For years, Tallahassee has been the home of one church with "cathedral" status; the Roman Catholic Co-Cathedral of Thomas More. On Sunday, Feb. 4, a second local church was elevated to that title.
The giant St. Peter's Anglican Church on Thomasville Road officially became St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral on Sunday. Officiating at the ceremony, Neil Lebhar, Bishop of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese. He said the word "cathedral" comes from the Latin word for the "chair" where the bishop sits.
"I do have a seat," he quipped after the blessing ceremony. "It's over there; the 'cathedra' of the cathedral."
Meaning, said the cathedral's Dean, Father Eric Dudley, a much larger role for the Tallahassee church.
"I think it is a change in identity," he remarked. "We aren't just focused on ourselves as a parish, but it calls us to take responsibility for those far beyond our walls."
The diocese covers Anglican congregations in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.