Eurobishop

  Lambeth 1998 Bishops In the last few days the bishops going to the Lambeth Conference received the first information about decisions that may be before us. “Calls” is the term used, for declarations and affirmations that the bishops will be asked to consider and vote on. The Calls are largely non-controversial and many of them are, in my view, very good statements related to our work in areas of evangelism, reconciliation, Christian unity, environment, sustainable development and safeguarding among others. One particular reference in a section entitled Human Dignity has attracted some attention. The bishops will be asked to affirm: It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same gender marriage is not permissible. Lambeth Conference I.10 (1998) states that the “legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions” cannot be advised. I am likely one of only a few bishops going to this year’s Lambeth Conference that was present in 1998. I was not a bishop then, but on the ...

Candidates for Confirmation in St Vincent's Algarve As COVID restrictions gradually have been lifting across the diocese since last autumn, parish visits have resumed. In some cases I have been catching up with visits that had to be postponed many months or longer, due to the pandemic. Although we have taken to Zoom quite well as a diocese, recent surveys in the Church of England have shown that the majority of Anglicans prefer physical gatherings for worship, over virtual services, even though the latter serve us well in our time of need.  However the sacrament of Confirmation cannot be celebrated over zoom!  Across the diocese candidates have been patiently waiting to receive this apostolic rite, in some cases having been prepared months beforehand, until such time when a physical gathering would be possible once again,  Renewal of baptismal vows are an essential part of Confirmation St Vincent's Algarve was the venue for one such service in January. In the beautiful ch...

For any who might be interested, Unité des Chrétiens , the French ecumenical journal has run an interview with me which touches upon many themes of our Diocese in Europe: ecumenical life, Anglican identity, Brexit and our multicultural context. The journal itself (despite this interview!) is always an interesting read, covering ecumenical life in France, Europe and beyond, from Oriental, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant perspectives. The link to the journal's site is here: https://unitedeschretiens.fr/ The article is below:

The Caracol is blown to call the people to prayer In the Church of England, the Archbishop (of York or Canterbury) when consecrating a new bishop lays out the duties of a bishop including "joining together in the ordination of bishops". P articipating in the ordination of new bishops takes place, for me, most frequently in the Church of England. However, I was asked recently to be a co-consecrator for a new bishop in Mexico, and to preach at the consecration mass. It was a great privilege to do so, as the new bishop was an old friend, Fr Julio  César  Martin Trejo, now the Coadjutor Bishop of South East Mexico. I have known Fr (now Bishop) Julio for 30 years. He was still in seminary when we first met. The consecration was in the Anglican Centre in Tuxtepec, in Oaxaca state. (The diocesan centre is in Xalapa, while the largest city in the diocese is Veracruz). Bishops from Mexico, the USA and Spain were present for the service on St Matthew's day, as well as c...

As part of its ecumenical vocation, the Anglican Communion engages in official ecumenical dialogues with other Christian world communions. These dialogues are mandated by the Anglican Consultative Council. The Archbishop of Canterbury as Primus Inter Pares  in the Anglican Communion and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion seek appropriate names from around the Communion to appoint as Anglican members of each dialogue. It is a great honour that one of our own staff and a member of the Diocesan Ministry Team, Director of Reader Ministry the Revd Canon Elaine Labourel, has just been been appointed by the Secretary General in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury to serve on the International Reformed-Anglican Dialogue (IRAD). This recognises Elaine's own theological and ecumenical expertise..It also underlines the important part that this diocese plays in being the shop window of Anglicanism for many other Christians in Europe. Of the 165 countries where the ...

Many people know of the two official instruments of the international dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church: ARCIC, (the theological dialogue) and IARCCUM (the episcopal commission on unity and mission, of which I am privileged to serve as the Anglican Co-chairman). Additionally there are many national and regional dialogues (ARCs) and many national and regional periodic gatherings of bishops from both traditions. There is another dimension to our international dialogue which takes its inspiration from a unique initiative in the 1920s, long before Vatican II, and not long after Pope Leo XIII declared in the 1896 Bull Apostolicae Curae that Anglican Orders were "absolutely null and utterly void". I refer to the Malines Conversations. These were held from 1921 to 1926 under the presidency of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, Cardinal Mercier. The conversations involved a small group of Church of England and Roman Catholic...

The Board of Governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome on which I serve recently had a meeting in Chicago, hosted by the Episcopal Bishop of Chicago, the Rt Revd Jeff Lee. It was the last meeting of the Board during the time of the current Director, the Most Revd Sir David Moxon, who will be stepping down at the end of June after almost 5 years in post. It was a chance for US friends and supporters of the Centre to express their gratitude to Archbishop David for his outstanding achievements in Anglican-RC relations during his time as Director. (Incidentally, the Diocese in Europe Board of Finance makes a small annual grant to the Anglican Centre. Canon Ann Turner is our Diocesan Representative). Evensong at St James's Cathedral, Chicago Christ Church Winnetka Illinois I had the privilege of preaching and presiding at one of the many flourishing parishes in the Diocese of Chicago, Christ Church, Winnetka, Illinois. There are over 50 in the choir at Christ Church, an...

Archbishop Francisco de Asis presides at a mass for the bishops It has been an unusual few days, with a different rhythm from my day to day ministry. At the invitation of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil and USPG I was invited to lead a spiritual retreat for the Brazilian bishops. It was an enormous privilege to be with my colleagues across the Atlantic and to accompany them in this time of profound reflection on their episcopal ministry and to work with them as they reviewed the life of their episcopal college. I have known practically all of them for 30 years, long before any of us were bishops, and it was a time of blessing to renew those friendships. The context of the Church's ministry in Brazil appears to be changing fast, and is very different from when I was first working closely with the Province. My colleagues were noting how in many ways the socio-political reality is going backwards, with the gains of democracy less certain than before, and an alarming signs that...