Mark Edington ordained and consecrated as 26th bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe

From ENS-

The Rt. Rev. Mark D. W. Edington became the 26^th bishop in charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on April 6 at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris.

Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry led the ordination and consecration and investiture.
Six bishops acted as co-consecrators: retiring Bishop in Charge of the Convocation Pierre Whalon, Massachusetts Bishop Alan Gates, Massachusetts Bishop Gayle Harris, Western Massachusetts Bishop Doug Fisher, Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas and the Archbishop of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands Joris Vercammen.

The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands is in communion with the member churches of the Anglican Communion. The festival liturgy included 35 additional bishops, 70 priests and 315 lay worshipers.

The preacher was the Very Rev. Andrew B. McGowan, dean, president and McFadden Professor of Pastoral Theology and Anglican Studies at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/04/08/mark-edington-ordained-and-consecrated-as-26th-bishop-of-the-convocation-of-episcopal-churches-in-europe/

Four Nominees in Europe

From Europe-

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe has announced four nominees in its search for the next bishop in charge:

• The Rev. Canon Paul-Gordon Chandler, president and CEO of CARAVAN, an international ministry of building peace through the arts, based in metropolitan Chicago
• The Rev. Mark D.W. Edington, rector of St. John’s Church, Newtonville, Massachusetts, and director of Amherst College Press
• The Rev. Steven Paulikas, rector of All Saints’ Church, Brooklyn
• The Very Rev. Benjamin Shambaugh, dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Portland, Maine

The election is scheduled for the convocation’s convention, scheduled for Oct. 18-21 at All Saints’ Church in Waterloo, Belgium.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/2018/06/25/four-nominees-in-europe/

Bishop Search in Europe

From The Living Church-

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe plans to commission a search committee for its next bishop when the convocation meets Oct. 19-22.

The Rt. Rev. Pierre W. Whalon, Bishop in Charge of the Convocation since 2001, has announced his plans to retire in July 2019.

The convocation explains on a webpage devoted to the search:

The Episcopal Church is one of 38 provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion and has episcopal jurisdictions in sixteen countries around the world.

The Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a suffragan bishop to the Presiding Bishop, is based at The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. There are congregations in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria.

The Episcopal Church has been present in Europe since 1815. The Convocation was created by a Canon of General Convention in 1859, and Bishops in Charge were appointed by the Presiding Bishop. Some were diocesan Bishops or recently retired Bishops, who exercised oversight on a part-time basis. Bishops in Charge have been resident in Europe since 1960.

More here-

http://htl.li/cT4h30fw3F8

A lament over Munich from Europe Bishop Pierre Whalon

From ENS-

You know, God, that I am tired, I am sick and tired, of regularly writing these reflections. I do so because I am bishop for these lands. My heart goes out once again to a city battered and mauled by a kid with a gun. A few days ago, another town, Würzburg, and a boy with an axe. Last week it was a guy with a truck. Before that, with a knife, killing a mother and father in front of their three-year-old son. Before that, it was Brussels. And Paris. And Paris. And Toulouse.

Not to mention, Lord, what’s happening in my country of origin, my homeland. Baton Rouge, Dallas, Orlando, San Bernardino. And the land I visited in 2003, that you brought me to just before the war, that stupid war. Baghdad, I want to go back, but I can’t. And Turkey and Bangladesh. And the horror that is Saudi Arabia. I have friends, real friends, who are Muslim faithful, imams, even an ayatollah or two. And they are dying too. For what?

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/07/23/a-lament-over-munich-from-europe-bishop-pierre-whalon/

Pope Francis embodies vulnerability

From Richmond-

Pope Francis is a rock star. Since his trip to the United States, I hear people talking about him nearly every place I go — from my visits to Episcopal congregations, to my monthly worship service with women at the Richmond City Jail, to lines in the supermarket. People from all walks of life and across all lines of faith seem captivated by this pope. When I met him in mid-October, I saw firsthand something of the surprising source of his magnetism and strength.

Our group of 10 bishops of the Episcopal Church traveled to Rome at the invitation of the bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to learn about the ministry of the church there. One Wednesday morning, we headed across town to St. Peter’s Square for a public audience and brief individual meetings with Pope Francis.

More here-

http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/article_5c43eaa4-30f8-5eb1-adfb-19788344345a.html

Video: The American Cathedral in Paris: A place of transformation

From ENS-

The American Cathedral in Paris, officially the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, was built in the 1880s to serve an expanding community of ex-pats and English-speakers abroad. It has since grown in its diversity and outwards in its ministry to the local community.

The Very Rev. Lucinda Laird, who has just completed her first year as dean and rector, speaks with ENS about the American Cathedral being a place of transformation and its commitment to social outreach and serving those on the fringes of Parisian society and beyond.

Located at 23 Avenue George V, the American Cathedral is a pro-cathedral, meaning it remains a parish church. It is the seat of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, presided over by Bishop Pierre Whalon.

Today, the cathedral congregation is composed of about 400 permanent parishioners and includes Americans, Britons and French as well as many other Europeans, Asians, Africans and Latin Americans.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/04/09/video-the-american-cathedral-in-paris-a-place-of-transformation/

Belanger ordained as Episcopal Church’s first French female priest

From ENS-

The Rev. Fanny Sohet Belanger loves to help people grow in their relationships with God. At the same time, she says, it is important not to be “trapped” in the church but to engage in mission and to reach out to people where they are. These are the principles that have guided Belanger’s spiritual journey, a path that led to her Feb. 1 ordination as the first French female priest in the Episcopal Church.

“My ministry is not to bring religion to people, but to enable them to craft their own theology and spirituality by helping them know their tradition and engage with the Scriptures,” she told ENS in a recent interview. “Prayer is very important to me and I consider it the heart of the church.”

Belanger, 38, was ordained by Bishop Pierre Whalon at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, where she moved with her husband, Xavier, in August 2011 to complete a Master of Divinity degree. She was ordained a deacon at VTS in March 2013.

Whalon, bishop-in-charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, described Belanger as a “candidate of extraordinary qualities [with a] very inviting, warm pastoral presence … She is a woman for all people.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/02/03/belanger-ordained-as-episcopal-churchs-first-french-female-priest/#comments

Episcopal Church helps Iraqi refugees find new life in Paris

From ENS-

Every week in north Paris, a few hundred Iraqi Christians gather for worship. It’s a bittersweet reunion for them. Their lives have been spared, but the events of the past 10 years have forced them into exile. Many have lost close family and friends in the bloodshed of the Iraq War and the resulting rise in terrorism.

“There are about a million Iraqi Christians who’ve left Iraq, and 1,300 of them came to France,” said Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. “It’s a drop in the ocean, but it’s 1,300 unique, innocent lives that are sacred to God. How can you say no to that? If you can do something, you should do something.”

In 2007, with Iraqi Christians facing increasing persecution as a result of their faith, Whalon and Iraqi businessman Elish Yako set up Association d’Entraide aux Minorités d’Orient (Association to Support Eastern Minorities) to help the French government identify candidates eligible for refuge. The association also has assisted the refugees with their integration and administrative issues.

“The Vatican’s official position is that Christians should stay in the Middle East and I totally agree with that; absolutely they should stay there,” said Whalon. “But they can’t stay there if they’re dead.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/06/19/video-episcopal-church-helps-iraqi-refugees-find-new-home-in-paris/

Faith & Works | Louisville Episcopal pastor to lead the American Cathedral in Paris

From Kentucky-

The Rev. Lucinda Laird, pastor of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, used to say she would never leave her job — unless she got a call to be pastor of the American Cathedral in Paris.

“It’s like saying, ‘Unless I fly to the moon,’ ” Laird said Friday. “It’s not possible.”

Except it is.

After nearly 15 years as pastor of one of Lousiville’s largest progressive congregations, Laird has been named the first woman dean in the cathedral’s history.

The cathedral, part of the Episcopal Church, has been a center for English-speaking worshipers in the French capital for more than a century.

Laird, 60, said she has visited Paris several times as a tourist but has never lived overseas and had to spend considerable time discerning whether this was the right call.

When the job opened up after the previous rector left for a position in Scotland, she decided to apply.
More here-

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121207/COLUMNISTS22/312070105/Faith-Works-Louisville-Episcopal-pastor-lead-American-Cathedral-Paris?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome

Rev. James Leo, pastor to Duchess of Windsor

From Cincinnati- (I think the first line should read "1930's" not "1980's".)

While he was growing up in the 1980s in France, Jason Leo often would accompany his father, then dean of the American Cathedral in Paris, when he visited a private home to give communion to the woman who lived there.

“He’d say, ‘Stay here in the car,’ and then go inside,” recalled Rev. Jason Leo, who followed the career path of his father, Rev. James Leo. “When he’d come out, I’d ask, ‘Who was that?’ And he’d say, ‘A nice old lady.’ ”

The “nice old lady,” Jason Leo learned later, was the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee who in the 1930s produced worldwide headlines when England’s King Edward VIII abdicated to marry her.

That was not the only time that Rev. James Leo had brushes with history or the rich and famous during an eventful pastoral career that took him from Pennsylvania and New York to France and finally, Cincinnati.

More here-

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120103/NEWS0104/301030172/Rev-James-Leo-pastor-Duchess-Windsor?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7C

City of Light: Virginia bishop

From Richmond-

Since his retirement as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Peter Lee has led a life peripatetic and productive. He recently was named the interim dean of the American Cathedral in Paris. Truly he has answered the invitation, "Follow me."

After leaving Mayo House, Lee served as interim dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and as interim head of General Theological Seminary in New York City. He apparently has an affinity for architectural beauty. Grace ranks among the majestic churches in the world; its presence lifts eyes and allows them to see that which often goes unseen. GTS occupies a campus in Manhattan conducive to repose. The American Cathedral conveys the Word.

In Paris, Lee will replace Zachary Fleetwood, an engaging curate who is a native Virginian and who once was rector of an Episcopal parish in The Plains, which seems a long way from Avenue George V. The cathedral offers a gathering place not only for Episcopalians abroad but for travelers of all denominations. Its congregation is not limited to expats or to Americans living in France but reflects national diversity. Fleetwood departs to become rector of a storied church in Edinburgh.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/rtd-opinion/2011/sep/28/tdopin01-virginia-bishop-ar-1341316/

Bishop Peter Lee named interim dean of American Cathedral in Paris

More from ENS-

Bishop Peter James Lee will become interim dean of the American Cathedral in Paris in early 2012.

The announcement was made by the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, bishop-in-charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, according to an article posted on the Anglican Communion News Service.

The current dean, the Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood, will resign as dean of the American Cathedral in October and move to Edinburgh to become rector of St. Columba's-by-the-Castle. Fleetwood has served as cathedral dean since 2003.

"Bishop Lee brings a lifetime of experience to the position, assuming leadership at a critical period in the life of the cathedral community,” said Whalon.

In October, the cathedral will break ground on the largest capital improvement project since the church was constructed in 1886. The two-year long project includes plans to modernize the cathedral's physical plant, to create new space to accommodate the parish's growing ministry and mission needs, and to provide expanded office space for the cathedral staff and the offices of the convocation.

The origins of the American Cathedral, a congregation in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, date to the 1830s when U.S. Episcopalians began to gather for worship in Paris. The current cathedral was consecrated on Thanksgiving Day in 1886 and has since served as a center for worship for Americans and other English-speaking people in Paris.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_129872_ENG_HTM.htm

American Cathedral in Paris dean accepts call to new ministry in Scottish Episcopal Church

From ENS-

The Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood has announced his decision to resign as dean of the American Cathedral in Paris and to accept a call to become rector of St. Columba's-by-the-Castle, an Episcopal church in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In a pastoral letter to his congregation, Fleetwood said it has been "one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Serving with you has been one of the great privileges of my life and it will never be possible for me to convey fully my gratitude for these eight years we have shared together."

Fleetwood became dean of the American Cathedral, a congregation of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, in 2003 having previously served as rector of St. Peter's Church in Morristown, New Jersey, from 1997-2003 and as rector of Grace Church in The Plains, Virginia, from 1990-97. He also has served on the staff of Christ Church, Georgetown and St. Alban's Parish, both in Washington, D.C.

A native Virginian, Fleetwood holds a bachelor's degree in political science and education from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, a master's degree in social foundations of education from the University of Virginia, and a Master in Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. He also completed advanced studies in comparative education at the University of Edinburgh.

"The course of my ordained ministry over the past 25 years has led to increasingly high profile positions in large parishes with complex responsibilities for management, institutional development, and fundraising. I have derived immeasurable joy and satisfaction from the challenges and accomplishments of this work," Fleetwood said in the pastoral letter. "However, it has been my heart's desire for some time now to focus more narrowly on those areas of ministry that first called my soul and spirit to the priesthood. In the years ahead, I envisage a ministry in which I can devote more time as pastor, preacher, liturgist, and teacher."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_129008_ENG_HTM.htm

LIFE FOR REFUGEES IN ROME

From Europe (Rome)

On a sunny April morning in Rome, crowds are bustling past the fashionable shops on Via Nazionale. Few notice the side-entrance to St Paul’s Within the Walls, the striking pink and cream American Episcopal church, or the people who slip in and out discreetly. But descending the narrow steps to the church’s crypt, you feel as though you are entering another world.

In the basement more than 100 young men – there is just one female refugee at the centre that morning – mill about, some playing ping-pong, others sitting about in their ethnic groups chatting. Half of them are sitting quietly in front of a television screen at one end of the crypt. Bizarrely, these young African, Middle Eastern and Asian men in their 20s and 30s are completely engrossed in the British royal wedding being broadcast live.

The crypt doubles as the Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre and it receives up to 250 political refugees a day, most of them from Afghanistan and Somalia. Not to be confused with other immigrant groups such as economic migrants, the people who use the centre have fled political persecution and wars in their homelands and are in the process of claiming political asylum in Italy.

The centre is an important social hub for them to meet others who speak their language. It provides meals, classes and basic provisions such as second-hand clothing.

More here-

http://www.wantedinrome.com/articles/complete_articles.php?id_art=1104

Ecumenical bonds reinforced with presiding bishop's visit to Europe

From ENS-

Videos are available of the presiding bishop delivering the Quasimodo Lecture and preaching at St. Gertrude's Cathedral.

Two Christian denominations in Europe -- one in full communion with the Episcopal Church and the other exploring the potential for such a relationship -- welcomed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori this week for key talks and a keynote address, a signal that many global ecumenical relations are in fine shape and continue to be strengthened.

Following a three-day visit to the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden, with which the Episcopal Church is hoping to formalize a full-communion partnership, Jefferts Schori traveled to Utrecht in the Netherlands to deliver the Quasimodo Lecture, an annual event hosted by the Old Catholic Church.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_128343_ENG_HTM.htm

Episcopalians assist as France receives first group of injured Iraqi Christians

From Episcopal News Service-

French Minister for Immigration Eric Besson and representatives of the Association d'Entraide aux Minorités d'Orient (AEMO) on Nov. 8 received the first group of Iraqis wounded in the attack on the Syriac Cathedral in Baghdad on Oct. 31.

The group is being admitted to France under a program first initiated in 2007 to provide refuge to a certain group of persecuted Iraqis. Since 2007, AEMO volunteers -- Episcopalians, Iraqi Chaldeans, and French Catholics -- have been working alongside the French government, in Baghdad and in France, to provide sanctuary to Iraqi religious minorities whose lives are endangered for reasons of their faith. To date, AEMO has aided in the safe transfer of 1,300 Iraqis into France, mostly Christians, but also some Mandaeans and minority Muslims.

The Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon, president and co-founder of AEMO, and bishop-in-charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, expressed his thanks for the rapid response of the French government in this case. "In offering refuge to the victims of this latest assault, we are making more than a gesture. We are also protesting this egregious violence inflicted on fragile religious minorities in Iraq, and indeed, throughout the Middle East," he said.

This first flight from Baghdad included 54 individuals -- 34 injured Christians, one injured Muslim and 19 family members and helpers -- and carried only those seriously injured in the Oct. 31 attack. Most of the injured were transferred directly to one of several Paris-area hospitals, where they will receive treatment for injuries caused by gunshot or hand grenades. In total, some 150 Iraqis and their family members are expected to travel to France for medical care and reasons of security. A second flight will carry 93 additional people.

More here-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_125650_ENG_HTM.htm

EUROPE: French government seeks help from Episcopal convocation in assisting Baghdad's wounded Christians

From ELO-

The French government is looking to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to assist in the treatment and resettling of Christians wounded in the Oct. 31 attack on the Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad, Iraq, that left 58 people dead.
Europe Bishop Pierre Whalon said Nov. 2 that he welcomes the initiative of the French government to work with the Association d'Entraide aux Minorités d'Orient (AEMO) to bring relief to the wounded Iraqi Christians.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office on Nov. 1 informed Whalon, who is president of AEMO, that "France will spare no effort to offer refuge and medical care to those victims who request it," according to a press release from the convocation. Eric Besson, France’s minister of immigration, announced the initiative publicly.

The commitment follows French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's Oct. 25 promise to empower AEMO to resettle more Iraqi Christians and members of other religious minorities whose lives are in danger because of their faith, the release said.

Since 2008, Episcopalians in Europe, Iraqi Chaldeans, and French Catholics have assisted with resettling refugees after Whalon urged the French government to support a new immigration program that offers sanctuary to persecuted Iraqi religious minorities. Whalon was a special guest of Sarkozy in September 2008, when the program's first Iraqi participants were invited to Elysée Palace during Pope Benedict XVI's first official visit to France.

More here-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_125555_ENG_HTM.htm

The other side of Rome: Homeless people in the Eternal City

From the LA Times-

Apart from the ancient monuments and great art, there is a side of Rome tourists would rather not see: the homeless. Some 7,000 people sleep on the streets of the Eternal City, 75% of them non-Italians, according to the city council. They congregate in the historic center and around railway stations.

The sad fact was driven home to me this winter, when a young man and woman took up residence on the front porch of a little church next to my apartment building. Every night they spread out cardboard beds, and in the morning they aired their blankets on the wall behind the Forum of Augustus.

My district has always had homeless people — familiar, seemingly harmless neighbors without a fixed address. But this couple had strikingly filthy habits and an antagonistic edge. Sometimes they cursed passersby and routinely left unspeakable debris on the stoop. I’m ashamed to admit that I was horrified — and a little frightened. A clerk at a nearby hotel told me the police couldn’t force them to leave and when social service workers approached them the couple refused help.


Later I visited the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul’s Within the Walls near Termini train station. For the last 17 years, it has opened its crypt to political refugees who come to Italy in the backs of trucks or the holds of boats from distressed places like Afghanistan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Lacking legal documents, work and money, most of them sleep on the streets.

The rest-

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/the-other-side-of-ro-4353/