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Showing posts from October, 2019

Patriarch of Venice visits St George's

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Fr Malcolm, Chaplain of St George's, the Patriarch and Fr Andrea, the priest responsible for the Gesuati parish  On Wednesday 23 rd October, the Patriarch of Venice, His Beatitude Francesco Moraglia, made a visit to St George’s Anglican Church in the city. He had dedicated the greater part of a whole week to a pastoral visit to the Roman Catholic parish of Gesuati in which St George’s is situated. This parish is composed of various significant churches to which are attached schools and institutions. Within his heavy schedule he had expressed a wish to visit St George’s, meet with the community and there hold a brief moment of prayer. After the prayers he spoke of both Churches standing under the Cross. He also mentioned that whenever he travelled up the Grand Canal and passed St. George’s he offered a prayer for its ministry.  This is not the first visit of a Patriarch of Venice to St George’s. Nevertheless, it speaks of the warmth of relationship and mutual respect...

St John Henry Newman: uniting Roman Catholics and Anglicans

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A vigil for John Henry Newman in Sta Maria Maggiore Basilica on the eve of the canonisation John Henry Newman, the key figure in the Oxford Movement in the Church of England who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845, was canonised by Pope Francis yesterday in Rome. His conversion was highly controvesial in the middle of the nineteenth century and at the time was felt by many to be a setback for the Oxford Movement itself. Nevertheless, we Anglicans owe much to Newman for his teaching and influence which restored to the Church of England a renewed understanding its rootedness in the Catholic Church of Christ.   Pope Francis receiving the offertory gifts at the mass I have a particular admiration for the way that Newman taught both Anglicans and Roman Catholics about how doctrine in the life of the Church can develop, through such doctrine being rooted implictly in Holy Scripture, attested to by the Tradition of the Church (through Patristic and other theologians), and u...

Archbishop of Palermo at Italy / Malta Synod, a historic moment

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Archbishop Lorefice with some of the Archdeaconry clergy The Italy/Malta Synod was held from 25-28 September in Palermo, Sicily. The theme, "Welcoming, Invitation and Hospitality" was explored through bible studies, plenary sessions and through chaplaincies sharing highlights from their community life. One of the features of this archdeaconry is the fact that some churches are located in places with large numbers of visitors and pilgrims (such as Venice, Florence and Rome). We also recognised that a common feature across the Archdeaconry (and the diocese) is that by and large our members are migrants; that is to say that most of our members come from "somewhere else". Many of our churches in Italy and Malta are exploring how their communities can be a home and a place of welcome for newer waves of migrants who are settling in these countries, from places other than the UK. There is a special charism in being a migrant church.   During the synod a presentatio...