Eurobishop

Photo by DFID - UK Department for International Development The fact of global climate change has been much in evidence this summer: record heat and widespread fires in Russia; floods covering a third of Pakistan; landslides in China; and an ice island broken off a Greenland glacier, four times the size of Manhattan. Among the actions that the Church of England and our Diocese in Europe have endorsed concerning climate change is the observance of a "Time for Creation", from 1 September (the first day of the church year for the Orthodox Churches) to 4 October (the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). During this season, our congregations are encouraged to give particular focus to environmental issues. Prayers for the environment and for the created order are often missing from the intercessions on a Sunday morning. Perhaps during this years "Time for Creation", they can begin to be part of our regular Sunday prayer. Our Diocesan Environmental Officer, Madeleine Ho...

I will be taking some leave from 23 August, until 3 September. Do not expect too many blog updates during this time! My chaplain Deacon Frances Hiller  (+44 (0) 20 7898 1161), or the staff at the diocesan office (+44 (0) 020 7898 1155) are able to get messages to me in case of urgent need. ¡Hasta luego!

Photo credit: Mzzur/catholicchurch.org.uk The deadline for nominations for those who wish to stand for election to General Synod is approaching. Nominations will close at at 12 noon, London time, on Friday 3 September . So you're thinking of standing for Synod there are under two weeks to act! Besides the Diocesan Bishop, the Diocese in Europe has 2 lay delegates and 2 clergy delegates to General Synod. Details of how to to go about standing for election and what to expect once you are elected can be found on the Church of England website here . If there is anything else you would like to know as you make up your mind do not hesitate to contact Mr Adrian Mumford , the Diocesan Secretary.

Bishop Geoffrey has today announced the appointment of 5 new canons of the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese: The Reverend Ulla Monberg, Director of Training; the Reverend Christopher Jage-Bowler, Chaplain of George's, Berlin, Germany; the Reverend Ian Hutchinson Cervantes, Chaplain of St George's, Madrid, Spain; the Reverend John Wilkinson, Assistant Chaplain of the Anglican Church of Fontainebleau, France, and the Reverend Trevor Whitfield, Chaplain of the Holy Trinity, Maisons-Laffitte, France The main function of the canons of the diocese is to support the bishop by prayer and counsel. They are traditionally assigned a stall in one of our three cathedrals. The new canons are assigned as follows (pictured below, clockwise): Canon Monberg to St Augustine of Canterbury in the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Brussels Canon Jage-Bowler to St Ignatius of Antioch in the Pro-Cathedral of the St Paul, Valletta Canon Hutchinson-Cervantes to St James in the Cathedral of the H...

Members of St Vincent's Youth Group. Photo courtesy of USPG: Anglicans in World Mission USPG: Anglicans in World Mission , in its recent newsletter, has reported on an initiative of the youth of one of our parishes, St Vincent's, Algarve, Portugal: The youth group at St Vincent’s Church, in Praia da Luz, in Portugal – part of the Anglican Diocese of Europe – completed a 30-hour fast to raise funds for USPG Project 466: Protecting Children’s Rights, which looks after the welfare of children in Peru. Fourteen young people, aged 11 to 15, took part in the fast, with only water, fruit juice and energy drinks to keep them going. The young people kept themselves occupied by helping in an orphanage, collecting food for the homeless, holding a fashion show with charity clothes, watching films, decorating T-shirts, swimming, playing games and singing songs. Lily Shelton, aged 13, reported: ‘It was for a very good cause. Many of us said we could have fasted for longer.’ The young p...

On the Feast of St Clare of Assisi, 11 August, the Archdeacon of Gibraltar, the Venerable David Sutch licensed the Reverend Michael Smith as chaplain of the Anglican Church of All Saints, Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife (with La Palma), Spain. In the photo above taken after the service, from left to right: the Revd Keith Gordon (St Francis, Tenerife South), the Venerable David Sutch (Archdeacon of Gibraltar, wearing the stole from the linked Diocese of Peru), Mrs Sam Smith, the Revd Mike Smith, the Revd Malcolm Exley, Pfarrer Henning of the German Evangelische Kirche,  a Meissen Agreement partner,   which uses All Saints Church, Fr Mike was previously vicar of All Saints’, Great Driffield and St Mary, Little Driffield in the diocese of York. He speaks Spanish, French and Italian. Fr Mike looks forward to working with the already strong congregation in reaching out to new, particularly younger members of the expatriate community on the island.  We welcome Fr Mike a...

Photo credit: Vicki Francis / UKaid / Department for International Development Churches and individuals in the diocese are responding to the needs of the people of Pakistan through donations to the many aid agencies who are engaged in the relief efforts. In the UK, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organisation for 13 humanitarian aid agencies, including Oxfam, the Red Cross and Christian agencies such as Christian Aid  and Tearfund , is leading the appeal and has a proven expertise in the delivery and provision of emergency aid. Donations can be made through the websites of  Christian Aid , Tearfund  or the DEC website itself. Some enquiries have come from congregations in the diocese wanting to know if there is a way to channel financial support directly to Church partners , (rather than aid agencies), in Pakistan. My recommendation for channelling funds for direct church to church support is through US...

15 August is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The rules of the Church of England permit this festival to be celebrated on the Sunday when it falls on that day, rather than be transferred to a nearby weekday, as would happen to a lesser commemoration. This feast is also known as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the official Roman Catholic title), the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos (an Orthodox designation). The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church of Canada prefers the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary . These titles relate to the end of the Virgin's earthly life when her being taken to God is understood to be a sign of the eschatological hope of all humanity. So, in the words of one of our Church of England prayers for this feast, It is indeed right and good, our duty and our salvation, almighty Father, ever-living God, to give you thanks and praise for the work of your grace in the Blessed Virgin Mary ... In her you show us the greatness ...

Image via Wikipedia The full text of the Book of Common Prayer has been added to the worship pages of the Church of England website. It can be found here . The first official liturgical text to appear in English was the Litany in 1544. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer (above) went on to complete the first  Book of Common Prayer in 1549. The Prayer Book went through several revisions until the present version of 1662, which remains the Church of England's official liturgy and a key doctrinal standard. The Revd Peter Moger, the Church of England’s National Worship Development Officer and a well known figure in our diocese from the many workshops he has led, says: “ The Book of Common Prayer has fed the hearts and minds of generations of Anglicans. This development - which will make access to Prayer Book texts so much easier - is to be applauded.” Readers will likely already be aware that the texts of Common Worship, the contemporary authorized liturgi...

Photo By RiMarkin Readers will be aware of the conditions these past weeks in Moscow which has been suffering the worst heatwave in over a century. The mortality rate in the city has doubled recently as wildfires have filled the capital with dense smoke. Residents are urged to wear face masks if they venture outside. The conditions are expected to continue at least until Thursday this week. A parishioner in St Andrew's Moscow wrote to me recently, and asked for our prayers: "... for lots of people, especially with asthma or heart problems it must be very difficult in this weather. I've been to a funeral of a friend's father yesterday and they say there's been much more work for them these days... So, we need to pray for people with weak health, for people in the country whose houses are burned down, for peace of mind (there's been some violence between different national groups in the city), for harvest and generally... for rain". St Andrew's Mosc...

Warm ecumenical relations continue in one of our newest parishes in France. The Revd Peter Hales, priest-in-charge of  Christ Church, Coutances , recently wrote in his parish magazine of a special invitation from the Roman Catholic Church to join them in their annual pilgrimage from Genet to Mont Saint Michel . Ten intrepid walkers, from the congregations at Coutances and Vezins, turned up early in the morning at Genet, still bleary eyed, to join over 1300 pilgrims to the ancient site. Monseigneur Stanislas Lalanne, the RC Bishop of Coutances, said prayers. To singing of a hymn, the pilgrims then set out across the sands for the 2 1/2 hour walk, sometimes wading through water up to their our knees, stopping at times to pray and sing. On arrival at the Mont, covered in mud and weak at the knees, the pilgrims faced the steep climb (about 800 steps) to the Abbey for mass. Mont Saint Michel has been a place of pilgrimage for 1300 years. Some of the Anglican pilgr...

It is not often that other parts of the Church of England notice us here in the Diocese in Europe. However, the July/August edition of the Southwark Diocesan newspaper The Bridge , has devoted its centre pages to us, with feature articles from three of our clergy, the Revd Peter Edwards (Holy Spirit, Costa Blanca), the Venerable Jonathan LLoyd (Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe) and the Venerable Jonathan Boardman (Archdeacon of Italy and Malta). In addition, Tom Sutcliffe (left), a lay member of the Diocese of Southwark and member of General Synod has written a leader article entitled Church sans frontières! which describes us in very warm terms. A link to The Bridge c entrespread feature is here . Thank you Tom and the Diocese of Southwark for this coverage. Please read Tom's leader article here by following the read more link.

After a year, it is time for a makeover. I have applied a slight cosmetic upgrade to the Eurobishop site. You might not even notice, but I think it is an improvement in design: slightly different font, wider layout, some tweaking of colours. Remember you can subscribe to receive automatic updates in your email, or you can visit the site directly at http://www.eurobishop.blogspot.com/ .

Here is a selection of some current theology for August. There is sure to be something of interest to all who like to keep abreast of current theological and spiritual writing. I have posted 9 reviews below. They come from Dr Martin Davie, the Theological Secretary to the Bishops. There are works on ecology, preaching, prayer, pastoral care, ethics, systematic theology and more.... Just click on the read more link. Boa leitura !

Back in July 2008, some 1300 clergy wrote to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to express their concerns about the the consecration of women as bishops. They said that in light of a lack of provision for those who cannot accept this development "We will inevitably be asking whether we can, in conscience, continue to minister as bishops, priests and deacons in the Church of England which has been our home". The text of that 2008 letter is here . Now two years later proposed legislation to permit women bishops has been forwarded from General Synod to the dioceses for consideration. In a letter dated 27 July 2010, 15 bishops, including our Diocesan Bishop Geoffrey, have written to those clergy who signed the 2008 letter. The bishops have stated that they want the letter shared with all who may be interested to know of it, which I imagine will be many in our diocese. I post the text of the letter below. Just press the read more link.