Jeel Scholarship Fund
Building a Better Future
Cathedral Isle of Man
Our penultimate cathedral and possibly the youngest does have this as its title. I am not making it up. It became a cathedral in 1980, but the Isle of Man had a Cathedral which fell into ruin, in the 17th century, can be seen next to Peel Castle. The Cathedral is dedicated to St German who was a 5th century missionary bringing Christianity to the Isle of Man.
Dorothy and I, without Scout and Kit, were brought to the Isle of Man on the ferry from Liverpool. A part of Pilgrimage we have discovered is to have to be able to remain calm in the face of adversity and the day we drove across the M62 proved challenging. The weather was, after months of drought, torrential rain so a two-hour journey became five and we arrived at the Ferry terminal with literally ten minutes to spare. Dorothy’s singing of “Ferry across the Mersey” did test my Christ like behaviour but we were lucky to sail as halfway across the crew announced that had they realised it was a Force 8 gale the boat would not have left. We later discovered that the founder of the RNLI came from the Isle of Man which fortunately was not required! A ship full of happy Liverpool supporters and we arrived in Douglas late at night where we found a taxi to our accommodation in Onchan.
The weather the following day could not have been more different. We walked to the bus terminal, about 2.5km via the promenade with interesting historical features thrown in. Did you know that the Bee Gees came from the Isle of Man and Norman Wisdom lived there too? My father had been interned here during WW2 and there was a display about the internees staying in the sea front hotels. Later we found the houses where Dad was interned round the corner from the bungalow that we were renting. The internees were put in large terrace houses and although Dad made light of it all it was still a prison camp. He used to say what else could the UK have done? He joined up and became a Staff Seargeant Major in REME serving in India, changing his name from Eisner to Evans for the duration of the war earning the nickname of “Taffy”.
Back at the bus stop we took a bus to Peel across the island from Douglas. The novelty of public transport was amazing as this was a Sunday and there was more than one bus a day! We did ask the bus driver if he could let us know the best place for getting off for the cathedral but as he did not know where it was in Peel others on the bus suggested we get off at the harbour. Our ONLY critique of the Isle of Man is that there are no signs to the cathedral and irony of ironies there is a bus stop outside it!
We enjoyed beautiful views of the old cathedral and the castle from the harbour and then walked up to the cathedral. The Cathedral is a lovely large Parish Church, welcoming with much work done to make it access friendly, warmer and has toilets and a small kitchen. Further ambitious plans to make a larger kitchen are ongoing.
We arrived in ample time for the Sunday morning communion so visited the extensive gardens. Dean Nigel had designed, dug and planted all 17 sections of the gardens which include a St. Francis section and several others remembering genocide from the Holocaust to Rwanda with moving quotes, unfortunately underwriting the fact that we have not learned anything from history. Celtic crosses and a labyrinth connecting the monks here with Rievaulx, near Helmsley. I could have put all the photographs from the gardens with their words here. The exterior of this cathedral talks of God’s Works and how we should be as much as the interior. It rendered us speechless but spiritually enriched.
Pilgrimage sometimes feels like a mix of spirtual enrichment, historical education and challenges to my everyday thoughts and beliefs. I keep reading this attributed to Metz and found myself looking him up and buying a book.
Pilates was interned on the Isle of Man during World War 1 and the sculpture is a tribute to his imprisonment and practice of balance exercise.
Inside the Cathedral is a huge Menorah with a Palestinian Flag above. The Menorah was fashioned by an Israeli artist for an exhibition about Ann Frank in 2010. The Menorah is made up of spent Israeli ordnance used in wars against Palestinians. Originally a symbol of peace and reconciliation with the words in Hebrew, Manx and English from Isaiah at the bottom:
“And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks”
We later discovered that Dean Nigel had put a Palestinian Flag outside the Cathedral, but it was torn down so a kind donor replaced it inside the cathedral. Flags seem to have been misappropriated recently but this use of the flag juxtaposed to the Menorah and the Isaiah quote was not.
The service sermon was in my summary about the importance of deeds without expecting returns. Dean John, a retired Dean from Belfast introduced Dorothy and me at the end of the service. He had been to Jeel Al Amaal and tried his footballing skills out there, so he was fully aware of the situation. He asked some question and then the congregation asked some and they were incredibly generous. I thought that Dean Nigel’s modest presence and quiet education of his congregation showed. Dean Nigel invited us to join him for a great lunch and then Dean John drove us back to Douglas.
We were quite overwhelmed by the reception and generosity of the Cathedral Isle of Man. So much so that although we had our passports stamp no photograph showing us there!
Thanks are due to Dean Nigel and his congregation for making us so welcome.