2014
John Paul Downey
Restore the Ruins? Cathedral Preaching on the Other Side of Christendom
Many preachers today find themselves preaching on the other side of Christendom as the received institutions, understandings, and patterns of Christianity and the Church are challenged, declining, and even dying. As one who preaches in a small cathedral in a Rust Belt city, I am intrigued by the unanticipated vitality currently found in the cathedrals of the Church of England. Does this have any significance for the cathedrals of the Episcopal Church, including the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Erie, Pennsylvania? And if so, what are the implications for preaching? With this in mind, and employing varying preaching styles, I undertook a sermon series at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, surveying the listeners with regard to what they heard in each sermon and what they would like to hear about in future sermons. Spiritual Searching and Christian Faith and/or Practices received far more responses than any other themes indicating that, while people are drawn to a cathedral for many reasons, their spiritual searching comes to the forefront when listening to sermons. This raises questions about spirituality, social transformation, and to what extent these reflections are meaningful for preaching contexts beyond cathedrals.