How to get to the top in the church

I'm very happy to admit that any suggestions that Truro Cathedral might be crumbling a bit can now be laid to rest. Watching the local news last night, I was pleased to hear that restoration will soon be complete, and to see this wonderful clip of the Dean and his lieutenants doing their bit for the appeal profile, and ensuring the sanctity of their new weathervane. "Breathless but exilharated" would be one way of describing the demeanor of the Very Reverend Mr Dean at the top of his climb, while his colleague Peter Walker looks entirely unruffled.

But was anybody else alarmed to see fully three-quarters of the Cathedral Chapter making the perilous ascent together? One freak gust or loose scaffolding clip could have spelled disaster, and plunged the Cathedral into liturgical anarchy. Don't the people there know there are protocols for these things? The Prime Minister and his Deputy don't travel in the same car. The various heirs to the throne fly in separate planes, so if the worst happens there will always be one left. Which begs the question, where was the fourth member of the team while all this was happening? Is there a design here? I think we should be told.

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