Vancouver’s oldest surviving church, Christ Church Cathedral, has welcomed the community at the corner of West Georgia and Burrard for 125 years. Once the brightest and tallest building in the city, it was known as ‘the light on the hill’, used by mariners for navigation as they came into port. Today, the Cathedral stands as a place of open-hearted spirituality for tens of thousands of people who come to worship, reflect and celebrate the milestones that mark our community’s past, present and future.

In 1994, the Cathedral community embraced an ambitious plan to restore the fabric of the building, reveal its heritage features and strengthen its foundations through a seismic upgrade. More than $12.5 million has been raised to date, completely renovating the interior, installing a new pipe organ in a ‘floating’ choir loft, restoring Vancouver’s WWI and WWII Regimental Colours, as well as making the building functional and accessible for all people.

As part of this final phase of rejuvenation, the Cathedral’s presence in the downtown will be enhanced with a 100-foot tower of steel, clad with 60 feet of stained glass, to be custom-designed by Canadian artist, Sarah Hall. The glass spire, entitled ‘Welcoming Light’, will be one of the most significant investments in permanent Canadian public art in the province in recent decades. Four custom bronze bells installed in the spire will ring at the beginning and end of each work day, on Sundays prior to church services, in celebration of holy days, and to mark the civic events and holidays of our interfaith neighbours.

‘Welcoming Light’ will be a guiding beacon that proclaims a spiritual heritage and that signals our city as a place of compassion, justice, peace and hope, expressed through good works and the inclusion of all people.