Eurobishop

Among the Anglican Communion's  Five Marks of Mission , it is perhaps the fifth mark "to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the Earth" that has an urgent resonance for people of all faiths, and none. We are living in a damaged world in the midst of a climate emergency and time is running out for us to stop and change direction; we have no other planet to go to.  With Lent fast approaching, I wish to commend a resource produced by USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). It is a set of 6 studies, exploring environmental justice from Anglican perspecrives around the world entitled For Such a Time as This . This resource is available in PDF format here . Each study provides a reflection from a global partner, biblical extracts for reflection, questions for discussion, prayers and a simple action or commitment. The beauty of this resource is that it is easy for small groups to manage. Although written with a UK audience in min...

St Laurence's, Lanzarote A plan to take advantage of a travel corridor still open between the UK and the Canary Islands has been cancelled: a visit to the chaplaincy of St Laurence, Lanzarote, on 14-15 November. Last Saturday night new English lockdown arrangements effective from 5 November were announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnston. Travel within the country and abroad is now not possible, unless considered essential. So, sadly, Lanzarote is added to the growing pile of cancelled pastoral visits dating back to last March. The chaplain, the Revd Canon Stan Evans was very understanding.  In Lanzarote the mission of the chaplaincy to reach out to the lost and marginalised on the island has been growing. Fr Stan is working with his Roman Catholic colleague, Fr Agustin Lasso, to look at ways to work together to serve the 600 families who are in desperate need on the island, reaching out "with the compassion of Christ as so many are hurting or are bruised at this time". ...

Canon Sabry (Casablanca), retired Archdeacon Geoff Johnston, and Rebecca Boardman USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is one the oldest mission agencies in the Anglican Communion. Founded in 1701, it has been a partner to Churches and communities world-wide, including the Diocese in Europe. It sees its partnership as a way to "enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential and champion justice". It is a little known fact that over half of the communities in the Diocese in Europe owe their origin to USPG (or SPG as it was known then) support and sponsorship. Today, USPG supports our work with migrants and refugees in France, Germany, Greece and Morocco. The Mission and Public Affairs Unit of the Diocese, chaired by Archdeacon Leslie Nathaniel, has a member from USPG on the unit. Rebecca Boardman has been a close collaborator, particularly on migration and refugee issues, for over 5 years.   At a recent meeting of the MPA unit Rebecca in her repor...

The Altar of Repose in the Pro Cathedral of St Paul, Valletta Maundy Thursday is the day in Holy Week when we commemoration the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, when he established the sacrament of Holy Communion prior to his arrest and crucifixion. So within the solemn rites of the sacred three days (Triduum) a central observance of the Holy Thursday liturgy is the commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist. At the conclusion of the mass there is a procession with the Blessed Sacrament to the Chapel of Repose, where the Sacrament is present to remind us of our Lord's ti me in the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed before his arrest and crucifixion. In the Christian tradition the faithful join in silent prayer, watching and waiting with Christ.  In the Pro Cathedral of St Paul in Valletta, Malta, members of the congregation kept watch, and many others who may have entered the Church out of curiosity or simply out of a sense that Christians were observing...

Archbishop Mndolwa and Fr Duncan Dormor (Photo courtesy of USPG) Deacon Frances and I represented the Diocese in Europe at the opening of the new headquarters of USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) in Trinity Street, London on 21 March. USPG is one of the oldest mission agencies of the Anglican communion, founded in 1701. Its predecessor, SPG, helped to found over half of the chaplaincies in this diocese.  USPG supports the churches of the Anglican Communion in their mission to be communities of resistance and hope and in their witness to the healing power of Christ’s love. Thus it supports our work to address environmental degradation, turbulent global politics, gender injustice, and the forced displacement of people at record levels. USPG is a partner in the work of the diocese in its refugee and migrant ministry in Morocco, Greece and France.  The opening of the HQ began with a mass and blessing of the chapel, presided over by Archbishop Maimbo Mndolwa...

Community Dinner at St Alberto of Trapani, Randazzo "Table Talks" was the title given to a programme involving 2 of our congregations in Sicily, St Alberto of Trapani in Randazzo and St George's Taormina. The purpose was to engage the members of the congregations in dialogue about being Anglican in Sicily, especially the challenge associated with being Italian-speaking or bilingual Italian-English Anglicans. In the Diocese in Europe most of our liturgical and pastoral work is in English, with some exceptions where Anglicans from other parts of the world have brought their own language, such as French, Arabic, Tamil or Malgache. In many places occasioanl offices or pastoral rites such as baptism, confirmation or marriage might be celebrated in English as well as the national language (for example Spanish, German or Dutch) where there is a clear need. But regular liturgical and pastoral work in the national language has not been a routine part of our life, with o...

The Revd Roger Smith at St-Hippolyte Church When Bishop Edward Benson first devised the traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols back in 1880 he likely did not know how how that service would spread globally, and not within the English-speaking world. In this Diocese in Europe it continues to be an annual way to reach out to the community of both English speakers and local national residents in a given country, and uniquely brings them together in great numbers for this service of prayers, carols and readings.  For instance, in one of our newer "parishes", the Church of All Saints, Hérault, in southern France, recently about 400 people filled the ancient 13th century Church of Saint-Hippolyte in the village of Fontès. In the service led by our priest in All Saints, the Revd Roger Smith, the traditional readings  were given in both French and English. The local Maïre was  on hand to greet the assembly, marking this out as a significant gathering in this lo...

Last Sunday 19 November was an unusual complete reversal of contexts for me. Normally I would be in a continental European parish, celebrating the eucharist for an English-language congregation. On Sunday, however, I was invited to preside in Italian for the Italian community which worships at St Peter's Church in Acton Green, London. The invitation originated from one of our own priests Fr Giovanni La Rosa from Randazzo Sicily, who is a friend of the Associate Vicar at St Peter's, Fr Fabrizio Pesce. Fr Giovanni was the preacher for the Italian mass. Fr Giovanni preaching Fr Fabrizio hails from Puglia and has served as a missionary in Argentina. He moved to London in 2010 and after his reception into the Church of England has been serving this west London parish. The Italian language service is relatively new. It is not a proselytising ministry at all, but in the best of the Anglican parochial tradition simply aims to live the truth that God welcomes everyone in hi...

St Albert of Trapani is a Sicilian saint from the 13th century, a Carmelite, widely known for his preaching and miraculous healings. He is also the patron of one of this Diocese's newest developing congregations. I was able to visit this congregation, located in the town of Randazzo on the slopes of Mount Etna, for the first time recently. I was accompanied by the Archdeacon of Italy and Malta, Vickie Sims. The occasion was the Feast of the Holy Cross. It was a warm and enthusiastic gathering. The mass was according to Common Worship, but in Italian. Archdeacon Vickie served as the deacon of the mass and also translated my homily for the assembled worshippers. It was televised by a local station! Visitors joined us from the Anglican congregations in Rome and Taormina. The priest is the Revd Giovanni La Rosa, who was received into the communion of the Church of England at the Chrism mass last March. He has been mentored by clergy of the Archdeaconry and continues his journey...

Bishop Saw John Wilme presides at the closing Mass The theme of the 2017 USPG Conference was "Serving Churches, Strengthening Communities". Friends, supporters, diocesan representatives, staff and overseas partners of the mission agency gathered in High Leigh to explore this theme through 5 programme lenses: Protecting health,  Growing the church,  Enabling livelihoods,  Promoting justice and  Responding to crises.  USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is one of the oldest mission agencies in the Anglican Communion. Founded in 1701, it has been supporting Anglican Churches around the world in their mission to bring the fullness of life to the communities they serve. Many of our own Churches in the Diocese in Europe were founded and supported by USPG.  Since 2015 USPG has been accompanying our Diocese in our work with refugees. Through funding, through provision of technical personnel, through planning for long-term strategies, USPG...

Plans continue for new congregations to be planted in Northwest Germany. The project has been spearheaded by the Area Dean of Germany, the Revd Canon Ken Dimmick. Fr Dimmick reports on a recent meeting to further this development, held at the home of Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe, the Venerable Colin Williams: "Our big dream is for the development of quite a number of smaller worship communities, similar to house churches, ....perhaps focused on lay-led Bible Study.  From time to time we see these house groups gathering with other house groups for a more liturgical worship service, and when  priest is available, for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist." Fr Ken intends that local worship leaders be trained to lead services of the word, between priestly visits. He appeals to the 10 or so Anglican priests in Germany to assist, perhaps coming once or twice a year to spend a couple of days, visiting and celebrating the Eucharist. An "executive committe...

Archbishop Francisco de Asis presides at a mass for the bishops It has been an unusual few days, with a different rhythm from my day to day ministry. At the invitation of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil and USPG I was invited to lead a spiritual retreat for the Brazilian bishops. It was an enormous privilege to be with my colleagues across the Atlantic and to accompany them in this time of profound reflection on their episcopal ministry and to work with them as they reviewed the life of their episcopal college. I have known practically all of them for 30 years, long before any of us were bishops, and it was a time of blessing to renew those friendships. The context of the Church's ministry in Brazil appears to be changing fast, and is very different from when I was first working closely with the Province. My colleagues were noting how in many ways the socio-political reality is going backwards, with the gains of democracy less certain than before, and an alarming signs that...