150 Churches in Paris and elsewhere

  A visit to Manchester cathedral (the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George ) reveals a number of surprising   details. For example, a somewhat unchurchly tone was evident in the prominent reports displayed (“We shall deliver break-even budgets and year end returns annually” for the cathedral, and so on). So if you visit churches to avoid corporate-speak, you are out of luck. Or the modern sculpture of a severed arm of Jesus, complete with huge iron nail. There are a lot of other signs of involvement with our present century and its zeitgeist and needs. A food bank, jigsaw puzzles, a poetry competition, and a celebration of diversity and inclusion, for instance. Also a somewhat kitsch display of 600 ceramic angel wings representing something or other. There is more trad holy stuff too : quires and lecterns and tombs, fabulous 16 th century misericords, and a magnificent organ. Much of the cathedral structure is 16 th ...