ARCHBISHOP KELLY CELEBRATES 25 YEARS AS BISHOP
The Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, will celebrate the Silver Jubilee of his ordination as a Bishop with a Mass of Thanksgiving at 5.30 pm today in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool. It will be exactly twenty-five years since the Archbishop was ordained as Bishop of Salford by Bishop Thomas Holland in St John’s Cathedral, Salford. On 21 May 1996 it was announced that he was to become Archbishop of Liverpool and he was installed in the Metropolitan Cathedral on 3 July that year.
The Lord Lieutenant of Liverpool, Dame Lorna Muirhead, will read the First Reading at the Mass (Jeremiah 20:10-13) and the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Steve Rotheram, will lead the Prayer of the Faithful. The Gospel (John 10:31-42) will be read by Deacon Dominic Curran who is to be ordained to the priesthood later this year. Among those present will be members of the Archbishop’s family who will take up the gifts at the Offertory Procession, and priests and people from Liverpool and from his former Diocese of Salford. The Archbishop’s ‘home’ Diocese of Lancaster will be represented, as will be St Mary’s College, Oscott, Birmingham, where he served as a lecturer and Rector with those studying for the priesthood.
The Choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral will be taking part in the music of the Mass under their Director, Timothy Noon. The music will include Gregorian Chant and a Mass setting by Louis Vierne. The motets ‘The Spirit of the Lord’ and ‘Ave Verum’ by Edward Elgar will be sung. The hymns include: ‘Praise to the holiest in the height’, ‘Ride on, ride on in majesty’, ‘O taste and see’, ‘Pange lingua gloriosi’, ‘O praise ye the Lord’, and ‘Hail Redeemer, King Divine’ a hymn written specially for the Metropolitan Cathedral.