Many thanks for this, Chonak!

The rood beam will be replaced with a rood screen around the beginning of summer. The figures on the beam, which are fine polychromed wood, will be incorporated into the screen.

Behind the wooden wall which sets off the liturgical south transept is the Lady Chapel, a replica of the Holy House at Walsingham.

The statues seen on the piers which separate the choir from the sanctuary are of St Thomas More (south) and St John Fisher (north). The figures on the reredos are St Lawrence (who had a particular popularity in mediaeval Britain) and St Catherine.

Our tabernacle is a likeness of the Ark of the Covenant, crowned with adoring angels and having the Hebrew equivalents of alpha and omega on its doors. It was designed by Fr Moore and built by a company whose name I do not recall, who now offer it in their catalogue.

All our clergy and servers sit 'in choir' for all liturgies. The cathedra may be seen set into the north stalls, and the rector's stall set into the south stalls. (None of those gauche chairs out facing the people.) Our parish choir sing from the west gallery, except when we have special evensong.

The baptismal font may be seen near the west wall of the north transept.

One very common remark from visitors is 'everything here is real'... and it is.

One cannot see the music in the interior views of our cathedral, but, take my word for it, it is remarkably beautiful.

As some may know, Cram and Ferguson are the successors to Ralph Adams Cram, the eminent church architect of the early XXth century, who, among many other landmarks, is responsible for St John the Divine, in New York. I believe that Cram and Ferguson were given an award for their work at Walsingham (?), which is patterned after XVth century English village churches.

Not pictured is the outdoor shrine of our Lady of Walsingham, which is set into a one-half scale replica of the lone arch and buttresses which remain standing at Walsingham. Incorporated into it are flint and some other stones from Walsingham. Beyond this is our chancery, which was blessed last year. It is of the same neo-Gothic style as the church and parish hall, to which it is connected by an arcade. We also have an out-door columbarium.

It is said that we are also going to be building an educational building, with generous allowances for a choir hall, amongst other things.

Very nice! So what kind of organ do they have? Tell us about it.

The organ was built in 1969 for a Presbyterian church in Seattle by the German firm of Werner Bosch Orgelbau. It was acquired by Walsingham in 2003 when our new church was built. Roy Redman was engaged to make tonal alterations, add several stops, and make new trackers adapted to its new location. It is, considering its size, somewhat versatile and works well in our church, but it has obvious limitations as to the literature and liturgical variety that it can play. Though it serves valiantly, there is talk of a new instrument, which would be an improvement. Here are the specifications -

Great -
Principal 8
Holzgedeckt 8
Octave 4
Flachflote 2
Mixture 1 1/3, IV
Trompete 8

Swell -
Spitzgeckt 8
Salicional 8
Celeste 8
Spillflote 4
Sesquialtera 2 2/3, II
Krummhorn 8
(Tremulant)

Pedal -
Subbass 16
Flote 8
Choralbass 4
Misture 2 2/3, III
Fagot 16

Couplers -
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal

It's really a nice little instrument which, considering its obvious limitations and oddnesses, fulfills its task remarkably well. A larger and better one is something that is being talked about.

As for Abbot Jonathan's remarks - I think that when the church was built it may not have been dreamed of (by anyone except me) that we would need a properly situated cathedra, nor the other arrangements which he, rightly, would like to see. At least we do have a choir, and have adapted it as best we can. Too, we do have a schola that sings in choir at the 8.00 mass. When we have special evensongs, sung by our resident semi-professional Chorus Angelorum, they do sit in choir, which is then filled to overflowing, with the clergy having to sit in extra chairs. There is talk of building a larger cathedral, which would have a larger choir for our parish choir to sit there for mass, and an organ (my dream organ would be a Pasi, if not a Mander or Noack) situated appropriately. But, this is a few years away.

I remarked light-heartedly to an Hispanic member of my St Basil's Schola Cantorum a while back that we are fully Catholic now, since we have a Saturday vigil, three Sunday morning masses, and a Sunday evening mass. He giggled and said, 'yes, but you don't have a Spanish mass yet'. (More giggles from both of us.)

Spanish definitely seems out of place in Anglican Use.

Thanks for the organ specifications.

About that Spanish mass. My friend was only kidding. He's really an incredibly fine fellow.

ewww - a Spanish mass at an Anglican Use cathedral? Heaven forbid! lol Perhaps Islamic prayer services like the National Cathedral in DC !!! lol

HOW ARE THOSE EVEN REMOTELY EQUIVALENT?!

Bruce, I'll look into that.
I have nothing against direct electric action. The only kind that I loathe is pneumatic.
That said, I have come to be happiest with tracker. Nearly every aspect of making sound and playing music is enhanced by the way one touches each key and produces tone and is far, far superior to that of other types of action. There is an immediacy and a personal bonding such as one experiences sitting at a fine piano that doesn't happen with any other. Still, I don't wretch at other types of action. Work-of-art voicing and contrapuntal clarity are the final touchstones of a fine instrument. Of course, whenever we do get a better instrument, the choice will be Edmund's.