Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent ‘New Year’ Resolutions
Lichfield Cathedral has marked the beginning of Advent – the Church’s ‘New Year’ – with a set of ‘new year’s resolutions’. Launched on Advent Sunday with appropriately themed cupcakes, ‘ReSource : recovering together’ is a major two year campaign to help in the recovery following the pandemic and to ensure that the ancient and iconic Cathedral remains at the heart of the community as a source of hope and healing for the future.
The Dean of Lichfield, the Very Revd Adrian Dorber said, “The Covid pandemic has been, and in many ways continues to be, one of the most difficult challenges that Lichfield Cathedral has witnessed in over a thousand years. We are all too aware that both within the Cathedral community and within the City and wider region the Cathedral serves, there has been great hardship. Together we have witnessed bereavement and continued illness, social isolation and financial hardship, and education, jobs and opportunities have all been disrupted. Here at the Cathedral we want to be able to offer tangible support and resources to the communities around us, as together we set out on the road to recovery.”
“The Cathedral aims to help with bereavement and loss and to provide a safe space in which people can process the effects of the pandemic in a building where the hopes and fears of generations have been contained and held. As a Kickstart employer, the Cathedral has already started to provide placements for young people to enable them to gain work experience. Recognising the effect of the pandemic on the most vulnerable young people in society as well as the elderly the Cathedral is seeking to develop specialist skills to support and help them in their recovery. We are celebrating our musical heritage and the opportunities it affords for children and young people to recover and grow through singing, aiming to ensure there are no barriers – social, economic or gender-based – to prevent young people from enjoying such opportunities. We are committed to ensuring that the iconic Cathedral which is so very recognisable ‘Lichfield’ is secure for centuries to come by repairing weather-damaged stonework and ensuring that the central spire is no longer at risk of collapse and will stand tall for centuries to come. And finally we are committed to recreating the shrine of Saint Chad, the Cathedral’s patron saint, whose original shrine made Lichfield a place of pilgrimage for those seeking hope and healing.
Thanks to a number of grants and generous donations, the Cathedral has already raised £1.1m towards its target of £2 million. In addition, the Cathedral also hopes to encourage 50,000 hours of volunteer time as we seek to reach out to support the local community and to welcome them though our doors.
The Dean continued, “With no regular funding from the government, Lichfield Cathedral relies on the generosity of donors to help us financially to meet our costs, and the good will and hard work of volunteers who work tirelessly to support us and who will help us turn these ambitious plans into action. We are hoping that many will share our vision and will join us as we seek to be a very real resource in helping our communities to recover from the Covid pandemic.”
Image: St Chad statue created by Peter Walker, Sculptor