St Davids Cathedral
St David’s Cathedral is the mother church of the diocese of St Davids and an iconic reminder of the Christian heritage of the whole nation of Wales.
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Dictionary
Words on this page
Advent
Advent means ‘coming’ and is the special four-week period leading up to Christmas. It is a time to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’s birth but also for his coming in glory at the end of time.
Bishop
‘Bishop’ comes from the Greek word for ‘overseer’. So a bishop is a senior Christian minister authorised to have oversight for God’s people. As well as duties given to deacons and priests, bishops confirm and ordain.
Diocese
‘Diocese’ refers to the geographical territory in which a bishop exercises oversight. The Church in Wales is divided into six dioceses each with its own cathedral in which is housed the cathedra (the bishop’s ‘chair’ or ‘throne’).
Holy Communion
At Holy Communion blessed bread and wine is shared, by which we receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The congregation gives thanks for Jesus’ life, his death and resurrection and his continuing presence. See also Eucharist.
Lent
Lent is the six-week period leading up to Easter. It is a particular time to confess sin and to seek personal and collective renewal (a ‘springtime of the spirit’). Lent has a special focus on Jesus’s journey to the cross and prepares the Church to celebrate his resurrection.
Reflections for Easter
Bishop Dorrien has recorded a series of reflections for each day of Holy Week:
Easter Day
![Same-sex_marriage_cartoon [thedailyenglishshow via Wikimedia Commons].jpg](https://stdavids.contentfiles.net/media/images/Same-sex_marriage_cartoon_thedailyenglishshow_.width-500.jpg)
Same-sex blessings: where next?
The Church in Wales is preparing to revisit its stance on same-sex blessings as the time-limited provision introduced in October 2021 nears its expiration in September 2026. In a message to members, the Archbishop of Wales Andrew John has called for a period of prayerful discernment and open dialogue as the Church explores potential paths forward.
Options include allowing the provision to lapse, extending the current blessings, or taking the significant step of introducing a formal service of marriage for same-sex couples.
Meetings have been arranged in each archdeaconry:
Check the dates and venues in your archdeaconry
©thedailyenglishshow via Wikimedia Commons
2025: The Year of Children Youth & Families
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The diocesan Year of Children, Youth & Families started on Advent Sunday 2024 and runs through to Advent 2025.
Throughout the year you can expect to see a series of events which can help LMAs engage with children, youth and families across the diocese, resources and support to help you with your own children, youth and families work and regular updates via social media platforms, through Pobl Dewi, the diocesan website, and the Children, Youth and Families website and newsletter.
Pruning for Growth
Pruning for Growth is a new diocesan strategy which, over the next two years, will seek to make a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of every church in the Diocese of St Davids.
The strategy was unveiled at an Extraordinary Diocesan Conference held on Saturday July 6th.
The strategy consists of three phases. The first, now complete, was a fact-finding exercise to establish an up-to-date snapshot of each church, based on an eight-point matrix that will identify churches that are flourishing, growing, declining or dying.
Phase Two is scheduled to begin after Easter and will dig deeper into the data gathered so far in an attempt to bring some context within each church.
St Davids news
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Church buildings: how's yours?
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History of the Diocese of St Davids
Celtic saints and Welsh princes, mediaeval bishops and Victorian legislators, Reformation scholars and Puritan divines, ascetic monks and Georgian parsons – all have left their mark on its diverse spiritual landscape.
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