Close encounters

Kate Chisholm looks forward to The People’s Passion on Radio 4 which explores the role of the cathedral in a modern, secular world

‘We began by wanting to do something about cathedrals and the life that goes on within them,’ recalls Christine Morgan, head of religion and ethics at BBC Radio. That was about 18 months ago, when not much attention was being paid to these great beacons of British history and belief. But by coincidence (or perhaps divine intervention) cathedral stories have been hitting the front pages in recent months after the tortuous attempts by St Paul’s to extricate itself from Occupy London and its battle with money, capitalism and the workings of the City. New questions are being asked: not so much what do cathedrals do but why are they still here? Do they still have a vital, living purpose in such a secular society?

‘At first the idea was to create five new dramas for Radio 4 in Holy Week,’ says Morgan. The People’s Passion would follow the events leading up to Easter through the life of a fictional cathedral, telling the story recorded in the Gospels but also revealing hidden aspects of these extraordinary communities, not of the world yet very much involved with it at its most real, most tangible, most elemental. We may think that cathedrals are cut off, secluded and rather precious but, says Morgan, ‘they have to deal with everybody’, not just the people who visit as tourists, spectators, believers, but also those who come to seek something they’re not quite sure of.

Wherever you are in the UK you will not be far from a spire (or maybe three) on the horizon, a vaulted nave, the impressive physical presence of one of these ancient buildings, and of the daily life that goes on there, from Morning Prayer through the Hours to Compline.