Eurobishop

On Christmas morning, the Italian State Television Channel RAI 2, broadcast a pre-recorded ecumenical service from Venice. Held in the German Lutheran Church, representatives from the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Waldensian, German Lutheran, Anglican, Adventist and Baptist Churches all made contributions. The music was varied ranging from Byzantine and Gregorian chant, to a songs by a Gospel choir and carols in Latin. German and Italian were the languages of the service. The Patriarch of Venice was one among others who provided brief reflections on the feast whilst children distributed candles lit at the close of the service. It was a substantial ecumenical congregation which gathered, with limited standing room only at the beginning of the service. The picture above shows the Gospel choir standing to the side of the sanctuary in the Lutheran church.    Fr Malcolm Bradshaw, the Chaplain of St George's Venice, who was of course present for the service, commented, "For...

We live in a time of tribulation for so many of our world's inhabitants who face persecution and suffering. What has broken my own heart this year has been the plight of the Rohingya people from my beloved Burma. But k illing, war, destruction and extreme impoverishment continue in so many other places too, driving many to search for peace, security and basic human dignity here in Europe. We must not forget that  the UN still considers Syria to be the locus of the world's greatest humanitarian crisis at present. And now, in the land of the birth of Our Saviour, new tensions increase around the place of Jerusalem, the Holy City for Jews, Muslims and Christians, under a new threat of disturbance to the longstanding status quo consensus which is in place, pending the negotiation of a lasting and inclusive peace for all its peoples.  But Christians believe that the birth of God's Son heralds a new way of living, a new love for all people, a solidarity with the meek and...

In the days before Christmas, the staff of the London office expressed their thanks to the many colleagues who work for the National Institutions based in Church House, on whose daily support and collaborative work we rely, in order to serve the people of this Diocese in Europe. This ranges from those who clean our offices to those who handle complex legal matters within the wider Church of England. One of the latter is Mr Sion Hughes Carew, the Administrative Secretary to the Legal Office of the Church of England, who processes our requests for the Archbishop of Canterbury's Permission to Officiate, a legal preliminary for those clergy ordained outside the Anglican Provinces in Britain and Ireland, who wish to minister in our Diocese which is part of the Province of Canterbury. In the picture above, Mrs Emma Biaggi, Locum Clergy Administrator, and Deacon Frances Hiller, my Chaplain, who have much to do with Sion, present him with a small thank you gift.

The Revd Roger Smith at St-Hippolyte Church When Bishop Edward Benson first devised the traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols back in 1880 he likely did not know how how that service would spread globally, and not within the English-speaking world. In this Diocese in Europe it continues to be an annual way to reach out to the community of both English speakers and local national residents in a given country, and uniquely brings them together in great numbers for this service of prayers, carols and readings.  For instance, in one of our newer "parishes", the Church of All Saints, Hérault, in southern France, recently about 400 people filled the ancient 13th century Church of Saint-Hippolyte in the village of Fontès. In the service led by our priest in All Saints, the Revd Roger Smith, the traditional readings  were given in both French and English. The local Maïre was  on hand to greet the assembly, marking this out as a significant gathering in this lo...

Twice a year residential training events are held for our Diocesan Readers and Readers in Training. One such gathering has just finished. It had a more reflective and prayerful emphasis, as one of our trainee Readers, Simon Yallop, from St Mary’s Church, Twente writes in this report: "In the first weekend of December 2017 a group of fourteen Readers and Readers in Training, under the very capable leadership of the Revd Canon Elaine Labourel, came together at St. Columba’s House in Woking for a retreat. The theme was ‘Listening to God’. With the help of a number of spiritual exercises we all heard God speaking ‘loud and clear’.   It was a wonderful time of worship and fellowship, with a chance to catch up with news from fellow Readers. During the Retreat we were introduced to ‘Godly play’ by Reader Celia Patterson (St George’s Madrid). The carefully played out stories of Jonah and Samuel certainly helped us as we were invited to put ourselves into the stor...

Philip Gwynne Jones is a Reader-in-Training at St George’s, Venice. After a career working in IT for the European Space Agency in Frascati, Italy, and following a stint with a Scottish bank during the global financial crisis, he dediced to return with his wife Caroline to Venice in search of a better and simpler future. ‘We were wrong about the “simpler bit”’, Philip wryly comments. Nevertheless, he is now established as a translator and teacher. Being Welsh he naturally has a love for music and so can be found singing bass with the Cantori Venezione and the Ensemble Vocale di Venzia .  During the lengthy inter-regnum at St George's he assisted greatly to keep the worship life going both in Venice and at Christ Church, Trieste. But a new talent has come to light:  Philip has published his first novel – a gripping thriller called The Venetian Game . Full of contemporary local colour it portrays Venice as a city of secrets, ...

The CEMES pilgrims at the Holy Sepulchre Dr Clare Amos, Director of Discipleship of the Diocese in Europe and a mentor for the CEMES* programme in the Diocese has submitted this moving report from the Holy Land pilgrimage __________________________________________ ‘I found the peace of Galilee fantastic, but Jerusalem somehow made me feel closer to Christ, precisely because he came for reconciliation, and in Jerusalem you can see how much reconciliation is needed.’  ‘We explored the multiple dimensions and many sides of stories, and we learned that nothing is as simple as it might seem. Perhaps that was partly exemplified for me by the need to go through a metal detector before one could access some of the holy sites.’ ‘I will never forget listening to Julius singing the Magnificat in the Church of St Anne and Ubi Caritas in the Crusader Church of Abu Ghosh.’ ‘Somehow we experienced the joys and sorrows of ecumenism. In the Holy Sepulchre we witnessed several differ...

Since the early part of the 19th century Anglicans have been worshipping together in Gran Canaria. The present fine Church of the Holy Trinity in Las Palmas was built as the community became larger and more settled, and celebrates 125 years this year. When founded the parish was in the Diocese of Sierra Leone! A recent parish visit gave an the opportunity for me to discuss with members of the parish the budget proposals for 2018 and 2019 which have recently been communicated to our congregations by the Interim Diocesan Secretary, Mike Fegan. We were also able to share an update on matters to do with safeguarding as well as look at the opportunities for outreach to other areas of the island. The historic centre of the parish is in Las Palmas where Holy Trinity Church is located in the North East of the island. (Other older institutions that served the English speaking population such as the British Club are also located here). Today, however, it is in the south of the islan...

Hilary Wild and George Blunden present Fr Malcolm to Archdeacon Vickie Sims to be inducted as Chaplain of Venice with Trieste  On Saturday 25th November a two year interregnum at St George’s, Venice and Christ Church, Trieste, drew to a close with the licensing of the Revd Canon Malcolm Bradshaw MBE as the new Chaplain. Malcolm with his wife Olga moved to Venice after almost 18 years as Senior Chaplain in Athens, Greece. The Venerable Vickie Sims, Archdeacon of Italy and Malta, presided at the licensing service. The substantial congregation in St George's included ecumenical guests from the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Waldensian and Charismatic Episcopal Churches. Pastor Bernd of the local German Lutheran Church read the Gospel at the mass. The Mayor of Calvene (the site of a substantial Commonwealth War Cemetery) and some of his fellow councillors attended. Music was provided by the Venice Music Project and Liesl Odenweller (soprano) sung Vivaldi’s sacred motet Nulla i...

Last Sunday 19 November was an unusual complete reversal of contexts for me. Normally I would be in a continental European parish, celebrating the eucharist for an English-language congregation. On Sunday, however, I was invited to preside in Italian for the Italian community which worships at St Peter's Church in Acton Green, London. The invitation originated from one of our own priests Fr Giovanni La Rosa from Randazzo Sicily, who is a friend of the Associate Vicar at St Peter's, Fr Fabrizio Pesce. Fr Giovanni was the preacher for the Italian mass. Fr Giovanni preaching Fr Fabrizio hails from Puglia and has served as a missionary in Argentina. He moved to London in 2010 and after his reception into the Church of England has been serving this west London parish. The Italian language service is relatively new. It is not a proselytising ministry at all, but in the best of the Anglican parochial tradition simply aims to live the truth that God welcomes everyone in hi...

Bishop Angaelos enthroned by Metropolitans of the Coptic Orthodox Church On 18th of November His Grace Bishop Angaelos was enthroned as the Coptic Bishop of London at St. George Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Stevenage. This was in effect also the establishment of the Diocese of London for the Coptic Church, with Bishop Angaelos now its first diocesan bishop. Many ecumenical guests attended this 3 1/2 hour service, marking what was a historic occasion for this ancient Church. The first Coptic parish in Europe was founded in London in 1954. Since then, the Church has grown to over 20,000 faithful in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Deacon Frances Hiller, Aiden Hargreaves-Smith joined me in representing our Diocese. Bishop Angaelos described his 22 years serving his Church in the UK as "the longest engagement ever". He is now officially "married" to his new diocese, and as he said, "they have me for life!" I am privileged to count Bishop Angaelos a...

Fr Peter prepares for the mass at Nazaret The Anglican parish of St Laurence in Lanzarote offers a welcome to the many visitors to the island, as well as being a warm home for the English-speaking residents and "swallows". Like so many of our parishes in Europe, members and visitors come from a diverse range of backgrounds and yet find a common home and a sense of family in our churches. There are three congregations in St Laurence parish, in Puerto del Carmen, Nazaaret and Playa Blanca. From 4 - 6 November I was on the island for a parish "check-up". Besides meetings with the priest, the Revd Fr Peter Ford OGS and the Church Council and Churchwardens, there were three Sunday eucharists, and a confirmation. Years ago, a "mystery worshipper" wrote a review of the services in Lanzarote saying they were "dinified, warm, convivial and joyous". Thankfully these words still describe the feeling at the eucharists on that weekend visit. It is ...

Edoardo guides the pilgrims through the Vatican Museums 17 people from the parish of St Thomas a Becket in Hamburg recently made a pilgrimage to Rome. From 23 to 28 October, led by their priest, the Revd Canon Dr Leslie Nathaniel, the pilgrims who aged from 17 to 70 visited many of the Christian sites as well as the ancient monuments of the Eternal City. I was pleased to be able to accompany the pilgrims for a couple of days, as I was in Rome for other meetings at that time. One of our postulants for Holy Orders, Edoardo Fanfani, from All Saints Rome, who is a student at the Pontifical Gregorian University studying art history was able to be the guide for the group. Edoardo knows just about everything there is to know about Rome, her buildings, her art, her monuments, and links all this to the Christian presence and life in this his native city. Fr Leslie Nathaniel at the Papal General Audience Among the highlights of the pilgrimage was a visit to the Anglican Centre in ...

The journey of Anglicans and Roman Catholics towards the goal of visible unity was given a further impetus yesterday, 26 October, when the new Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi, was installed in post by Archbishop Justin Welby.  The service which was Anglican Evensong sung by the joint choirs of All Saints Anglican Church and St Paul’s within the Walls Episcopal Church, (with our own Canon Jonathan Boardman of All Saints as Cantor/Precentor), was held in the Caravita Church, the home of an English-language Roman Catholic Community in the city. There was a hearty assent from Archbishop Bernard when the Archbishop of Canterbury asked him “Will you commit yourself to the ministry of reconciliation striving to make visible the unity of the Church in Christ?” The homily was preached by His Excellency Archbishop Paul Gallagher the Secretary for Relations with States from the Vatican’s Se...

On Sunday 16 October, the Cathedral in Palma de Mallorca was packed for a service to commemorate 500 years since the start of the Reformation. Fr David Waller, the Chaplain of St Philip and St James, Mallorca, and I joined clergy from the German Protestant Church, the Church of Sweden, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church for the service, at which Bishop Margot Käßmann of the Evangelical Church in Germany preached. Bishop Käßmann, front, 3rd from right I estimate that probably close to 2000 were present, mostly German visitors and residents on the island. The wonderful gothic cathedral was a perfect acoustic setting for classical German Lutheran chorales, hymns and brass instrumental works, even if such a service in a very Catholic Mediterranean seemed a long way from Wittenberg!

The Anglican Chaplaincy in Mallorca, Spain, has three congregations based in Palma, Puerto Pollensa and Cala d’Or. On Sunday 15 October I was able to visit the congregation in Palma for the Sunday Eucharist. The Church in Palma is dedicated to St Philip and St James. Icons of these two apostles are on either side of another icon of  Our Lady of Peace. In this icon Our Lady is surrounded by the heads of 9 children, representing the traditional ethnic groups of humanity. It is a fitting symbol for this international all-age congregation.  Parishioners at the coffee hour It was a joy to visit for the Sunday eucharist, especially as I learned from the Chaplain the Revd David Waller that there was to be a Church Council meeting following, at which there was only routine business, and it was not necessary for me to attend! Church Council