As the mother church of the diocese the Cathedral belongs to us all

WelCom June/July 2024

Tēnā koutou katoa

The re-opening of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary His Mother is a wonderful opportunity for us as an archdiocese to reflect on the nature of our Church.

We celebrate that we have a Cathedral again, that ours is now open. This place of God, this house of worship, is the centre point of our diocese within the wider Church. It is the place where the cathedra, the seat of the bishop, is installed. Through the symbol of the chair we recognise that as a Church we are universal, bigger than our particular parish community. We are a diocese, with a chief shepherd, the bishop and that we are under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.

This reminds us we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters beyond the community that we know, namely our parish. A bishop has the responsibility to ensure that the people of his diocese have priests for his people and so the diocese is divided into parishes, and the bishop appoints a priest to be the shepherd of that community, on his behalf. That is why the bishop appoints the priest to the community, not the community that decides which priest they would like! The bishop has the concern for the overall faith life of the whole diocese. This is captured in the importance of the Cathedral as the mother church of the diocese. It belongs to us all. It is where significant liturgies take place and where all in the diocese belong.

In our times moments like the opening of the Cathedral remind us that our faith life, our relationship with God, our following of Christ his Son, with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, are for the community of faith and beyond. Our forebears understood this, it was why they built the churches they did. They wanted to show, through the architecture, that this was a significant and important place. It is a holy place because of what happens within it, and because of those who come within in. Holy people like you and me, or at least striving to become holy. The early Christians used to refer to each other as saints; it was an aspirational title. I wonder sometimes if we have forgotten this is what we are called to be and that we need one another in order to become this.

So as we re-open the Cathedral we give thanks to God for all who enabled this to happen through their generosity and skills and energy. We pray it will be a place where all feel welcome to come and praise and worship God and support one another. May our Archdiocese be strengthened in faith by these celebrations and continue on the journey of growing in holiness and being proclaimers of the Good News.