Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, in what way cathedrals are supporting community cohesion in communities they serve.

First and foremost cathedrals are places of worship, but like parish churches they are also community buildings and often a focus for civic gatherings of faith, political and business leaders in our cities, which facilitate discussions for the common good. They are regularly used for pilgrimages, festivals, concerts, exhibitions and lectures, which are open to all in the community.

The 2021 report by the Association of English Cathedrals (Economic Social Impacts of England’s Cathedrals) put the combined economic value of cathedrals at approximately £235 million in local spending per year

Some examples of community cohesion projects include:

• Bradford Cathedral‘s Faiths Trail, which offers opportunities to link visitors to worship spaces in the city, including the cathedral, a mosque, a Hindu temple and a gurdwara.
• In Birmingham Cathedral a new Common Wealth table installation in the grounds has been booked for cross-faith community conversations.
• Winchester Cathedral’s Christmas market attracts over 400,000 visitors annually, generating local employment and offering local craftspeople an opportunity to showcase their work.
• St Edmundsbury Cathedral hosted a summer flower festival this year to celebrate 1,000 years of the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds, and has hosted an animatronic dinosaur, science and art activities during the school holidays, and film screenings and lectures.
• Liverpool Cathedral held a charity abseil down its tower to support local initiatives with 800 people taking part. It has an annual sleepout to raise money for the Whitechapel Centre homeless project, hosts a community market and provides hospitality to the local community.
• Gloucester Cathedral has recently employed a full-time member of staff as a Community Engagement Manager, reflecting the amount of outreach work the Cathedral does. It has run a regular breakfast club for the homeless twice a week since 2007. More recently, the cathedral has started a gardening group and a walking rugby group. The Cathedral also regularly exhibits the work of a formerly homeless photographer, to raise awareness of the level of homelessness in the city.
• Leicester Cathedral has run a series of local community arts events in partnership with local schools.
• Norwich Cathedral hosted ‘Dippy the Dinosaur’ this year, on loan from the Natural History Museum, and also regularly hosts art and music events for the county.

More details on the economic and social impact of England’s cathedrals are available in the Association of English Cathedrals Report: Economic Social Impacts of England’s Cathedrals