Eurobishop

The Church of St John and St Philip in The Hague, Netherlands, is one of our oldest congregations in the Diocese in Europe. The present Church building is the fourth home for the congregation, which was founded in 1586. With this venerable history, it is still, after over 4 centuries, a vibrant parish with a very international membership. There are four services each Sunday. The chaplain is the Revd Andrew Gready who is assisted by the Revd Chris Nicholls, the Revd Dr Roland Price and the Revd Barry Birch. On a recent visit 12 candidates were presented to me for confirmation. The Church website is here .

Canon Higgins and Canon Sherwood with Archbishop Justin Welby The Archbishop of Canterbury recently made a quick two day visit to Istanbul at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I. The British Consul General, Mr Leigh Turner CMG, gave a reception in the Archbishop's honour at the Pera House, the historic centre of the British diplomatic mission to Turkey since Ottoman times. Among the guests were two of our own clergy in Turkey, the Revd Canon Ian Sherwood, the Chaplain of Christ Church with St Helena's, Istanbul, and the Revd Canon Dr John Higgins, the Priest-in-Charge of St Nicholas's, Ankara.

Below is the letter which I sent out to the congregations of the diocese this week, to launch the Bishop's Lent Appeal for 2014. It is an exciting project, and we are grateful for the partnership with Christian Aid who have negotiated 3:1 matching funds from the EU. Click on the page tab entitled "Bishop's Lent Appeal" for more information. _________________________________________________________________________________ On Ash Wednesday, 5 March, we begin the 40 day journey of Lent when Christians, through the disciplines of prayer, fasting and self-denial, strengthen our relationship with God. We will seek to repent of the ways that mar God’s image in us, and keep us from his purposes for our lives. But we will also hear the Prophet Isaiah’s voice, “Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58.6). Our repentance is shown in action to ...

I spent yesterday with the 100 or so other bishops of the Church of England and with the 8 women who are the regional representatives to the House of Bishops, discussing the content of the Report of the House of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality, known as the Pilling Report, after Sir Joseph Pilling who chaired the working group. It was a challenging day as we sought to share perspectives on the Report. It is clear that discernment in the midst of such potentially divisive issues is necessarily a lengthy process.  The Church holds many dimensions of the matter of human sexuality in balance, even perhaps in tension. This is not an easy position for the Church to be in. Neither is such a complex set of  theological, missiological and pastoral challenges something which the world's media easily understands. For me, these are some of the questions we face, and about which I hope the people of God in this diocese might have opportunity for some honest, respectful an...

The ancient city of Tangier lies on the southern shore of the Straits of Gibraltar, almost at the westernmost tip of Africa and facing Tarifa, its closest European neighbour. The first English Church in the city was founded during the period of Charles II’s reign when Tangier came into English possession as part of the dowry of Queen Catherine of Braganza. The present St Andrew's Church stands on a site given by Sultan Hassan I in 1883. The building was consecrated in 1905. The architecture combines English and Moroccan styles; the arch over the chancel is decorated the Lord's Prayer in Arabic calligraphy, for instance. There are other motifs throughout the building which point to the unity of the "People of the Book". For many years there has been no resident priest. Sacramental services have been provided by visiting locum clergy. St Andrew's is now considering taking steps towards welcoming once again a resident priest-in-charge, who can lead th...

The Church of the Resurrection, Pera, is our Turkish-speaking Anglican parish located in the centre of Istanbul. For many years now this unique Church of England parish has been organising a party for refugee children and their families during the Christmas season.  It is a priority for the Church’s programme of “Mercy Ministry” to help the refugees in the city as much as they can. Of course, helping the refugees consists merely of “sticking a band-aid” on the wound, since finding a solution for the root of the problems is near impossible. The need is exceedingly great and complicated. “All that we do is for the children,” says one of the Church volunteers who lovingly organised the games for the children at the party. “I wonder if there will be enough food,” muses another of the volunteers preparing sandwiches. “This year there are more people than the previous years,” says one who has been participating in this event for many years, happy yet slightly overwhelmed by the ...

Canon Sabry and Archbishop Landry The English-speaking foreign community in Morocco is growing. Our established historic parishes are in Casablanca and Tangiers, but there are now communities of English-speakers from the UK, USA and other countries, who are in Marrakech and Rabat. 60% of all flights to Morocco from the UK are destined for Marrakech, where there is a large expatriate resident community as well as seasonal holiday-makers and business-folk. Rabat, the capital city, has in addition many staff from English-speaking embassies.    Canon Medhat Sabry, the priest-in-charge of St John the Evangelist parish in Casablanca, accompanied me recently on visits to these two cities to explore how these Anglophone foreign nationals might receive pastoral care and attention and be able to participate in worship on a regular basis. Conversations were held in each place with British diplomats, and members of the foreign communities. The British Ambassador, HE Clive Alderto...

Among the signs of new life and vitality in the parish of St John the Evangelist in Casablanca, are some possible vocations to licensed lay ministry (Readers). Two enquirers come from the USA, one from Liberia and one from Nigeria. Over the next months, Canon Medhat Sabry, the Priest-in-charge will be carrying forward these vocational explorations. Licensed lay ministers, theologically trained and episcopally authorised, would be a great help in this multicultural parish, to relate pastorally and spiritually to members of the many nationalities who are members of St John's. There are two Sunday services in St John's, one largely with members from North America and one largely with members from Sub-Saharan African countries. The Anglican liturgy is lively and uplifting, supported by an enthusiastic and talented group of musicians. There is also a burgeoning Sunday School programme.

Los Olivos is a retreat centre in southern Spain whose director is an Anglican priest, the Revd Daniel Mu ñoz. Daniel recently wrote to me to draw attention to a special week of theological reflection and conversation at the centre, exploring Anglican ecclesiology in the light of current challenges and opportunities. The event is called "Re-imagining Anglican Ecclesiology". It will be held from 14 - 18 July and is geared towards senior Anglican leaders and senior diocesan staff.  If you are interested, more information can be found here .  The full programme on offer at Los Olivos can be found here .

On the eve of the third Sunday in Advent, 19 persons from the parish of St John the Evangelist, Casablanca, led the congregation out into the cool evening air of the courtyard, bearing candles signifying the light of Christ. The 19 were the first persons to be confirmed in the parish since 1996. They came from the Philippines, the USA, Nigeria and Liberia. The Priest-in-charge of St John's, Canon Dr Medhat Sabry, is encouraging members of his multinational congregation to strengthen their commitment to Christian discipleship, through this apostolic rite of Confirmation. This Anglican parish, founded over 100 years ago, in Morocco's largest city, serves foreign English-speaking Christians from around the world.  

On 1 March, the Archbishop of York is hosting an event for anyone aged 18 to 30 who is wondering about ordained ministry in the Church of England. The event is organised by Cranmer Hall in Durham, in conjunction with the Directors of Ordinands of York, Durham and Newcastle. It is open to people of any diocese in the Church of England.  It is organised by a team from Cranmer Hall in conjunction with the DDOs of York, Durham and Newcastle, but is open to people of any diocese.   If you are interested or know someone who might be interested, more information and guidelines about how to register can be found  on-line  at   www.stepforwardanglican.org.uk.   .

I have just returned from a meeting of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, CTBI, a body of which I am a trustee. The meeting was held in that wonderful European nation - Wales. CTBI is the ecumenical instrument which serves the Churches of the four nations, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. So you might ask, "what is a bishop of the Diocese in Europe doing as a trustee of such an organisation?" The Church of England is of course a member of CTBI. It is also a member of the national ecumenical body -  Churches Together in England, or CTE. (It would clearly not be appropriate for the Diocese in Europe to have a presence on CTE ,) However my presence on CTBI is helpful in a number of ways: 1.  First I believe it corrects certain assumptions about the Church of England itself. It is much more than the Established Church in England. It has over 300 congregations, 170 clergy and 100 Lay Ministers serving the English speaking diaspora in 42 countries of ...

Debbie Cunningham, (above) the Ministry Team Administrator, has recently updated me on the growth of Reader Ministry in the Diocese in Europe. ("Readers" in the Church of England are theologically trained, licensed lay ministers). Debbie reports that Besides about 100 already licensed, at the present moment there about 30 - 35 in training for this ministry. (The course of training normally takes 3 years). There are 10 candidates who are just about ready to begin training, following selection for this ministry. There are 4 persons who are in active stages of exploration of a call to this ministry About 10 are in the process of transferring their Reader ministry from other dioceses in the Church of England to this Diocese in Europe. All this is just one part of Debbie's role in the Ministry Team, but it is keeping her busy!

Our Diocesan Environmental Officer, Madeleine Holmes, has just circulated this message to the people of the Diocese. It can also be found on the diocesan website . _____________________________________________________________ My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ I pray you had a Christmas Celebration of joy and hope and now wish you every blessing for 2014 We have many challenges to face both in our church life, our personal lives and in the security and caring of our Wonderful World, for which we give thanks to God . The first challenge will be the debate at General Synod in February on the Environment and the Environment team are working hard to make sure this is a good and encouraging debate. Please pray for this. Our second challenge is to have taken account of the Report which we had on website last year telling us how the scientists view our progress with caring for our world and to act. Our next challenge is to continue the progress but press on towards our go...

We do not hear very much about the Anglican Church in St Petersburg, Russia, even though this is one of the oldest congregations in the diocese. At present there is no resident priest for the parish. However, the congregation continues to flourish, and is a community of people of all ages, some from St Petersburg itself, but others from all over the world who find themselves in the city for study, business, or tourism. It is a tribute to the commitment of the congregation and its Churchwardens that services, normally a sung Eucharist, are held each week at 11 am. The services are in St Katarina's Swedish Church and are led by locum Anglican clergy as well as clergy from the Finnish and Swedish Lutheran Churches who have been given authorisation, under the Porvoo Agreement. (This is a good example of the Porvoo Agreement having practical application in this diocese). There is also a Sunday School held each week during the 11 am service. The Anglican Church in St Petersburg ha...