News

On Tuesday 23rd March, Belfast Cathedral held a Service of Reflection to mark the first anniversary of National Lockdown. Marie Curie had called for the day to be a National Day of Reflection, asking businesses, civic buildings and churches to participate by pausing in memory of the lives lost to Covid locally.

Across the UK, people stood on their doorsteps holding candles for those that had been lost and a wave of light appeared across the country. Inside the Cathedral walls, the Cathedral team laid out and lit candles for those that had lost their lives after a Covid diagnosis. Shortly before the service started, and in a very sad yet poignant moment, another candle was silently laid for someone else who had just passed away.

In a message to the Cathedral team, Dean Stephen Forde thanked all those for their effort in making the service happen and concluded by saying,

''above all I trust and pray that what we offered will have been a real help and comfort to all those who have lost loved ones through the past twelve months. It is not possible to underestimate the emotional pain represented by every one of those 2107 candles''

At the same time, the Cathedral was also conscious of the many more deaths that had taken place over the past 12 months, and a large singular candle burnt brightly for all those who are no longer with us, where normal funeral arrangements and grieving processes were not possible. To that end, the Cathedral has established Lives Reflected as our National Online Book of Remembrance Website.

This can be found at: http://www.livesreflected.com