Chaplaincy of Aquitaine News Letter May 2011
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Chaplaincy of Aquitaine News Letter May 2011 THE CHAPLAINCY OF AQUITAINE Assistant Chaplain’s Letter is part of the Church of England Diocese Bramwell Bearcroft in Europe, working in partnership with The Intercontinental Church Society, Just over twenty years ago I was in training to be ordained as a priest. As part of that training in ministry to people who speak English. I was ordered to spend the best part of a week It covers Gironde, Dordogne and Lot-et- at Cambridge Crematorium. My responsibility Garonne. was to conduct the funerals for those who did not know a priest or minister or those who had no contact with a church. Services are held at the following venues, please Every half an hour a service would take place and I would be see inside for details. called upon several times a day to lead the service. On one particularly miserable East Anglian day I found myself BORDEAUX (33) conducting a funeral where there was just one mourner; an old Chapelle de l’Assomption, lady who was hard of hearing. Resisting the temptation to ask her 370 bd Président Wilson, to ‘sing up’ during the two hymns we got to the end of the (opposite the British Consulate). service and she left quietly. Wondering why I had ever signed up for all this I decided to go CHACELADE (24) and sit in my car and eat my sandwiches. As I sat there I became Chapelle de Saint Jean, (opp. The Abbey) aware of some road markings just outside the crematorium but could not read the writing because of the rain. As the time neared SORGES (24) NE of Périgueux, for the next service, I left my car and wandered to the edge of the Eglise de Saint Germain, (in Le Bourg, on N21). road to read the road sign. There were yellow markings on the road and the sign read ‘Do Not Enter Box Unless Exit Is Clear’. Just a few days ago I found myself sitting in a meeting in a LIMEUIL(24) Catholic school building in the middle of Bordeaux. It was about Near Le Bugue, Eglise de Sainte Catherine; the fourth such meeting I had attended and the purpose of the gatherings was to hammer out the details for the large STE ATHALÈE (24), East of Sarlat, ecumenical gathering planned for Bordeaux on Easter Sunday Parish Church, on D47 morning. I have to confess that I was beginning to get drowsy when suddenly the conversation became very animated. The ALLEZ (47): West of Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Armenians, The Russian Orthodox, The Catholics and all the others started waving their arms around and gesticulating. As the DODAS (47): just off the D215, north only (very) Englishman there I struggled for a moment to gather east of Agen. what was going on until suddenly there seemed to be accord. « Le Christ est Resussité !, oui, Le Christ est Resussité ! » There was much back slapping and shaking of hands…….. they DOUDRAC (47): on D50 between had been trying to decide what was to be the headline on the Castillonès and Villeréal. poster. They all agreed on this one point. St Paul wrote ‘If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are EVALS (47): to the north of of all people most to be pitied.’(1 Cor 15,19) . If there is no Monflanquin. resurrection then Paul is right…all our services, meetings, councils, rotas, newsletters etc etc mean nothing and we are MOTETO (47): east of Duras, (Notre indeed to be pitied for wasting so much time and so much effort. Dame Parish Church). If however we believe that Christ is indeed raised from the dead then we do have much to shout about. The road markings and sign at the crematorium reminded me that our way has been BERTRIC BURÉE (24): Parish made clear by Jesus .We can live our lives to the full in His love Church, (D708 between Ribérac and Verteillac). and know that death does not separate us from that love. We can say in all confidence, ‘Le Christ est Resussité !’ Useful Numbers: 2 Chaplain: Revd. Dr Paul Vrolijk 05 53 23 40 73 , Our new website has become 8 Chemin du Garonna, 24240 Sigoules. [email protected] operational! It looks great! The address is: www. Assistant Chaplains: Revd. Caroline Gordon-Walker, churchinaquitaine.org The old website will be 05 53 29 36 03 La Vieille Ferme, 24170, in the air for a short while, and for those who St Germain de Belvès. [email protected] surf to the old address, arrangements have been made for them to arrive on the new site. I would like to thank Revd. Gillian Strachan , 05 53 58 12 58 Peter Robinson for being our webmaster over the last years. La Gravette, 24150 Bayac. [email protected] And I would like to thank Charlotte Sullivan and Amy Owensmith for working so hard on the new website. Please Revd. Elizabeth Morris, 05 53 58 71 90 use this address for sending updates, new articles etc: Maison Neuve, Plaisance, 24560, Issigeac. [email protected] [email protected] So do take the time to visit the new Chaplaincy website, you can keep up with all the latest news, and up and coming Revd. Bramwell Bearcroft, 05 56 40 05 12 1, Lotissement de la Caussade, 33270 Floirac events. Please also update your bookmarks. [email protected] Revd. Brian Davies, 05 53 90 25 85 “Les Voix de la Bible” (Voices of the Petites Cotes, Nanteuil Auriac de Bourzac, 24320 Bible) [email protected] The annual continuous Bible reading Clergy with permission to officiate: at the Périgueux Cathedral will take place Revd. David Jones , 05 53 94 71 81 Le Bourg, in the days leading up to Pentecost! All are 47120 Loubès-Bernac. [email protected] invited to attend the opening ceremony at the cathedral on Wednesday June 8th at 7:00pm . The event will conclude with Revd. Roger Watts , 05 53 81 82 16 a celebration at 8:00pm on Saturday, June 11th . Readers can Vedelle, 24610 Villefranche de Lonchat. [email protected] sign up at: [email protected] The chaplain will give a seminar in English entitled Revd. Ann and Revd. Michael Wooderson, “The Gospel according to Exodus” on Thursday, June 9th 05 53 06 39 76 15 rue des Ecoles, 24750 Trélissac. from 15:00 – 16:45 . This talk will feature the book of Exo- [email protected] dus and its relevance to the rest of the Bible, and is open to [email protected] all. The venue is in the same location as last year: 8 rue de la Revd. Canon Tim Thompson Constitution, located just across the street from the cathedral. UK: 01526 320 171 FR: 05 53 91 47 21 Also at the cathedral, an exhibition entitled “La Bible : [email protected] Arbre de Vie” will present various cultural aspects of the Bible, and how they affect our daily lives. The French film Revd. Stephen Traves, “Catholique Anonyme” will be shown at Cap Cinéma at [email protected] 8:00pm on Thurs, June 9th. Tickets are 5€, reservations required. Come to Périgueux to listen and/or read… night or Chaplaincy Wardens: John Ralph 05 53 57 59 67 [email protected] day, with your family, your friends, in groups… For more information, phone Amy Owensmith on: 06 07 04 07 77. David Tervet 05 53 20 86 69 [email protected] Chaplaincy Administration : Amy Owensmith, 06 07 04 07 77, [email protected] Graham Kendrick Concert Prayer Chain Co-ordinator: Madeleine Holmes 05 53 04 85 44 In partnership with Cafe-Church Bergerac our [email protected] Chaplaincy is organizing a Graham Kendrick concert on Friday 3 June in Bergerac. We have been kindly offered the ewsletter Editor: Christine Scott Tel/fax 05 53 29 39 40 use of St Jacques Church in Bergerac . The concert will [email protected] start at 20.00h . Church to open at 19.15h. Tickets are free of charge, but there will be a retiring eighbouring Chaplaincies: Poitou-Charentes: collection to cover the costs of this great concert. We hope Revd. Michael Hepper, 05 49 97 04 21 that many of you will be able to attend...and please think [email protected] about inviting those who might not normally come to Midi-Pyrenées & Aude: Revd Canon Andrew Hawken 05 63 95 78 24 [email protected] church...this is a wonderful outreach opportunity to share with others! Chaplaincy of Aquitaine: Tickets are still available; if you would like to come [email protected] please contact your sector rep as soon as possible with the Chaplaincy Website: www.chapaq.org number of tickets you would like to order: PTO Chap-Aid Website: www.chap-aid.com 3 Bordeaux: Jennifer Bearcroft - [email protected] Bertric Buree: Karla Flambert - [email protected] Sorges/Chancelade: Elizabeth Brook - [email protected] Limeuil: Amy Owensmith - [email protected] Ste athalene: Charlotte Sullivan - [email protected] Lot & Garonne: Tony & Chris Mullen - [email protected] Tickets will be issued early May by email. IMPORTAT: As places are limited, please make your booking soon....and please let us know if, having ordered tickets, you are not able to come. We need to know, in order that we can enable other people to come in your place. Looking forward to seeing many of you on the night! Blessings, Paul. Chaplaincy & Chap-Aid AGMs A very big thank you to all the team at Bordeaux who helped to provide a fantastic venue for this year’s AGM.