“My house will be called a house for all people.” (Isaiah 56:7)

Further Reading

In 2032, the Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth, will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Since its opening in 1882 (History – St John’s Catholic Cathedral, Portsmouth) it has been a landmark in the City of Portsmouth and the Mother Church for Catholics in Hampshire, Berkshire, that part of Oxfordshire south of the Thames, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and that part of Dorset around Bournemouth.

Situated in inner city Portsmouth, which has one of the highest IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) scores in England, since the 1880s the cathedral has been a beacon of the Light of Christ and a haven to immigrant communities. The current worshipping community comes from more than fifty countries as diverse as Pakistan, Syria, Fiji, Ukraine and Nigeria.

The cathedral was damaged in January 1941 in the air raid which destroyed many buildings in Portsmouth, including the adjacent Bishop’s House killing six occupants. The last major repairs were a quarter of a century ago at the turn of the new millennium. An architectural inspection in late 2023 identified essential repairs, estimated to cost at least £2.5million, to ensure that the cathedral continues to be “a house of prayer for all people.” Repairs are required to the roofs, to the high-level masonry and glazing, as well as the underpinning of the subsiding west end, safety improvements including fire and access, renewal of the obsolete heating and electrical systems, and accessibility improvements at the west end.

We also have ambitious plans to update the ancillary buildings on the site, especially the former cathedral school which now contains the hall, meeting rooms and shop, as well as to improve access to the cathedral and other buildings from the carpark. This updating will make the site more fit for the mission of the Church in Portsmouth and the wider diocese well into the 21st century by becoming even more “a house of welcome for all people.”

Once the structural integrity of the cathedral building has been secured, there are desired amendments to its interior regarding the organ, the artwork and the design of the sanctuary area. All these are intended to enable the cathedral to become visually and audially even more “a house of beauty for all people.”

To achieve all of this may require up to £10 million.

Canon James McAuley

November 2025

How Can You Help

Please pray for the success of the Cathedral150 Appeal.

If you would like to support the Appeal financially:

  • You can set up a direct debit by completing this form. Please tick the box “Cathedral 150 Appeal” and, if you are a UK taxpayer, please complete the Gift Aid declaration. The form can be returned to the cathedral parish office (see below) or to the address on the form.

  • You can donate through DONA by following this link.

  • You can make a bank transfer to “CDP Cathedral 150th fund”; Sort code: 30-93-04; Account number: 00900347.
  • You can send a cheque made payable to “CDP Cathedral 150th fund” to: The Parish Office, Bishops House, Bishop Crispian Way, PORTSMOUTH PO1 3HG.

  • If you are a UK taxpayer, please complete and return to the parish office a Gift Aid Declaration.

  • Please consider leaving a bequest to the Cathedral in your Will. For more information, follow this link.