Eurobishop

On 4 October the Revd Sampson Ajuka was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Geoffrey Rowell. Fr Sampson is assistant curate of St Anthony of Egypt, Padova, which is within the chaplaincy of St George's Venice. The congregation of St Anthony of Egypt was started by Fr Sampson some 5 years ago and has grown in numbers and in extent of ministry. There is now a flourishing Mothers' Union branch and two Readers, Michael Udeagbara and Charles Onwukwe, were recently admitted and licensed, having completed their three years of study. Funds raised by Fr Sampson on the occasion of his ordination have been donated to construct a well for his home village in Nigeria. Under the supervision of the Archdeacon of Italy and Malta, Fr Sampson also provides pastoral care to other communities of Nigerian Anglicans in Italy. There is more information about St Anthony of Egypt, Padova here .

The Meissen Commission met last month in England from 17th to 21st September. The Commission carries forward the work of the 1988 Meissen Agreement between the Church of England and the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (the Evangelical Church in Germany or "EKD"). The Diocese in Europe is represented on the Commission by the Revd Simon Hobbs, the chaplain of St Boniface Bonn and All Saints Cologne . He brings a vital perspective from Germany itself where our Anglican clergy and congregations enjoy excellent ecumenical relations with our EKD neighbours. (The Agreement provides for mutual eucharistic hospitality but not an inter-changeable ministry due to lack of agreement on the historic episcopal succession). It was the last meeting for the EKD co-chairman, Bishop Jürgen Johannesdotter of Schaumburg-Lippe (pictured left) who retiries shortly after a destinguished ecumenical career. He will be succeeded in the chair by the Bishop of Braunschweig, ...

It has been quite a week for ecumenical news. First the announcement of the Apostolic Constitution from Rome last Tuesday. Then last Thursday the General Synod of the Church of Sweden voted 176 to 73, to allow same-sex church weddings. The Church of Sweden, the established Church until 2000, has about 7 million members or 75% of the national population. It has been offering blessings of same-sex registered partnerships since 1995 and in 2007 approved a special liturgy for this. However, Swedish marriage law changed on 1 May, and registered partnerships were abolished in favour of gender-neutral marriage. The Church was thus faced with a decision about what the change means for its understanding of marriage. Earlier this year, two Church of England Bishops, Christopher Hill and John Hind, who chair the Council for Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Advisory Group, respectively, wrote to Archbishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala (pictured above), pointing out that a decision to exp...

Bishop Pierre Whalon, the Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, and an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese in Europe, was a special guest at a recent session of the Bishop's Council. (The Convocation was formerly known as the Convocation of American Churches in Europe. We in the Diocese in Europe were unaware of this name change which Bishop Pierre pointed out was needed since many members of his congregations are not Americans, and that there are other American churches in Europe). The Convocation website lists 8 parishes and 7 mission congregations, and is constitutionally part of the Episcopal Church, the United States based Province of the Anglican Communion. The Convocation sends 4 clergy and 4 laity (along with its bishop) to the triennial General Convention in the USA. Reflecting on the General Convention which met this year in Anaheim California, Bishop Pierre stated that the Episcopal Church's mind o...

The announcement that Pope Benedict XVI has approved, by Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure, “Personal Ordinariates”, to allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, has been received by some Anglicans with a degree of surprise. Cardinal William Levada, of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), has explained that this provision is in response to requests which have come from Anglicans and Anglican groups in different parts of the world. The text of the Apostolic Constitution itself has not been made public as yet, so it not possible to comment on the details of this provision. However, as the former Anglican co-secretary of our international bilateral dialogue, ARCIC (the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission) as well as a consultant to the more recent IARCCUM Commission (International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Mission and Unity) I offer below some initial reflections on the ecumenical implications of...

Ecumenical relations between Anglicans and Roman Catholics are in excellent shape in Almuñécar. During my recent parish visit to our Diocese in Europe congregations in Nerja and Almuñécar , the Revd Geoff Johnston, the priest-in-charge, and I were offered hospitality by the Roman Catholic clergy team which serves the Almuñécar and Herradura parishes. Over a splendid lunch of tapas and rabbit paella, we explored a range of issues touching upon the life of our Churches including vocations to the sacred ministry, work with young people, ecumenical relations between Roman Catholics and Anglicans in England, Muslim-Christian relations and liturgical renewal. Our Roman Catholic colleagues were keen to know how decisions taken by some bishops and dioceses in the USA, particularly on the matter of same-sex blessings, were affecting the life of the Anglican Communion. This led to an honest discussion about how authority is regarded (or disregarded!) in our res...

Each month, Dr Martin Davie, the Theological Secretary to the Bishops of the Church of England, reviews some new theological books. I have his permission to publish his notes each month. I hope this will be of use to the clergy and Readers (lay ministers) of the Diocese in Europe, as well as to any interested in current theology. The 10 latest reviews are below. (For the full article, click on the read more link). 

Today is " Blog Action Day on Climate Change ". I want to draw the attention of readers of this blog and those connected with the Diocese in Europe to an important statement that we bishops of the Church of England issued on the environment and climate change last September 16.  It underscores several important points from a Christian perspective: the theological basis for our care for God's creation and the link between climate change and justice for the poor the need to form partnerships with others, including interfaith partnerships, in order to address the crisis together the call to prayerful reflection on the decisions the politicians and world leaders must make in Copenhagen in December ( COP 15 ) and to give these leaders an ambitious mandate the Christian vocation to live simply and responsibly Here is the full statement (it continues after the break): If a fire breaks out and spreads into thorn bushes so that it burns stocks of grain or standing gr...

The Mystery Worshipper rides again! Another church of the Diocese in Europe, St Alban's Copenhagen, had a visit from the anonymous reporter from the Ship of Fools website. The report can be found here . Once again the Diocese in Europe worship life gets a very high rating, however, the Chaplain of St Alban's ,  the Revd Jonathan LLoyd, wonders how the Mystery Worshipper could have mistaken the Common Worship service for 1662! Fr Jonathan LLoyd, by the way, is also the Archdeacon-designate of Germany and Northern Europe.

I am sure that the Archdeaconry of the East of the Church of England Diocese in Europe is the largest such jurisdiction in Christendom. The Archdeacon, the Venerable Patrick Curran, (left) who is also the Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna , oversees Anglican work in Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, (FYR of) Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the countries which emerged after the collapse of the USSR. Even Mongolia (hardly Europe!) is in the ecclesiastical boundary of the Archdeaconry. Once a year, clergy and lay representatives from the churches of the Archdeaconry meet in a synod to discuss issues facing their congregations, for prayer and study, and to take decisions concerning the common life of our parishes in the region. This year's meeting was held in Izmir, Turkey, from 8 to 11 October, hosted by the Church of St John the Evangelist, a congregation whic...

Exotic items from across the world's largest Archdeaconry, the Archdeaconry of the East of the Diocese in Europe were auctioned at the recent synod in Izmir, Turkey. The goal was to raise money for the Archdeacon's discretionary fund. The Revd Canon Dr Simon Stephens ( St Andrew's, Moscow ) was auctioneer for the event which raised over €410 for Archdeacon Patrick Curran's discretionary use. Items brought by synod members to be auctioned included a rare 1996 bottle of Hungarian Tokay, described in the auction as "the king of wine and the wine of kings", a pair of elegant felt slippers from Kazakhstan, and an assortment of hats. Fr Robin Fox, the priest-in-charge of St Mary's Belgrade , is pictured here sporting his acquisition, purchased after a fierce bidding competition. It is a true collector's item - a woollen "Orange Revolution" hat from the Ukraine. It should also be practical for a Balkan winter.

Image via Wikipedia On Friday 2 October, Monseigneur Stanislas Lalanne, the Bishop of Coutances, hosted a dinner at his residence for myself, my chaplain Deacon Frances Hiller, and the diocesan Registrar, Mr Aidan Hargreaves-Smith. Mgr Lalanne’s ecumenical officer, Père Louis Deschamps and his legal counsellor, Père Harel, were also guests at the dinner. The evening was both an occasion to build ecumenical friendships, and to explore together some areas of common interest of our Churches and some of the present challenges we face, both in the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. I was in Countances for the ordination of the Revd Peter Hales to the priesthood and co-incidentally Mgr Lalanne was due to ordain a deacon on the same day in Cherbourg, so our conversation naturally turned to matters of theological formation. Mgr Lalanne was particularly interested in our Post Ordination Training programme, part of the Church...

One of the newest priests in the Diocese in Europe was ordained on Saturday 3 October. I presided at the ordination of the Revd Peter Hales in the beautiful chapel of the Centre d'Accueil of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances, attended by members of the congregation of Christ Church Coutances and the daughter congregation in Vezins, and by clergy and readers from Normandy, Brittany and Spain. Two Roman Catholic priests were also robed and in the procession, a witness to the warm ecumenical links which Fr Peter and the members of the parish have forged over the past years. As Assistant Curate of Christ Church, Coutances, Fr Peter Hales continues his ministry in la Manche, an expanding area of Anglican work, as well as continuing in the Post Ordination Training programme of the Diocese in Europe. (More photos can be seen in the photo gallery on this site).

Some of the clergy of the Diocese in Europe are sending their theological reflections on last month's clergy conference in Cologne to the bishops, as they continue to digest the content and theme of the event, "Entertaining Angels: Hospitality as Mission". Here are some thoughts contributed by the Revd Philip Mounstephen, the chaplain of St Michael's Paris : God’s act of incarnation is an act of embodiment¸ and an act of unconditional hospitality to us: he has held nothing back. I suggest four possible implications which seem to me to be direct developments of this. God reveals his embodied beauty to us in Jesus Christ. Reflecting on what Fr Timothy Radcliffe said, we need to ask how we embody his beauty. Specifically how can we make our worship illuminating, beautiful and truly mysterious rather than simply mystifying. The Word has become embodied: ‘the eternal Word speaks only dialect’ – so there must be implications for us in terms of language: both the regis...

In my recent travels around the diocese, I have become aware of some confusion concerning the diocesan guidelines in the event of a swine flu pandemic. This is a note to clarify the situation. In July the Archbishops of Canterbury and York circulated advice to the bishops of the Church of England concerning precautions to be taken in the United Kingdom to prevent the spread of swine flu infection.  Based on the Archbishops' advice, guidelines were issued for the congregations of this Diocese in Europe, to come into effect if and when our local clergy determine that precautions must be taken . The measures in place in the United Kingdom are not automatically required in countries served by the Diocese in Europe . The decision to implement the guidelines is left to our clergy who will take into account local conditions and recommendations by relevant health authorities in the country where they serve.  Should steps to prevent infection be required, the diocesan guidelines...

Jonathan Boardman, the chaplain of All Saints Rome, has been made Archdeacon of Italy and Malta. Bishop Geoffrey “collated” him to this office during the Archdeaconry Synod meeting in Assisi last week. Archdeacon Boardman is one of the two clergy representatives of the diocese on General Synod. He is a well known figure beyond Rome as he is a frequent contributor to the Church Times . He is also the author of an informative guide to the Eternal City entitled Rome, a Literary and Cultural Companion , and lectures frequently at the Anglican Centre in Rome , the home of the Anglican Communion's permanent diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and a centre for education, hospitaliy, research and ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Archdeacon Boardman is already well acquainted with his Archdeaconry. He is the senior priest in terms of years of service in Italy having served at All Saints Rome since 1999. He has also held the position of Area Dean during...