Colin Williams receives a general priest's licence and begins his work in the Diocese in Europe

Archdeacon Designate Colin Williams
During the Nordic and Baltic Deanery Synod held from 4 - 6 September in Helsinki, I was able to grant a general licence as a priest in the Diocese to the Archdeacon-Designate of Germany and Northern Europe, Colin Williams. This is the first stage of Fr Colin's entry into his ministry among us. He will, over the next few weeks, also receive a commission as Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe as well as a commission as Archdeacon of the East. The clergy and lay delegates to the Nordic and Baltic synod were pleased to have a chance to get to know their new Archdeacon. 

L to R: Fr Tuomas Mäkipää, Bishop Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga, and Fr Colin Williams
It was fitting that Fr Colin's first official act in this diocese was to preside at the Eucharist for the Nordic Baltic Deanery in the Orthodox Chapel of the Sofia Centre in Helsinki where we were meeting. He was assisted by Fr Tuomas Mäkipää, the Chaplain of St Nicholas's Helsinki and Bishop Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga, who on her retirement as Bishop of the Lutheran Church in the UK became the priest-in-charge of St Saviour's, Riga, Latvia, an appointment made possible under the Porvoo Agreement.


Archdeacon Peter Potter
The Synod members also had a chance to thank warmly the Venerable Peter Potter, Archdeacon of Switzerland, who has been Acting Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe during the vacancy. It has been a busy time for Fr Peter, with a much wider patch to cover than his own Switzerland, but he has enjoyed getting to know another part of the diocese in a closer way. We have certainly appreciated Fr Peter's additional work over the past year and a half.

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