Parish Communications

Parish Support Group Extraordinary Meeting – 19/1/26 :5pm

In attendance: Canon Mervyn Tower Charles King Sean Calnan Margaret King (Chair) Tim Selwood Julie Murphy,John Bellasis (Secretary) Sandra Lenagan Marika Dimech,Rania Naser (School Support) Anne Garrett Mary Laina Cathy Morrison Denise Upton Maggie Borucki Nish Bashir Mary May Verena Brogan Mary Joseph Bob Wright Carol McCall,Mary Gilgunn-Jones

Apologies: Louis Borucki, Julieann Exley

1. Margaret King continued as Chair and opened the meeting at 5pm. Fr Mervyn led the gathering in prayer.
2. Communication:
   1. JB announced that he may have to leave the parish; timescale unknown but potentially imminent. (This means that a volunteer replacement as secretary would be welcomed.)
   2. Fr Damian Nwankwo is currently visiting Nigeria. He is due to take up his post as our parish priest on Saturday 21^st February. He may arrive the day before but is unlikely to be available for the Stations of the Cross at 11am followed by the serving of soup in the hall.
   3. Fr Mervyn (MT) congratulated this parish for holding together and performing seamless services to help each other. He commended this support group for the enthusiasm in coming together to discuss parish affairs and concernsin the absence of a parish priest. He thanked, through this gathering, the priests that covered for the Masses and sacraments; in particular, Fr Joe Evans and Bishop William Kenny.
   4. MT advised that we are heading for the Deanery becoming one Parish with three or four churches (but did not put a timescale on it).
   5. MT apologised that he would have to leave the meeting after half an hour.
   6. RN apologised that she would have to leave after three-quarters of an hour.
3. CK offered to check the parish’s list of volunteers and ensure the Fr Damian would receive an up-to-date copy on arrival
4. It was agree that Fr Damian would probably want to put his own stamp on parish procedures, particularly Lent and Easter, but CK and SL will compile an average schedule for their respective churches. (RN might do something similar for the school, perhaps with a copy of the school calendar.)
5. Care for the most vulnerable: SL confirmed that she posts at St Hugh’s a five-weekly schedule of services organised at the Spencer Court Nursing Home. The schedule is shared by the churches of Woodstock. MK confirmed that she would be in discussions with the churches of Kidlington to explore something similar happening in the area of St Thomas More.
6. Pastoral Visit at the end of January:
   1. Whilst we all need to be ready for this visit by Rt Rev Bishop Richard Walker, the parish leaders are: Charles King and Sean Calnan for St Thomas More; Sandra Lenagan for St Hugh of Lincoln; and Rania Nasser for the school. The leaders will host the Bishop in their zones; for example, RN is planning the Sunday Mass in St Thomas More’s as a Confirmation Mass and is encouraging parents to attend. MT offered to assist with the planning if necessary and outlined the principle elements of the visit, emphasising the Bishop’s wish to meet the Finance Committee.
   2. The Bishop is coming to listen and so a meeting of parish members is planned after the Mass on Sunday in the St Thomas More hall. There will be refreshments and the discussion will be light and informal (but ensuring that it will be useful and informative for the Bishop, who will no doubt lead the discussions).
7. Any Other Business:
   1. Fr Jiji (Fr Jijimon J. Puthuveettilkalam, who provided recent cover in the parish) will return from Rome to launch his new book: The Mystery of the Church: God’s Self-Revelation in Ephrem the Syrian. The launch will take place the St Hugh’s hall on 14^th March.
   2. Further meetings will be advertised according to the wishes of Fr Damian.
   3. The 2026 Parish Assembly meeting is tentatively agreed for Sunday 26^th April.
8. MK closed the meeting at 18:10 with a prayer.

Recorded minutes of meeting:

Parish Priest Appointed

You will be pleased to know that Archbishop Bernard has appointed a
new parish priest of St. Thomas More and St. Hugh of Lincoln. His name
is Fr. Damian Nwankwo who at the moment is parish priest of Wooton
Wawen in Warwickshire. He will be arriving to take up his post at the
beginning of February. Please pray for him and for one another as we
begin this next stage of our parish journey. I am sure you will welcome
him warmly.

Fr. Mervyn

Letter to the Parish of Kidlington and Woodstock from the Dean

November 14^th 2025

Dear Parishioners,

Good evening/morning.

I am writing to you to update you on the situation in the parish following the move of Fr. Prem. We all understand how difficult it is for a parish to function normally without a permanent priest.

1. I know that the Archbishop is endeavouring to appoint a new parish priest as soon as possible. As I’m sure you appreciate, there are less priests than years ago and this impacts on the whole Archdiocese where several large parishes have been similarly awaiting new appointments.
2. During this interim period, I am trying to ensure that there are supply priests to cover the weekend Masses in the parish. Despite the relative high numbers of priests in our Deanery, with the presence of the Religious Orders, most of them already have Sunday and community commitments and, although willing, are not available. At the moment, all the usual weekend Masses are covered up to and including the Third Sunday of Advent and also the 11.00am Mass for Sunday December 21^st, Christmas Day, December 28^th and January 4^th. I shall let you know as soon as possible about the other Masses for these dates.
3. The Deanery will continue to cover emergency calls and provide for funerals and other pastoral needs that might arise.
4. In the meantime, after a productive parish community meeting on Tuesday evening, there is a real commitment to ensure that the parish continues not merely to function but to flourish in its mission to build up the Kingdom of God. This needs the involvement of as many parishioners as possible and I hope you will all continue to support one another. Please contact me if you feel I can be of assistance.

With prayers and best wishes,

Fr. Mervyn Tower

Dean of Oxford North Deanery

Previous Recorded Minutes of Meetings