Jesus College, Oxford 450th Anniversary Event: Dragons amongst dreaming spires: Wales and Oxford − past, present and future

The Principal of Jesus College Oxford, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS, is to host  a special event in Abergavenny, Wales, on 1 May 2020 to celebrate the College’s 450th Anniversary and  long and distinguished educational and cultural links with Wales.

Guests will be invited to hear about and discuss:

• the new Jesus Chair of Celtic post at Oxford
• the College’s leading role in the Seren project (which encourages able Welsh state school students to apply to leading universities)
• the Darogan initiative, launched by Welsh postgraduates at Oxford to encourage fellow Welsh alumni to return home and develop careers in Wales after graduation
• Welsh poetry and literature with guest speaker Owen Sheers

 

The event will include lunch at the Angel Hotel (optional), for which payment will be expected, followed by an afternoon of presentations, discussions and tea at the Priory Centre − for which there will be no charge.

To book your place at this event and to see full programme details please click here

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A YEAR IN REVIEW:pictures of 2019 at the Priory

We look back at 2109 as the year draws to close, giving thanks to God for his blessings, and for the hours of paid and voluntary work that make all these things happen.

1&2: Rt Hon & Rt Revd Lord Williams of Oystermouth (Bishop Rowan ) being welcomed as Visitor of the Holywell Community

3: High Sheriff (Dame Claire Clancy) viewing he work of Cantref School :”The Abergavenny Parables”

4. One of the 30 Gospel scene  paintings by Jezz Thomas, Artist-in-residence

5.Br Adrian takes his simple vows

6. Fr Tom at Little Footprints Teddy Bear’s Picnic

7.Bishop Richard’s Farewell service as Bishop of Monmouth, with newly ordained Deacon Sam (Holywell Community founder member)

8. Visit of World Wide & Provincial Presidents of the Mothers Union

9. Filming for ITV on Easter Day: a visit by our French Twin Town

10. The Archbishop of Wales welcomes new Holywell Community Members

11. Arriving at Buckingham Palace for a Reception  with HM The Queen, HRH The Prince of Wales, TRHs The Duchess of Cornwall, The Dukes & Duchesses of Cambridge & Sussex, The Princess Royal, The Viscount Snowden and his sisters.

12.Br Seb sending off shoe boxes to Eastern Europe- 3 of 100 we sent

13. The Choir at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, where they were choir-in-residence for a week.

14. Feeding police cyclists

14.Easter Vigil

15/16/17/18 Lent Preachers: Liz Brown, Diane  Williams, Jezz Thomas and Cllr Sheila Woodhouse (Chair of Monmouthshire County Council 2019-20)

19. Dedicating a new Royal Welsh Association  standard

 

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Christian Unity Service: January 25th

We will host the Abergavenny Council of Churches Christian Unity Service here on Saturday afternoon, January 25th.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January – the octave of St. Peter and St. Paul. However this year we will join other areas and observe the week at Pentecost, but we are additionally having this service on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

On 10th February many Christians in Malta celebrate the Feast of the Shipwreck of St Paul, marking and giving thanks for the arrival of Christian faith on these islands. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles used for the feast is the text chosen for this year’s Week of Prayer.

Hospitality is a much needed virtue in our search for Christian unity. It calls us to a greater generosity to those in need. The people who showed unusual kindness to Paul and his companions did not yet know Christ, and yet it is through their unusual kindness that a divided people were drawn closer together. Our own Christian unity will be discovered not only through showing hospitality to one another, but also through loving encounters with those who do not share our language, culture or faith.

In such tempestuous journeys and chance encounters, God’s will for his Church and all people comes to fulfilment. As Paul will proclaim in Rome, this salvation of God has been sent to all peoples (see Acts 28:28).

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2020 a Year of Anniversaries

 

We will mark a number of significant Anniversaries at the Priory during the coming year, as well as marking the usual events in the Christian calendar .

 

CHURCH IN WALES CENTENARY

On Sunday, March 29th we mark the Centenary of the Church in Wales coming in to being. The Preacher at the 11am Service will be the Archdeacon of Chichester.

In the Summer a social will be organised with the proceeds from the event going towards the Centenary Appeal. The Appeal supports Housing Justice Cymru and the Anglican Church in South Sudan.  

The Church in Wales will launch  a video showing its work as part of the Centenary celebrations, this video includes a piece on our work with Syrian refugees.

JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD 450th ANNIVERSARY

We will join in celebrations of the College’s 450th Anniversary with an event here on May 1st.

The College’s first Principal, Dr David Lewis is buried in the Priory Church.

 

VE DAY 75th ANNIVERSARY

May 8th we will host the Town’s VE Party in the Prince of Wales & Priory Courtyards from 3pm. Locals are invited to bring their own picnic and join in the Party . Entertainment will be provided by A2B.

At 7pm that evening our Bells will ring out in union with bells from across the kingdom

Fr Mark’s Farewell

We will say farewell to our Vicar Canon Mark Soady with a Farewell Eucharist at 10.30am on Sunday, March 8th. He will be licensed in his new parish at 7pm on April 1st, and a number of us will go up by bus to support him.

 

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Fr Mark: Christ the ultimate Christmas gift

In his Christmas Day sermon our Vicar Canon Mark Soady  reflected on the presents we give at Christmas and the gift of God’s son – the Ultimate gift of Love.

The gifts Fr Tom gave Fr Mark

He said: “Fr Tom give me two gifts this Christmas a smelly cheese with a cheeky reference to me in the title and  a very useful gift to help me stop loosing my keys – or at least helping me to find them when I have lost them. ”

The gift of Jesus at Christmas is the ultimate gift, it is :

• A gift given  by God without God counting the cost of the gift.
• A gift that is the most useful gift of all , for it is  a gift that wipes away our sins.

Fr Mark ended his sermon by asking the congregation how they will respond to this gift of love. Suggesting we may in return show love and show it in abundance – and not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.

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Fr Mark’s Christmas Message 2019

Canon Mark Soady looks back at a turbulent year in his Christmas message and reminds us that Jesus was born 2000 years ago in to a turbulent world.

 

He says: The year began with a great deal of uncertainty over Brexit. That uncertainty has caused some people extreme anxiety – there is now an official illness related to Brexit anxiety. Time will tell if that anxiety goes away as a result of the General Election.

In addition to Brexit, some of us will have had other hardships during the year. For me personally, it has been a year of change with the death of my father and the severe illness of my mother. As Anglicans we have just come through a year without a Bishop, as Bishop Richard retired in April following a period off sick.

Jesus was born in turbulent times; the Jewish people were ruled by a foreign power who did not understand their religion and customs.

The Christ child came into the world following a journey by his mother across the country to get her and her husband registered by the conquering power.

We can be sure that God empathises with is in our hardship, for in the person of his son Jesus, he has been there too. I pray that you find comfort that as God came in to a troubled world two thousand years ago to save his people, so he has been, and is, with us in our turbulent day.

January 6th will mark the eighth anniversary of the start of my ministry among you, and the time has come for me to move on to pastures new. I have been blessed by my time among you and thank God and you for 8 glorious years. I hope my ministry has been as much of a blessing to you, as you have been to me. For some, my moving on will bring with it more change and uncertainty, but in this newness God will bring new life.

Blessings

 

Mark

 

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Head of Christian Aid Wales to preach on Christmas 1.

Mari McNeill, Head of the Christian Aid Office in Wales. will be our preacher at the Joint Incumbency Eucharist at 10.30am on December 29th at our daughter church of Christchurch in North Street.

The service will be around the Christian Aid Christmas Appeal which works to help mothers use their God given gifts to escape poverty.

The Vicar, Canon Mark Soady said

On this Sunday when we give thanks for the Holy Family, it is right that we focus on the important gifts and qualities God has given to all mothers.  We especially want to support those mothers who are fighting to protect and feed their children.

 

Mari is following in the footsteps of her predecessor who preached at our Joint Service on the first Sunday after Christmas some five years ago.  Mari is the head of the team and is based in the Cardiff office.  She leads the work in Wales.

Find out more about the appeal.

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