Chapel & faith

Originally from Lancashire, the Revd Marcus Green arrived in Oxford as a student in the mid-80s and read History at Merton and Theology at Wycliffe Hall, before being ordained into the Church in Wales. As far as he knows, he was the first member of his family ever to go to university or get ordained.

He is passionate about worship in the Christian community, particularly music in worship, and has led choirs, orchestras, contemporary worship groups and even jazz bands in different church settings. His first book, Salvation’s Song, is a theology of the cross as worship.

More recently, both nationally and especially within Oxford Diocese, Marcus has been a prominent voice calling for LGBTQ+ equality within the Church. Simply put, he believes that every person is equal and equally loved by God. His second book, The Possibility of Difference, a biblical affirmation of such inclusion, is published by Kevin Mayhew.

Marcus shares his house with a large and (too) friendly Springer Spaniel called Harry, skis badly, is part of the Red half of Manchester, loves opera, runs a community swing band, once won The Weakest Link, and has been known to go to Italy just for the ice cream.

Matthew’s academic formation has spanned music, history, theology, and canon law. A former student at Worcester, he was first appointed College Lecturer in 2010. Over the years he has served as Chairman of the Faculty of Music, as intercollegiate organ scholarships coordinator, as consultant senior researcher in the Faculty of Letters in the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and as adviser to cathedrals, churches, and television and radio producers on musical and liturgical matters. His research has been profiled on BBC Radio and TV.

Matthew is also National Liturgical Adviser to the Church of England.

Matthew teaches the historical and philosophical side of the BA course in Music, and has also convened option papers at undergraduate and postgraduate level on the theology of sacred music and on Western plainchant. Matthew has supervised postgraduate and undergraduate research for the faculties of Music and Theology on a wide range of topics connected with sacred music and/or the worship of the Church, and welcomes enquiries for supervision and collaboration.

With a background in editorial and analytical work with the manuscripts and printed books of the Western liturgical tradition, Matthew has published widely on the transmission and regulation of the liturgy and its music in medieval England, especially the liturgical Uses of Sarum and York. He is also interested in the theology of music in present-day Christian worship, and in the intersections of medieval and modern liturgical praxis with literary and critical theory: he has worked on specific issues related to participation, technology, and the liturgical theology of Joseph Ratzinger. Matthew is also interested in the intersections of medieval and modern liturgical praxis with literary and critical theory. Matthew’s research has always been informed by practice, and he continues occasionally to direct recordings, performances, and services which include newly edited music and liturgical text. He has published several books (including The Secular Liturgical Office in Late Medieval England, 2015; most recently editing God in Fragments: worshipping with those living with dementia, 2020) and numerous articles and book chapters on medieval and contemporary liturgy and sacred music. He has led several research projects and contributed to others, in areas ranging from medieval convent drama to Covid-19.

Principal publications include:

• God in Fragments: Worshipping with those Living with Dementia (London: Church House Publishing, 2020).
• Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the Use of Salisbury, (co-edited with John and Sally Harper)  Early English Church Music 59-60 (London: Stainer and Bell for the British Academy, 2019).
• Worship in Medieval England (Amsterdam: ARC Humanities Press / Amsterdam University Press, 2018).
• Medieval Latin Liturgy in English Translation (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2017).
• The Secular Liturgical Office in Late Medieval England (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015).
• Hear My Voice, O God: Functional Dimensions of Christian Worship (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2014).
• Cataloguing Discrepancies: The Printed York Breviary of 1493 (with Andrew Hughes and Heather Robbins) (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011).

Caius Lee read Music and was Organ Scholar at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, during which time he founded the Florence International Singing Programme. Since 2019, he has been a trustee for Awards for Young Musicians, supporting talented young musicians from low-income families. He has worked with choirs, festivals and played solo recitals in Europe, Asia and South America. Returning to the Diocese of Leeds in 2021 as a Choral Director, Caius lead choirs in his native Bradford before joining Worcester in September 2023. His passion for community engagement and choral excellence has been recognised with a Royal Society of Arts Fellowship (FRSA).