Faith and Chaplaincy

Welcome to the Faith and Chaplaincy page. As a community, we aspire to listen to and care for all members of the College and to create spaces for prayer and reflection for people of all faiths and none.

Multi-Faith Prayer Room

We have a dedicated multi-faith prayer room (the Arnold Room, Henderson Building).

2024 Update: The prayer room has been relocated to Staircase 7, Room 3 while essential repair works are carried out in the Arnold Room.

This space is available for all members of the Pembroke community as well as guests and visitors of any faith or none to use for private prayer, peaceful contemplation, meditation and quiet time.

The prayer room is is open every day from 4am - 11pm.

The Chapel

The role of the chapel is as a place of peace. Focus and prayer for the world and this community continues – there are daily services, and a choral service on Sundays to which all are invited, including the general public.

Our college choir includes 12 choristers from Christ Church Cathedral School. The choral and musical life of chapel reaches far beyond mere religious opinions, or defensive identities, and allows people to immerse themselves in inspiring, transforming sound.

Each Sunday there is a speaker from one of a host of religious traditions: we have had Anglican, Armenian, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Latter-day Saint, Lutheran, Methodist, Muslim, Orthodox – Evangelical, Traditional and Liberal, as well as people who are reluctant to take a faith label, and those who are happy to share their quest from a non-religious perspective.

The chaplain is always very happy to meet in person – for whatever reason, just get in touch.

Please find this term's Chapel Programme below.

Evensong at Pembroke is the highlight of my week - the music is beautiful, the people are lovely, and the atmosphere fills you with calm.

Anna-Katharina Hauperich

Junior Dean and choir member

The Chapel provides a space individually to reflect on the hopes and challenges of each day, and to view them with different perspective, individually or with others.  Morning prayer offers a 10 minute routine in the morning to do so even in the busiest moments of term. (Best followed by breakfast.)

Nicholas Cole

SRF & member of Faith & Chaplaincy Committee

Our weekly Evensong services feature a full four-part choir with accompaniment on our beautiful and versatile mechanical action Letourneau Organ, that also features in some of our weekly recitals. Everyone is welcome to join the choir and need only contact the organ scholars if interested.

Alastair Stone (2019, Music)

Organ Scholar

I am grateful to the Chaplain, the Revd Dr Andrew Teal for opening the doors of Pembroke chapel to the Oxford Armenian community to celebrate the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is a deeply moving experience to participate in this liturgy, sung by the Oxford Armenian Choir directed by Marianna Asatryan, together with all who wish to take part. It lends a spiritual dimension to the study of Armenia and the Armenians undertaken in college by the Calouste Gulbenkian Professor in Armenian, postdocs, and students

Professor Theo van Lint

Chair of the Faith and Chaplaincy Committee

It has been a deep privilege and joy to share many conversations with Andrew Teal, and in him I have found a wonderful companion and friend in our more-than-human world. His compassion, wisdom and humility are both nourishing and clarifying, and our spontaneous dialogues - the fabric of which is interwoven with Buddha and Christ, and mine and Andrew's experiences of living and being - fill me with a sense of wonder and peace. The living and breathing universe is infinite in its creativity, magic and beauty, and this is especially apparent to me when in the company of Andrew Teal.

Siddharth Kumar

Pembroke DPhil student in Mathematics and Zoology