No.50 SUMMER 2011
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE E u r o p E a n a n g l i c a n r o y a l M a u n d y S E r v i c E S p E c i a l r E p o r t E. u . r E v o l u t i o n B y B l o g a n d M o B i l E p h o n es F i n d i n g g o d i n Z u r i c h F a i t h a n d a r t g r o u p a n i g h t a t t h E o p E r a i n F l o r E n c E h o l y W ee k a n d E a S t E r p i c t u r E r E v i ew FREE N o . 5 0 SUMMER 2 0 1 1 2 PLANNING FOR IT TO BE ALL RIGHT ON THE DAY THE E u r o p E a n a n g l i c a n The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe The Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell Bishop’s Lodge, Church Road, Worth, Crawley RH10 7RT Tel: +44 (0) 1293 883051 Fax: +44 (0) 1293 884479 Email: [email protected] The Suffragan Bishop in Europe The Rt Revd David Hamid Postal address: Diocesan Office Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1160 Email: [email protected] The Diocesan Office 14 Tufton Street, London, S E r E n d i p i t y o r SW1P 3QZ Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1155 Fax: +44 (0) 207 898 1166 Email: j u S t h a r d g r a F t [email protected] ? Diocesan Secretary Mr Adrian Mumford Two children were looking at their new was being given a final check immediately Assistant Diocesan Secretary diaries. “Christmas Day falls on a Friday before the arrival of the Sovereign. The Mrs Jeanne French this year.” said one. His friend replied “Well memories may well re-surface in an Advent I hope it isn’t the 13th as well – that would sermon this year wondering if God’s People Finance Officer Mr Nick Wraight be unlucky!” are as well prepared for the coming of the Serendipity has long been one of my King of Heaven. Diocesan Website favourite words. It is generally explained Perhaps because of mundane matters www.europe.anglican.org as “the happy accident of things occurring like a church Annual Meeting or the rush Editor and Diocesan Communications by happenstance” or as I suppose many to and from London for the Maundy event Officer people might say – Fate. Good Friday and Easter seemed to hit us The Revd. Paul Needle Postal address: Diocesan Office Real life is not all serendipity. It needs out of the blue – and that provided some Email: effort and planning and I was never more more serendipity moments. The truth [email protected] aware of this than on Maundy Thursday with about the Saviour’s suffering and conquest Tel: 0034 662 482 944 the royal service in Westminster Abbey. over death seemed to be fresher than ever Friends of the Diocese I knew about the months of detailed this year. Secretary: Rev Canon Arthur Siddal planning and discussion within the Diocese On this page we reflect just a little of the Email: [email protected] in Europe to make sure that our forty Holy Week happenings around the diocese Design recipients were well chosen and prepared as well as our usual crop of good news Adept Design, Norwich (In the Bishop’s office at one stage it stories of church life within our diverse Printer seemed to take over his Personal Assistant, Diocese. If your congregation or activity is Norwich Colour Print Margaret Gibson’s life!) not included here please Distribution On the great day there was a fair share send us your news so we CoDEStorm plc of serendipity. The sun shone unseasonably may feature you on the warmly; the day coincided very rarely with diocesan website or in our Cover photo: the Queen’s birthday; and the weeks of next edition. Celebrating her 85th birthday in planning were translated into one of those P a u l N e e d l e the way she knows best, with an act rare moments of wonder. I made a mental of service in the distribution of the note of those moments when everyone E d i t o r , th E E u r o p E a n a n g l i c a n Royal Maundy, The Queen honours forty men and women from the Diocese in Europe in Westminster Abbey. A full report and more p.s. It is claimed that Horace Walpole first used the word “serendipity” in a letter to Horace Mann in 1754. He pictures are to be found on pages apparently made it up after reading a Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes “were 7 to 10. always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of”. So now you know! (Picture by courtesy of picturepartnership) A LATE EASTER – BUT A GREAT ONE 3 h o ly wee k i n o u r d i v E r se d i o c ese Although Easter was on the latest date possible this year the Winter chill was just beginning to let up in Finland where a Maundy service was held in an “Upper Room”. In warmer Mediterranean climes Christians celebrated the “Queen of Festivals” with outdoor events and holy oils were consecrated with ordination vows renewed in Geneva and Antwerp as our picture round-up reflects. In the Early Church baptisms traditionally took take place at Easter and in the French city of Lyon Chaplain Chris Martin led a double baptism service. Nanimaya Thapa, a young woman from Nepal, was baptised along with her 2 year old daughter Sara. Sara’s father, Tul Thapa, originally a refugee from ethnic cleansing in In St Boniface, Antwerp, the Holy Bhutan, was first brought Week Chrism mass - celebrated to church in Lyon where by Bishop Geoffrey - was set he was baptised on Easter against the background of the Day 2003. major restoration project works. In Malta the Palm Sunday procession recalled the original event and followed a donkey on their way to the Pro-Cathedral. In the Finnish capital of Helsinki Father Tuomas Mäkipää begins the Maundy Thursday vigil In Holy Trinity, Geneva, clergy and readers in an Upper welcomed Bishop David who blessed the holy Room at the oils to be used in churches across the Diocese Cathedral. in the coming year. 4 JAW, JAW BETTER THAN WAR, WAR o u r M a n i n B r u sse l S n ee d S t o g E t o u t M o r E ! Canon Dr Gary Wilton sees how world events impact on life at the heart of the European Union ‘You need to get out more’ is a sign I plan to put over my desk. Too many working hours are spent reading, writing or forwarding emails. Do you feel the same? It’s one of the Former President Lula da Silva from Brazil addresses an EU meeting costs of living through the whirlwind Information Technology Revolution. The PC has become our workbench. teams or advisers sent to promote a guest of Al Jazeera television news. Crafting and re-crafting documents good governance and democracy. The dialogue included Evangelical is what we do! Sometimes I worry Unnoticed, EU officials cross and Leaders from the USA and Muslim that I don’t visit the European re-cross the globe to help make it a leaders from the Middle East – and Parliament or Commission enough, safer place. our focus was the Arab Revolutions. but EU officials visit my inbox daily, Despite their convenience emails If you have not watched Al with email after email organising are not the same as meeting face Jazeera you may want to check out events and exploring ideas. I don’t to face and building ‘real time’ their English news station. They need to leave my desk to keep in relationships. When the world have learnt a lot from the BBC and contact. And yet when I do - I can is so fragile, people from north, now have one of the world’s largest find myself in very unexpected south, east and west need to know networks of offices and journalists. places. each other. There are literally It is eye-opening to watch quality Recent events in North Africa, hundreds of official and semi- independent journalism coming from the Gulf, Japan and New Zealand official international networks and the Middle East rather than Europe remind us that the world is fragile. meetings taking place in the world’s or the USA. War, revolution or natural disasters capitals. When money is so tight, In Qatar I met some of the are never far away. Memories fade international conferences seem like inspiring young leaders of the fast, but Europe has been shaped by an extravagance. But their purpose revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, two world wars, endless political is literally to keep people talking and Libya. Their passion for real revolutions and numerous disasters of – ‘jaw jaw is much better than war democracy and freedom was very flood or famine.