0:00:02 > 0:00:06MUSIC: Domine, Fili unigenite from Gloria by Vivaldi
0:00:06 > 0:00:11It was a Pentecost Sunday back in 1967 when here, in Liverpool,
0:00:11 > 0:00:16Roman Catholics celebrated as they consecrated a brand-new cathedral.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19It was the end of a story that actually stretched back
0:00:19 > 0:00:23over 100 years, when the decision was first made to build
0:00:23 > 0:00:26a cathedral for the city's growing Catholic population.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28A story of frustrated ambition.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32But when the doors of the cathedral were finally opened,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35it captured the mood of the age.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38We hear from the man who oversaw
0:00:38 > 0:00:41the construction of this iconic building...
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I don't think, in the whole of my life, I've experienced anything
0:00:45 > 0:00:47as profound as what happened then.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50..and from two of the cathedral's young parishioners,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53as they prepare to make their first communion.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56You want to look really special on your big special day
0:00:56 > 0:00:58of being closer to God.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03We've music to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08And I'm on the trail of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20The story of the cathedral we see today began in 1930,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24with the purchase of the site of Liverpool's old workhouse.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Three years later, the foundation stone was laid
0:01:28 > 0:01:33in a grand ceremony for which our first home was specially composed.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58'Catholics everywhere are watching with increasing pride
0:03:58 > 0:04:00'the growth of the great new Liverpool Cathedral,
0:04:00 > 0:04:01'which will one day rival
0:04:01 > 0:04:03'the largest and most beautiful in Europe.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:07But after the outbreak of war, construction work was stopped
0:04:07 > 0:04:12and spiralling costs meant all grand plans had to be abandoned.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Instead, Liverpool looked to build a cathedral
0:04:15 > 0:04:17that reflected the new post-war era.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23This famous cathedral is the result of a competition launched in 1959.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27The winning design of almost 300 entries
0:04:27 > 0:04:30sent in from around the world.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Among the congregation on the day of the consecration in 1967
0:04:34 > 0:04:36was Philip Harrison.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39For him, it was the culmination of five years
0:04:39 > 0:04:42overseeing the construction of the winning design.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Working here was extremely exciting.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52This design proved a construction challenge, not least.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55I remember being right at the top of the lantern on the outside.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59And this was in the days before health and safety had been invented.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03You were walking on scaffolding tubes and holding the one above you,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05just to hang on.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08It was a bit hairy at times, yes, I remember.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Tell me about the media buzz that surrounded this building.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15I remember in particular right towards the end of
0:05:15 > 0:05:20the construction period before the opening, one of the reporters said,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24"How did you know that the acoustics were going to work?"
0:05:24 > 0:05:28At that point, Jack Forrest, the junior partner,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31said, "We do know because we've fired a gun."
0:05:31 > 0:05:33Now that's a headline!
0:05:33 > 0:05:37And so there seemed to be one voice all clamour for
0:05:37 > 0:05:40a re-enactment of this firing a gun.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43And so I had the extremely embarrassing task
0:05:43 > 0:05:45of ringing the police,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50and saying could I borrow a revolver for half an hour, please?
0:05:50 > 0:05:52But that was in all the broadsheets at the time.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54And my father opened his paper
0:05:54 > 0:05:57which had this picture of me firing a revolver.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02But the headline in his newspaper said "Architect Shot In Cathedral."
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And apparently he fell off the seat in the train at the time.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I bet he did!
0:06:07 > 0:06:12'The architect spoke in a new language,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16'but this is genuine art.'
0:06:17 > 0:06:20What, for you, were some of the special moments
0:06:20 > 0:06:22during this whole process?
0:06:22 > 0:06:27One particularly special moment was the day before the actual opening.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I had been told that there was going to be
0:06:30 > 0:06:33a private service of consecration and it wasn't necessary
0:06:33 > 0:06:37for any of the workmen to stop whatever they were doing.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40And about 2 o'clock in the afternoon,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I remember hearing this singing.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46CHORAL SINGING
0:06:46 > 0:06:49I don't think in all my life I've experienced anything
0:06:49 > 0:06:52as profound as what happened then.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Without exception, every man seemed to go and sit down,
0:06:56 > 0:06:57the crash hats came off
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and this intense change came over the building.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05It stopped being a building and it became a sacred place.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08And it affected me so much that I just cried away.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11It was a wonderful, wonderful experience.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Winifred Park has lived in Liverpool her whole life and witnessed
0:10:03 > 0:10:07the long struggle to build Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11She has vivid memories of the celebrations 50 years ago
0:10:11 > 0:10:13on Pentecost Sunday.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'Now here comes the procession with the cardinal legate.'
0:10:17 > 0:10:18Well, I went to the consecration.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23There were nearly 3,000 people in the cathedral.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And the organ, this brand-new organ with the trumpets,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29was playing for the first time.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33And it was all joyful and uplifting because at long last we had
0:10:33 > 0:10:37our cathedral, after having had nearly 100 years of waiting.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46You go through the doors and you go, "Wow."
0:10:46 > 0:10:51You are met with this huge open space unsupported.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54And your eyes are automatically drawn to the lantern tower
0:10:54 > 0:10:56so you look up.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59It's not stained glass, it's coloured pieces of glass which are
0:10:59 > 0:11:05very intense and deep, representing all the beauties of God's nature.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08That looking up is almost a prayer in itself.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13When the cathedral was opened, it was absolutely bare.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16There wasn't a single solitary embellishment in it.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Then gradually over the years,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20the needlework department contributed the hangings,
0:11:20 > 0:11:25the sculptors contributed the Stations of the Cross.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28And so much of it is local work.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34I didn't realise how marvellous it was going to be
0:11:34 > 0:11:39and how over the years it would go on developing the way it has done.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42It's a great joy and privilege to have that as my parish church.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Back in the 18th century, the subject of our next film
0:14:56 > 0:15:01described the people of Liverpool as being "much alive to God."
0:15:01 > 0:15:04John Wesley, who, as Richard Taylor explains,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07was the founder of a new branch of Christianity.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12This is the parish church of St Giles Cripplegate in
0:15:12 > 0:15:14the City of London.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16Christians have worshipped here for hundreds of years,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21but our story starts in the early 18th century when, if you'd
0:15:21 > 0:15:28attended a service here, you would probably have been really bored.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32You see, in the 18th-century Church of England,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37you got an old-fashioned liturgy and sermons that could last for hours.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39There were no lovely hymns in those days - just maybe the odd
0:15:39 > 0:15:42psalm to chant, if you were lucky.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45This is all assuming you wanted to come in in the first place.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50One young clergyman at the time, who attended services here,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53was a certain John Wesley.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57But in 1738, he was to have an experience just around
0:15:57 > 0:16:01the corner from here which, in time, would challenge what it meant
0:16:01 > 0:16:04to worship and what it meant to be a Christian.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09John Wesley was from a family of Lincolnshire clergy.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12He had travelled to the American colonies to minister there,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15but his time wasn't a success and, by this stage,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19he was back in London, disconsolate and unhappy.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25Then, on 24th May, 1738, he came to a service on this spot.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31This monument carries his description of what happened that night.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38It says, "I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street,
0:16:38 > 0:16:39"where one was reading.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44"While he was describing the change which God works in the heart
0:16:44 > 0:16:50"through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55"I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation."
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Inspired by his experience that night,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02and with his missionary passion revived,
0:17:02 > 0:17:07Wesley began to take his message of absolute faith in Christ to
0:17:07 > 0:17:10the people that the established Church had left behind -
0:17:10 > 0:17:13the men and women of the early Industrial Revolution.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17He preached in the coalfields, in the brickfields,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20in cottages and in halls, and in the open air.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27Wesley intended Methodism to be a society within the Church of England.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29But as the movement grew,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32so it started to build its own worship spaces.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36One of the earliest is here, on London's City Road.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41And it's here that I'm meeting the Reverend Dr Leslie Griffiths.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45I've often wondered, where does the name Methodism come from?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Well, it was the rather quaint way that the first Methodists
0:17:49 > 0:17:53divided up their day so that they got up very early in the morning,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56they fasted for a bit, they did Bible study for a bit,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58then they had breakfast.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01And after that, they divvied up the rest of the day, and they were
0:18:01 > 0:18:05so methodical that they were called Methodists as a term of reproach.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07- Methodical Methodism!- Mm.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11In a place like this, where Wesley himself preached,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14what's it like following in his footsteps, as it were?
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It's a little bit intimidating.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21I feel that perhaps we're measuring up to the rather exacting
0:18:21 > 0:18:23expectations of our predecessor,
0:18:23 > 0:18:29but John Wesley's statue out in the yard here is facing into the world.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32His people must also face into the world.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36So I think it's a stimulus to have him as a predecessor,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40but also I'd like to think that his rather severe face might just
0:18:40 > 0:18:44now and again see the corners of his mouth turning up in
0:18:44 > 0:18:46the direction of a smile.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47RICHARD LAUGHS
0:18:51 > 0:18:53It's said that, by the time he died,
0:18:53 > 0:18:58John Wesley had travelled more than 250,000 miles and preached
0:18:58 > 0:19:03more than 40,000 sermons, and he left behind him nothing but
0:19:03 > 0:19:06a good library and the Methodist Church.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06One of the most important moments in the life of
0:22:06 > 0:22:10a Roman Catholic is their first communion - a joyous occasion
0:22:10 > 0:22:12shared with family and friends.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23This is my dress, and my dress is very sparkly and very puffy
0:22:23 > 0:22:26and it has a lot of patterns on.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31This is my veil and it has a lot of beads, and the front bit
0:22:31 > 0:22:32has loads of diamonds on.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36You want to look really special on your big,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39special day of being closer to God.
0:22:39 > 0:22:46I've been practising with everything so I know what to do on the day.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51- "Isaac and Rebekah had two sons..." - Gracie is nine years old.
0:22:51 > 0:22:52She'll be making her first communion just
0:22:52 > 0:22:56a short walk from her home at the Metropolitan Cathedral.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01The Cathedral is a lovely place to make a communion cos it's just
0:23:01 > 0:23:05very big and it has nice crosses at the top of it.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09So this is my cake.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12So this is what happens when you have the best grandma ever!
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Communion's important because, when you go deep into God's family,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21you become more of a Christian.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25So the Father says, "This is the body of Christ,"
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and then we eat it and remember it's Jesus.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30And we do the same with the wine.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The wine is normal wine and it's blessed.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Even though they go to Mass
0:23:43 > 0:23:47at the Cathedral regularly, it's really special
0:23:47 > 0:23:48but, you know, this year,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51it's 50 years that the Cathedral's...you know,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55it's having its birthday, and the children get to be part of that.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06And you'll be able to see Jacob and Gracie make their first communion
0:24:06 > 0:24:07after the next hymn.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19# What a friend we have in Jesus
0:24:19 > 0:24:22# All our sins and griefs to bear
0:24:24 > 0:24:28# What a privilege to carry
0:24:29 > 0:24:32# Everything to God in prayer
0:24:34 > 0:24:39# Oh, what peace we often forfeit
0:24:39 > 0:24:44# Oh, what needless pain we bear
0:24:44 > 0:24:49# All because we do not carry
0:24:49 > 0:24:52# Everything to God in prayer
0:24:54 > 0:24:58# Have we trials and temptations?
0:24:58 > 0:25:04# Is there trouble anywhere?
0:25:04 > 0:25:08# We should never be discouraged
0:25:08 > 0:25:14# Take it to the Lord in prayer
0:25:14 > 0:25:17# Can we find a friend so faithful?
0:25:17 > 0:25:22# Can we find a friend who will all our sorrows share?
0:25:22 > 0:25:24# All our sorrows share?
0:25:24 > 0:25:27# Jesus knows our every weakness
0:25:27 > 0:25:29# Jesus knows
0:25:29 > 0:25:33# Take it to the Lord in prayer
0:25:34 > 0:25:39# Are we weak and heavy-laden
0:25:39 > 0:25:44# Cumbered with a load of care?
0:25:44 > 0:25:49# Precious saviour, still our refuge
0:25:49 > 0:25:54# Take it to the Lord in prayer
0:25:54 > 0:25:57# Do your friends despise Forsake you?
0:25:57 > 0:25:59# Do you need a friend?
0:25:59 > 0:26:02# Take it to the Lord in prayer
0:26:02 > 0:26:04# To the Lord in prayer
0:26:04 > 0:26:08# In his arms he'll take and shield you
0:26:08 > 0:26:09# In his arms
0:26:09 > 0:26:14# You will find a solace there
0:26:14 > 0:26:16# You will find
0:26:16 > 0:26:24# You will find a solace there. #
0:26:28 > 0:26:31The moment for which Gracie and Jacob have been preparing for
0:26:31 > 0:26:34many months has arrived.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38They're surrounded by family, friends and the Cathedral community.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44So, children, this is it!
0:26:44 > 0:26:47The big day has arrived -
0:26:47 > 0:26:50something you'll remember for the rest of your lives.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Taking my Holy Communion in such a special building is actually
0:27:00 > 0:27:06quite a gift because you can look up and see all the nice colours
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and remember that God is always with you.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32So, at first, I was a little bit nervous and then,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35when they called out my name, I was, like, "Oh!"
0:27:35 > 0:27:39I got to wear a lovely dress and I got to have a lot of fun.
0:27:50 > 0:27:58# Lord, I know I am not worthy to receive you
0:27:59 > 0:28:05# You speak the words and I am healed
0:28:09 > 0:28:12# Here at your table
0:28:14 > 0:28:16# Love's mystery
0:28:19 > 0:28:24# One bread, one cup One family... #
0:30:41 > 0:30:45Next week, David Grant highlights the vital contribution that
0:30:45 > 0:30:49carers make to our families and communities.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54But we end today's programme with a rousing hymn in celebration of
0:30:54 > 0:30:56the Feast of Pentecost.