Spring 2017 2 Brexit Brieing – Brussels Video Conference
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B REXIT L UTHER ’ S H OW O UR O UT O F S IGHT , C HUR C HES C HALLENGES L EGA C Y C HUR C H O UT O F M IN D ? W ORKING C HUR C HES R E F ORMATION , D OES IT M IGRANT T OGETHER F A C ING 5 0 0 Y EARS ON M ISSION IN M INISTRY M ORE THAN A C HANGES A C TION R EPORTS C ONTINUES W EEK O F P RAYER europe.anglican.org No.73 SPRING 2017 2 BREXIT BRIEING – BRUSSELS VIDEO CONFERENCE THE E UROPEAN REXIT EAM A NGLI C A N B T L ISTEN TO THE The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe C HUR C H ’S F EARS The Rt Rev Dr. Robert Innes Bishop in Europe’s Office 47, rue Capitaine Crespel - boite 49, One of the most important news events of 2016 was the referendum vote for 1050 Brussels Britain to leave the European Union. It is still a conversation topic which Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 213 7480 engenders passionate feelings. The UK government is working towards Email: invoking Article Fifty of the EU Treaty to begin a formal withdrawal. [email protected] The Suffragan Bishop in Europe The Rt Rev Dr. David Hamid This is a major issue for our Diocese in Europe. Although we are just one of Postal address: Diocesan Office the forty-two dioceses which make up the Church of England, we are its largest Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1160 Email: and most widespread and have a lot of shared knowledge and experience of the [email protected] joys and difficulties of living and serving in mainland Europe. It is encouraging The Diocesan Office that within and beyond the Church of England we are being consulted and 14 Tufton Street, London, taken seriously as this special three page update reports. SW1P 3QZ Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1155 Fax: +44 (0) 207 898 1166 Email: A consultation in January between some emotional and mental health. “Up until now [email protected] church members from the Diocese in Europe these people have received excellent medical Diocesan Secretary and Lord George Bridges, a Minister in the treatment under the Spanish healthcare Mr Adrian Mumford UK government’s Brexit Department, proved system” he said, “but they are having to to be well timed as the previous day, Prime make personal choices now, based on other Appointments Secretary Miss Catherine Jackson Minister Theresa May had given her long decisions which have yet to be made in the awaited and much publicised speech about her future. They already face uncertainty because Finance Secretary vision of how Britain will disentangle itself the value of their pensions are reduced by Mr Nick Wraight from the European Union. twenty per cent because of the fall in the Diocesan Website But when the seventeen volunteer delegates pound’s value since the Brexit vote, their www.europe.anglican.org joined Bishop Robert for the event in homes are worth less because of the state of Editor and Diocesan Brussels they learned that Lord Bridges was the property market and they are worried Communications Officer required in London so the UK Ambassador to that if they sell and return to Britain they The Rev Paul Needle Belgium, Alison Rose, offered facilities for a may not be able to afford a home there.” Postal address: Diocesan Office videoconference link to the embassy. Andrew Johnson, from Calpe on the Email: The reports and concerns from Anglican Costa Blanca, asked if the rights of elderly [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)7712 463806 churches in Europe covered topics, including people returning to Britain for economic reciprocal health care, pension arrangements, and health reasons would mean they would Friends of the Diocese dual-nationality and clergy employment rights be allowed full access to the NHS, for Secretary: Mrs Jeanne French in Europe. The Venerable Richard Seabrook which most had already paid contributions. Email: [email protected] from Torrevieja, on Spain’s Costa Blanca, Andrew Murray from Finland said he knew spoke of a deep fear about the future among all too well from experience about the Design and Print older church members in Spain and France. complexities of living in Helsinki with his Adept Design, Norwich He said this was already affecting peoples’ Dutch born wife. Distribution CoDEStorm plc Front cover picture: “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” “You are the light of the world.” The rocky outcrop village of Ares de Maestre in the Valencia region of Spain serves as a reminder that our faith in Christ is a witness to be seen far and wide. During Lent, Holy Week and Easter we pray our faith in the Lord will be strengthened and blessed. Brussels video conference contributors Brussels meeting delegates PENSIONS, HEALTHCARE AND 3 CITIZENSHIP CONCERNS Lord Bridges and the Ambassador work in European churches. Might this assured the meeting of the Prime What will happen to my affect Britons too, once they ceased to be Minister’s wish to ideally settle the issue pension which comes members of the EU? of reciprocal rights for UK nationals from the UK? Richard Seabrook from Torrevieja as soon as possible after Article 50 is was eager to explain that concerns for triggered. Some of the complexities of the future were far from one-sided. those rights were illustrated by Pauleen Will there be some Before the Brussels meeting he had Bang from Copenhagen who said many sort of reciprocal canvassed concerns among members of people were in “mixed EU marriages”. healthcare? his congregation and some had said that, Her children were British citizens living whatever the uncertainties, they had in Denmark and had no voting rights Will labour controls voted in last year’s referendum in favour in Britain and were concerned for their mean we can’t get a of leaving the EU. One comment was future status. new Priest? “I feel the UK will benefit from Brexit, Rev Ricky Yates, Chaplain in Prague eventually.” plans to retire this year and wants to stay How will Brexit affect After two hours airing the issues, near the Czech capital but doesn’t want our congregations – will participants said they felt their concerns his uncertain future status to be used as a had been heard but were saddened to have many members go back to return to their congregations with very bargaining chip for Brexit negotiations. to Britain? If he were forced to return to the UK few definitive answers, as the process is would he get proper hospital care, similar still in its early stages. Most participants to what he had been given in Czech felt they had been heard carefully and hospitals and could his care be jeopardised sympathetically. Rev. Brian Davies, from because he would be considered to have a the Aquitaine region of France, who had “pre-existing” health problem? sent various letters to the Prime Minister Future funding for local churches with with little apparent success, commented “I the diocese in Europe could be affected feel this is the first time the government has really listened to me.” by older members returning to the UK A further consultation may be planned with a consequent drop in church giving. as Brexit talks continue. In the meantime Bishop Robert also said he had been church members were encouraged to approached by church Treasurers who from Spain for work and not all of these consider organising national meetings were anxious to know if Inland Revenue were Spanish. Many Eastern Europeans with British Ambassadors in their Gift Aid funding would continue for could also be caught up in fresh border individual countries to keep the churches in the diocese after Brexit. restrictions. Mr McKillop-Smith accepted conversations high on agendas. John McKillop-Smith and Audrey assurances that the British government Singh offered a Gibraltar based view of was aware of these difficulties and was the aftermath of leaving the EU. They working for an urgent solution but he recalled a fifteen-year period when the warned that the government’s major role border between the Rock and mainland was mainly to negotiate a deal for their Spain had been closed until Spain’s entry sixty million inhabitants, not for the into the EU made it legally difficult 25,000 people in Gibraltar. for them to pursue the blockade. Once Recruiting clergy to take on parish Britain, including Gibraltar was no duties in Europe could suffer after Brexit. longer in the Community they warned Current experience showed there could of threats to isolate the residents and be lengthy delays and difficulties getting fears of a “Berlin style” wall. Currently, the necessary paperwork completed for Graeme Lloyd-Robert from Copenhagen 10,000 people regularly cross to Gibraltar people coming from outside Britain to with event co-ordinator David Fieldsend 4 PARLIAMENT GETS A VIEW FROM PARIS B ISHOP R O B ERT R E F LE C TS ON THE C ONSULTATION “I was personally very pleased that the Government, in the form of Lord Bridges, was prepared to put a whole day in his diary to meet with us. In the event, a Prime Minister’s speech and an appearance in the House of Lords meant that the morning event had to be rescheduled – probably for March - and in the afternoon we only got him for a short time on video link to Brussels. But that is the reality of dealing with government ministers. We were taken very seriously by the sheer range and complexity of the and possible poverty.