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Dear Members and Friends of Christ Church Cathedral.

This is a plea for your ideas, wisdom, and a bit of time.

After much consultation about what matters to us as a Cathedral church, and what we might be especially well equipped to offer for the mending of the world, it is time to talk about what kind of space we need to achieve our mission and dreams.  

We know that some “big ideas” we have may take decades to fulfil. If they are the right ideas, that doesn’t matter. What we need to do now is to articulate them, and to lay the groundwork for those who come after us. I am pretty sure, however, that there are also important improvements and potentials that we can address now, in the short term. 

Please join us for one of two (identical) congregational consultations to be held in the cathedral (well spaced):

Either

Friday, September 24
1.00-3.00 p.m.

Or

Saturday, September 25
9.30-11.30 a.m.

Why now?

There are two reasons:

  1. First, thanks to funding from Christ Church Cathedral Buildings, we have engaged a firm called “Wiser Projects” to craft a long term “master plan” for the future of the entire cathedral precinct.  They are assisting us to make connections with developers and others who have an interest in the future of our neighbourhood, and to identify potential sources of funding. 
  2. Second, in this regard, we recently applied successfully for a “cultural infrastructure grant” from the City of Victoria. This has allowed us to hire an architect skilled in liturgical space to examine the feasibility of reconfiguring the interior of the cathedral itself to meet our identified liturgical and musical/artistic needs.  We need to provide the architect with a creative brief!

But this conversation needs to encompass many other concerns. For example, what kind of space do we need to be truly hospitable and welcoming?  (Think of the Quadra doors; think of our quite dark narthex; or a cramped, and poorly ventilated Chapter Room with a kitchen smaller than the one in your own home.)  How can we, as a cathedral, invite the wider church and community into our space for conversation and learning? (How is it that local parish churches can accommodate larger meetings than the cathedral church of the diocese?)  What kind of space do we have that could accommodate a meaningful ministry to the wider community (for example, a collective kitchen, community learning, open space in an increasingly densified neighbourhood, and so on.)

We need your ideas and wisdom.

Please plan to join us for one of these two sessions. It isn’t necessary to register in advance, but it would certainly help our planning.  Please indicate your intention to attend by emailing Alex Harvey at frontdesk@christchurchcathedral.bc.ca 

We’re looking forward to a conversation that will help us define our needs and desires!

Best,

Ansley