Inauguration date for Isle of Man Cathedral announced

Mgr John Devine

Source: Archdiocese of Liverpool

Saint Mary of the Isle Church, Douglas, Isle of Man will be elevated to cathedral status on Friday 3 November at 12 noon.

The island will welcome the Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon OP, the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, Canons of the Metropolitan Cathedral and bishops from across England and Wales.

Dignitaries from the Manx Government and from Douglas City Council will attend as well as ecumenical partners and parishioners from across the island.

During the ceremony the Apostolic Nuncio will read a decree from Pope Francis elevating the Church to the status of cathedral and will install Archbishop Malcolm in his chair, or cathedra, which the name cathedral comes from.

Monsignor John Devine, parish priest of St Mary of the Isle, and Dean of the new cathedral, said of the celebrations: "The service has been planned to have a Manx flavour. The Lord's prayer will be said in Manx Gaelic and the Manx national anthem will be sung.

"It is set to be a joyous occasion celebrating both the ancient Celtic traditions of the Catholic Church on the island and its links to the church in Liverpool."

As a 'co-cathedral' to the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, 80 miles away across the Irish Sea, it will be the first Catholic co-cathedral in the British Isles. Co-cathedrals are rare in the Catholic Church, but can exist when two dioceses, each with its own cathedral, are merged or when a single diocese spans two distinct civil jurisdictions.

The Church was elevated to cathedral status by Pope Francis following Douglas being awarded city status as part of the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. This will raise consciousness of the Isle of Man within the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Letters of support from the President of Tynwald, Douglas City Council, the Anglican Bishop of Sodor and Man and the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in Peel accompanied the petition to the Holy See seeking co-cathedral status.

Mgr John added: "The Archbishop's chair will remain permanently fixed in the new cathedral with its specially designed coat of arms incorporating both Manx and Archdiocesan symbols. It will be a constant reminder to the people on the island that they are part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool and the archbishop is their archbishop, too.

"We're also looking to commission two Manx artifacts, one for St Mary's and the other in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool to show the link between the two co-cathedrals."

You can watch the inauguration ceremony live here on Manx Catholic: https://manxcatholic.org.uk/