Eurobishop

  On Saturday 22 April, the Church of St Edmund’s Oslo, with its Chaplain the Revd Canon Joanna Udal participated in a city-centre ecumenical event designed to bring the quite secular Norwegians back into touch with their Church once again. The Cathedral in Oslo and two other parish Churches hosted celebrations highlighting history, culture, music, and, importantly, the Church’s work to combat environmental degradation and to encourage interfaith understanding and respect.  Canon Udal was able to speak to the gathering and bring Anglican greetings to this important event.  I was pleased to be able to have conversations with Bishop Kari Veiteberg of Oslo, who is a leading voice for the social justice work of the Church. The weekend was principally for pastoral duties, at St Edmund’s for baptisms and confirmations and in Bragernes Church in the city of Drammen, for the confirmation of members of the South Sudanese Maban Community, a community of refugees who are largely of ...

  The Anglican Church in Finland, whose principal congregation is St Nicholas Helsinki, was founded by refugees from St Petersburg, fleeing the Russian Revolution. The cross above is one of the historic artifacts brought with them.  Today, almost 100 years later, St Nicholas's congregation comes from around the world, a vibrant community of people of all ages.  The children and young people of St Nicholas parish have prepared and released this video, in which they express their Easter hopes and prayers:   for a greener and fairer world for all God's creatures,  for Coronavirus to leave the planet  to see family abroad  to have birthday parties again  to be with friends and eat chocolate eggs!   It is a delightful and joyful piece, which summarises our hopes before God this Easter. Thank you to the young folk of St Nicholas!       

Canon Sabry (Casablanca), retired Archdeacon Geoff Johnston, and Rebecca Boardman USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is one the oldest mission agencies in the Anglican Communion. Founded in 1701, it has been a partner to Churches and communities world-wide, including the Diocese in Europe. It sees its partnership as a way to "enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential and champion justice". It is a little known fact that over half of the communities in the Diocese in Europe owe their origin to USPG (or SPG as it was known then) support and sponsorship. Today, USPG supports our work with migrants and refugees in France, Germany, Greece and Morocco. The Mission and Public Affairs Unit of the Diocese, chaired by Archdeacon Leslie Nathaniel, has a member from USPG on the unit. Rebecca Boardman has been a close collaborator, particularly on migration and refugee issues, for over 5 years.   At a recent meeting of the MPA unit Rebecca in her repor...

St Andrew's Tangier has a growing ministry among migrants and refugees from sub-saharan African countries. It is an oasis of calm and peace in the heart of the city, where a very international community finds their spiritual home. St Andrew's Tangier Fr Dennis Obidiegwu (pictured above with Archdeacon of Gibraltar, Geoff Johnston) is the Chaplain of St Andrew's and is himself a priest of Nigerian origin, who was trained and served in Ghana as well as worked in Togo. He is well experienced in the challenges that West Africans face, who seek to find a life with dignity. An increasing number are flee north towards the Mediterranean shores of Morocco, looking with desperation for a way to enter Europe. From certain vantage points in the city, Europe seems tantalisingly close. However the waters are treacherous, and many lose their lives attempting the crossing. On the horizon, Europe can be seen, from Tangier In partnership with USPG Fr Dennis is building a minis...

Archbishop Mndolwa and Fr Duncan Dormor (Photo courtesy of USPG) Deacon Frances and I represented the Diocese in Europe at the opening of the new headquarters of USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) in Trinity Street, London on 21 March. USPG is one of the oldest mission agencies of the Anglican communion, founded in 1701. Its predecessor, SPG, helped to found over half of the chaplaincies in this diocese.  USPG supports the churches of the Anglican Communion in their mission to be communities of resistance and hope and in their witness to the healing power of Christ’s love. Thus it supports our work to address environmental degradation, turbulent global politics, gender injustice, and the forced displacement of people at record levels. USPG is a partner in the work of the diocese in its refugee and migrant ministry in Morocco, Greece and France.  The opening of the HQ began with a mass and blessing of the chapel, presided over by Archbishop Maimbo Mndolwa...

Pan African Sunday, 30 September, at St George's Madrid included a service of confirmation, a Nigerian choir and an African feast after the mass. It was a day of exuberant joy. It felt like St George's was truly an place of international encounter for the many Christians in Madrid who speak English or who are from an Anglican background. However, there was sad news for the chaplaincy that day. I had to announce that their beloved Chaplain, the Revd Canon Paul Ormrod, would be leaving. Fr Paul has been appointed to St John's Montreux and he and his wife Jill will be saying farewell to St George's at the end of December. Book Sale at St George's It has been such a fruitful time for the Ormrods in Madrid. He will leave behind a thriving multicultural community as was in evidence that Sunday. There is a vibrant Sunday School and three services each Sunday. The Church Council includes a good cross section of the parish, including some young adults. (I th...

Archdeacon Vickie Sims introduces Ian Carter, Diocesan Safeguarding Manager "Energised by Faith" was the theme of the recent Synod of the Archdeaconry of Italy and Malta. From 27 - 30 September the clergy and lay representatives of the Archdeaconry met in Villa Sacro Cuore, outside Milan for their annual sessions, under the presidency of Archdeacon Vickie Sims. Dr Clare Amos, Diocesan Director of Lay Discipleship Dr Clare Amos, the Director of Lay Discipleship led the bible studies on the Transfiguration and the Emmaus stories. Using many images of these biblical events and quotes from poets and theologians, she helped the synod delve into the rich mystery of these accounts. We explored how the Transfiguration is a lens through which we can perceive the truth of the Gospel today. Quoting Martin Eggleton, Clare said, "Transfiguration does not do away with what is, it changes one's perception of it, heightens it, enables it to be something revered, not in a m...

Bishop Saw John Wilme presides at the closing Mass The theme of the 2017 USPG Conference was "Serving Churches, Strengthening Communities". Friends, supporters, diocesan representatives, staff and overseas partners of the mission agency gathered in High Leigh to explore this theme through 5 programme lenses: Protecting health,  Growing the church,  Enabling livelihoods,  Promoting justice and  Responding to crises.  USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is one of the oldest mission agencies in the Anglican Communion. Founded in 1701, it has been supporting Anglican Churches around the world in their mission to bring the fullness of life to the communities they serve. Many of our own Churches in the Diocese in Europe were founded and supported by USPG.  Since 2015 USPG has been accompanying our Diocese in our work with refugees. Through funding, through provision of technical personnel, through planning for long-term strategies, USPG...

In Stuttgart St Catherine's Parish Centre was originally conceived to be the administrative office for the congregation as well as a space for church meetings and gatherings such as choir practice. But the centre has taken on an enhanced role as the parish has responded to the influx of refugees in this city in Baden-Württemberg. It has become a place for refugees to come and find clothing, toys, and essential household goods that they require as they establish their new life in Germany. Of course they also receive care and advice from the volunteers from the parish who give their time to the centre. One of the remarkable aspects to this work is that the parish has engaged two persons who are refugees themselves to work in the centre alongside our church volunteers. They are Salim, a young woman from Eritrea, and Shukri, a young man from Syria. Thus St Catherine's is encouraging refugees to help other refugees. I had a brief interview with Salim and Shukri to give the...

As we know Europe is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Religious organisations including the churches play many key roles in the midst of this crisis such as advocacy for responsible government policies on behalf of refugees and in helping to improve migrants' integration in receiving countries. In Europe several collaborative projects among religious bodies, governments and NGOs have been already put in place. One of the most creative was established in Italy through the cooperation between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Roman Catholic Comunità di Sant’Egidio,  the Federation of Evangelical Churches and Tavola Valdese of the Waldensian Evangelical Church. The programme takes advantage of the provision of humanitarian visas to bring over a two-year period approximately 1000 refugees from Lebanon (Syrian refugees), Morocco (migrants from Sub-Saharan African countries fleeing from situations of risk caused by conflicts, terrorism, politica...

Fr Simon with one of his African migrant parishioners Since the late 1990s a growing phenomenon in Morocco has been the arrival of vast numbers of sub-Saharan migrants and refugees. Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches in Casablanca and Tangier have been faced with this challenge, and now a new partnership is emerging between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tangier and our historic Anglican Church of St Andrew in the city. A meeting with some migrants in St Andrew's Because of its proximity to Spain - just twelve miles across treacherous straits - and with a land borders close by to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, Tangier has become very much a magnet to thousands of young Sub-Saharan Africans seeking a better life.  With memories of civil wars, drought, poverty, persecution and the devastation caused by the Ebola Crisis fresh in their minds, these young people - many of them illiterate - make an extremely dangerous journey up the West Coast of Africa, or trekkin...

Anglicans continue to grow in faith and commitment on the Costa del Sol. On 30th October, the parish of Costa del Sol East hosted a joint confirmation service for their parish and the neighbouring parish of Costa del Sol West. It was an All Saints Day celebration and was held at St Andrew's Church in Fuengirola. 6 persons were confirmed that day. The Revds Adrian Low (left) and Alaric Lewis I was assisted by the priests of the two parishes, Fr Alaric Lewis (Costa del Sol East) and Fr Adrian Low (Costa del Sol West), as well as by Reader Caroline MacFarlane, also from the East. During the service two of the confirmands gave moving testimonies as to why they were taking this step in their Christian lives, to become active disciples of our Lord. The faith of all the candidates was inspiring. Hospitality is a large element in the mission strategy of St Andrew's, Costa del Sol East. It seemed natural that following the Confirmation the Church was converted into a banquet ...