Eurobishop

Some marvellous news was received today from the Revd Stephen Murray, the priest-in-charge of St John's Ghent and St George's, Knokke. The congregation in Ghent will, from this coming Sunday, worship at Sint-Elisabeth Church in the Old Beguinage. The Roman Catholic parish which worshipped there officially closed on 20 December 2015 and by agreement the Anglican congregation will become the sole occupant and user of this venerable and listed building. To mark this historic occasion, this Sunday's service will be a joint liturgy of Morning Prayer with representatives of the previous Roman Catholic congregation. The first Anglican Eucharist in this new home for the congregation will be on 24 January. The chapel formerly used by the Anglicans was getting too small for the numbers attending public worship and there was no proper Sunday School facilities. This spacious church will be a fitting spiritual home for the vibrant multi-cultural, growing congregation. Fr Ste...

The Revd Canon Mark Collinson, the Chaplain of Christ Church, Amsterdam, has forwarded the message below as he seeks the prayers of the people of this diocese, following the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17. As people all over the Netherlands hear of those they know who were on the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, ministers of the Schiphol Airport Chaplaincy organise support for bereaved family members. I hear of one whole family, whose daughter went to my son’s school, were amongst the 154 Dutch people on the aircraft. King Willem-Alexander is ‘deeply affected’ by the news, and expresses concern for those who are bereaved, and those who don’t yet know whether their loved ones were on the flight. Protestant, Anglican, Old Catholic and Roman Catholic ministers are meeting with grief stricken family members at Schiphol together with other professional support services. Revd Nico Sarot, the Old Catholic Anglican priest who is one of the full-time ministers at the airp...

The Church of St John and St Philip in The Hague, Netherlands, is one of our oldest congregations in the Diocese in Europe. The present Church building is the fourth home for the congregation, which was founded in 1586. With this venerable history, it is still, after over 4 centuries, a vibrant parish with a very international membership. There are four services each Sunday. The chaplain is the Revd Andrew Gready who is assisted by the Revd Chris Nicholls, the Revd Dr Roland Price and the Revd Barry Birch. On a recent visit 12 candidates were presented to me for confirmation. The Church website is here .

Each year we raise up more vocations to the sacred ministry than we have places for in this diocese. In the Church of England, people are ordained to serve a curacy - a "title" it is called - a period of 3 to 4 years in post-ordination training. So each year our Director of Ordinands, Canon William Gulliford, negotiates with other dioceses to seek title posts for some of our ordinands. Thus we are a net exporter of fine talent to the rest of the Church of England.  However, as this is the best diocese in the Church of England (or even in the Anglican Communion?) we should not be surprised that people, whose vocation was discerned here but who left and were ordained in other dioceses, find their way back.  This summer, two priests who were originally our ordinands but whom we exported to other dioceses have recently returned to take up positions, both co-incidentally in the Netherlands.  The Reverend James Hill (pictured above) began his work as Assistant Chap...

It was in 2004, with the support of Christ Church Amsterdam, that the Church of England Diocese in Europe appointed its first priest to work with the ecumenical chaplaincy at Schiphol Airport. Schiphol is the fourth busiest air hub in Europe, after Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. in 2011 close to 50 million passengers used the airport. The present Anglican chaplain is the Revd Joop Albers, who works alongside Roman Catholic and Protestant colleagues in this ecumenical chaplaincy. The Revd Joop Albers To give expression to the communion between Anglicans and Old Catholics, the Willibrord Society, encouraged a broadening of the Anglican participation in this ministry to include the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands, specifically the Diocese of Haarlem. In 2011 this was formalised through the formation of a board called the "Old Catholic and Anglican Airport Ministry", OCAAM, whose membership is 50% Anglicans and 50% Old Catholic. Our work and presence i...

The English Church of St John and St Philip in the Hague can trace its history back to 1586. Churchwarden Tony May has written to me to point out some features of the interesting history of this parish:  In 1584, during the early years of the revolt against King Philip of Spain, Prince William the Silent was assassinated. The Dutch begged Queen Elizabeth I of England to become their sovereign and to provide military aid. Reluctant to get too involved, she nonetheless promised to send soldiers, and appointed the Earl of Leicester as Governor General of the Netherlands. The English Church in The Hague was established in 1586 when the magistrates of the city built a chapel in Noordeinde for the use of chaplains accompanying the English soldiers, diplomats and merchants who came over with the Earl. The English (now Anglican) Church in The Hague has occupied four buildings on different sites and the present building was consecrated in 1952. But...

From 29 August to 2 September in Neustadt/Weinstrasse, Germany close to 50 scholars from the Old Catholic and Anglican Churches gathered for a conference on "Ecclesiology and Mission in Today's Europe". Papers were presented on aspects of the nature of the Church (ecclesiology), the way the Church lives her life in obedience to Our Lord's mandate (missiology), and the challenges for Christians and Christian identity in modern Europe. In addition, some participants presented their own current areas of research. Among those was the Revd Mark Collinson, the Area Dean of the Netherlands, and the Chaplain of Christ Church, Amsterdam (pictured above). Mark shared his work under the theme "Making a Dwelling in Europe", in which he is exploring some aspects of the Anglican presence on the European Continent. Mark raises some challenges for our Church as to how  we can be more  incarnational  in our life and mission, expressing more fully our connection to the l...

The Revds Mark Collinson and Barbara Moss T wo new Area Deans have recently been appointed to serve areas of the diocese.  The Revd Mark Collinson, chaplain of Christ Church Amsterdam, has been appointed Area Dean for the Netherlands, the first such appointment to serve the 16 Church of England congregations and worship centres in that country. Together  with his counterpart the  Area Dean for Belgium and Luxembourg, the Revd Andrew Wagstaff, Mark will assist the Archdeacon of North West Europe, the Venerable John de Wit, in the oversight and pastoral care of the clergy and congregations in their respective areas. Bishop Geoffrey will formally commission Mark for this new role during the synod of North West Europe to be held from 6th to 8th October. The Revd Barbara Moss, chaplain of St Andrew's Gothenburg and chaplain to English-speaking staff and students at the University of Gothenburg, has  been appointed Area Dean for the Nordic Baltic States. Barbar...