Eurobishop

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr Two priests and one deacon will be ordained this Michaelmas in the Diocese in Europe. All three ordinands are serving new congregations and have had a major part to play in opening up new areas of work and ministry within our diocesan family. Coutances : I will preside at the ordination of the Revd Peter Hales to the priesthood on 3rd October at 10.30 am in Chapelle du Centre d’Accueil Diocésain (CAD) in Coutances, France. Bishop Stanislas Lalanne of Coutances has graciously offered the use of the chapel of his diocesan centre for the celebration. Peter will continue to serve as assistant curate of Christ Church, Coutances , a growing parish in the Manche region of Normandy, which has already already started a daughter congregation in Vezins in addition to the main congregation in the city of Coutances. (The address for the Chapel is 2 rue Daniel, Coutances 50200, France. For further details of the service contact the Revd Peter Hales at +33 2 33 58 8...

The Diocesan Environmental Officer Brian Morgan has written to clergy of the diocese to draw attention to a press release from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) calling for a Climate Change Day of Prayer on 4 October. The Day of Prayer is an initiative of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Pentecostal Curches who are members of CTBI as well as Christian development and environmental organisations, including Christian Aid , CAFOD , Tearfund , A Rocha , and Christian Ecology Link . Resources are available on the CTBI website to enable churches and groups to prepare for and run a Day of Prayer, when people can take time out to reflect on the issues and pray together at this critical time in our history. A key aim is to pray for God's will to be done during the decisive summit in Copenhagen, COP 15 , from 7 - 18 December, which has been described by some as possibly the "last chance for the planet". (The Archbishop of Canterbury will be at...

Image via Wikipedia Priests and deacons from Madeira to Moscow, Tangier to Trondheim, will gather at Kardinal Schulte Haus near Cologne from 21 to 25 September for the pastoral conference for the clergy - only the 2nd in the 30 year history of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. "Entertaining Angels: Hospitality as Mission" is the theme for the gathering which will be a time of worship, bible study, teaching and continuing education as well as for support from peers for the challenging work of ministry and mission in this vast diocese. We will be privileged to have two keynote speakers: Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP and Professor Brian Thorne. Fr Radcliffe is the former Master of the Dominicans, a widely-read author on pastoral Christianity with a prophetic edge, whose latest book, entitled Why Go to Church? was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2009. Professor Thorne is Emeritus Professor of Counselling at the University of East Anglia, founder of Norwich Centre for Co...

On 12 June the synod of the Christ-Catholic Church of Switzerland elected the Revd Dr Harald Rein, currently the parish priest in Zurich, to be their next bishop. Dr Rein is a good friend of the Anglican Church. I first met him back in 2002 when he was the official Old Catholic participant in the Anglican Consultative Council meetings in Hong Kong. We serve together on the Anglican Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council (AOCICC) and I look forward to working with Dr Rein as a brother bishop, and to continuing the task of deepening the relationship of communion which our Churches share. He will succeed Bishop Fritz-René Müller, also a close friend of our diocese and well known to Anglican parishes in the Swiss Archdeaconry. The Christ-Catholic Church of Switzerland dates from just after the Vatican I declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870, when a lay-led revolt in Switzerland resulted in the organization of a Catholic Church outside the jurisdiction of the Pope. It has ove...

I am officially on leave from today until 2 September. Do not expect too many blog updates during this time! As Deacon Frances is also on leave until 24 August, should you need to be in touch before 24 August please contact either the diocesan office +44 (0) 20 7898 1155 or Bishop Geoffrey's office +44 (0)1293 883051. ¡Hasta luego!

On 14 July the Archdeacon of Gibraltar, the Venerable David Sutch, licensed the Revd Bob Bates (above left) as chaplain in St Vincent's , in a service in the Church of St Luke, Monte de Palhagueira. Fr Bob and his wife Diane join us from the Diocese of Peterborough. As chaplain he will have primary reponsibility for the congregations in the central and eastern parts of the parish and will work in the team with Fr Haynes Hubbard. (Fr Haynes as senior chaplain has administrative oversight of St Vincent's and primary responsibility pastoral care for the Western end of the parish). At the same service the Area Dean of Gibraltar, Canon Hugh Broad, admitted Mr Eckart Floether (above right) to the office of Reader in the Church of England and licensed him for his ministry in St Vincent's. (There is already one other Reader, Mrs Fiona Mayes, serving in the parish). St Vincent's Algarve is a vibrant and growing part of the diocese and the addition of second full-time priest and...

Partnership links between our Archdeaconry of Gibraltar and the Anglican Diocese in Peru were strengthened following the visit of Bishop Bill Godfrey to the archdeaconry synod this year. Bishop Bill led the Bible studies and so moved the members with the story of how God is leading and equipping his diocese that the synod agreed to deepen the links of cooperation, partnership and support. As part of the next stage in the link, a small group of people (10-15) from our parishes in Spain and Portugal will travel to Peru in November. It will be a working visit, to experience and share in the ministry of that diocese and report back to the archdeaconry. A visible sign of our partnership, a colourful altar hanging, in the style of a traditional Peruvian arpillera, made by women of Bishop Bill's diocese, is circulating around the churches of the Archdeaconry. It is pictured above. We have much to learn from the Diocese of Peru. It is growing rapidly, having gone from 8 to 40 congregations...

Today is the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 15 August has been celebrated by Christians as the principle Marian festival from about the 5th Century. For Eastern Christians today is the Dormition of Our Lady . Similarly in the Book of Common Prayer of many Provinces of the Communion, such as the Anglican Church of Canada and the Scottish Episcopal Church, today is the Falling Asleep of the BVM . Roman Catholics call today the Assumption of the BVM . (The neutral Church of England title was chosen to avoid doctrinal controversy). In 2005 the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) agreed statement, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ , was published. It reflects on what we can say in common about Our Lady. While it acknowledges difficulties that particular Papal definitions of Marian dogma can cause for Anglicans, it finds in Scripture and in the ancient common traditions the possibility of articulating a common faith about Mary which suggests that past differences may not...

The official website of the Anglican Communion claims that there are "over 80 million members in 44 regional and national member churches around the globe in over 160 countries". Many of us will have heard this remarkable statistic before. But has it occured to those of us in this Diocese in Europe that we comprise 43 of the 160 countries? In other words, one quarter of the countries where the Anglican Communion has a presence are in our diocese! We do not yet have a quarter of the membership (20 million!) but as we are a growing diocese at least we are heading in the right direction. The Anglican Communion website is here .

Image by MichaelTyler via Flickr On 27 July, at the end of my recent parish visit to St Mary’s Belgrade, I paid a courtesy visit to the Patriarchate to pass along the greetings and the assurance of the prayers of the Archbishop of Canterbury. His Grace Bishop Atanasije of Hvosno and Deacon Alexander Sekulić welcomed me on behalf of His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and Littoral and His Holiness Patriarch Pavle. (The Patriarch is seriously ill and should be remembered in our prayers). As often happens when I meet ecumenical partners these days, there was some discussion about the present state of the Anglican Communion and about the Archbishop’s role in maintaining unity. The Serbian Orthodox authorities shared their concern, even sadness, at developments in our Communion. I found that they have an appreciation and understanding of the complex and difficult role of Archbishop Rowan Williams in trying Image by Getty Images via Daylife to maintain Anglican unity. We sp...

In recent years my colleagues in the Ministry Team of the diocese have had to consider how candidates for ordination or readers in training could be supported, who are already functioning in sole leadership positions, without a resident senior priest to give supervision. In some other situations, licensed readers or newly ordained deacons and priests are de facto in charge of a developing new work and nurturing new congregations, functioning as "minister-in-charge". We are seeing this in a variety of places in the diocese from the Canary Islands to sub-Arctic Finland, from rural France to urban Turkey. I have proposed to my colleagues that we view this phenomenon, not as an anomaly or a problem, but an opportunity given to us by God, to be embraced and supported more fully. The question we have wrestled with is how the diocese can offer the support, advice and oversight needed in such situations where new congregations and new vocations are organically linked (indeed often e...

Image via Wikipedia How appropriate in a diocese of people on the move that we are engaged in pastoral ministry at one of Europe's largest and busiest airports - Schiphol in the Netherlands. The Revd Joop Albers is a priest of this diocese who is an airport chaplain, and member of an ecumenical team ministry there. Fr Joop's ministy is supported by Anglican sources (financial as well as volunteer time) as well as by the Old Catholic diocese of Haarlem. Anglican Ai rp ort Ministry has its own website for more information . If you are every flying through Schiphol, visit the Stiltecentrum (Meditation Centre). For an insight into this unusual and important ministry click on the following link to a youtube video .

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a regional fellowship of Chu rches and 43 associated organisations from many countries on the European continent. From 15th to 21st July this year the 13th Assembly since the founding of the Conference in 1959 brought together over 300 delegates, advisers, observers and visitors from 126 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic member Churches to celebrate the jubilee year under the theme ‘Called to One Hope in Christ’. The Church of England is a member Church and sent a delegation headed by the Bishop of London. Due to the way the General Synod nominations committee works, the Diocese in Europe did not have a member on the delegation from the Church of England. However, our Anglican parish in Lyon was active among the host Churches, and an ordinand from the diocese, and member of the Chemin Neuf Community in Lyon, Mr Tim Watson, was also involved. The General Secretary of CEC is the Venerable Colin Williams, a Church of England pries...

Image via Wikipedia St Laurence was a deacon in the Church of Rome, and was martyred on this day in 258. It was common in those days for a deacon to be in charge of the Church's finances. When arrested by Roman authorities, he was ordered to turn over the treasures of the Church. He pointed to a crowd of poor people and is reputed to have said "here are the Church's treasures". He was tortured to death on a gridiron. Our Anglican parish in Lanzarote is dedicated to St Laurence. It includes four congregations on the island of Lanzarote itself, and is also overseeing the development of a new congregation of St James in the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura, all served by the priest Fr Idris Vaughan and the reader Mr David Dowdell. The parish has an attractive website here .

Members of a free evangelical congregation in Europe interested in the Anglican way asked me some questions to do with liturgical worship. They wanted to know why liturgical forms were required in the Anglican tradition. This is part of my answer.... Some Christians are hesitant about liturgical worship. Of course, virtually all Christians have a liturgy. Even a service in the Free Church tradition generally has a form to it: it usually includes a greeting at the beginning, an act of penitence, readings from scripture, hymns or songs, prayers for those in need, as well as sacramental acts. The only Christian tradition I know of which has absolutely no structure to their worship is the Quaker – where all gather and await in silence until someone is moved to speak! So the question about liturgy is not really about whether to have one or not, but which liturgical form to use. Worship is the deep response of the redeemed humanity to God. Liturgy is the pattern or way that the people of Go...

On 22 July the Archbishops of Canterbury and York wrote to the bishops of the Church of England concerning the pandemic “swine flu” in England and recommended that those presiding at the Holy Communion suspend the sharing of the chalice. The Archbishops’ advice was based on UK Department of Health information. Our situation in the Diocese in Europe where we serve in 44 countries is not so straightforward. I therefore asked our Archdeacons and Area Deans to seek details of current public health advice in the countries under their oversight and to instruct the clergy if and when the diocesan guidelines must come into force as a consequence of that advice. The diocesan guidelines can be found here To date the guidelines have been put into place in our congregations in Russia, Gibraltar, and Tenerife South. The Church of England has published prayers for individual and church use pertaining to swine flu which can be found here .

These days when English newspapers run stories about the Anglican Church I often tend to cringe. However, last Saturday I was pleasantly surprised by a very friendly feature in The Times on the life of our diocese in France. It underlined the warm ecumenical relations that exist between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in that country, relations that make a practical difference to the life of our diocese. We are grateful for the hospitality that is shown to our congregations by Roman Catholic bishops, clergy and people, and for the support we feel from them for our own pastoral work. Three of our own priests, the Revds Gill Strachan, Peter Dawson and Paul Vrolijk get special mention in the article as does our Archdeacon of France, the Venerable Ken Letts. Read The Times article here . Click on the links to the Anglican Church of Aquitaine , St Andrew's Biarritz , and Holy Trinity Nice .

The members from the free evangelical congregation interested in the Anglican way asked about ministry, lay and ordained. They were wanted to know about who can preach in the Church of England. Some of their members, with varying levels of training, currently do preach, and they wished to know that, if they became Anglican, could they continue. My response went along these lines..... Image via Wikipedia All members of the believing community, ordained and lay, are inter-related. In a very real sense it is strange to speak of lay ministry versus ordained ministry in the Church, as all ministry has the same root in Christ. The scriptures teach us that there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, varieties of service but the same Lord; varieties of working, but the same God who inspires them all in every one ( 1 Cor 12.4-6). The Spirit gives gifts or charisms to all the baptised. Within the fellowship of the baptised, there are those who are entrusted with permanent, lifelong, publi...

Image via Wikipedia Recently I received a letter inquiring about some aspects of Anglican Christianity from a free evangelical congregation in one of the countries in this diocese. The members of this congregation are exploring a formal affiliation with the Church of England. Their questions ranged from the form of worship to the ministry of bishops. In a series I will post my answers to their questions, which caused me to think afresh about my own tradition!