2025 will mark 950 years since the Cathedral was moved from Selsey to Chichester. It is an anniversary that’s significant not only for the Cathedral, but for the life of the whole Diocese and for the Christian faith in Sussex.
This anniversary has also invited us to think more deeply about our purpose here at the Cathedral – in our worship, in our teaching, in our common life and in our mission.
Invoking the prayers of St Richard, we have been drawn to that vein of spiritual renewal that animated the Latin West and especially this Diocese in the thirteenth century. That is, the spirituality of St. Dominic, which formed St. Richard and which shaped his own ministry here in Sussex, not least in resourcing his own impressive pastoral care, teaching ministry, and expansion of the Cathedral’s life.
We have therefore taken inspiration from Dominican life in the so-called ‘Four Pillars’: Prayer, Study, Community and Mission.
In these we begin to see a pattern of common life that helps us to fix our eyes on Christ as a means to becoming more prayerful; wiser in our understanding of what it means to be Christlike in the 2020s; becoming a community that is compassionate and joyful; and becoming more courageous in our mission and service to the world.
We invite you to consider the Four Pillars and learn more about Cathedral’s proposed new vision. Please do let us know your thoughts by completing our online survey. Your feedback will inform the publication of the new vision in January 2022.
Thank you.
The Dean of Chichester, The Very Reverend Stephen Waine