Wednesday marked the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. It is this feast which marks the beginning of a new academic year at the University of Oxford – and gives its name to Michaelmas Term.

This Michaelmas Term, after a long interval, we are publishing a new term card. It is perhaps a sign that things are returning to the more familiar patterns which existed before the pandemic. But we should not simply imagine that everything is returning to the way things were before. All of us have been changed by the experience of the last eighteen months. It has been a time when many of us have reviewed and revised our priorities, when we have come to a renewed appreciation of the things which matter in our lives. Things like the Bible Studies, the daily pattern of worship, midweek lectures and concerts will all resume, but we are also planning a series of panel discussions on Covid’s Metamorphoses, to explore the things that we have discovered in the course of the pandemic. There will be sessions on the world of work, mental health, and intergenerational justice.

One of the key discoveries has been that the sense of community which we experience at St Mary’s is vitally important. When we began to think about the appointment of a new assistant priest, the Parochial Church Council were very clear that a key element of the role of the new priest would be to help us to rebuild our community in the light of the pandemic. It is good that as we mark the beginning of the Michaelmas Term this Sunday, the Revd Hannah Cartwright will be licensed as our Assistant Priest. Hannah has been the Assistant Curate in the parish of Littlemore, and we very much look forward to welcoming her to the University Church along with her family. I hope that lots of people will be able to attend the 10.30am service this coming Sunday as we celebrate a new ministry at the University Church.

We look forward to welcoming you back to St Mary’s as we mark the beginning of Michaelmas Term.