To know Christ and to make him known June 1999 No 103 Diocese of Oxford Reporter Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
OXFORD CELEBRATES WOMEN'S MINISTRY .
inside The DOOR
Christ Church Cathedral celebration for the fifth anniversary of the first ordinations of women priests in the Oxford Diocese 'We are here to give thanks to God for five years of ordination of women to the priesthood, for the gifts they have brought to the Church and for the enlargement of our understanding of Christ's priesthood that has come through this,' said the Bishop of Oxford. He was speaking on April 29 at Christ Church Cathedral at a special service of thanksgiving on the fifth anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood.The celebrant was the Revd Elaine Bardwell,Vicar of New Marston, and the music was organised by the Revd Anne Ballard,Vicar of lvinghoe. Seen arriving at the service (left from I to r) are: the Revd Rosanna Martin, Curate of Christ Church, Abingdon; Canon Judith Mount, Associate Priest, Shill Valley and Broadshire, and a former Associate Director of Ordinands and Adviser for Women's Ordained Ministry; and the Revd Jen Lovering from Abingdon who is semi-retired but continues to lead quiet days. Photograph: Frank Blackwell
Who is the real Vicar of Dibley? God Page 5 in the life of Paul Nicolson
Russell Stannard is one of 400 'licensed lay ministers' in this Pages 8, 10 and 11 Diocese
'Glowing report' for schools department The Oxford Diocese's Board of Education (ODBE) has been praised for the 'outstanding support' it gives to schools in a report which is the first of its kind. Schools are well used to being inspected, but this is the first time a Church of England Board of Education has laid itself open to a similar process. During their four-day visit to the Diocese last March, the review team, led by the Revd Canon John Hall, General Secretary of the General Synod Board of Education, visited 26 schools, interviewed the Director of Education, Canon Tony Williamson, and his staff and interviewed officers of the nine Local Education Authorities (LEAs) with which our church schools are in partnership. In the resulting report, which was presented to the ODBE on May 4, Tony Williamson was praised for his 'strong and imaginative leadership'. In his ten years as Director, he has built up a staff of ten pro-
fessionals providing a range of services to the 279 schools in their care. The core funding for this work comes from Diocesan Synod, but Tony's achievement has been to establish a trading company, Oxford Diocesan Educational Services, which sells the services to schools and LEAs, earning enough money to pay the salaries of eight of his ten staff. One of the few queries was in the area of religious education which the inspectors said did not appear to differ much from that found in LEA schools. Commenting on the report, ODBE's chairman, the Revd Dr Jeremy Hurst, said, 'This is a glowing report. We thought our staff were doing a very good job. Now we know they are. We were prepared for criticisms, but find that there are none. Instead there are a number of recommendations, which we welcome. We will study them carefully so as to improve our performance still further'.
A wonderful opportunity for outreach: the Stoke Row Steam Page 20 Rally on June 6
PLUS Petertide ordinations Prayer diary
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Queen at oldest college
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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a thanksgiving service at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin on Friday, May 21 at 11am to mark the 750th anniversary of the endowment of University College. The royal party were welcomed at the north door by the Vicar, Canon Brian Mountford. The preacher was Richard Burridge, Dean of King's College, London. Lord Butler, Master of University College, read the lesson while the college chaplain, the Revd Bill Sykes led the prayers. Then the Bishop of Oxford gave the blessing before the Queen went on a walkabout in Radcliffe Square on her way to the Bodleian Library before lunch at University College in the High Street. The Queen is the Visitor of University College which claims to be the oldest college in Oxford. William of Durham gave 310 marks (about ÂŁ200) to educate ten scholars in theology in 1249 and the college, whose former students include CS Lewis, was officially founded in 1280.