I’ve been reticent about saying this in public (though voluble in personal conversation), but now that the season of Annual Meetings is over I feel free to say: I will retire from my parish ministry post here in Abingdon Parish at the end of my licensing period in January 2027.
The Parish is in sturdy health, and numbers are growing. Our new (familiar) Rector Jen Brown has been in post since October and has settled firmly into her role. We’ll have (heaven permitting) a new Team Vicar sometime in the autumn.
Half-time church posts are notoriously closer to full-time, but the two consecutive interregnums in the parish have taken that axiom to an extreme. I’ve had to struggle to get any reading or writing done, and I have at least one big project I don’t want to put off any longer.
I’ll continue to tutor for Oriel College as long as Bill Wood will put up with me, and Fr Jonathan Jong has enlisted me for PTO ministry at St Mary Magdalen Church in Oxford. Margaret & I hope to find a house in Headington. We’re healthy and happy, and want to enjoy our time together while we can.
I have no desire for retirement festivities or farewell parties, *but* — on 5 December we will observe the fortieth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood with a Commemoration of Clement of Alexandria at St Helen’s, Abingdon, to which all and any will be welcomed!