A LITURGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR NEWCASTLE CATHEDRAL
Context
A cathedral is a setting where worship takes pride of place. In a cathedral the timeless dimension of worship is encountered as in few other places, and a standard of excellence aspired to which is not usually experienced at parish level. In serving as a mother church to a whole diocese, a cathedral can hold before the wider church a priority for worship which lifts us beyond the pressures of the immediate and the mediocre.
A parish-church cathedral like Newcastle, of relatively recent foundation when compared with the ancient cathedrals of England, has a rather specialised role, affording perhaps distinctive opportunities to make connections with the local church and civic community, compared with cathedrals with longer histories, larger budgets, and more august reputations.
As in most of our great industrial cities, NewcastleCathedral knew life first as a parish church and this gives it a more accessible feel and ideally an easier working relationship with the parishes it serves. This arguably offers it the opportunity both to strive for and offer excellence but also to model and exemplify what might be possible in a parish setting.
The Nature of Renewed Worship
Taking as a starting point the definition of liturgy as the work of the people of God, the purpose of the Cathedral is to bring all who worship here into full, conscious, and active participation in the offering of worship to God. Cathedrals through their scale and spatial character always offer some scope for anonymity – for enquirers to test the water and for visitors to (literally in some cases) take a back seat – but that should not exclude the possibility or deny the opportunity of the regular community deepening their participation in the life of worship.
This need applies at a number of levels and relationships. It will involve the Cathedral’s regular Sunday and weekday congregation, the gathering of the community of the Diocese around its bishop, and the occasions when the Cathedral serves as spiritual home to the city and county.
From the outset therefore, key concepts in the development of the worshipping life of the Cathedral will be participation and flexibility.
These concepts will need to be reflected not only in approaches and attitudes as worship is planned and prepared, but also to be clearly expressed in the design of the liturgical space itself; its physical attributes, the configuration of seating for the congregation, and the design and positioning of its liturgical furnishings.
Such priorities are not always easily accommodated in historic church buildings, where layout and design of worship space reflect theological narratives of previous centuries. In this Newcastle Cathedral is no exception. The late nineteenth century re-ordering sought to establish a liturgical space or series of spaces with a distinct Choir and heavily pewed nave that reflected a then contemporary understanding of “catholic” worship with a strong west –east axis and a focus on the elevated high altar at the east end. The beautiful carving of Ralph Hedley created an outstanding set-piece Choir which continues to offer an appropriate setting for Choral Evensong with a modest congregation and the singers in their stalls. The length and narrowness of the Choir compared to the nave however, makes the high altar invisible to all but a small minority of the congregation seated in the centre of the nave. The creation of the crossing platform has increased the sense of detachment from the nave – there is a real feeling that we are dealing here with two separate rooms rather than one coherent whole. The remaining nave pews (many have already been removed) seem both crowded but also very unbalanced and developments in liturgical understanding have eroded the logic behind the original pattern of furnishings.
The Liturgical Renewal movement originating on the Continent at the end of the 19th century rapidly gathered pace with the Second Vatican Council, affecting all major liturgical traditions. Within the Church of England, the Parish Communion Movement was another expression of the same impetus. These movements sprang from a rediscovery of primitive Christian practice, in which the Eucharist was central, as was an understanding of the assembly itself as the minister of the rite.
Possibilities and Problems
In this context a seating plan,the remnants of which survives in Newcastle Cathedral, can be seen to inhibit a rediscovery of the assembly’s role. Both the hierarchical division between choir and nave, clergy and people, and the rigid fixed seating in the nave, speak solely of supportive observance of worship rather than the possibility of active participation in it.
While the interplay between the English Choral tradition and the role of the assembly is a wider issue that needs to be explored and understood in more than architectural terms, there is most certainly an inherent conflict between the Cathedral as presently configured and the renewed understanding of worship as the work of the whole people of God expressed anew in the language and culture of today’s Church. Furthermore, the wide variety of worship, civic and cultural events which a contemporary cathedral is required to host demands a flexibility at present denied by the building, as the introduction to the Options Appraisal states: “the potential use of the cathedral’s nave is greatly hampered by the quality and character of the current layout of furnishings”.
A Way Ahead
How might this conflict be resolved? In attempting to answer this question it may be useful to examine several different liturgical scenarios which form a regular part of the Cathedral ‘s annual cycle of events, to see which common denominators emerge.
- The Sunday Liturgy
The Cathedral has long enjoyed a rich tradition of worship in what used to be called the ‘Prayer Book Catholic’ tradition (now perhaps Common Worship Catholic?). It was no doubt an early beneficiary of the Parish Communion Movement (adjoining as it does the parish of St John’s Newcastle, one of the pioneers), and the Eucharist is central to the Cathedral’s life. The main Sunday Eucharist is celebrated with great dignity, with lights, sometimes with incense and always with an eye to detail.
But just as the mid 20th century witnessed a sea change in the pattern and appearance of Sunday morning worship, as sung Matins gave way to the Eucharist, so again the Church finds itself in a time of transition. The rediscovery of early Christian praxis is enlivening our liturgical sense, and empowering the whole people of God to claim their inheritance as the holy, priestly, community of faith.
Integral to this renewed understanding is a strong sense of community, the desire for full participation, and an awareness that in worship we are engaged in a journey.
It is precisely for these reasons that the interior of the Cathedral as it now stands is inadequate for the task. The fixed seating confines the assembly to a traditional configuration facing east, suggestive of an audience observing worship led by others. The length and comparative narrowness of the building beyond the crossing has already led to the high altar being abandoned as a central focus for the Sunday Liturgy, but its architectural setting means that it continues to compete visually with the nave altar, a tension arguably compounded by the present custom of administering communion at both altars in the same Eucharist.
The finely detailed choir is the natural setting for the singers, but this divides the assembly and removes those making music from a full sense of participation with other worshipers. Experiments placing the singers in other locations however have proved less than satisfactory, for reasons to do with sight lines, audibility and the necessary relationship between the choir and the organist.
The present configuration of seating encourages people to scatter across a wide area, many in the north aisle, severely detracting from a sense of cohesion, and the fixed amount of seating means that it cannot be adjusted downwards for occasions such as the average Sunday when seating capacity is greater than necessary.
The Cathedral’s Sunday Liturgy has for many years emphasized the notion of journey by beginning every week at the west end, gathered around the font, for the penitential rite, but thereafter it is difficult to maintain or give impetus to this journeying theme, given the over-provision of furniture and the changes in level beyond the crossing. Once again the building inhibits.
In view of all these factors, the re-ordering of the nave becomes the pre-requisite to a thorough re-working of the way in which the Sunday Liturgy is staged and celebrated. Above all a large level area - which we might call a liturgical pavement – is required, on which the journey from font to ambo and to altar could be made by an assembly conscious of itself as a pilgrim people or by the ministers as representatives of the wider assembly.Either way, both the seating capacity and its configuration need to be adjustable and flexible to encourage a sense of cohesion and to place members of the assembly in conscious recognition of one another.
For the Sunday Liturgy, the ‘room’ could be defined as the nave, with the eastern part of the building disregarded for this purpose. This liturgical room, as well as being established at a single level, would be simplified as far as possible by the removal of all extraneous objects or decoration e.g. banners, obsolete hymn boards, display boards, stacked chairs, to allow the liturgy itself, in its colour and movement, to be the icon of the presence of Christ.
The Cathedral’s existing commitment to liturgy as journey could be emphasized and made a distinguishing feature of its life and work. The liturgy could move from the font at the west end to an ambo set up in the centre of the nave, around which the assembly is seated, in forming two blocks of seating facing one another, possibly in an ellipse. The ambo could, for example, be located towards the west end of the nave, facing east, indicative of the journey that is to continue and distancing the liturgy from the traditional ‘up front’ position of the lectern and pulpit.
Following the Liturgy of the Word and the sharing of the Peace, the assembly might continue its journey to stand around the altar at the eastern end of the nave or possibly at the crossing. (As currently configured this would involve negotiating one or two steps but there is equally a strong case for levelling the pavement at this point too). This altar would be thefocus of the Eucharistic prayer and of the sharing of communion.
It would be possible for each section of the liturgical journey to be centred on a single liturgical focus, each speaking with clarity and force of the life and practice which they symbolise.
In support of this process further thought might be given to the key liturgical furnishings: the font, lectern, altar and in this cathedral church – the chair of the bishop.
There is a strong case for the existing font to be adapted to stand on the floor of the cathedral, its two steps removed, to make it accessible to all. Relined and kept full to overflowing with water at all times, it would then stand as a reminder of our baptismal promises within the liturgy, and as a place at other times where the individual may touch holy water as a sign of blessing.
(The canopy would need to be raised to an adequate distance and the effect of the water heightened by appropriate lighting).
Attention to the setting of the font, perhaps decoratingthe floor of the nave immediately around the font as at Peterborough, might give added prominence. The font, thus refurbished and highlighted, would become the natural starting point both for every liturgical journey and for pilgrims and visitors on their entry into the cathedral.
Anambo could replace both the existing lectern and pulpit as the primary liturgical focus for the reading of the scriptures, the proclamation of the gospel, and the preaching. It would need to be a piece of furniture of strength and dignity, matching the altar table in prominence, to give a proper balance between word and sacrament. It could be so designed as to enable an open book of the scriptures to be displayed at all times. It might be possible to adapt the existing pre Reformation eagle lectern for this purpose or for this unique object to be relocated to the Choir. (In terms of scale as well as aesthetics this may have much to commend it.)
The altar table should be a piece of liturgical furniture of great strength and dignity, and to this end it should be a thing of beauty in its own right, not necessarily requiring altar frontals to give it prominence. A dramatically simple stone cube such as that newly erected in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, provides a possible model. Like the font and ambo, the altar table would stand on the floor, without steps or rails to separate it from the people. It could stand within the crossing or further west depending on the shape of the assembly.
Appropriately located, the altar whatever its design, would, on occasions, enable the whole assembly to gather around, standing, for the Eucharistic prayer, to make explicit the offering of the whole assembly. (A small number of seats could be provided for those who find it difficult to stand.) After communion the assembly could return to their places in the nave for a time of quiet reflection before the thanksgiving for communion and the sending forth. Such a pattern would presuppose and permit a single point of reception.
It should be noted however that both ambo and altar, unlike the font, would need to be movable in order to serve the needs of other cathedral liturgies and events. This does not mean however that these items would look movable or lightweight. There are good examples, (as at Pontigny Abbey), of movable altars which appear solid and immovable.
It is important to express the key role of the cathedral as a focus of the Bishop’s teaching ministry and this might be enhanced by the creation of a dignified bishop’s chair that would take its place in the nave to complement the present throne in the choir. Whilst this should also be movable in order to respond to different liturgical occasions it should be of a piece with the family of furniture that includes the ambo and altar.
The capacity to configure the space along these lines would enable musicians and singers to be positioned in such a way that they felt and were evidently a part of the whole assembly rather than being seated in a distinct or distant area, though probably sitting together as a group alongside everyone else.
The creation of such a liturgical room in the nave for Sunday worship could be achieved only if all the existing pews in the nave and north aisle were removed and the floor levelled to create a liturgical pavement on one level on which font, ambo and altar all stand.
The pews could be replaced by benches with the addition of good quality stacking chairs for bigger occasions. The options appraisal considers some alternatives.
It should be noted at this point that such a proposal can only work successfully if provision is made at the outset for the storage of all superfluous chairs – there will thus be a need for improvements to the existing chair store in the South transept including a robust lift mechanism.
It should also be stressed that the possibility of anonymity that some seek in attending a Cathedral whether as visitors or enquirers, is not compromised by a more gathered seating plan such as that proposed. Indeed the more obvious sense of spaciousness in the nave as a whole, may actually be more permissive then the constraints imposed by pews, for those who simply wish, in the first instance, to observe.
- Maundy Thursday Evening
The particular demands of Holy Week, when the Liturgy of the Church calls the faithful, not only to recall but to enter actively into dramatic events of the final days in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, of necessity requires the imaginative use of the Cathedral space, bringing into play a whole range of spaces and rooms.
The Mass of the Last Supper celebrated on the evening of Maundy Thursday is potentially the most poignant and moving of all the Church’s liturgies. It calls the participant to a renewal of discipleship and a deepened sense of solidarity with the betrayed and abandoned Christ. It has however in over a decade of experimentation proved almost impossible to stage effectively in Newcastle Cathedral. Constraints of space and problems over sight lines have meant the principle symbolic actions such as the washing of the feet have either been invisible to a significant number of the assembly (when enacted in the nave or on the nave platform) or difficult to undertake with dignity in the constrained space of the Choir.
Once again, a large, open, liturgical pavement, all on one level, would be vital for a creative treatment of this holy night. The Cathedral nave, cleared of fixed seating, would provide an admirable setting for the entire rite save for the Gethsemane Watch which immediately follows the Eucharist.
The Mass of the Last Supper is like no other in the Church’s year, and so it is appropriate for the experience of entering the space and taking one’s place to be quite different from the norm. One effective way of achieving this might be for the participants to take their places around a long table, made up of trestle tables pushed together and covered completely with white table cloths.The tables could be placed end to end down the length of the nave as far as necessary to accommodate all. The altar and ambo would be removed.