I recently took my grandson Aidan to St Peter’s graveyard in Woolton to put a little posy on his sister Lucy’s grave, who died shortly after birth. He knows about Lucy but he was too young to understand at the time.

This got us talking about churches. ‘Why do we have churches in this world Grandrew?’ Churches help us to pray to God and to say thank you to him I said.  ‘Do bad people go to Church?’ Good and bad go to church I replied. ‘What does God do?’ Well he made the world Aidan I said. ‘Did he move sand around with his digger?’ Well something like that. There was a silence before Aidan replied, ‘I will make sure God has a hard hat for Health and Safety’. It was my turn to be surprised. ‘How do you know about health and safety?’ ‘I just do’ he said. The gospel according to a 4 year old and it kind of makes sense.

Although we live in an age where religious observance is increasingly a minority interest, Cathedrals are doing well. Numbers attending on high days and holy days is increasing all-round the country. Our 42 Anglican Cathedrals in England and Wales are packed out for the whole of the Christmas season and pretty full at Easter.   Liverpool Cathedral, where I am a member of Chapter, is no exception. December will be a time of great activity with several services attracting more than 1500 a time.

When Giles Gilbert Scott won the competition to design a great new cathedral in Liverpool, he was 21 years old. I have tried to put myself in the shoes of the judges of this competition. To think that they entrusted the largest church building project this nation has ever seen to a young inexperienced architect is mind boggling in today’s terms. This would be a risk too far in today’s world but Scott did not let them down. His vision of massive great uncluttered space which would instil a sense of awe into anyone entering it was accomplished. He spent the rest of his life bringing his vision to fruition. It is a tribute to him that our Cathedral strapline is still ‘A safe place to do risky things’

The Cathedral was planned when Liverpool was still one of the great cities of the Empire and it was finished when Liverpool was on its uppers in 1975. How it was ever completed is a tribute to a dedicated band of people determined to raise the funds in very straightened times. The defects in the construction mainly emanate from this time when some short cuts had to be taken. Not surprising then that the current trustees, of whom I am one, have instituted a £24 million appeal for the 100 year anniversary of the consecration of the building in 2024.

Both of our Liverpool Cathedrals are wonderful buildings; but I am even more proud of the work we do through our foodbank and our employment programme. Over 100 long term unemployed have found their way to holding down a job during the past two years. Our foodbank has fed thousands over the past 5 years. Aidan was right when he brought his religious understanding down to the mundane. That is precisely where I am in my understanding of what it means to be Christian in the world today. Long may we continue to pray and worship in our Cathedrals and churches whilst ensuring that our faith means something about making a difference to the world in which we live.