Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

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Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (usually shortened to Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool, England. It replaced the Pro-Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Copperas Hill. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool, the mother church of Liverpool's Catholics, and the metropolitan church of the ecclesiastical Northern Province.

In 1853 Bishop Goss awarded the commission for the building of a new Roman Catholic cathedral to Edward Welby Pugin (1833-1875), the son of Augustus Welby Pugin the joint architect of the Houses of Parliament and champion of the Gothic Revival. By 1856 the Lady Chapel of the new cathedral had been completed on a site adjacent to the Catholic Institute on Saint Domingo Road, Everton. Due to financial restrictions work on the building ceased at this point and the Lady Chapel now named Our Lady Immaculate served as parish church to the local Catholic population until its demolition in the 1980s.

Following purchase of the present 9-acre site at Brownlow Hill in 1930 Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) was commissioned to provide a design which would be an appropriate response to the Gilbert Scott-designed Neo-gothic Anglican cathedral then emerging at the other end of Hope Street. Lutyens' design would have created a massive classical/Byzantine structure that would have become the second-largest church in the world. It would have had the world's largest dome. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 5 June 1933, but again financial restrictions caused the abandonment of this plan after construction of the crypt.

The new cathedral, designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd and consecrated in 1967, was built on land adjacent to the crypt. Its circular plan was conceived as a response to the Second Vatican Council's requirements for a greater participation of the lay faithful in the sacred liturgy.

"Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations " Second Vatican Council 1962-1965

Whether or not the intimate integration of congregation and clergy that is effected by this design is the proper fulfillment of that council's call is a topic that enjoys lively debate throughout the Catholic Church today.

Chapels are built in between the buttresses that support the tent-shaped spire (which represents the crown of thorns of Jesus) like tent poles. A short film, Crown of Glass, documents the construction of the cathedral's rainbow-coloured stained glass windows.

The cathedral stands on the site of the Liverpool Workhouse, on Hope Street. Facing it at the opposite end of Hope Street is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool, the city's Anglican cathedral. (Ironically, Lutyens was an Anglican, while the architect of the Anglican cathedral, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was a Catholic.)

[edit] Cathedral Choir

Information on the choir can be found at St. Edward's College.

[edit] Local Information

• Liverpudlians affectionately call the cathedral "Paddy's Wigwam" because of its largely Irish Catholic congregation and its general resemblance to a Native American teepee.

• The church's concrete exterior has not worn well and suffers from leaks. A belfry stands to the east of the church. A new stepped approach has recently been built as part of a multi-million pound restoration.

• The Cathedral's choir has a reputation as one of the finest in the UK. It has a very large repertoire, from contemporary music to Gregorian Chant.

• The Cathedral's crypt hosts the Liverpool Beer Festival each February.

[edit] External links

• Cathedral site
• An image of the Lutyens design. Courtesy of 'Dream Organs'.