A message from the Dean of Southwark
Please know how welcome you are to Southwark Cathedral. It is a pleasure to have you with us as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, and we really hope that you feel at home here. This is a Cathedral for all people, we celebrate human diversity for the gift of God it is, and you have a place here as part of our community.
This year we have been focusing on what impact we want the Cathedral to have in people’s lives. We are drawn to the idea that the Cathedral is here to: ‘Make space for love – with heart, mind, and soul’. We are living at time when there is a great need to make more space for love and kindness, for bridge-building and working together for the common good, and for making a stand against hatred. Southwark Cathedral is committed to helping meet this need. We invite you to join us.
Advent is a time when we also prepare to make space for Love. At Christmas, see the human face of God in the child Jesus, and we celebrate Love coming amongst us in the dirt and straw of displaced lives. Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said that: ‘Religion is like a knife. You can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone's back.’ Only one is the authentic, spiritual, and Christian way of being religious. Bread needs to be shared today as much as ever, and friends will be made in the sharing. It is to this, the way of making space for love, that we commit ourselves here at Southwark, and you are most welcome to join in that journey.
All of us here wish you a very peaceful and blessed Christmas, and look forward to seeing you in 2025.
Mark Oakley
Dean of Southwark