offer apology

for massacre A service marking a national event to increase awareness of different cultures will take place at Oxford Cathedral -- 1,002 years after a racist massacre at the site.

Fires will be lit at Christ Church Cathedral as an act of repentance for the actions of Oxford townspeople who killed many Danish settlers.

The special service is being organised to mark Racial Justice Sunday, on September 12.

In 1002, an order was issued by King Aethelred which stated that any Danes living in the country could be murdered.

Danish settlers, believed to have made up as many as 1,000 of Oxford's 7,000-strong population, sought refuge at St Frideswide's Church on the site of what is now Christ Church Cathedral.

Townspeople set the church alight and burned it to the ground.

Canon Marilyn Parry, of the cathedral's chapter, said many people were unaware that ethnic cleansing had taken place in Oxford. The service coincides with 1,000th anniversary celebrations of the rebuilding of the first church. Details of the massacre and rebuilding, funded by King Aethelred, are contained in a royal charter.

Canon Parry said: "It is a darker side to Oxford's history and something we are a bit ashamed of. To a lot of people it seems wrong to celebrate it, but people need to remember."

Danish Ambassador Tom Risdahl Jensen, guests from Oxford's link dioceses in Africa and Sweden, and a delegation from Christchurch, New Zealand, will attend the evensong service.

It will be led by Christ Church Dean the Very Rev Christopher Lewis and will take place following an afternoon of family entertainment in the college's gardens. Participants are being asked to carry a stone with them which will be used to build a cairn outside the cathedral.

Everyone will also be given a flower to take to the shrine of St Frideswide, the founding saint of Oxford.

Canon Parry said: "The cairn will represent not only our own shortcomings, but also how Christians have, as a church, failed to live up to the teachings of Jesus."

Canons' Verger Jim Godfrey, who is helping to organise the event, said: "Everyone is welcome to take part in the day's event, whether or not they choose to walk to the cathedral."

The gardens will be open from 3.30pm and evensong will start at 6.05pm. For more information call 01865 276154.