Eurobishop

The Community Centre is opened by Fr Medhat, UK Ambassador Tom Reilly, Bishop David, HE Rachid Afirat, Governor of  Casablanca-Anfa, and Archbishop Cristobal Lopez St John the Evangelist Church, Casablanca, is the oldest church in continuous use in the city. Consecrated in 1906, by the then Bishop of Sierra Leone, it has been the home to English speaking Christians in Morocco's largest city for over 100 years. Fr Medhat greets HE Governor Rachid Afirat In recent times, especially under the direction of its current Chaplain, the Revd Canon Dr Medhat Sabry, St John’s has grown significantly. Two packed church services are now held each Sunday. The community itself counts on people from at least 17 different nations around the world. St John's also hosts a Chinese congregation and a French speaking student congregation which both use the church each week. Fr Medhat in 2016 began working with the parish in putting together an ambitious development project in...

"Wear red for Pentecost" was the instruction given to the people of St Alban's Copenhagen by their priest the Revd Smitha Prasadam. And bold flashes of red - the colour of flame, the colour traditionally associated with the Holy Spirit - were certainly on display in what is already a very colourful congregation. During the festive eucharist on Sunday a member of the congregation was formally received into the communion of the Church of England. (He had been episcopally confirmed in another Church tradition). It gave an opportunity for the whole assembly to give thanks for the Spirit's movement in their lives and in the community, and to consider how that same Spirit imight be moving them forward in their congregational life and mission. As Mother Smitha said in the St Alban's Parish Magazine:  "...what if the Spirit's work is to create for us a new problem: that we have a story to tell, mercy to share, love to spread, and we just can't rest un...

A Church of England parish where songs are sung in Urdu, African heritage celebrated with a thanksgiving service, vocations are nurtured, and faith confirmed? St George's Berlin, of course! This congregation reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the German capital itself. A notably multicultural parish, led by the Revd Canon Christopher Jage-Bowler, St George's is a microcosm of the world-wide Church. It seems that everyone, no matter their Church tradition, language spoken, or cultural background can find a welcome here. There are opportunities for all to celebrate and grow in their faith and in their service to their brothers and sisters. For instance, Canon Jage-Bowler is particularly moved by the commitment in St George's to their well-building projects, as a key part of their overseas outreach. So far, funding from St George's has enabled wells to be constructed in Uganda, Nigeria and Yemen. He notes that "wells attract people, as the Church itself sh...

Dr Ben Gordon-Taylor of Mirfield presents items related to Bp Walter Frere CR a participant in the origial Malines Conversations. Many people know of the two official instruments of the international dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church: ARCIC, (the theological dialogue) and IARCCUM (the episcopal commission on unity and mission, of which I am privileged to serve as the Anglican Co-chairman).  There is another interesting and informal dimension to our international dialogue which takes its inspiration from a unique initiative in the 1920s, long before Vatican II, and not long after Pope Leo XIII declared in the 1896 Bull  Apostolicae Curae  that Anglican Orders were "absolutely null and utterly void" - the Malines Conversations, 1921 to 1926.  Fr Thomas Pott presents a gift to Professor Gordon Lathrop. Fr David Richardson looks on. In 2013 the Conversations began again with theologians from each Communion taking up the t...

From 3-5 May 2019 at the Salesian Centre in Barcelona over 25 people from parishes in the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar came together for a weekend to explore prayer and spirituality using insights and traditions from our ecumenical partners. I gave three addresses outlining some forms of prayer that can enrich our own prayerlife, learning from ecumenical partners. From the Orthodox tradition, the Jesus Prayer; from the Roman Catholic tradition, the Rosary, and from the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther's teaching on prayer using Scripture or the Creeds, which was a good launchng point for considering the Lectio Divina tradition in general. There was much time for private prayer and contemplation in the beautiful setting of the Salesian Centre.

Invited guests for the private viewing before the opening to the public. The tall gentleman dressed in blue is the curator of the Khankhalaev Gallery in Moscow who put together the exhibition. St George’s Anglican Church in Venice is ideally situated on the main thoroughfare in 'Gallery/Museum Mile’ in Venice. Recently the Chaplaincy Council took the decision to remove the pews in the nave. On doing so an ideal space for exhibitions, concerts, lectures, workshops and the like became apparent.  Through a Venetian agent an art exhibition has now been installed focused upon the work of the emerging and acclaimed Russian painter Zorikto Dorzhiev. He has exhibited his work in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Zorikto is from the Mongolian Steppe land around Lake Baikal. His art is focused upon the life of the nomadic people of that region but not specifically Christian. Yet it most aptly illustrates the language of journeying, pilgrimage, or that sentence from the Letter t...

One of our Diocesan Readers, Simone Yallop (St Mary the Virgin, Twente), has written this report on a recent Readers' workshop. ___________________________________________________________________________ In the weekend of 26 to 28 April 2019 a group of 11 Readers and 4 Readers-in-Training came together at St, Columba’s House in Woking, for a workshop on Discipleship. The facilitators were Dr Clare Amos (Director of Lay Discipleship), The Revd Canon Elaine Labourel (Director of Readers) and the Revd Deacon Frances Hiller (Bishop David’s Chaplain). Clare Amos took us on an enthralling Biblical journey, looking at what the gospels tell us about Peter’s experiences as a disciple of Jesus. Discipleship is about following, learning and serving. It is a journey sometimes with two steps forward and one step backwards. We will not get it right the first time. Neither did Peter. It was interesting how Clare pointed out that in John’s gospel, Jesus does not say ‘follow me’ to Peter un...