Nick Munday, chair of the Manchester Cathedral International Links Committee, reports that our Diocesan links with Finland, Namibia and Pakistan are now being joined by a special cathedral-to-cathedral link with the USA.

At the end of October we were visited by Canon Alan Dennis, Sub-Dean of New York, who preached at the Eucharist and spoke to members of the Manchester Cathedral Chapter, congregation and community committee. He told us of the similarities and differences between our two cities and said that he thought we could both learn from the experiences of the other. Alan is a South African whose brother is a priest in our diocese.  

The Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York is a huge building, still unfinished over a hundred years since the first stone was laid in 1892. It is part of a huge precinct including Columbia University and surrounded by top-of-the range stockbroker accommodation.

The cathedral itself is continually protected by security men, partly the result of the nearby 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Alan was impressed that we could meet in a cathedral in the centre of our city in the evening without security guards on duty.  His sermon referred to the attack on our cathedral in World War II; on his guided tour with Ethel Layer, he had been particularly moved by his visit to our Regiment Chapel.

We talked in the community committee about the Canons' Library and Alan told us about the transformation that had been brought about in New York by the decision to adapt their library for educational use, particularly by children,which necessitated a complete revamp of the facilities which have made it an attractive space used also by visitors and scholars. The Cathedral has a unique Sunday school, ‘The Children's Abbey', which has a mission to tell the Old and New Testament story through the arts, ritual and exploring sacred space. Our developing Sunday School could have a lot to learn from a New York partnership.  The vision at this time is not for a fully fledged partnership such as the historic agreement signed recently between the Dioceses of Manchester and Tampere (in Finland).

The idea is that we should develop more informally as friends and fellow-workers and that our link should grow gradually and in a natural way. We pray for our brothers and sisters in New York and for deepening friendship and fellowship.

At The meeting of Cathedral Chapter on Monday 3 December 2007 it was unanimously decided to develop a Friendship Accord with the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York. The Dean would shortly be writing to the Chapter of St John the Divine informing them of this decision which is a green light to formally develop friendship and links between our two cathedrals.