Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral is the large, heritage and beautiful Anglican cathedral at the corner of Burrard Street and Georgia in downtown Vancouver.

Christ Church Cathedral

Located at 690 Burrard Street and completed in 1895, the cathedral is an impressive heritage building. Today it’s the cathedral church for the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, offers church services throughout the week, and serves as a venue sometimes for public performances.

Christ Church Cathedral is an interesting place to visit for a variety of reasons. First, it’s one of Vancouver’s largest and most important places of worship. Second, it’s a beautiful Gothic-style building that’s open to the public. Third, many of the cathedral’s services are most interesting, and its choir is exceptional.

When to Visit Christ Church

Christ Church Cathedral is worth visiting at different times. For those that are interested, Sunday services include Choral Eucharist at 10:30 am and a Gregorian Chant Service on Sunday evenings at 8 pm. If you’ve never seen Gregorian Chant before, you should check it out.

The cathedral is also open to the public Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. These hours are good times to pop in for a look at the sanctuary, a bit of peacefulness or even your own quiet prayer. Admission is free, but donations to help support the upkeep of the building are appreciated.

The 35-member choir at Christ Church Cathedral is impressive. If you ever get a chance to see one of their performances, or a service with them singing, go!

For a calendar of the choir’s practice and service singing times, see the Christ Church Choir’s Schedule.

Other Vancouver Choirs

As already mentioned, Christ Church Cathedral’s choir is exceptional. It’s not the only choir that calls the cathedral home, however.

Although independent from the cathedral and Anglican Church of Canada, the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir is the gospel choir in residence at Christ Church Cathedral. Although a community choir instead of a church choir, it’s still an active part of the Cathedral’s musical life. Weekly rehearsals for this choir, as well as two of its main concert series, are held at the Cathedral.

In addition to the Christ Church Cathedral Choir, the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir is a fantastic group of singers and their concerts are highly recommended.

To learn more about these and other musical groups, click Vancouver Choirs and Music.

St. Andrew's Wesley United Church — St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church

Events at Christ Church Cathedral

In addition to regular church services, the cathedral also hosts a number of special events. It has its own special events and services. The venue is also used by other groups for concerts.

The Vancouver Summer Festival, for example, hosts a series of concerts at various venues in Vancouver including a number at the cathedral most years in July and/or August. (Note: This festival used to be called the Vancouver Bach Festival.)

To learn about some of the events that happen at the cathedral click Music & the Arts at Christ Church.

Other Similar Church Venues

If you like beautiful churches, another place you might want to check out is St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church at 1022 Nelson Street which is just 8 or so blocks further up Burrard Street. In addition to its regular Sunday morning services, St. Andrew’s Wesley also has Jazz Vespers on Sundays from 4 to 5 pm which are well worth checking out and free.

Like Christ Church Cathedral, but probably even more so, public performances of all kinds frequently take place at St. Andrew’s Wesley. It too makes an amazing performance venue with its stunning interior.