MK Today - Saturday 18th February 2023

What is the collective noun for a group of cathedrals ? Can such be found within the Oxford University’s Dictionary of the English Language ?  NO, but within the Open University’s Dictionary of the English Language the collective noun for a group of cathedrals is MILTON KEYNES.

When His Majesty King Charles III visited our city on Thursday 16^th February 2023 it is of note his reception was held at Christ The Cornerstone and not within the hideous carbuncle on the face of a much loved friend as given to our city centre by Milton Keynes Cowboy Council !

His Majesty, defender of faith rather than one single faith.

Christ The Cornerstone was the first purpose built ecumenical church in the country. Unlike its ugly neighbours up the road this is a place of architectural beauty and a beauty which embraces faith, not religion – faith it a very

wide  sense. I attend this special location for my blood donor sessions. Every Thursday it hosts NHS Blood Donations. Faith not the faith. Yes, Christ The Cornerstone is the very first purpose built ecumenical church in England.

Also within Milton Keynes can be found our beautiful Peace Pagoda, the very first such monument of faith to be built in the Western World. Did you know that the hill upon which it stands is entirely man-made ? I remember watching lorry load after lorry load of soil being driven and tipped onto the flat farmland to build the home on which

Milton Keynes Pagoda of Peace was to be built. Every ounce of soil was transported to site escorted by Buddhist Monks tapping drums and praying.

This week’s edition of MK Today draws on the longer text within my book MiltonKeynes The City of Legend.

Saint Giles Church Tattenhoe, the present building dates back six hundred years but there was a church on the site before the cathedral we know today. Legend says that Thomas Becket, before he became Archbishop of Canterbury and murdered in his own cathedral visited, worshiped and preached at Tattenhoe.

By congregation numbers, possibly the biggest church in Milton Keynes is The Christian Centre on Oldbrook, did you know this is where the Milton Keynes Foodbank was started. Faith not the faith.

Then we have Amazing Grace, the world’s most artist recorded piece of music. From Elvis Presley The King of Rock and Roll to US President Barak Obama, from Andre Rieu to The Tabernacle Choir, Amazing Grace was given to the world by John Newton of Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s Church in Olney Milton Keynes.

Walton Church, now deconsecrated as a place of worship, is beautifully preserved within the campus of the Open University. Faith.

Some will tell you that a city must have a cathedral but that is not the case. Milton Keynes does not have such but it has a beautiful collection of places celebrating faith.

Do we need a collective noun for a group of cathedrals ?  Perhaps not when we have such a wonderful collection of faith as we have here in our City of Milton Keynes. I have here touched on but a small number. Go out and explore the rest for yourself.