Ecumenical Vignette from the Aquitaine


The Revd Gill Strachan is one of the assistant chaplains serving the Anglican Church in Aquitaine, a vast parish with 8 regular congregations in SW France. She writes:
In 2008 for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity I was invited by the Benedictine Community of Sisters at Belloc in the Pyrenean foothills to talk about my work as a woman priest. I talked for about an hour, having prepared it all in French (of course), but then came the questions....They had SO many! The first was ‘Can you really do everything a male priest can do?’ Their interest was far-reaching and deep, ranging from a plethora of pastoral issues to what I wear! Many of them were passionate about women’s ministry. I was asked to robe up and to process to the chapel with the Mother Superior for Vespers, to read the Gospel and to give the blessing. That I did in both French and English, and I did fine it very moving indeed.

Comments

  1. Robert Ellis22 January 2011 at 09:01

    I find these vignettes so heartening...I just wish they could have a wider airing than just this blog. Is there the basis of an article with photos for Church Times here?
    I'm sure Paul Handley would be interested.

    ReplyDelete

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