Eurobishop

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...

Readers of this blog may find that this is getting rather repetitive, but Anglican-Roman Catholic history was made yet once again on Monday afternoon! For the first time ever the service of Anglican Evensong, according to the Book of Common Prayer , was celebrated in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Archbishop David Moxon, the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, led the service using Cranmer's ancient words. Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, one of the most senior Englishmen in the Vatican, preached the sermon. The choir of Merton College Oxford sang the service. The service was held in honour of St Gregory the Great on the nearest day to his old feast day, 12th March, which is still the date for the observance in the BCP. Pope St Gregory the Great sent St Augustine to England to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons. He has become an unofficial patron of the most recent ecumenical exchanges between...

Ecumenical history is going to be made tomorrow in Florence when the Anglican service of choral Evensong will be sung in the great baptistery of San Giovanni, next to the Cathedral. The ecumenical significance of this event is noteworthy: this is the first time that an Anglican service will be held in the ancient Florentine baptistery and is by kind permission of the Archbishop of Florence, His Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, and the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral. It will be led by the Chaplain of St Marks English Church, the Revd Fr William Lister. The Choir of St Mark’s will sing the service. Fr Lister, besides being the priest of our Church of England parish in Florence is also responsible for St Peter's Sienna, and Holy Cross, Bologna, and is Area Dean of Italy. St Mark's is a busy international Church and is also an active venue for opera, concerts, and a wide range of artistic, literary and academic events for visitors and locals alike. The parish's role i...

Bp Grech and the Anglican Pro-Cathedral The extraordinary ecumenical warmth which we have witnessed this past week with the visit of Pope Francis to our parish of All Saints Rome, continues to encourage us as we experience genuine fraternal cooperation and support from our Roman Catholic colleagues. For instance, earlier this week the Roman Catholic Bishop of Gozo, HE Mgr Mario Grech, publicly called for more unity between Catholics and Anglicans, and in this spirit announced that the collections during this Sunday’s masses in Gozo will be donated towards repairs to the Anglican Pro-Cathedral of St Paul in Valletta, Malta. Bishop Grech said in a statement that whereas splits do exist between Christian Churches, “A true Christian must perforce be upset when cracks appear in our unity,” The Gozo Bishop said Anglicans in Malta and Gozo have launched a campaign to raise funds for repairs to their main church, the Pro-Cathedral of St Paul. The repairs are expected to cost some three m...

The joy of the day can be found on the Pope’s face. Father Jonathan Boardman, the Chaplain of All Saints Anglican Church in Rome, several years ago, invited the Pope to come to the church as part of the 200th anniversary of the Anglican community in the city. It is a tribute to Fr Jonathan that this visit has come about and we are thankful to him, his Churchwardens and the many volunteers who prepared for the day and who took part in the service. Indeed the occasion has taken on an international and ecumenical importance. It was an unprecedented moment. This was the first time a Pope has visited an Anglican parish church. Pope John Paul II visited Canterbury cathedral. Pope Benedict visited Westminster Abbey. But the visit of Pope Francis to All Saints Church on Sunday has made ecumenical history. And from the smile on the pope’s face it was clear that he was delighted to be making that history. During the service the Pope blessed an icon of our Saviour. He referred to this i...

On Sunday evening in London, the Revd Tony Currer, who is the Official for Relations with Anglicans and Methodists at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was made an Ecumenical Canon of Southwark Cathedral. For Anglicans Fr Tony is very much "our man at the Vatican" and is a close colleague on much of our ecumenical work, including IARCCUM, the International Anglican Roman-Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which I co-chair, and ARCIC. He is co-secretary to both commissions. But beyond these two major international commissions, Canon Currer is key to all our work at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. A good example of this is his invaluable support and guidance to us as we prepare for the visit of Pope Francis to All Saints Church in Rome this coming Sunday. We congratulate Canon Currer on this appointment. It speaks of our gratitude as Anglicans for his care for our international relations with the Catholic Church, and is also sign of our deep f...