Ripon College Cuddesdon

The Director of Cuddesdon Gloucester & Hereford (CGH) , Revd Dr Sarah Brush, read the first lesson at the Choral Evensong at Gloucester Cathedral for the Three Choirs Festival, broadcast on Radio 3 - listen here: bit.ly/4ccdm78

CGH works in collaboration with the dioceses of Gloucester and Hereford to provide training with centres at St Mary's de Crypt in Gloucester and the Mascall Centre in Ludlow: https://www.rcc.ac.uk/cuddesdon-gloucester-hereford-cgh

Extension to Call for Papers for Tyndale to Tiktok, a conference on 28-29 Oct celebrating 500 years of William Tyndale's English New Testament translation. It will bring together scholars, clergy, and laypeople to learn and reflect critically and imaginatively about the Bible with special attention on the Bible’s translation, distribution, and impact – past, present, and future. Learn more: www.rcc.ac.uk/tyndale

A new book by Cuddesdon alumnus Chris Maguire is now available for pre-order.

Listening Prayer: Discerning the Voice of God through Scripture, Silence and the Spirit is a 64-page paperback exploring how Christians can discern God's voice through Scripture, silence, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

To reserve your copy, email [email protected] with your name, postal address, and the number of copies you would like to order. The book is priced at £12.99, plus £2.00 UK postage and packaging.

Giles Fraser - broadcaster, vicar and Cuddesdon alumnus - is concerned about the current state of church attendance. His parish is doing well but like most priests, he's nervous about the numbers and notes the overall decline in worship since the Sixties.

In two episodes of Church Going on Radio 4, Giles visits his old college, Cuddesdon, and his parishes from the past, talking to people on the ground and experts in the field to explore the state of Christianity in England.

The first episode is next Monday, 13 July at 11:00: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yvr9

Our prayers are with students from all our pathways being ordained at this current time. Our full Ember Lists for Deacons and Priests can be found at https://www.rcc.ac.uk/news/ember-lists-2026

We're delighted to share the news that Revd Dr Jaime Wright will be joining our staff next year while Richard Wyld is on secondment as Director of the Cuddesdon Chelmsford Centre.

Jaime holds a doctorate in Science and Religion from the University of Edinburgh, and her teaching will span preaching, theological reflection, and doctrine. She will also be launching a new preaching group for the Part-Time Pathway.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Jaime and her daughter to the College this September.

A packed Common Room got to share in the first Cuddesdon Compassion Salon gathering yesterday evening. Principal, Harriet Harris, talked with social activist, Prof. Barbara Becnel, a leading racial justice activist in the US. Her work with the former gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and made into the film Redemption: the Stan Tookie Williams Story, which was nominated for a Golden Globe. Harriet and Barbara were joined by noted singer and writer, Julia Hollander.

Intention from the Principal:
As we come to the end of term, our Leavers are being transplanted into their parishes and we all feel the shift in the ground; the loosening of the soil around our own stems, the teasing apart of the roots that have come to intertwine, the movement we make from the stem upwards to give room to one another’s stretch.

We are in the season when the wheat is green. Wheat is not always ready for harvest; the seed not always at the point of dropping to the ground to die and give life. Jesus knew that for most of his ministry, his time had not yet come, and he sustains us in our on-going growth.

When we have transitions to undergo, let's lift the roots gently, reverently, so that those leaving take with them some of the earth in which they have recently been growing, and allow themselves the adjustments they need, the time to bed into their new environment. There will be a change in the soil, but the same gardener.

We pray for all being ordained and licensed in the coming weeks.