Welcoming our next College Chaplain

The House is delighted to announce the appointment of our next College Chaplain, The Revd Dr Kirsty Borthwick. She joins us from All Saints Leighton Buzzard, where she serves as Assistant Curate for the Diocese of St Albans. 

Dr Borthwick read Theology at Regent’s Park College, Oxford before completing an MLitt in Systematic and Historical Theology at St Andrews and a PhD at Clare College, Cambridge. Alongside her doctoral studies, she trained for ordained ministry at Westcott House served as Decani Scholar (akin to an Assistant Chaplain) at Clare College. 

Dr Borthwick was ordained Deacon in 2021 and Priest in 2022, having previously gained experience of lay chaplaincy at Christ’s Hospital, West Sussex, and served as Pastoral Assistant at St Albans Cathedral.

As I prepare to move to Christ Church, and back to the city of my undergraduate years, I feel such a strong sense of coming home. I look forward to meeting you all soon. 

The Revd Dr Kirsty Borthwick

Today Dr Borthwick is part of the team at All Saints Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, where she serves as Assistant Curate for the Diocese of St Albans and Theological Facilitator for the Diocese’s Safeguarding Training. Responding to news of her appointment, she said: ‘I am delighted to be taking up the post of College Chaplain at Christ Church. I am excited to get to know and be a part of such a warm and welcoming community and to play my part in encouraging our pastoral and spiritual well-being. 

‘Chaplaincy has had a tremendous impact on my own studies and my formation for ministry so as I prepare to move to Christ Church, and back to the city of my undergraduate years, I feel such a strong sense of coming home. I look forward to meeting you all soon.’

We are thrilled to be welcoming Dr Borthwick back to Oxford and would like to express our sincere gratitude to The Revd Dr Zachary Guiliano who has generously taken on the responsibilities of Interim Chaplain in recent months alongside his work as Priest Vicar in Christ Church Cathedral. 

Other Christ Church news

COLLEGE |

From Christ Church to Christchurch: student singers return from New Zealand

After a near decade-long hiatus, an exchange programme taking undergraduate members of Christ Church Cathedral Choir to New Zealand’s Christchurch Cathedral has been re-established. The lucky student singers this year were bass Choral Scholars (or ‘Academical Clerks’) James (Jim) Parmeter, who now enters his third year studying Theology and Religion, and George Blundell, who begins his second year studying German and Italian. We caught up with Jim and George to learn about their Antipodean adventure. 

James Parmeter and George Blundell in front of mountains and a lake
The Revd Dr Kirsty Borthwick

Other Christ Church news

COLLEGE |

From Christ Church to Christchurch: student singers return from New Zealand

After a near decade-long hiatus, an exchange programme taking undergraduate members of Christ Church Cathedral Choir to New Zealand’s Christchurch Cathedral has been re-established. The lucky student singers this year were bass Choral Scholars (or ‘Academical Clerks’) James (Jim) Parmeter, who now enters his third year studying Theology and Religion, and George Blundell, who begins his second year studying German and Italian. We caught up with Jim and George to learn about their Antipodean adventure. 

James Parmeter and George Blundell in front of mountains and a lake