Press Releases
RTÉ Service on Sunday from Belfast Cathedral
Sunday, 8th February 2026, at 11.00am
This weekend’s Service on Sunday (8th February 2026) on RTÉ One television at 11.00am will be a Choral Eucharist for the Second Sunday before Lent from Belfast Cathedral. The service will be led by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Stephen Forde. In his introduction, Dean Forde will set the Cathedral in the context of the city and its changing times over 122 years of worship.
The Bible readings will be from Isaiah chapter 49 and Matthew chapter 6 and the preacher will be the Revd Cameron Mack, Curate of Belfast Cathedral. The prayers of the people, read by parishioners from the Cathedral congregation, will cover the themes of peace, grace, healing and wholeness, and life.
Belfast Cathedral was consecrated in 1904 and replaced St Anne’s Church which was built in 1776 to serve what was then the town of Belfast. The Cathedral’s construction took place as the new city grew in size, and it is shared between the two Church of Ireland dioceses which serve Belfast today – Connor and Down and Dromore.
The further construction of the building continued in stages throughout the 20th Century with the completion of the baptistery in 1928, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in 1932, the apse and ambulatory in 1959, and the transepts in 1974 and 1981. The stainless steel Spire of Hope was lowered into place in 2007.
The programme can be played back after broadcast on the RTÉ Player at www.rte.ie/player
Viewers who are interested in visiting Belfast Cathedral can find out more through its website: www.belfastcathedral.org
Belfast Cathedral, known locally as St Anne’s, is a Cathedral of the
Church of Ireland, shared between the two dioceses of Connor and Down & Dromore which cover the city which it serves.
The Cathedral Church of St Anne
Donegall Street
Belfast
BT1 2HB
028 9032 8332
[email protected]