Eurobishop

Chancellor David Wright (on the right) On Sunday 24 September, the Revd Prebendary David Wright became the Chancellor of St Paul’s Pro Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, and Chaplain of the Anglican Church in Malta and Gozo. The Cathedral was packed as parishioners gathered to welcome their new priest. It was a joyful ecumenical occasion with significant Roman Catholic presence at the service, including His Grace Charles Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta.  Archbishop Scicluna giving the blessing at the end of the installation mass The President of the Republic, and High Commissioners and Ambassadors from the UK, Australia, and Ireland were also present, underlining the significant role of the Pro Cathedral and the Chancellor’s ministry in Malta, even though Anglicans are a minority. 

  The Roman Catholic World Youth Day (which lasted a week from 1 to 6 August!) was likely the largest gathering of youth within the geographic territory of the Diocese. 1.5 million young people from around the world gathered in Lisbon for the week’s events which included times of prayer, teaching, worship, cultural activities and meetings with Pope Francis. St George’s Anglican Church in Lisbon, with their priests, Mthr Ruth Bendrey and Fr Iain Bendrey, had a vision of collaborating with a key Roman Catholic movement, the Chemin Neuf Community to host a series of ecumenical gatherings at St George’s during the week. They were assisted  by Honourary Assitant priest at St George's, Fr Steve Danzey.  The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell and the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Archbishop Ian Ernest, were among the key speakers invited for the week. Young adults from the Diocese in Europe joined us, from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Russi...

  Transporting Sta Margarita to the start of the procession One of the privileges of work in the Diocese in Europe is being part of the rich local ecumenical relations in so many places. A recent visit to our Chaplaincy in Menorca, dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, coincided with the patronal festival. It was a joy to be part of the local fiesta in honour of Santa Margarita. Her statue from our Church was the main attraction for the procession from the Roman Catholic Church to ours. The Chaplain, Fr Paul Strudwick was also able to arrange for me to have conversations with the new RC Bishop of Menorca, Mons. Gerard Vilallonga Hellín. Sta Margarita back in Church!

  There has been a Church of England presence in Venice since 1604, when the Revd William Bedell arrived in the city as part of the embassy of Queen Elizabeth I to the Doge. Over 400 years later, St George's offers a welcome to residents and to the many visitors who come to the city. It continues to be a congregation with people from many parts of the world, with an extraordinary range of gifts and talents. On Sunday 19 February, I licensed the Very Revd Lucinda Laird as the new chaplain of St George's (with Christ Church Trieste, too.) Mother Lucinda comes to us from the US Episcopal Church where she served in many places, as well as latterly as the Dean of the American Cathedral in Paris. I believe she is the first woman to serve as our priest in Venice. We welcome her most warmly to the Church of England Diocese in Europe. It was a significant ecumenical occasion as well. Lucinda has already been personally welcomed by the Patriarch of Venice who invited her to preach in St ...

  James Bartle, Fr Tony, John Wilson and Daniel Tsoi At the weekly eucharist at the Anglican Centre in Rome this week, on the Feast of St Luke the Evangelist, I had the privilege of presiding and preaching. It was a joy to see in the congregation one of our own Diocese in Europe ordinands, John Wilson, who is on placement at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome. He was joined by two other colleagues from the Church of England also on placement, James Bartle (Diocese of Newcastle) and Daniel Tsoi (Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham).  Their formation as future priests will be enhanced by this experience of living and studying alongside Roman Catholic seminarians, in the heart of Rome itself. I always advocate for maximum ecumenical input into the preparation of our future priests.  In the picture above the three are in the company of Fr Tony Currer, who was until last week, the Vatican Official responsible for relations with the Anglican Communion and a good personal frien...

  Bishop Michael Ipgrave The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave opened the Anglican Lutheran Society Conference in Trondheim Norway today, and introduced the opening speaker, Presiding Bishop of the Church of Norway, the Most Revd Olav Fyske Tveit. Bishop Olav both inspired us and challenged us in recounting his years of experience in the ecumenical movement, including being the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches of 10 years.  Presiding Bishop Olav Fyske Tveit of the Church of Norway,  The theme of the Conference is “A Pilgrimage Towards Hope” and we are blessed to have such a gathering of Christian leaders, pastors and laity, who are committed to our common pilgrimage as Anglicans and Lutherans world-wide, to manifest the unity which is Christ’s will for the Church. The first day of the conference coincided with the feast of St James the Apostle, the patron of pilgrims. It is a tradition in the Nidaros (Trondheim) Cathedral to honour St James, one of...

The MES (Ministry Experience Scheme) is a programme largely funded by the National Church which places young persons, 18-30, who may be exploring ordination into parochial settings to get a sense of life in parish ministry. The MES programme of this diocese is one of the most successful across the Church of England. It is headed by Dr Clare Amos, our Director of Discipleship, with support from Fr William Gulliford our Director of Ordinands. Dr Amos at the Dome of the Rock One part of our diocesan MES programme which has not been able to be realised for the past two and a half years due to COVID has been a study-pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Finally this year we were able to restore this trip and so 10 interns spent from 7 to 15 July, visiting the Biblical lands, accompanied by Dr Amos, Fr Gulliford, the Revd Carolyn Cooke from the chaplaincy of La Côte, and myself. We were further very pleased that an intern from a similar programme of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in Europe, who is servin...

Don Felice, assistant at Ognissanti, and Fr Rob preaching together 5 years ago, a bishop paid a visit to a parish and encouraged them in their life and mission. Not an unusual thing to happen, except it was the Bishop of Rome visiting the Church of England parish of All Saints in Rome !  At that time All Saints entered into a twinning partnership with the Roman Catholic parish of Ognissanti Appia Nuova in Rome. Together, inspired by Pope Francis’s visit and his ecumenical encouragement, the two parishes covenanted together to share the love of Christ in the city through common projects. One of these is a weekly provision of food to the homeless at Ostiense train station.  As the Anglican Co-Chairman of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), established by the highest authorities of our two communions to translate the theological agreement and spiritual communion achieved through our dialogue into visible and practical outcomes, I...

Not only is Holy Cross Church, Palermo, one of the architectural beauties in our diocese, it is also a place of active ecumenical and interfaith engagement. Excellent relations are maintained with the Roman Catholics, Waldensians and Orthodox, as well as with representatives of Muslim and Jewish communities.  On 7 November, I believe that ecumenical history may have been made when the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Palermo, Corrado Lorefice, preached the sermon at the installation of the new Chaplain of Holy Cross, the Revd Dr James Hadley. Certainly this is a first in this diocese and in the Church of England itself it may well be unprecedented for a Roman Catholic Archbishop to take such a significant role in the installation of an Anglican parish priest!  Many other local clergy were present for the mass, including the Orthodox Archimandrite for Southern Italy, representing Metropolitan Policarpo of Italy. The depth of ecumenical commitment was further demonstrated when Monsi...