musical performance”.
