Eurobishop

The Revd Dr Mika Pajunen has been appointed Principal Lecturer in Church Life at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Pori, a city in western Finland. Fr Mika is an assistant priest in the Anglican Church in Finland as well as a priest of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. After his ordination he served a curacy at St Nicholas, Helsinki, under the Revd Rupert Moreton - a tangible sign of the relation of communion and interchangeability of ministers which exists between the Church of Finland and the Church of England, through the Porvoo Agreement. Fr Mika's doctoral dissertation was entitled Towards a Real Reunion? Archbishop Aleksi Lehtonen's Efforts for Closer Relations with the Church of England, 1945-1951 . Lehtonen was the Archbishop of Turku during a critical post-war period when the Churches of Finland and England were engaged in tentative overtures complicated by the backdrop of the Cold War. Mika explores the ecumenical, ecclesiologica...

Advent puts the brakes on when much of the world wants to plunge right into full blown celebration of Christmas. Christians are invited to wait and prepare for the Lord who comes. A spirituality of waiting and preparation follows the biblical pattern set by the great Advent saints, St Mary the Virgin, waiting for the birth of her Son and St John the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord. Both Advent saints are seen above either side of our Lord in this Cretan apse painting. The poor of the world have no choice but to wait, for food, for shelter, for justice. Our Bishop's Advent Appeal is a way for us to be in solidarity with those who wait patiently, in this case the community of Sudanese refugees in Finland, waiting and preparing for the day when peace returns to their land, and young school children in Martissant outside Port-au-Prince Haiti, waiting for their school to be rebuilt, so they can prepare themselves to face the future with some hope. God our roc...

On 24 October the people of St George’s parish in Málaga said farewell to their beloved priest, the Revd Peter Wolfenden. Fr Peter and his wife Elaine came to the difficult decision to return to England, rather sooner than they had anticipated. It seemed best for Elaine who has been receiving treatment for cancer in recent months. Fr Peter served the four congregations (Málaga, Torre del Mar, Cómpeta and Salinas) which make up the parish since May 2007. He came from a previous post in the diocese as chaplain in Malta and Gozo where he had special responsibility for Holy Trinity Sliema. The parish is a joyous and welcoming one, made up largely of British expatriate residents and more recently many families and individuals from Africa. During Fr Peter’s time, with his wisdom, good humour and patience, he steered the parish through some turbulent moments caused by the activities of two unlicensed priests in the area. But through his strong leadership Fr Peter offered ...

On Sunday 21 November, I was in St Peter's Basilica in Rome for the mass which celebrated the appointment of Kurt Koch as a cardinal, one of 24 new cardinals created by Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Koch is formerly the Bishop of Basel but now is the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (PCPCU). The PCPCU is the Vatican dicastery responsible for ecumenical dialogue including the official dialogue and relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He takes over from Cardinal Walter Kasper who retired earlier this year. Our official relations with the Roman Catholic Church continue to be very good. Indeed, the next phase of our international dialogue, ARCIC, is in final preparations. The membership of the new commission has been decided by both Anglican and Roman Catholic authorities and plans for the first plenary session are under way. This next phase of ARCIC will look at the question of the nature of the aut...

Mary Styles is an ordinand of the Diocese in Europe who lives in Rome and who is presently a licensed reader at All Saints Church there. In an article published in Centro , the bulletin of the Anglican Centre in Rome , Mary tells of her experience with a "Fresh Expression" and of her own connection with the Anglican Centre. With permission from the Director of the Anglican Centre, the Very Revd David Richardson, I am pleased to publish the article below. People sometimes enquire about "Fresh Expressions" in our diocese. Apart from the fact that in many ways the entire diocese is a "Fresh Expression", Mary's story of Footsteps is a good example of a particular way we can transcend more traditional, inherited ways of expressing the Church's life. Visit the Anglican Centre in Rome Website Here . All Saints Church has a website here . Follow the read more link for Mary's story of "Footsteps".

On 9 October the Revd Patrick Irwin (above left) was licensed as Chaplain of the Church of the Resurrection, Bucharest, Romania. The Archdeacon of the East, the Venerable Patrick Curran, (above right) presided at the service. Fr Irwin is also responsible for the Anglican congregation in Sofia, Bulgaria and has an important ecumenical role as the Archbishop of Canterbury's Apokrisiarios (legate or representative) to the Patriarchs of Romania and Bulgaria. The service was attended by ambassadors from the UK, Ireland and the USA, as well as German Lutheran pastors, a representative of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch and other Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests. Fr Irwin comes to this diocese following a distinguished career as an army chaplain. Most recently he was the British chaplain at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) in Mons, Belgium, the Headquarters of Allied Command Operations, one of NATO's two strategic military commands. The Church of the Resu...

Photo courtesy of Canon Bill Squire Following a natural disaster there are several phases of response required from the international community. The first priority is to get emergency relief and humanitarian aid to those affected, as quickly as possible. At a later stage, attention must be focussed on the reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and the rehabilitation of communities through rebuilding their systems of support, housing, education and health - in short, helping those who have survived to rebuild their lives. The Diocese in Europe is committed to both such phases of response to the devastating earthquake which hit Haiti on 12 January this year. 1.  Emergency relief and humanitarian aid The Church of England channels most of her international relief and development support through the ecumenical agency, Christian Aid. Our diocesan appeal following the 12 January earthquake raised £26,048.71 for the relief efforts supported by Christian Aid. This pro...