WHAT’S ON!
Welcome to the ‘What’s On at St John’s Cathedral’ page. Here you will find what is on this week, coming up, concert information and much more.
THIS WEEK AT ST JOHN’S
Click on image above to enlarge schedule
English Conversation Group
Mondays
2-3pm
Darnell Room
Zoom Coffee on Tuesdays
10.30-11.30am
(Zoom link below)
Click for more
Take a break, have a coffee (or other preferred cuppa) and chat online with various members of the extended Cathedral community. Relax, bring your beverage and be welcomed into the conversation on Tuesdays – any time between 10.30am and 11.30am.
Use this Zoom link: (video/audio) or your phone – (07) 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 885 952 546#, Passcode: 399344# and then Participant ID: #.
St John’s Cathedral
FREE! MORNING CONCERT SERIES 2025
Next Concert
Tuesday, 16 September 2025 at 11am
UQ MUSIC:
Signwaves
Click here for 2025 concert schedule
Christian Meditation
Tuesdays
6.45-7.30pm
Cathedral & zoom
Click for more
Our Cathedral offers a weekly Christian meditation group on Tuesday evenings from 6.45 to 7.30pm. The meditation group is always open to new members. A simple meal of soup and bread is available in St Martin’s House from 5.30pm.
The meditation group meets in the Cathedral as well as by Zoom. To join via Zoom, use either this Zoom link or your phone – (07) 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 278 417 931#, Passcode: 042853# and then Participant ID: #.
Further information: Please contact The Rev’d Canon Julia Van Den Bos by email (jvandenbos@stjohnscathedral.com.au) or via the Cathedral office.
Why Christian Meditation?
Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom and a practice found at the core of all the great religious traditions, leading from the mind to the heart. It is a way of simplicity, silence and stillness. It can be practised by anyone, wherever you are on your life’s journey. It is only necessary to be clear about the practice and then to begin – and to keep on beginning.
In Christianity this tradition of contemplation, the prayer of the heart or ‘apophatic prayer’, became marginalised and often even sometimes suspect. But in recent times a major recovery of the contemplative dimension of Christian faith – and prayer – has been happening. This is transforming the different faces of the Church and revealing the way the Gospel integrates the mystical and the social.
Central to this process now is the rediscovery of how to pray in this dimension and at this depth: finding a practice of meditation in the Christian tradition. The World Community teaches a practice derived from the Gospel teaching of Jesus and the advice of early Christian monks. The Desert Fathers and Mothers teach a Christian spirituality of powerful relevance for those today who want to live their discipleship to Jesus in a radical and simple way.
Information about Christian meditation is available at wccm.org/content/what-meditation.
Coffee on Wednesdays (COWs)
10am-2pm (Cathedral)
Good coffee, good food, great conversations!
Chair Yoga
Wednesdays
11am-12noon (Darnell Room)
Study: A Pilgrimage of the Heart
Exploring the sacred practices and teachings of the English mystical tradition
Wednesdays – 6-7pm
September: 3,10,17,24; October: 1,8
Click for more
Faith is not the clinging to a shrine
but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.”
~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
Join us on A Pilgrimage of the Heart as we explore the practices and teaching of five 14th-century English mystics. Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and the unknown author of The Cloud of Unknowing form a holy fellowship. A fellowship we can join.
We join them not only by reading their works but by making our own journeys, like they did, into the hill country of the Spirit. Like them, we can seek treasures, too. The treasures of the God experience. We can seek and find the gift of God’s golden love poured into our hearts. A sense of connection to something larger than our life’s immediate concerns.
“Come and see.”
~ John 1:39
This study module will be led by our beloved formation student Troy and draws upon a book written by one of our guest preachers, The Rev’d Dr Kevin Goodrich OP:
Described as “a lively, devotional, and practical guide to the teachings of the 14th century English Mystical Tradition” the book introduces readers to the most well-known mystics and spiritual writers of this period. It is available on Amazon in both hardcover and Kindle format.
For those who may choose not to buy the book, the sessions will include some exerpts and material, so you can come as you are if you would rather not do reading outside of our study space.
Sign up for links – holyhermits.com.au
Prayer & Praise with our Animal Friends
Thursday, 18 September 2025
6-7pm
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We are working on inviting Guests to our next services – check back here for more info soon!
20th March 2025 we welcomed Rebecca from Bat Conservation and Rescue QLD Inc – Non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving the population of flying foxes and microbats in Queensland through rescue, rehabilitation and education.
We welcomed Dr Baron Johnsson to our June service. Dr Baron is the Vet Director and Principal Surgeon at Your Local North Brisbane Vet | Kedron Veterinary Clinic.Below is a recording of our fellowship conversation with Dr Baz.
Saints on a Mission
Fridays
10.30-12noon
Zoom only
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SAINTS ON A MISSION (on Zoom only)
Blair Martin (Meanjin/Brisbane) is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Time: 10:30 Brisbane
Every week on Friday
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86022109248…
Passcode: 904552
Kids @ St Johns
Sundays
9.30am
in person during the Choral Eucharist
and online via our Facebook & YouTube Channel (recorded and available from Saturday 9.30am)
Click for more
Children’s Ministry
Children are very much part of our family and the children’s area in the Cathedral is available whenever the Cathedral is open.
Children’s ministry is offered in the Cathedral on Sundays during the 9.30am service and online (recorded and available from Saturday mornings at 9.30am).
The videos appear on the Cathedral’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
Labyrinth Walk
Sunday, 21 September 2025
from 11.15am
A Walk for Pride Sunday
In person and online
Click for more
The path is always new, because,
as a spiritual discipline, the labyrinth
is a path of contemplation,
reflection, prayer …
Beneath the surface, walking the labyrinth
is a profound discipline in listening,
in active silence, in finding movement
and rhythm in the stillneses underneath
and in between everyday’s noise.
Walking the labyrinth is an exercise
in finding the voice speaking in whispers
underneath the whirlwind of sound.
~ Travis Scholl, “Walking the Labyrinth –
A Place to Pray and Seek God” p.17, IVP Books, 2014
International Day of Peace Lecture 2025
Sunday, 21 September 2025
2-4pm
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In 2001, the 21st September was designated to be marked around the world as a day to cease military operations and call for peace. To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters. The bell is cast from coins donated by people from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as “a reminder of the human cost of war”; the inscription on its side reads, “Long live absolute world peace”.
The 14th annual Brisbane Peace lecture will be delivered by former Australian Foreign Minister the Hon Gareth Evans with supporting addresses by Palestinian Dr Yassmin Khadra and South Sudanese Bishop Daniel Abot.
Cost: Free, but registration essential for in-person attendance
https://events.humanitix.com/international-day-of-peace…
The Journey 2025: God’s story, your story, my story.
Exploring the art of storytelling as a way to discern God’s call on our lives.
Sundays (on zoom)
4-5pm
Click for more
Who is The Journey for?
Those who want to take stock of their lives using a spiritual focus; Those considering baptism for themselves or for their children; Those considering confirmation;
Those who want to become an Anglican;
Those wanting to discern some future direction for their life; Those interested in unpacking the faith.
What is the process?
The Christian faith is a way of life. Entering into a way of life requires reflection. Christians are people who seek to live out the way of love. We seek to follow Jesus who, in his own life, demonstrated that we were made by God, who is love, for love. God’s love gives us the energy to love in turn. Since we are made for love, we each have a purpose. The Journey exists to enable people to discover what this truth means for them. The process aims to give people the space to test and then find their own way into this way of life. It takes what has happened in life to this point seriously. We believe that by reflecting on our life-story we discover how God has been at work in our lives since before we were born, and also identify ways in which we, as unique people, are to respond to this. We discover the way in which God’s love for us can shape our relationships, inform our motives, and help us find deep happiness.
How does it work?
By allowing those involved to ask questions, to talk over issues, share insights and to learn about specific areas that interest them. This takes place within small groups.
Why this way?
We learn most effectively when we are seeking answers to questions that matter to us.
Attending via Zoom: Use either this Zoom link (video/audio) or your phone – 07 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 894 0003 0380#, Passcode: 885493# and then Participant ID: #.
For more information please contact:
The Dean, Peter Catt, pcatt@stjohnscathedral.com.au or phone 3835 2239.
Choral Evensong
for Pride Sunday
with The Rev’d Dr Ruth Mathieson
Sunday, 21 September 2025
6-8pm
Click for more
COMING UP
Cathedral Tween Day
For people in Grades 3 to 8
Tuesday, 23 September 2025
8.30am – 4pm
Click for more
* music
* cooking
* science
* art
* exploring the towers and staircases
Study Group
Embracing Forgiveness
Wednesdays 9.45 – 10.45am
September 24; October 8, 15, 22, 29
(Darnell Room & via Zoom)
Click for more
In Embracing Forgiveness, storyteller and teacher Barbara Cawthorn Crafton leads a revealing and helpful exploration of what forgiveness is not, first of all, and then, what it is and how to find it in our lives, on both the personal level and the communal level. Warm, honest, realistic and practical, Embracing Forgiveness offers tonic for troubled souls—yours and mine.
The five sessions of Embracing Forgiveness are:
- · Seventy Times Seven: Really?
- · You Have Heard It Said
- · Chipping Away
- · How to Start
- · Why Forgive?
Wednesdays 9.45 – 10.45am
Attending via Zoom: Use either this Zoom link (video/audio) or phone (07) 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 865 2657 7724#, Passcode: 847471# and then Participant ID: #.
Canon Thomas Jones Memorial Sermon
delivered by
The Reverend Canon Nicki Colledge
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
12.30pm
Click for more
The Annual Canon Thomas Jones Memorial Sermon will be delivered on Wednesday, the 24th of September 2025 in St. John’s Cathedral (12.30pm Eucharist Service) by the Reverend Canon Nicki Colledge.
Canon Thomas Jones was a pioneering Anglican priest whose legacy is deeply woven into the early history of the Diocese of Brisbane, Queensland.
Thomas Jones was one of six clergy known as “Tufnell’s Band” who travelled from England to help establish the new Diocese of Brisbane in 1860. He had been ordained as a deacon in Salisbury, England, in 1859 and became the first priest ordained in Brisbane.
He was instrumental in founding and building churches across Queensland, including in Auchenflower, Laidley, Gatton, Geham, Meringandan, and Crow’s Nest. He also helped expand St James Anglican Church in Toowoomba to double its capacity.
His name lives on through the Canon Jones Memorial Chapel at the Anglican Church Grammar School in East Brisbane. He had been connected with the school since its founding in 1912 and was the first clergyman to visit it after its opening.
Canon David Garland once described him as “gentle, yet bold; generous to others, yet self-denying; firmly principled, yet tolerant”. He is remembered as a man of strong conviction, deep spirituality, and generous character.
All welcome!
Should anti-semitism be exceptionalised or should we combat all forms of racism together?
Monday, 29 September 2025
6.45 – 9.00pm
St John’s Cathedral
373 Ann Street, Brisbane
Click for more
Join the Jewish Council of Australia and other co-hosts^ for this important Q&A panel event, which will explore what it means to be anti-racist; Zionism, antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the state of Israel; Islamophobia; the current genocide in Gaza and the ongoing Nakba (“Catastrophe”) in wider Palestine; and, the right of Palestinian people to self-determination.
^EVENT CO-HOSTS:
Jewish Council of Australia
Doykeit (a local Jewish group)
St John’s Anglican Cathedral
United Nations Association of Australia Queensland Division
Queensland Muslim Inc
The Justice Unit of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland
The Jewish Council of Australia, formed in February 2024, represents a broad, diverse Jewish community committed to Palestinian freedom and justice. The Council affirms that antisemitism is racism against Jews as Jews — not criticism of Israel or support for Palestinian rights — and must be addressed as part of the wider problem of racism in Australia rather than as a special case.*
SPEAKERS-PANELLISTS INCLUDE:
Bart Shteinman (keynote speaker): Executive Member of the Jewish Council of Australia and public policy expert based in Sydney
Emily Hilton: Co-Founder of Na’amod UK and Policy Director of Diaspora Alliance
Omar Ashour: Palestinian community member from Gaza and Past President of Falasteen Inc
Dr Nora Amath: Executive Director of the Islamophobia Register Australia
The Rev’d Canon Dr Greg Jenks: Executive Director of the Centre for Coins, Culture and Religious History at St John’s Cathedral and former Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem
Final speaker to be announced soon
MCs AND Q&A FACILITATORS:
Ed Carroll: Member of Doykeit (a local Jewish group)
Michelle McDonald: Director of News and Community Engagement for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland
SUPPER:
Fellowship/supper will follow the Q&A
RSVP INFORMATION:
Please RSVP by 12 noon Monday, 29 September for catering purposes (supper will be provided).
Online registration is required for entry:
https://events.humanitix.com/should-anti-semitism-be-exceptionalised-or-should-we-combat-all-forms-of-racism-together
TICKETS:
$15 full-time
$10 part-time
$5 unwaged
Free: under 18s (registration required)
Ticket cost will cover supper and other event costs.
PROGRAM:
6.15pm: Registration opens
6.45pm: Introduction, Acknowledgement of Country and speeches
7.45pm: Q&A panel
8.30pm: Supper
9pm: Close
* https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/2024/02/jewish-council-launches-expert-voice-antisemitism-racism-in-australia
2nd & 4th Saturdays
10-11am (Darnell Room)
Click for more
2nd and 4th Saturdays – 10am to 11am
Mainly Music is designed for children aged 0 to 5 years, but older children may join in. Friends, parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles are welcome. Mainly Music is a community connection initiative.
Each Mainly Music session includes play time, singing and dancing time, and refreshments time.
Mainly Music is held in the Darnell Room, St Martin’s House. Parking is available.
For more information, see Hannah Dillingham or Ken Willett or contact them through the Cathedral office: phone – (07) 3835 2222; email – cathedral@stjohnscathedral.com.au.
Wasting Time With God
1st Wednesday in the month
(Speaker & Topic TBA)
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
9.30am (Darnell Room)
In person and via zoom
Click for more
Event Info: This event will be held in person and on Zoom and will begin with a short prayer service at 9.30am. ………………… presentation and discussion will follow at 9.40am until 10.30am when the session will end with worship and then morning tea from 10.35am.
To join via Zoom, use either this Zoom link (video/audio) or your phone – 07 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 823 3447 0652#, Passcode: 303180# and then Participant ID: #.
Wine Before Breakfast
First Friday in the month
7-8.30am
Click for more
Mystics, Theologians & God-Botherers
1st Sunday in the Month
‘Canon David Garland’
The Rev’d Bill Colbrahams
Sunday, 5 October 2025
6-8pm
Click for more
Canon Garland (1864-1939) is described as the Architect of ANZAC Day commemorations. At the start of World War 1 he was active in recruiting volunteers to join the army. When news of the events at Gallipoli reached Brisbane he determined that a solemn observance of the anniversary of death of so many there. An ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee was established at his persuading with him as Honorary Secretary. It fell to him to devise the first commemoration in Brisbane on 25 April 1916. Elements of today’s ANZAC Day commemorations, especially at Dawn Services, are based on the order he compiled for that first commemoration. So the origins of ANZAC Day commemorations were firmly based on Christian understanding of suffering and death.
The Rev’d Bill Colbrahams is currently Priest-in-Charge at the parish of St Barnabas, Ithaca-Red Hill. His earliest involvement in ANZAC Day services was as a Boy Scout. However it was as part of the community at St Barnabas that he learnt of the origins of ANZAC Day and the role of their Rector between the two World Wars, David Garland. Bill encourages commemorating near-contemporary holy women and men. As we know more about their lives it helps us to have a more realistic understanding of what it is to be a holy person.
This event will be held ‘in person’ in the Cathedral, over YouTube and Zoom. Choral Evensong will be ‘in person’ at 6pm in the Cathedral and will also be accessible on our YouTube channel
As part of Evensong, Bill will talk about David Garland in the sermon as part of Evensong.
From about 7.10pm we join together in person in the Cathedral or via Zoom to share a discussion with Bill over refreshments. All are welcome to join us.
To join via Zoom, use either this Zoom link (video/audio) or your phone – (07) 3185 3730, enter Meeting ID: 768 010 419#, Passcode: 267366# and then Participant ID: #.
Please note: This event replaces the one previously advertised – The Venerable Rod Winterton speaking on George Herbert. That will now happen on 1 February next year.
Please note: October’s Mystics, Theologians and God-botherers will be the final for 2025.
On Sunday 2 November, the 6pm service will be our annual Commemoration of the Faithful Departed – All Soul’s Choral Requiem – where we remember those we no longer see.
On Sunday 30 November, the evening service will be our annual Advent Procession of Light at 7pm. Mystics, Theologians and God-botherers will resume on Sunday 1 February 2026.
2025 ACSQ Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan Launch
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
10am
St John’s Cathedral
Click for more
The Most Reverend Jeremy Greaves KCSJ
and
The Anglican Church Southern Queensland Reconciliation Working Group
Warmly invites you to join us for the launch of the
2025 ACSQ Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan
on
Tuesday 7 October 2025 at 10:00am
at
St John’s Cathedral 373 Ann Street, Brisbane
A light morning tea will be held following the launch.
Please RSVP by 4:00pm on Wednesday 1 October 2025 via https://acsqraplaunch.eventbrite.com.au
Contact: Sandra King sking@anglicanchurchsq.org.au or phone (07) 3835 2304
Thursday, 9 October 2025 from 9.45am
(2nd Thursday in the month)
Click for more
Cathedral AMUA Branch
The gathering begins at 9.45am with tea/coffee, then at 10.00am ]
Anglican Mothers Union Australia (AMUA) is part of a worldwide fellowship of Christians united in prayer, worship and service.
AMUA Vision: a world where God’s love is known through loving, respectful and flourishing relationships.
AMUA Aim: to demonstrate the Christian faith in action by the transformation of communities worldwide through the nurture of family.
Membership is available for all [women and men] who have been baptised. If you are not yet a member and would like to find out more, please do get in contact.
The Cathedral Branch usually meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month in the Cathedral at 9.45am for coffee and the gathering starts at 10am..
2025 AMUA SPECIAL COLLECTION – OUTCOME
Sincere thanks to all who gave generously to the annual Anglicare special collection on 10 August by members of Anglican Mothers’ Union Australia (AMUA), Anglican Church Southern Queensland, in honour of Mothers’ Union founder, Mary Sumner. The 2025 collection will support the Angliccare SQ Youth Homelessness Accommodation Project. A total of $728.65 was given.
Sincere thanks to all who make ongoing donations to our AMUA Cathedral Branch Projects:
Project – Hope in a Suitcase: Hope in a Suitcase is for children going into Foster Care under the umbrella of Foster Care Qld. Anglicare SQ are also involved. When a child goes to a foster parent, they are given their own little suitcase or backpack filled with their own special things, e.g. teen activities, Uno cards, puzzles, games, colouring books and pencils. Babies also go into foster care and need baby wipes, baby toys, throw rugs etc.
Project – Zephyr Education: Zephyr Education provides school needs for children who change schools because of domestic violence. Items include lunch boxes and water bottles; children’s underwear (girls and boys all ages).
Project – BOOKS4PNGKIDS: please bring new and used books for children aged 0-14 years old – early readers (numbers, alphabets, picture books, animals and cardboard books), primary school fiction and non-fiction, basic school supplies, Bibles.
For further information or to ask a question, please contact Mary de Vries via reception@stjohnscathedral.com.au or through the Cathedral Office.
CONCERTS
St John’s Cathedral
FREE! MORNING CONCERT SERIES 2025
Next Concert
Tuesday, 16 September 2025 at 11am
UQ MUSIC:
Signwaves
Click here for 2025 concert schedule
Organ Recital
Andrej Kouznetsov
Thursday, 9 October 2025
7pm
Click for programme and tickets
St John’s Cathedral, 373 Ann St, Brisbane
The recital will be followed by a reception.
Credit card sales will be available at the door, or pre-book at https://www.trybooking.com/DFKSX.
Free parking available in the Cathedral precinct.
Enquiries: (07) 3835 2222, or AKouznetsov@stjohnscathedral.com.au
GENERAL
12-day Fast for
Refugees and People Seeking Asylum
to #EndTheWaiting
From Monday (5pm), 8 September to
Saturday (8.30am), 20 September 2025
Click here for more
NORTHERN REGION LAY RETREAT
God’s Gift, A Cup of Love
(This will be a silent retreat)
Friday, 28 November 6pm until after lunch Sunday, 30th November 2025
Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre, Ormiston
Registration and payment due 14 October
Click here for brochure and registration form
Click for more
Laying on of Hands with Anointing (Healing Ministry)
Following the example of Jesus, and his explicit instructions to his disciples, the ministry of healing for any kind of disease or distress is an integral part of the proclamation and application of the Gospel of compassion. It is administered by the “Laying on of Hands with Anointing” by a priest gently touching the head or shoulders of the person in need. No questions are asked although a person may, if they wish, give their name or a brief description of their concern. It is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to receive this ministry on behalf of another who cannot be present.
The Ministry of Laying on of Hands with Anointing is available during the 9.30am Choral Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month. Those seeking the laying on of hands with anointing are invited to make their way to The Oratory after receiving communion.
The laying on of hands with anointing is also available by appointment; please speak with one of the clergy if you are seeking this.
Click to read about 'Spiritual Direction'
What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual direction is about making a space for God in your life. Contrary to the name, Spiritual Direction is not about being ‘directed’; it is being encouraged to draw closer to God in a more conscious experience of God’s presence, grace, and love in your daily life.
In the midst of life we often find it difficult to notice God’s action within it. And yet we yearn to be able to discern the presence and the voice of God at a deeper level. In the practice of Spiritual Direction you are given the time and space to reflect on the experiences of your daily living, and as this contemplation takes place, you begin to discern God’s invitations and the work God is doing in your life.
Click here to read: ‘What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual Direction sessions are now available at the Cathedral. To find out more, please contact the Cathedral Reception at St Martin’s House on (07) 3835 2222 during business hours.