Eurobishop

St Catherine's Church On Sunday 28 June, in the ancient parish church of St Catherine on a hilltop in the remote village of Limeuil in the Dordogne, over 150 people gathered for a historic and moving service, the ordination of Charlotte Sullivan to the diaconate. The church is not easily accessible by car, and there is virtually no parkng at the top, so a shuttle service ferried parishioners from the Anglican Chaplaincy of Aquitaine from the bottom of the hill to fill the church to overflow. Several local French people from the village attended, including the Mayor and his wife, and the former Mayor and his wife. St Catherine's Church has been given over for Church of England sole use by kind agreement of the Mayor and the local Bishop. Charlotte is presented by the Archdeacon of France and the Director of Ordinands 8 of the priests who serve the parish attended, as well as 4 of the parish Readers. This was virtually the last official function of the Chaplain o...

Anglican worship in Berne, the Swiss capital, dates back to about 1832. The present church building St Ursula's was built in 1906. It holds 100 comfortably, but on Sunday 21 June, over 200 squeezed in (and spilt outside) for a festive service of Christian initiation. It certainly does not feel like the Church of England in Europe is on the decline! Candidates for Holy Baptism an Confirmation from Berne were joined by others from Christ Church Lausanne and the Anglican Church in Neuchâtel. The chaplain of St Ursula's is the Venerable Peter Potter, who is also the Archdeacon of Switzerland and Acting Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe. He is assisted by the Revd Linda Bissig. The Revd Adele Kelham accompanied her candidates from her two Churches in Lausanne and Neuchâtel. A moving part of the confirmation rite itself was when each sponsor presented their candidate to me, mentioning a couple of biographical details. It is humbling to take part of the lives of su...

French ARC and other leaders of the Anglican and RC Churches at Evensong at the French Bishops' Conference Chapel The members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee of France (French ARC) presented the fruit of their work of the past five years last Wednesday 17 June, when they launched their study of the Daily Office, or Liturgy of the Hours, of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. The document, available in both French and English, is entitled “O Lord, open our lips” or “ Seigneur, ouvre nos lèvres ”. It points out the convergence between the Anglican and Roman Catholic liturgies for the daily office, and promotes common prayer between communities of both traditions. (There are over 80 Anglican congregations in France, served by about 35 priests. Many of these congregations use Roman Catholic buildings for their services). A range of practical suggestions are offered in the document to encourage a rediscovery of this common tradition and to how such common prayer can...

Extradited  is a memoir written by Andrew Symeou who was extradited to Greece from UK in 2009 on a murder charge dating back to an incident Andrew was not connected with in 2007 on a Greek island, where another young man sadly lost his life. Andrew spent a gruelling two years in detention and on bail in Greece where he was lovingly supported by his family and friends. This true story has a connection to the pastoral work of our diocese: the Athens Chaplaincy, and particularly Reader Christine Saccali, were involved in providing on-going pastoral care to Andrew. He was finally acquitted in 2011. Christine Saccali says, "He is a remarkably courageous individual who has sought not to be embittered by his dreadful experience at the hands of the law. He has written his story in order to prevent anyone else suffering the same miscarriage of justice". In Extradited special mention is made of our Athens Chaplaincy and the pastoral work of its priest and Reader. Athens Ch...

Faith leaders in Britain and Ireland have have pledged to fast and pray for the success of key international negotiations over climate change in a new declaration warning of the challenges facing the world over global warming. They released today a declaration on climate change which I post below. Today is also the eve, of course, of a much anticipated Papal Encyclical on this subject which will be published tomorrow, 18 June. The Papal Encyclical is entitled  Laudato Sii , or “Praised be”, from words used by St Francis of Assisi in a canticle in which he praises "Brother Son","Sister Moon", "Brother Wind" and "Sister Water". The canticle can be found in our Church of England Common Worship: Daily Prayer  as canticle 84 on page 641. Perhaps it could be prayed daily between now and the Climate Summit in Paris in December. Many may also know a hymn version "All Creatures of Our God and King". The text of the Lambeth Declaration i...

Readers with Senior Tutor, the Revd Elaine Labourel (3rd from right) and Director of Training Canon Ulla Monberg (right) At the diocesan synod in Cologne last week an important "fringe" meeting was held for the Readers who are synod members. Readers (also known as Licensed Lay Ministers) are a vital part of the ministry team of our diocese. As lay theologians and trained preachers, they lead worship, preach and teach the faith, in many of our over 300 congregations. Reader Angela Mirani, who is based in St John the  Baptist Church, Varese, Italy, now represents this diocese on the Central Readers' Council of the Church of England, in its executive committee. It is good that the Diocese in Europe is represented at this strategic level in the body which seeks to support and serve the over 10,000 Licensed Lay Ministers in the Church of England. Angela reported to the Readers at the Synod on the latest developments in Reader Ministry in the Church of England, including ...

Dr Ursula Glieneke is a postulant for holy orders in this diocese, and a member of one of our newer parishes, Costa Brava. A truly international person, typical of our diocese, Ursula was born in Latvia and has lived in Germany, Norway, Ireland before her current residence in Spain. Besides being a theologian, Ursula is also an artist. She has a current exhibition in Germany, in the City Church in Bad Windungen, entitled "Listening to Fragility". On the day after the opening of the exhibition in the Bad Wildungen Church, there was a particularly moving encounter at a service at which Ursula was taking part, as she talked about vulnerability and fragility to the congregation which included many who were confirmed there in 1945 and were celebrating their confirmation anniversary that day. Ursula sees her art as a way to convey her Christian faith in a contemporary world. The themes of her art range from the environment, inter-religious dialogue, psychology and theology....

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) has just issued a press release on the situation of migrants seeking to reach Europe. I am posting the full release below. There are some requests of the Churches in particular which I have emboldened. 21 June is a day recommended for us to focus our prayers in particular. The CEC is a fellowship of some 114 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries of Europe, plus 40 national council of churches and organisations in partnership. CEC was founded in 1959. ________________________________________________________________________ Press Release No: 15/26, Strasbourg, 3 June 2015 "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" ( Hebrews 13: 2) Statement on external borders of the EU especially the Mediterranean The Conference of European Churches (CEC) expresses its deep concern about the repeated loss of lif...

The Anglican-Old Catholic International Coordinating Council (AOCICC) is the official instrument which serves the relationship of full communion between Anglican and Old Catholic Churches. Its most recent meetings concluded last week, in Zurich. The hosts of this round of meetings was the Old Catholic Augustinerkirche in that city. The priest of the Augustinerkirche is the Old Catholic Co-Secretary of the Council, the Revd Lars Simpson. I have been privileged to be a member of this body since helping to establish it, just after the Lambeth Conference of 1998. During the course of the meeting, services were held both at St Andrew's Anglican Church, and the Old Catholic Augustinerkirche . Bishop Michael Burrows preaches at St Andrew's Anglican Church The (Old Catholic) Augustinerkirche The communiqué from the meeting is below: _____________________________________________________________________________ Zurich, Switzerland, 30 May 2015 The Anglican-Old Ca...

St George's is one of two Church of England congregations in central Paris. (There are another 4 in the Paris suburbs). St George's is just a short walk from the busy and frenetic  Arc de Triomphe,  but in the words of its website the church seeks, "in the very heart of this busy city, to be a place of the holy, a place of silence and of prayer". Visitors are made to feel very welcome in the community, and, it is hoped, enabled to experience "something of the wonder and loving mystery of our God, and may feel drawn gently into His sacred presence". The Chaplain is the Revd Canon Matthew Harrison, and he is assisted by the Revd Andrew Bigg. Fr Matthew also has a major ecumenical role on behalf of the Diocese. I have appointed him the "Ecumenical Delegate" for France, which involves many duties with the French Council of Churches, and very importantly, as Co-Chairman of the French Anglican-Roman Catholic Joint Committee. The main Sunday S...