Eurobishop

The Revd Paul Ormrod was recently installed as a Canon of the Cathedral Chapter, in the Pro-Cathedral of St Paul in Valletta, Malta.  The Chancellor of Malta, Canon Simon Godfrey presided at the installation, and the Diocesan Registrar, Mr Aiden Hargreaves Smith performed the necessary legal actions.  The function of the Cathedral Chapter is to support the bishop by prayer and counsel. The Chancellor of Malta, Canon Ormrod and the Diocesan Registrar Many travelled from St George's Madrid where Canon Ormrod serves as Chaplain, as well as from a former parish where he served in Formby. In addition to his considerable parochial work in Madrid, Fr Paul has begun to work with me on an ecumenical vision for our partnership with the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. I will celebrating a Chrism Mass in St George's Madrid on 27 March. Welcome to the Cathedral Chapter, Canon Ormrod! Photos courtesy of Jill Ormrod

One of the misconceptions about the Diocese in Europe is that it consists of church for the "Brits abroad". Whilst there are many UK passport holders who count among our faithful in the 300+ congregations, we are a diocesan family of people from scores of nations . For example, one large sector of our people come originally from Nigeria. In Italy we have several congregations where the majority are of Nigerian background, in Turin, Macerata and Pesaro, for instance. Fr Amos with the church mini-bus (note the logo!) I recently paid a visit to one of our largest congregations in Italy, St Anthony Abbot Church in Padua. The members of St Anthony Abbot come almost entirely from Nigeria, apart from those who are Italian born, but of Nigerian parentage. It is a vibrant community led by its priest-in-charge, the Revd Canon Amos Osaromkpe. We work in partnership with Archbishop Kattey of the Province of Niger Delta in Nigeria in supporting Fr Amos. Young Ignatius  Th...

Clergy from many denominations prepare in All Saints Vestry before the ecumenical service . Shrove Tuesday is an ecumenical occasion in All Saints Rome. For the parish to have an annual ecumenical celebration around their patronal feast would be almost pointless as All Saints Day and the surrounding days in Italy are taken as holidays. So the solution for many years is to hold an ecumenical service and event on Shrove Tuesday, which does not feature greatly on any Church or civic calendar, and thus ecumenical partners are general free to attend. This year clergy from the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist and traditions joined Canon Jonathan Boardman, the Chaplain, for Solemn Mattins according to the Book of  Common Prayer. The preacher was the Revd Dana English, the Assistant Priest at All Saints. This was Dana's last official engagement in Rome, as she is moving shortly to England. Other Anglican clergy in Rome, from St Paul's-within-the...

In Copenhagen, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated with an ecumenical "Church Walk", (in Danish, Kirkevandring).  It is now in its 64th consecutive year, being the oldest such continuous event in the world. It was started by the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius, an organisation which since 1928 has sought to promote links between the Churches of East and West. This year, more than 800 people walked through Copenhagen visiting and worshipping - as part of one continuous service - in churches of  different denominations: The Danish Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, St. Alban's Anglican Church and ending with a longer service in the Swedish Church. This year the preacher was Bishop Martin Lind of the Swedish Lutheran Church (who has been serving as Bishop of the Lutheran Church in the UK). The service at St. Alban's was a shortened version of traditional evensong. St Alban...

23 persons from across the diocese met last weekend under the direction of our Director of Ordinands, Fr William Gulliford, to explore what it means to be called to the Sacred Ministry in the Church of England. Fr William was assisted in this task with a team of clergy (some who were former ordinands from this diocese), current ordinands themselves, and members of our Diocesan Ministry Team. Parish visits were arranged to 5 very different communities in London. The intensive three days covered a range of essential topics such as: the discernment, selection, training and deployment processes in the Church of England,  the nature of obedience and authority under which clergy live their vocation  spiritual resources for preparing for the vocational journey the Diocese in Europe's unique history and role in the Church of England the Anglican Communion's 5 marks of mission issues in human sexuality the ministry of priest and deacon  Those on this exploratory w...

As readers of Eurobishop will know, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018 has just come to a close. In Venice it has truly been an exhilarating experience, reports the Chaplain Fr Malcolm Bradshaw. During the course of the week services were held in thirteen churches of different denominations and all well attended – up to eighty people plus. An exchange of pulpits occurred with no hesitation for an elder of the Waldensian/Methodist Church to preach in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, a Lutheran pastor in St Mark’s Basilica, a Roman Catholic priest in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Evensong was held in St George’s Anglican Church and was honoured by the presence of the Ecumenical Secretary of the Patriarch for Venice, Don Francesco. He delivered the sermon. Local Catholic clergy and religious were in attendance. Fr Malcolm was invited to preach in the Roman Catholic parish church of St Hilary, Malcontenta, on the mainland from Venice. The service was supported by a choir of yo...

Isten hozott - Welcome! Or more precisely "God brought you here" were the words that greeted me on my recent pastoral visit to St Margaret of Scotland Chaplaincy in Budapest. The Sunday Eucharist, despite heavy snow, was well attended by adults and children. (There is an active Sunday School). Hungary seems to be a country particularly blessed with musical talent, and this is put to good use in the Sunday sung mass. The Revd Dr Frank Frank Hegedűs is the parish priest. Fr Frank was born in the USA and has ministered in Los Angeles, San Diego, Michigan and Minnesota. Of Hungarian and Polish extraction, he is also a citizen of Hungary, and very much at home in our international diocese, and in this international parish with members from Africa, North America, Europe and the UK. Fr Frank is also an Area Dean in the Eastern Archdeaconry. Saint Margaret of Scotland, by the way, was an English princess, born in Hungary in the 11th century, when her family was in exile. She lat...