Upcoming Michaelmas Ordinations are also Celebrations of New Work in the Diocese

The Holy SpiritImage 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 86 76, halesphx2@aol.com). The parish has a website here.

Padua: Bishop Geoffrey Rowell will preside at the ordination of the Revd Sampson Ajuka to the priesthood on 4 October at 10.30 am in the Chapel of S.Giuseppe Il Lavoratore, Padua, Italy. Sampson will continue to serve as assistant curate, St George’s Venice with special responsibilities for the Church of St Anthony the Abbot, Padua, a congregation which he has nurtured from its early days in 2004. (The address for the chapel is Quarta Strada 7, Zona Industriale, Padua. For further details of the service contact the Revd John-Henry Bowden at +39 041 520 0571, stgeorgesvenice@virgilio.it). St Anthony the Abbot congregation has a page on the St George's Venice website which can be found here.

Crete: I will preside at the ordination of Mr Anthony Lane to the diaconate on 11 October at 9.30 am in St John the Evangelist Church, Izmir, Turkey. Tony will serve as assistant curate of the Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, Crete, a new congregation within the Greater Athens Chaplaincy. The celebration will be during the days of the synod of the Archdeaconry of the East, to which the Anglican Church in Crete belongs. (The address for St John's Church, Izmir is Talat Pasa Bul, Alsancak, Izmir, next to the British Consulate, and near Alsancak Railway Station. For further details of the service contact the Revd Ron Evans at +90 232 464 5753, seljuk85@hotmail.com). The chapel in Crete was built by Tony and was consecrated last year by Bishop Geoffrey. The diocesan website has a note about St Thomas's Church in Crete here.

I ask your prayers for the ordinands as they make their spiritual preparations for ordination as deacon or priest. All are invited to attend these ordinations, and clergy and Readers are invited to robe. Priests of the Church of England or of a Church in communion are invited to join in the laying-on-of-hands at the ordination of priests.


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