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 M o n E y H o n o u r F o r T he d i o c E s E “ d E a th i s n o th i n g a T a l l ” E a s te r H o p E r ef l E c te d E u r o p E a n u n i T y T he W ee k o F p r a y E r r emem b E r E d s H o W c a s E F o r o u r c H u r c he s g E n E r a l s y n o d r E c E p T i o n n o T Q u i te a p a l a c E V E r s a i l l E s b u i l d i n g p r o j E c T FREE N o . 4 9 SPRING 2 0 1 1 2 SPECIAL PREPARATIONS FOR EASTER 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, SW1P 3QZ Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1155 Fax: +44 (0) 207 898 1166 Email: [email protected] Diocesan Secretary Mr Adrian Mumford Assistant Diocesan Secretary Mrs Jeanne French d y i n g T o g et Finance Officer Mr Nick Wraight Diocesan Website www.europe.anglican.org T o E a s te r d ay Editor and Diocesan Communications Officer The Revd. Paul Needle Postal address: Diocesan Office I was fascinated to learn that the Anglican In this issue, our Bishop dispels a few Email: Church in one of Europe’s smallest myths about a poem that is linked with [email protected] countries has commissioned a booklet bereavement and he underlines our hope Tel: 0034 662 482 944 called “Dying in Luxembourg”. They have of eternal life through the death and risen Friends of the Diocese discovered by personal experience that few life of Jesus Christ. Another mistaken Secretary: Rev Canon Arthur Siddal people know what practical steps to take perception is that Christians enjoy their Email: [email protected] in the event of someone close to them. A share of doom and gloom because we look Design congregation in Spain has recently hosted forward to a solemn Holy Week leading to Adept Design, Norwich a series of seminars with a similar aim the joyful celebrations of Easter. Printer and even more urgent in a country where Maundy Thursday, with its message of Norwich Colour Print funerals are expected to take place within service and ministry - looking towards the Distribution 72 hours of death and bereaved relatives cross of Calvary – should have more than CoDEStorm plc are faced with making many decisions at a a little excitement and joy this year as our time when they are least prepared. Diocese in Europe is honoured to be part of Cover photo: It is said that in Victorian Britain, death the Royal Maundy service in Westminster Mallorca has its own special breed was a common topic in polite conversation Abbey. of donkeys peculiar to the island. whereas any mention of matters sexual was And reports of developments in mission Chula stands with Emeritus Reader taboo. The Western world seems to have in the 42 countries where we serve remind Dr George Giri for the annual Palm turned that around! Perhaps the reluctance us that we have plenty to celebrate. Christ Sunday parade at the Anglican to face dying or discuss the end of our lives is alive and we rejoice to be His Easter Church in Palma. Palm crosses are ready to be blessed and distributed is a reflection of growing secularisation. It people. before the traditional procession back is right for our churches to take a lead in to church to start the Eucharist. taking a positive attitude to the subject. Paul Needle Editor, The European Anglican UNIQUE COINS TO MARK 3 A SPECIAL DAY a H o ly Wee k roya l H o n o u r F o r the d i o c E s E When the Queen goes to Westminster Abbey on her birthday, April 21st, she will be greeted by a group of 40 people from the Diocese in Europe who have been honoured by being selected to receive the Royal Maundy The bishops have been invited to Among the clergy to be honoured will be Canon Geoffrey Allen who nominate people to receive the gift is Canon Ray Jones who served came to The Netherlands in 1970, of Maundy money and invitations as Chaplain of St George’s, Ypres serving in Rotterdam, The Hague have gone to twenty men and twenty in Belgium for ten years until his and Voorschoten later becoming women who have made significant retirement last summer in a unique Archdeacon of North-West Europe. contributions to the life of the ministry to those on pilgrimage to He has contributed much to the Church and of the local community the World War I battlefields. He was welfare of the Anglican church in The number of recipients is related particularly valued when called upon the Netherlands as well as in the to the Sovereign’s age, so this year to officiate at the Christian burial British Community more widely, there will be a total of 85 male and of newly discovered human remains establishing warm and durable 85 female recipients. Westminster of those killed in the fighting. Also relations with other churches in the Abbey has nominated half of the receiving the money from the Queen Netherlands. recipients with the rest nominated by the Diocese in Europe and by the Diocese of Sodor and Man (which covers the Isle of Man). The service will represent both the smallest and largest of the 44 dioceses in the Church of England. The event will be broadcast live on BBC 1 television and takes place just 8 days before the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton which will also be in Westminster Abbey. Diocesan recipients of the Maundy money include Carey Graziano who has a 50 year involvement with Holy Cross church in Palermo, Italy. She has worked hard in the ecumenical movement and is involved in other M o r E a b o u T the r o ya l M a u n d y secular campaigning agencies such as • The Name “Maundy” comes from the Latin “mandatum” – (meaning, Amnesty. Also honoured is Nancy instruction) of Jesus for his followers to serve others Fjällbrant who has represented St • The coins are specially minted in sterling silver for the occasion Andrew’s Gothenburg on the Nordic • They are struck in denominations of one, two, three and four pence and Baltic Deanery Synod for a • The present design has been used since the 1820´s. On one side is a number of years. She was involved picture of the Queen and on the reverse is a number, under a crown, with negotiating funding with the enclosed by a wreath. Church of Sweden for the chaplain • The Maundy custom dates from the Middle Ages when monarchs, in the in Gothenburg. Outside church, tradition of Christ, would wash the feet of beggars she was a librarian engaged in • Westminster Abbey hosted the service for many years although the Europe-wide projects for cooperation present Queen has visited a series of Cathedrals around the country between libraries. 4 DEATH IS NOTHING . d E ath i s n o th i n g aT a l l ? E x c E r p T s F r o M a s E r M o n b y b i s H o p g E o ff r E y a T s T a n d r ew ’s , H o l b o r n , o n the c E n te n a r y o F a n o the r a d d r E s s wh i c H H a s p a s s E d i n T o F u n E r a l F o l k l o r E A hundred years ago, just after the sure and certain death – how and way of disposal of the dead, though death of King Edward VII, Canon when we do not know. this was never the case in this Henry Scott Holland preached a The Victorian and Edwardian age country. sermon in St Paul’s Cathedral with in which Scott Holland lived was an There is a University Sermon the title ‘Death, the King of Terrors.’ age which knew death, indeed might in Cambridge endowed in the From that sermon an extract has be said to have had in certain ways a sixteenth-century which enjoins the been taken, which today enjoys a morbid interest in death.