Diocesan News12 Nov 20

Online book of reflection opens at Belfast Cathedral

Belfast Cathedral is inviting members of the public to pay their tribute to friends and loved ones through Lives Reflected – an online book of commemoration for those who have died from Covid and from other causes in 2020.

Lives Reflected: A Belfast Cathedral Initiative, which launched today, is dedicated to reflecting on the lives, memories, sacrifices and efforts of everyone affected by the Covid–19 pandemic in the community.

People can upload their tribute to the Lives Reflected website as well as their honest real–life stories of 2020. To inspire positive messages of love, hope and kindness and to celebrate life going forward. The Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Stephen Forde, has shared the significance of the initiative during this time, saying: “This initiative is to help people celebrate the lives of those who are special, whether reflecting on lives lost in our communities since the start of the current pandemic, or giving thanks for the inspiration and dedication of those who have carried us through its darkest days.”

Inspired by St Paul’s Cathedral Remember Me initiative, the website is collating tributes and stories of people all over Northern Ireland. Belfast Cathedral hope that the initiative is a continuous legacy of memories retold, which people will be able to treasure for years to come.

Dean Forde is inviting all communities to share in offering hope to those who are in a place of grief.  He adds: “Belfast Cathedral wants Lives Reflected to be a shared space where people can bring forward accounts that will help families and individuals on their journey through bereavement and towards personal healing”

To accompany the launch of the initiative, Belfast Cathedral is providing a physical space for reflection inside the Cathedral, in which people can see their online tribute realised on a digital display and light a candle for their loved one. Dean Stephen Forde sees the visual display as an opportunity for members of the public to visit Belfast Cathedral as a place to reflect on the challenges, sacrifices and losses that we have all experienced in 2020.

“Through all the restrictions of these past months, it has been so difficult to gather our memories and share our stories of those we have loved and known, but lost. Lives Reflected allows us a place to share our memories and celebrate the best in the people we know. Lives Reflected can be a place of healing for our losses, and a promise of togetherness for the future.”

This website launch is the first stage of the initiative. The progression of its next phase will be based on the uptake of messages shared on Lives Reflected. Selected entries will be chosen to feature on permanent panels displayed inside Belfast Cathedral. This will be followed by a call for artists to create a unique piece of work which will be unveiled on 23rd March 2021 marking the anniversary of Northern Ireland going into lockdown.

The Lives Reflected website is www.livesreflected.com