Cathedral Record

by Dr Christopher McElroy Director of Music, Liverpool Metropolitan

Cathedral Cathedral Music on Lockdown

Visit of Pope St John Paul II in 1982

You might be forgiven for thinking that the Cathedral Music department has gone into hibernation during this period of lockdown. However, nothing could be further from the truth!

Our entire chorister programme has been moved online, and music staff have become experts in the use of the Zoom video conferencing software.

Across a typical week during lockdown, Cathedral music staff (from home) have carried out the following:

1 Junior Choir rehearsal 1 keyboard skills class for our young organists in training 1 university choir rehearsal 4 staff meetings 22 chorister rehearsals 43 individual singing lessons 45 individual theory tutorials

In addition we are carrying out voice trials (auditions for the choir) over Zoom and holding Big Sing! events where we gather all of our choristers,

Youth Choir members and Lay Clerks to sing and reflect together. At our Pentecost Big Sing! we spent some time learning about the opening of our Cathedral at Pentecost in 1967, and the visit of St John Paul II at Pentecost in 1982.

Socially, members of the choir gather on a Sunday evening each week for a community quiz on Zoom covering a wide variety of subjects (not just music!)

Our driving motivation is to ensure that once we are able to sing again in our Cathedral, our choristers will have maintained their musical training and engagement with the Cathedral during lockdown.

Feedback from our choristers and their parents has been very positive. Although they are all really missing singing on a daily basis in the Cathedral, they are really appreciative of the opportunity to continue their musical education and maintain the sense of community with the rest of the choir.

Cathedral Record Canon Anthony O’Brien – Cathedral Dean

This months’ record is dedicated to the memory of Bishop Vincent Malone, a former administrator of our Cathedral prior to being ordained as an auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese in 1989. Bishop Vincent had been the Cathedral Administrator for ten years throughout the 1980’s and prior to this was the Catholic University Chaplain based in the former chaplaincy building on the Cathedral site. During his time here at the Cathedral there was the National Pastoral Congress in 1980 and then the visit of Saint John Paul II at Pentecost in 1982. These are still significant highlights in the history of our Cathedral and Diocese and Bishop Vincent with his clear and precise mind was able, many years later, to recount the details and challenges that they faced in hosting these historic events for the ‘peoples voices’ recordings for the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the Cathedral in 2017. It was also Bishop Vincent who was responsible for deciding to celebrate Mass at the external altar on the precinct of the Cathedral in response to the huge crowds who had gathered to pray for the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy on hearing the news. As an auxiliary Diocesan Bishop he was a frequent visitor to the Cathedral for confirmation celebrations and many other events and was always supportive of Cathedral activities. As a member of the Chapter of Canons he regularly attended the Masses and meetings here until last year when his health started to deteriorate. His involvement was not just liturgical and formal, he attended the occasional Cathedral social events and he kept in touch with former students from the Catholic Chaplaincy days and up until recently attended reunion socials with them at which there was always barn dancing, which he really enjoyed. A few years ago he celebrated his 60th anniversary of priesthood at the Solemn Sunday Mass. He was determined to have some refreshment outside the main entrance, rather than the Gibberd Room, for people to share with him following the Mass, but only soft drinks were available. This in some ways was an indication of his personality – he didn’t like extravagance of any form but was always hospitable and welcoming and inclusive of all. One of Bishop Vincent’s legacies here was the creation of flow diagrams for every occasion. As we prepare for the gradual reopening of the Cathedral we could do with his expertise for a diagram for social distancing in church. May he rest in Peace.