Eurobishop

In only a couple of weeks we will mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which will be held from 18th to 25 January 2010 (between the feasts of the Confession of St Peter and the Conversion of St Paul). Christians around the world will focus during that week on a theme based on Christ's final words before his Ascension, "You are witnesses of these things". The 2010 theme was chosen by Scottish Churches who are also preparing to celebrate the centenary of the 1910 World Mission Conference on the theme "Witnessing to Christ today". The Edinburgh Conference of 1910 is regarded by historians as the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement. This year's theme which underlines the link between the missionary activity of the Church and the quest for Christian unity is vitally important. By our baptism we are already one Body and we are called to live in communion with each other. In fact God makes us brothers and sisters, in Christ. This is the fun...

Each year certain cities are designated by the European Union as European Capitals of Culture, to showcase the richness and diversity of European culture and to promote greater mutual knowledge and understanding among the citizens of our continent. In 2010, as well as two EU cities, Essen (Germany) and Pécs (Hungary), a city of a non-EU member country has been designated: Istanbul. Istanbul is presenting itself as a bridge connecting Europe to the East, an example of the crossroads of civilizations where people have learned to “live differences”. Visitors to Istanbul as European Capital of Culture will want to know of our own Anglican presence in the City which dates from 1583. Church of England services are held at Christ Church, dedicated in 1868 as the Crimean Memorial Church, St Helena’s at the British Consulate General and the (Turkish language) Church of the Resurrection. The chaplain of Christ Church with St Helena's is the Revd Canon Ian Sherwood. The priest-in-charge o...

When peaceful silence lay over all, and night was in the midst of her swift course: from your royal throne, O God, down from the heavens, leapt your almighty Word. I have always loved this beautiful, ancient antiphon for the Magnificat at Christmastime. It is based on Wisdom 18.14-15, and now,  happily, finds an official place in our Anglican liturgy in Common Worship: Daily Prayer.  I wish a happy Christmas to readers of this blog. At this holy season may you find a moment of gentle, quiet stillness for the Incarnate Word to be received with joy. 

I learned today that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an old friend of mine, and a long-standing friend of the Anglican Communion and of our diocese in Europe, to be the Bishop of Saskatoon, Canada. Monsignor Donald Bolen was on the staff of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) from 2001 to 2008, with responsibility for Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue. Fr Don and I worked closely as co-secretaries of our official dialogue and collaborated on many other ecumenical occasions. He was present at my consecration as bishop in 2002. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the PCPCU greeted the news of Fr Don's appointment with “great joy and profound thankfulness” noting that Bolen’s strong faith in Christ, together with his vision and energy will equip him to lead his new flock in the diocese of Saskatoon. For his service to relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury awarded Fr Don the Cross of St Augusti...

COP 15 has ended without the fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement that millions around the world hoped the world leaders would deliver. Last Saturday, Elias Crisostomo Abramides, the World Council of Churches' head of delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, summarised the disappointment of the Churches in the following letter. He points out in frank language the grave consequences of the lack of progress. The talks will be reconvened in Bonn early in 2010. Christians need to continue to pray for and support the ongoing process, so that what has been begun in Copenhagen will be strengthened and consolildated into a binding treaty. In his letter, Mr Abramides, an Argentinian and a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, pays special tribute to the support from St Alban's Church, Copenhagen. Certainly the diocesan family would like to express our thanks to Fr Jonathan LLoyd and his team at St Alban's who have provided a solid, prayerful and spiritual p...

The final version of the Anglican Communion Covenant has now been prepared and in the past couple of days has been sent to the member Churches of the Anglican Communion for discussion. The Covenant proposes a way for Anglican Churches to strengthen their relationship within our Communion. It sets out a principled and agreed method to deal with any inter-Anglican conflict. It is intended to build on that fundamental Anglican value of mutual accountability among Churches which seek to live a common life within the communion of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. As the Anglican Communion has developed in recent years there has not been a parallel development of a framework to address together a response to problems which arise in relationships between the member Churches. The Covenant puts forward such a framework, faithful to Anglican ecclesiology, within which a response to tensions can be discerned and articulated. At present, as no such mechanism exists, it has led to ...

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has become very up to date in its communications strategy. The 2009 Christmas message to the Churches has been prepared as a video and posted on YouTube . It is available for viewing here . The WCC brings together 349 churches in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians. It includes most of the world's Anglicans (including the Church of England), as well as most of the Old Catholic, Orthodox,  Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many Independent churches. The headquarters are in Geneva, within our diocese. If you are not accustomed to YouTube, I post the text of the message here: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him....

Come and Meet! is part of the outreach initiative led by the Revd Peter Ford OGS, the priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Historically worship and Anglican community life has centred on the beautiful Holy Trinity Church which opened for worship in 1892. At that time the congregation was part of the diocese of Sierra Leone! It came under the jurisdiction of the Church of England in 1968. Holy Trinity Church is now recognised as an historic monument by the Government of the Canary Islands. In the past 30 years tourist resorts have developed in the south of the island, over an hour away from Las Palmas by bus. Fr Peter, with the help of one or two lay volunteers, is extending the presence of the Church in two places in the south, Playa del Ingles, and Puerto Rico. The outreach programme includes: A weekly eucharist on Sunday evening in Playa del Ingles, using a Roman Catholic Chapel in an ecumenical worship centre. There is now a small congregation of re...

I have just discovered that the featured Church of England podcast this week is about our diocese. The Revd Paul Needle, our Diocesan Communications Officer presents the 3 minute audio clip which features yours truly and our Diocesan Environmental Officer, Brian Morgan. The topic is the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Tune in to the podcast here . Excellent coverage and exposure for our diocese. Thanks Paul! Copenhagen's streets and squares are full of art related the theme of COP 15, like the planet earth above. The picture below is of Fr Jonathan LLoyd with part of his Franciscan Team at St Alban's, Sister Joyce CSF, Brother Hugh SSF and Brother Wilfred SSF.

On Sunday afternoon in Copenhagen's Lutheran Cathedral (dedicated to Our Lady) an ecumenical service for creation was held. Queen  Margrethe II of Denmark attended along with the Danish Prime Minister and government ministers and officials from several countries. Among the ecumenical guests were the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Sam Kobia, and his successor the Olav Fykse Tveit, as well as dozens of bishops and ecumenical leaders from around the world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu read the opening Psalm136 and gave the final blessing (in Xhosa). Prayers were said with focal images of coral from the Pacific Ocean, maize from Africa and uncovered glacier stone fron Greenland. Songs were sung in English, Zulu, Danish and Greenlandic. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the preacher. His sermon on the text "perfect love casts out fear" drew applause from the Cathedral, packed with over 1000 worshippers. Outside in the square several hundred mor...

After an already busy day which included addressing Christians gathered for a march to the Bella Centre where the UN negotiations are being held, extensive discussions with the Danish Bishops on the role of the Church in our societies, and many press interviews, the Archbishop gave an moving address at the Trinitas Church in central Copenhagen at an evening prayer service attended by students, Church leaders, academics, activists and even some politicians. He spoke of the covenant which God has established, not just with the human race, but with life itself, drawing on the story of Noah. The Archbishop then invited a dialogue with members of the congregation who asked some quite profound questions. In responding the Archbishop spoke of his own faith, his belief in miracles (and perhaps one is needed at COP 15), but also his belief that whether or not a miracle happens, we are called to be faithful. He drew attention to the remarkable fact that o...

My arrival in Copenhagen coincided with the news that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark (ELCD) has decided to join the Porvoo Communion of Churches. A press release from the Church of Denmark has gone to all the constituencies of that Church and to the general public in Denmark, announcing this landmark decision by the state Church. Arrangements for the public signing of the Porvoo Declaration are still to be settled. The ELCD was a full participant in the theological discussions leading to the Porvoo Common Statement in the 1990s, but in the end did not sign the agreement, so the news today is a major ecumenical breakthrough. Once signed the agreement will extend the Porvoo Communion of Churches to embrace the 12 dioceses and over 2000 parishes in Denmark.

Dateline Copenhagen: I spent a couple of hours today, before Archbishop Rowan arrives, at the Klimaforum09 , the "Peoples' Climate Summit", an open space where movements and organisations from all over the world are meeting to discuss and develop grass roots responses to the climate crisis, while the official deliberations go on in another part of the city. There is a fascinating range of over 50 exhibits from vulnerable parts of the world such as the Maldives, to demonstrations of ecologically sound housing to networks of indigenous peoples. Talks, debates and presentations on various topics abound, as well as a range of cultural perfomances - music, drama and film - from around the world. I would guess that the average age of visitors to Klimaforum09 was somewhere in the mid-20s. One of the central outcomes of Klimaforum09 will be a "global climate declaration" expressing the hopes and vision of citizen groups and social movements from every part of the plan...

On Sunday 13 December at 3 pm Denmark time - at the height of the climate talks in Copenhagen - the churches in Denmark will ring their bells. Christians everywhere are invited to join them by sounding their own bells (drums, gongs, horns, shells etc...) 350 times. Why 350 times? 350 refers to 350 parts per million: This is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere according to many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments. For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 ppm of CO2, but now the concentration stands at 390 ppm. Unless we are able to rapidly reduce CO2 levels again, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt. Join in this symbolic world-wide action on 13 December!

As many readers of this blog know, Archbishop Rowan Williams travels to Copenhagen this weekend for engagements related to the UN climate summit. Archbishop Rowan is emphatic that Christianity and religion in general has much to say about this great issue. On BBC Radio 2 yesterday he said: “We're getting ready for Christmas and it's worth remembering that one of the things we celebrate at Christmas is God taking an interest in the real material stuff of this Earth, the flesh and blood, and all the things that keep flesh and blood secure – food and shelter and so on. It would be pretty peculiar if we took the world less seriously than God does.” The Archbishop suggested that we could all “scale down our extravagant use of energy and the amount of waste we produce – that’s certainly a challenge at Christmas!”. Part of the message we are sure to hear in Copenhagen from the Archbishop is that change would only come “if we learn to love the world we’re in”. Fr Jonathan LLoyd an...

Here is December's book selection. The reviews are written by Dr Martin Davie, the Theological Secretary to the Bishops of the Church of England. They will be of interest to all who wish to keep up with current theology, including the clergy and Readers (lay ministers) of the Diocese in Europe. 9 reviews are below. Just click on the read more link.

This is a reminder to Readers and Readers-in-training in the diocese of the upcoming workshop on Funeral Liturgy and Bereavement Ministry . It will be held from 4pm on 24 February until after lunch on 26 February 2010 at the Casa Diocesana de Espiritualidad, Málaga, Spain. The speakers will include the Revd Peter Moger, the Church of England's National Worship Development Officer, and the Revd Canon Hugh Broad, Priest-in-Charge of Costa Almería / Costa Cálida and Area Dean of Gibraltar. Practical, liturgical and pastoral training will be given for the funeral service itself. It will also be a time of theological reflection on the profound questions about the meaning of life, death and resurrection in Christian belief. The cost will be in the region of 110 Euros. The workshop is especially geared for Readers who conduct funerals or Readers-in-Training who may do so in future. The Casa Diocesana is a short taxi ride from Málaga airport. Licensed Readers are able to a...

St Paul's Monaco helped to host a group of 5 Tibetan Buddhist monks who were visiting the Principality over the weekend  of 27-29 November. The monks joined the congregation of St Paul's at the 10:30 Service on Sunday 29th. I found it particularly encouraging to learn of this interfaith outreach by St Paul's. At last September's Pastoral Conference for the clergy the theme of hospitality as mission was central. We learned that a gesture of hospitality to people of other faiths is not about concealing our convictions or watering them down. It is a way of expressing them in a practical way, demonstrating the welcoming generosity which is at the very heart of God.

The Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan has been appointed Director for Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office. (The position was formerly known as Director of Ecumenical Affairs. Alyson's predecessor was Canon Gregory Cameron who is now Bishop of St Asaph in the Church in Wales. I was Gregory's predecessor). Alyson is pictured on the right of the picture above, alongside Dame Mary Tanner. We were together in Rome for some recent meetings with Vatican officials. Alyson is a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada, where she was Director of Faith, Worship and Ministry. She has wide experience of the Anglican Communion, having worked on the Lambeth Commission on Communion, the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations, the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission, as well as the Faith and Order Plenary Commission of the World Council of Churches. She is married to Bruce, who is also a priest, and they have three grown children. Although t...

Today, 1 December, is World AIDS day, and the diocesan prayer diary asks that we pray for those living with HIV/AIDS. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has released a video on YouTube, in which he speaks with the Revd Patricia Sawo, a church leader and mother from Kenya, about her experiences of living with HIV. The video highlights the plight of expectant mothers who are HIV positive and the support they need to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies. Despite the tragic subject matter, the video is a message of hope. Our Archbishop speaks of the Church's call to "provide space for people to face themselves, to be themselves, and to cope with their future", and to "encourage all our governments to keep up their commitment to making ... medical help available". I encourage you to view this short, but inspiring YouTube video .