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D.XIQXW] John Morrison swaps his archdeaconry
The next Archdeacon of Oxford is to be The Venerable John Morrison, currently Archdeacon of Buckingham. He succeeds the Venerable Frank Weston who will be consecrated Bishop of Knaresborough on December 3. The announcement comes hard on the heels of the news of the Bishop of Buckingham's departure for Coventry next spring. However John Morrison will not leave his present post until the next Bishop of Buckingham has been appointed. 'Be assured that we will not leave Bucks unattended and uncared for', he says. 'Obviously after 16 years it will be an enormous wrench to leave Bucks. However, going to the Oxford Archdeaconry is an exciting prospect. It is not often that you get recycled at my age', John Morrison says. He already has strong links with Oxford. From 1968 to 1974 he was
Chaplain of Lincoln College where he still coaches rowing. After curacies in Birmingham and at St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, he became Vicar of Basildon (Berkshire) and Rural Dean of Bradfield. In 1982 he was appointed Vicar and Rural Dean of Aylesbury and in 1990 Archdeacon of Buckingham. Finance and communication have been his special interests in his wider work for the Diocese. He is chairman of the Diocesan Communications Committee and of Oxford Diocesan Publications. He is also a member of the Planning and Budget sub-committee. John is married to Angela and they have three children, Dominic (27), Philippa (25) and Nicholas (23). He is a liveryman of the worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers and a member of the prestigious Leander Rowing Club.
Autumn rush to join ou.r ministry course
November 1997 No 87 Diocese of Oxford Reporter Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
inside The DOOR
Let the People Sing: a festival of Church Choirs Pages 10 & 11
A Volume of Vergers: Southern Province Guild gathers at Christ Church Cathedral Page 5
'We will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall,' (Ps 46). The Good News Bible Page 8 celebrates 21 years.
The summer trickle of entrants to the St Albans and Methodist Church as a preparation for ordination. Most Oxford Ministry Course turned into an autumn flood of will go into the non-stipendiary or the new local non42 people. Pictured (above) at the start of the new term stipendiary ministry, but some will go on to paid fullby Frank Blackwell, they include two nuns, a lecturer in time ministry. At a time when the general trend for the history of art, several school teachers and three vocations is downwards, the Director of the Ministry clergy wives. Their average age is 45. The Ministry Course, the Revd Dr Mike Butterworth is delighted. 'As Course is a part-time one recognised by the Church of recently as August we thought we would be lucky to get England, the United Reformed Church and the 30, but suddenly they came spurting through', he says.
PLUS -What's in the News The new Lectionary What's On St Andrew's Bookshops
Pages 3,4 Page 8 Page 19 Page 20
Christmas Worship in Asda
All this from our shop: THROWS • LIGHTS CUSHIONS • RUGS FABRIC MADE-UPS ACCESSORIES
one village FROM ARTISANS CO-OPS
On the A44 in Woodstock
The Asda store in Lower Earley, which held a Harvest Festival last September, is planning a Carol service for December 21 from 9.15 to 945am. The idea for the Harvest Festival came from Asda head office which wanted to help people 'reconnect with the soil' and understand that the food on the shelves has to be grown, harvested and transported.'It's interesting that they saw a Harvest Festival as a way of making that connection,' says the Revd Simon Howard, priest-in-. charge of Trinity Church, next-door to the store and one of five local churches involved. About 250 people came to the service including 25 Asda executives and at least 20 local people who do not normally attend church. Asda staff said they appreciated the chance to worship before starting work. 'Of course we would prefer it if supermarkets did not open on Sundays,' said Simon Howard, 'but there was a real sense of worship taking place even with the TV cameras there'.