Mark Birch

The Reverend Mark Birch has been a Minor Canon at Westminster Abbey since January 2015.

As Precentor he is responsible to the Dean of Westminster for the daily worship life of the Abbey, and for designing and planning many of the special services which characterize its unique life.

Mark Birch came to Westminster Abbey after two years as Priest-in-Charge of the parish of St. Faith, Chaplain at the Hospital of St. Cross and Chaplain at Treloar College in Alton, in the Diocese of Winchester. He was previously Chaplain at Helen and Douglas House in Oxford, and before that Chaplain and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He served his curacy at the parish of Cirencester with Watermoor in the Diocese of Gloucester.

About Canon Birch’s talk:

Few countries have Monarchs these days, and even fewer ‘go to town’ in the way the Brits do over their Coronation. The United Kingdom, like most of western Europe, is increasingly secular in outlook and yet the King was crowned in a Christian ceremony, dating back over a thousand years. In this talk Birch will reflect on the Coronation that took place in Westminster Abbey in May 2023, and consider what this ancient ceremony might have to say to a secular world, and how it might serve the Church’s mission.