Manchester Cathedral is to host a ‘new age’ festival featuring tarot card readers, crystal healers and ‘dream interpretation’.
Local Anglican leaders have agreed to throw open the doors of the historic cathedral in a bid to embrace alternative forms of Christianity.
Fortune tellers, meditation experts and traditional healers will fill the pews during the day-long festival in May. The Bishop of Manchester, Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, said he wanted to celebrate ‘all forms of spirituality’.
The Spirit of Life festival on May 2 will also feature stalls and workshops on angels, prayer bead-making and massage.
Fire-breathing vicar Rev Andy Salmon, of Sacred Trinity Church and St Philip with St Stephen in Salford, will also perform.
Bishop Nigel said the unconventional activities were not incompatible with Christian belief.
He said: “The event is a chance to discover and explore old and new Christian spiritual traditions from living in a community to praying with icons, from healing to bead-making, from Franciscan spirituality to contemporary music and movement.
“Practitioners from all over the country will be on hand to offer their experience of how God speaks to us today through the cultural language and practices so common in mind, body, spirit fairs.”
It comes after the Manchester diocese held its first-ever stall at the Mind Body Spirit festival at Manchester Central.
Mind Body Spirit is aimed at self exploration and self improvement and was held in Manchester in November.
At the time Bishop of Middleton, the Rt Rev Mark Davies said: “The Manchester Mind Body Spirit attracts thousands of visitors wanting to experience the exhibitions, workshops and music, and to meet authors and artists. For the first time Manchester churches will be on hand at a stand to talk about Christian spirituality.
“We invite people to stop by the Spirit of Life stand to meet with people who will be happy to talk with them about their experiences of searching for spiritual meaning in today’s world.”
The event will cost £5 with children under 12 free when accompanied by an adult.
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Funny coincidence as I heard on TV only yesterday that the Archbishop of Canterbury is a Druid! Hope they are not going down the wrong woad!!
Personally they're all superstitions to me
Modern clergy! I bet some of them secretly believe Jesus will be spinning in his grave over stuff like this.
What a joke the Church are becoming, now going against the Bible ....
I predict a load of hot air and shenanigans at this festival of nonsense.
Shows how desperate the church is getting for business too.
"..alternative forms of Christianity" !!!
Tarot card readers, crystal healers and ‘dream interpretation’ are not christian beliefs. Perhaps this 'new age church' should start by apologising for burning witches and persecuting pagans for having alretnative belief systems.
Paganism is not an "alternative form of Christianity". While Christian values and practices should not be constrained to cultural forms like buildings, pews, and liturgies, there is a point at which alternate forms of spirituality are simply not Christian. Being a Christian means, in the original sense, being a follower of Christ, and having faith in him alone for salvation. Faith in Anglicanism, or in Bishop McCulloch, or in Tarot card readers, or in a crystal healer should not be mistaken for being somehow "Christian."
Paganism should never be mistakenly identified as an "alternative form of Christianity". Christians, in the original sense, were those recognized as followers of Jesus Christ. Cultural forms, such as church buildings, liturgies, pews are not what make a program or a person Christian. Only faith in Christ, not faith in Anglicanism, or in Bishop McCulloch, or in Tarot card readers or crystal healers, makes one Christian. I am not opposed to the Cathedral being opened for use by the community or by other faiths, and I welcome meeting and mutual learning and understanding of each other's faiths, but let us not delude ourselves into thinking that New Age practices are in some way Christian.
The historic cathedral was probably originally built on a pagan site of worship anyway, just as most cathedrals in the country were. It was the only way they could get the pagans into church in the early days of Christianity
This is absolutely crazy, Jesus never preached or practiced these things. the bible condemns them expressly, we approach God in the name of Jesus only. God has not chosen any other means. if these men are tired of being Christians, leave the church, don't pollute it with your spiritual bankruptcy and pretend to embrace all. No Jesus, No life, No heaven, that's Christianity. It is neither modern nor ancient. We are not searching for light, Jesus is the light. The whole world needs to know that, that's why that cathedral was built, not for those who are not born again but wear priestly garments to pontificate their confusion and then lead others astray.
Peter, Nigeria
Don't see the problem. New Age hoodoo or Christian mumbo-jumbo, it's all clap-trap.
Different mumbo-jumbo - but it's all mumbo-jumbo anyway.
Might as well use the building for this - it's empty anyway.
Not quite sure why it is called 'New Age'.
Sounds like a load of old fashioned unproven mumbo jumbo. So this festival is probably at home in Manchester Cathedral.
I would consider new age things to be based on actual academic science.
The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch and the fire-breathing (what's this?) vicar Rev Andy Salmon may like to confess their sin of leading their flock astray and repent in the sure knowledge that they will be forgiven.
In His day Jesus threw out the moneylenders and others who turned the 'church' into a sideshow and den of thieves.
Heaven knows what this lot who run the churches today believe in ?
this comes as no supprise to me, all of these people are in the business of hocus pocus and preying on the vulnerable and gullible for financial gain.
Oh Ye of little faith! I thought Pagans worshipped Zeus and his gang. Now there was a real religion. I was sat outside the temple of Poseidon at Sounion the southernmost point of Greece when I saw Poseidon walking towards me. I have never woke up so fast in my life. Sorry now, we could have had an interesting conversation.
Seriously as a down to earth Mancunian you should know Jesus was a working lad in Palestine who had strange subversive ideas. It is ironic the Romans who persecuted him fell under his spell and invented a load of mumbo jumbo.
Christianity owes as much to Socrates, and Pythagoras as it does to JC bless him,
He got thing wrong the Romans put right if you keep turning the other cheek they find more ingenious ways to bump you off, lions, crosses. Give them one chance then ZAP.
£5 to get in and there's a massage workshop and a fire breathing Vicar ! What is the world coming to ?
It is no wonder that this 'bishop' is slipping away from the faith he professes. He, like most C of E 'vicars' don't believe half the Bible anyhow. So one wouldn't expect them to obey it. The C of E is an apostate 'church', which becomes more & more evident as time passes. A correct tree brings forth corrupt fruit. Not surprised at all!
This news is far from surprising,the "BROADWAY"seems to be the way for the modern church.The real Jesus already obscured for centuries by false teachings would be most unwelcome at this meeting.As uncomfortable as it may be ,I WOULD RAATHER CHOOSE THE NARROW WAY AND FOLLOW HIM.Terry Connor
The Bishop and other local Anglican leaders needs to pray with care about this.
The only message that should be coming from Manchester Catherdral is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. His love so great that he laid down his very life for us that we may have eternal life. That his yoke is easy even when we fail him and ourselves. Because we are forever being renewed in the glorious hope that his resurection brought us.
Easter is only just around the corner and we need to remind ourselves that 2000 years ago he traded his pure and innocent life as a sacrifice to pay for all sin for all time.
That is why the following passage tells it all (Roman 7 v 21 to 25) "So I find this law at work that when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my mind am a slave to Gods Law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
The mind is the light and the soul, the body dies after a lifetime.
No wonder the Anglicans are are loosing members. After this shannanigans more will take a walk. The members of the clergy responsible for this decision do not know their bible or perhaps they have another agenda to weaken Christianity for their own ends. Shame on them for leading their members astray.
One fantasy venue invites many other fantasy's to join in.
"666" so who is not superstitious, (or was it 768).
Beware the devil can appear in all sorts of different ways.