Tag Archives: Bishop of Oxford

Church

Bishop of Oxford Inauguration Video

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The Diocese has posted edited highlights of the inauguration video online so people can get some idea of what went on. As a result of Oxford Diocese being one of the largest, but having one of the smallest cathedrals, there was very limited opportunity for people to attend the service, hence a video has been put together.

Unfortunately the video is not of exactly the best quality, with the sound levels way off, and some incredibly poor quality pictures at times. The main camera point is up adjacent to the organ (and to get an idea of how small the building is, the organ is over the main entrance), hence the music is loud, and other parts are barely audible. Other parts are filmed with hand held cameras, and in parts have serious colour problems too. The pictures here and here are a good deal better.

However you can get some idea of what went on though. Some random thoughts having watched it…

No sign of Ian’s processing in the video…

That’s the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, and he’s taking a part in the service too… There is a certain irony to that as a key part of the service is carried out by Rev Sheila Watson, who as Archdeacon of Canterbury represents the Archbishop of Canterbury during the enthronement, indeed the Bishops Chaplain for the new Bishop of Oxford during the service is a woman too…

Music wise the hymns are surprisingly modern – Be Still for the Presence of the Lord, I The Lord of Sea and Sky and The Servant King all featured – all of course played on the organ…

Church

New Bishop – New Media

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Usually when you get a communication from the Bishop to the people of the Diocese, it’s in the form of a letter, one that quite often gets read out at the main Sunday service in amongst the notices. The new Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard seems to be trying something a bit different, with a video message posted on the Internet.

True the style is a bit static, sort of like an old style party political broadcast, but it is quite a good message – starting off with a quote from Woody Allen, and imparting the shocking revelation that there are Christians who support Chelsea…

With my new role as Churchwarden, I’m actually going to get to meet the man in person sooner than I expected, as I have to head in to Reading next month for the Bishop’s Visitation. Since he is also leading the Oxford Taizé Pilgrimage which overlaps with our trip there this summer we’ll probably meet him again then too.

If you’re not into video clips, the text of the message is on the website too.

Church, General

How Does the Oxford Diocese Describe Itself?

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Knowing the time and effort that we at St James put into our parish profile a few years back, in trying to attract the kind of person we were looking for, I always find it interesting to look at the profiles produced by other local parishes when they are looking for a new priest. However today, the Oxford Diocese has released the equivalent document written for the recent search for a new Bishop of Oxford – certainly interesting reading, especially with regards to our contribution to the process last year.

Books, Church

Richard Harries Biography

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As you may know, a biography of Richard Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford is to be published next week.

As is usual with high profile biographies, parts of the book are being printed in the papers – three guesses as to which particular part of his life the selected extract in the Times today chose to publish… When you see it’s under the title “Inside Track on the Road to Anglican Schismâ€? it doesn’t take much to realise that they’ve chosen to print an extract about the appointment of Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. In many ways it is somewhat of a disappointment that for many, Richard Harries legacy seems to be the crisis that ensued in 2003. Unfortunately the extract doesn’t seem to help that much in that it pretty well skims over the whole crisis pretty much as a list of dates – perhaps showing that whatever the media would like, the biography doesn’t focus on that crisis.

For a much more full discussion of the crisis, including a number of interviews with the key players, “A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexualityâ€? by Stephen Bates is a much better option. The Richard Harries biography, “Heart in My Head: A Biography of Richard Harries” by John S. Peart-Binns is published next week.

Church

The BBC Gives Bishop Colin a Promotion

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Tonight, the BBC South news covered a new text message service being provided by Church during Lent. Participants text ‘Lent’ to 64343, and then during Lent, there will be daily texts sent by the diocese encouraging people to do something different each day for Lent. However, in the process of reporting the story, although the online service has got it right, the BBC South newsroom managed to give Bishop Colin, the Bishop of Dorchester a promotion.

Since Bishop Richard retired last year, Bishop Colin as the senior of the three suffragan Bishops in the Diocese has also been acting Bishop of Oxford – unfortunately BBC South forgot the ‘acting’ bit and introduced him as Bishop of Oxford… Anyway, unintentional promotions aside, it will be interesting to see how the text message service goes down. BBC South presented the story as the last item tonight, and in perhaps a rather light-hearted way, without some of the explanation that Ian has given in his interview in the Oxford Mail.

Having said that, both the BBC, and the Oxford Mail seem to be crediting the Oxford Diocese, when in fact the text message service is part of the countrywide Love Life Love Lent campaign being pushed by Church House Publishing. Still, after our local paper announced that our Church was being eaten by worms, I’m not overly surprised at the BBC and the Oxford Mail not getting things quite right!