Down Cathedral opens for private prayer
As the lockdown restrictions gradually relax, the Monday after Pentecost sees the doors of Down Cathedral opening for private prayer for the first time since St Patrick’s Day.
The Dean of Down, the Very Revd Henry Hull (pictured), said, ‘We are very thankful that the doors of the Cathedral can open for private prayer. In a normal year, as many as 70,000 people visit Down Cathedral – a mixture of tourists, pilgrims and worshippers. While it may be some time before things are back to normal, Down Cathedral has been a site for prayer and worship since the formation of a Benedictine Abbey here over 1000 years ago. Even when the Cathedral lay in ruins for two centuries, important acts of worship like the enthronement of Bishops of Down still took place here.
Although it is such a blessing to be joined by people from across the world as we continue to offer daily prayer and broadcast this through the Cathedral Webcam, it has been truly painful for us as a community to see the doors of the Cathedral closed every day. Usually the opposite is true – the Cathedral is open daily in normal circumstances.
Of course, we will be taking precautions to make sure that it will be as safe as possible to come to the Cathedral and pray. It will not be possible to accommodate tourists for some time and only specific areas will be open, exclusively for private prayer (although we will make sure there are periods during the week when members of our ministry team are present, should anyone wish to have a pastoral conversation). It will be necessary to apply rigorous social distancing and robust cleaning protocols. Indeed, a special team of cleaners had already been in to spray and clean surfaces in preparation for our reopening.
We pray regularly that visitors to the Cathedral will know God’s blessing. We will redouble those prayers, and we hope that people will continue to be enriched as they pray in this place.’
Down Cathedral will be open for private prayer on weekdays from 2–4.00 pm.