July 27, 2020
Convocation Newsletter
(COVID-19 special edition #17)
July 27, 2020
A Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Convocation of
Episcopal Churches in Europe
Please direct any comments to news@tec-europe.org
Please note that in July and August, the Convocation
Newsletter will appear bi-weekly
"Ordinary Time" in an extraordinary time...
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13)
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Prayer for Understanding
Almighty God, through your Holy Spirit you created unity in the midst of diversity; We acknowledge that human diversity is an expression of your manifold love for your creation; We confess that in our brokenness as human beings we turn diversity into a source of alienation, injustice, oppression, and wounding. Empower us to recognize and celebrate differences as your great gift to the human family. Enable us to be the architects and bridge-builders of understanding, of respect and love; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the ground of all unity, we pray. Amen.
- Author Unknown, (This prayer was offered at a recent Bishops and Canons meeting.)
Pray with us in the    2020 Convocation Cycle of Prayer    -    available here
A Word from Bishop Edington
The Necessity of the Improbable

It is perhaps not surprising that the summer of this  annus horribilis  has brought with it a bitter and bumper crop of hopelessness. It’s somehow in vogue to speak and write of hopelessness—not as you might imagine, but instead as the needed catalyst for change, perhaps a societal moment akin to an alcoholic’s experience of hitting bottom.

Eric Utne, known to many in America as the founder of the iconoclastic magazine  Utne Reader , has recently written given a shout-out to the new hopelessness: "This is the strange gift of Covid-19 and the protests in the streets — they’ve got much of the world thinking about death every day. Life gets more precious when you live with the presence of death.”

And he reminds his readers of the slogan of Extinction Rebellion, that movement for climate restoration that has so captivated the passion and dedication of a rising generation: “ Hope dies, action begins .”

Well, maybe. I surely understand, and indeed feel, the sorrow, even the despair, of this moment. It is hard not to.  Whether in America or Europe, the scourge of these two pandemics—the virus of Covid, and the cancer of racism— has affected us all.  It has affected us whether we, or someone we love, has fallen ill, or instead because we cannot seem to escape regarding everyone around us as a possible threat to our health. It is hard to love a neighbor you regard fearfully. And it has challenged us to recalibrate our understanding of just what our baptismal covenant demands of us when it commits us to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

But hopelessness is perhaps best understood as the sickness of a disenchanted age—not in the sense of disillusionment, but rather having lost the capacity for imagining the truth of anything behind the reach of proof and evidence. It is not that we Christians find ourselves living among those who do not believe; it is rather that, for the most part, they  cannot  believe. They have the same instincts, the same longing for a relationship with what they glimpse as the sacred in their lives; but they have learned, or have been taught, that these intimations of the divine cannot be trusted.

To such a world, hopelessness seems the only intelligent response to the cataclysms we are living through. Said bluntly, there is an unyielding—and unsurprising—link between faithlessness and hopelessness. To be a person of hope is to be cast into the same bin as those foolish enough to believe.

Christian faith calls us to a different kind of hope. It’s not the hope of longing; it is the hope of defiance. It is not the hope of treacle and sentiment; it is the hope that is planted by the Spirit in our baptism and nurtured with the patient discipline of prayer.

And it is the hope that arises from a certainty, not about our abilities or accomplishments—for, great though they are, they are so faulty and frail—but rather about God’s faithfulness. It is our certainty that God had decided long ago to bring about the Beloved Community by working through us, despite — even making use of — our confusion and despair. It is our assurance that we are never without glimpses, lit up like flashes of lightning, of the possibility—and the necessity—of change, of discovery, of pressing on through the dark.

We have no choice about this—at least not if we are the people of faith we are called to be. We respond to God’s faithfulness to us by being spurred on to face the challenges before us—because our certainty in God’s love for all humanity makes us defiant in the face of degradation and disease. We will not settle for despair; we will not accept for ourselves the cheap comfort of hopelessness. We will embrace the improbable, because by our work and witness we shall make it inevitable.

See you in church,
‌
See also:
The Bishop's Pastoral Message
from June 5 on YouTube - here

Read: Bishop Edington's op-ed
from June 10 in Le Monde - here
(French and the original English version - here )
Convocation Convention in Nice, October 22-24
will be a Hybrid Event
2020 Convocation Convention in Nice
From Convention Secretary, the Rev. Deacon Richard Cole:

At its recent virtual meeting, the Council of Advice discussed preparations for our scheduled Convention in Nice this coming October.

I am writing to advise you that the Council has decided to make this year’s Convention a “hybrid” event, offering delegates the new possibility to participate, to the maximum extent, on a virtual basis - including voting.

We still plan to hold an in-person event. That event will necessarily be shaped by the strictures of these demanding times. Nevertheless, Council felt that, with the help of strong support and flexibility on the part of the organizing team in Nice, plans can and should go ahead for an in-person Convention, with an on-line, virtual attendance option.

It goes without saying that this decision is subject to there being no resurgence of the virus between now and then that would occasion new travel restrictions and border closings. Contingency plans are being made should Convention need to be held entirely on a virtual basis.


The clergy and people of Holy Trinity in Nice (a Church of England chaplaincy) have helped to host our Convention in Nice every ten years. Our former Episcopal parish in Nice, "The American Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit," was closed in the early 1970s, and the congregation merged into Holy Trinity.
Holy Trinity Church in Nice
Cathedral Mourns the Passing of Parishioner Dame Olivia de Havilland
From the Very Rev. Lucinda Laird, Dean of the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris:

Dear American Cathedral family,
 
It is my sad duty to inform you of the death of our beloved parishioner Dame Olivia de Havilland , early this morning (Sunday, July 26th).

Olivia was 104, and had been a member of the Cathedral since she moved to France in the 1950s. She died peacefully, with love and prayers surrounding her. Please keep her daughter, Gisèle, and her many friends in your prayers.
 
- Dean Lucinda Laird
Almighty God, our Father in heaven, before whom live all who died in the Lord: Receive our sister Olivia into the courts of your heavenly dwelling place. Let her heart and soul now ring out in joy to you, O Lord, the living God, and the God of those who live. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
No funeral arrangements have been made at this time.

A tribute written by Anne Swardson , cathedral parishioner and former Council of Advice president, can be found here
Canon Zach Ullery, Cathedral Director of Music with Dame Olivia de Havilland in 2010.
Upcoming Convocation Events


  • Sept. 10-12: CAECG (Online)


  • Sept 28 - Oct 1: Clericus


  • October 15-18: TEC-ELKB dialogue - Augsburg, Germany

  • October 19-21: COMB meeting - Nice, France


Transitions
Clergy Transitions
  • The Rev. Thomas Pellaton celebrated his last Sunday with the Church of Christ the King in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 28. He served CtK for four months as bridge priest.
  • The Rev. Stéphanie Burette has been appointed as interim vicar at St. James Church in Florence, Italy. She will serve there for several months as the congregations awaits its transition from interim rector Fr. Andrew Cooley to the new priest in charge (yet to be named). She began her new ministry on July 23.
  • The Rev. Dorothee Hahn has been called as Vicar of the Christuskapelle (Wien-Ost) in Vienna, Austria, an Old Catholic parish of the Old Catholic Church of Austria (Union of Utrecht). She will continue her association with the Convocation as she ministers with one of our full-communion partners. She began her new ministry on July 5.
  • The Rev. Stephen McPeak was ordained priest on July 11 by Bishop Edington on behalf of the Bishop of Hawaii. Fr. McPeek will continue his curacy in Wiesbaden and work among the missions in Germany.
  • The Rev. Allan Sandlin celebrated his last Sunday with the Church of the Ascension in Munich, Germany, on July 19. Fr. Sandlin has been at Ascension since Easter Day 2019. He served as interim and then as priest in charge.
  • The Rev. Nathaniel Katz,has been called as Cathedral Canon at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France. He currently serves as Senior Associate Rector at All Saints Church, Beverly Hills CA USA, in the Diocese of Los Angeles. He will begin his position in Paris when travel and visa matters are resolved.

Congregational Transitions
Online Worship in the Convocation
St. James' Episcopal Church
Florence, Italy
Online Worship Opportunities for Sundays and Weekdays

With many of our church buildings closed to public worship, many of our parishes and missions have moved their Sunday and weekday Worship online. Consider taking part in worship with your sisters and brothers in Christ across Europe.

Opportunities for in-person worship are also noted.
Times of in-person worship are also indicated. All times are (Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Worship on Sundays and during the week:

Sundays




  • Emmanuel Church, Geneva, SWITZERLAND
  • In-person worship Sunday 8:30: Holy Eucharist
  • In-person worship Sunday 10:30: Holy Eucharist (with instrumental music and cantors singing)
  • Services are live-streamed








Mondays

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Thursdays

Fridays

Saturdays

** All live-streamed services are posted to the Cathedral  YouTube  and  Facebook  and may be accessed at any time.
The Presiding Bishop's July 5 message to the Convocation
The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate
of the Episcopal Church , preached a sermon on July 5, 2020 for the Churches of the Convocation .

View the Presiding Bishop's Sermon - here
Youth Ministry
A useful resources from the Youth Commission:
FAITH AT HOME - RESOURCES FOR ALL AGES - DOWNLOAD


For more information on youth events and registration, please visit the Youth Ministry webpage HERE
The Convocation Youth were invited to submit creative ideas for a project called “ Pentecost Project 2020 ”, telling the story of Pentecost . What a wonderful result: a video featuring youth from throughout the Europe speaking the good news in the languages of our Convocation!
Dean Laird is featured on France24
The Very Reverend Lucinda Laird , Dean of our Cathedral, was featured on France24 this week in a program called "The 51 Percent" which focuses on women in leadership.
Convocation COVID-19 Webpage
Information in one place
Convocation COVID-19 Response
Please visit our webpage dedicated to our COVID-19 response, as well as other resources.

If you have things to add please send information to news@tec-europe.org
Congregational Plans for reopening churches - see the Bishop and Council of Advice directives on Regathering the Church Prayerfully and Intentionally here
Episcopal Asset Mapping
The Convocation is on the map! Visit us on the Episcopal Asset Map.

About five years ago, Canon Jere Skipper began the work of expanding the Episcopal Asset Map to include our congregations and ministries in Europe to the church-wide resource.

All of the parishes, established missions, and other ministries are on the Asset Map. Much more information needs to be added. Please consider updating the Episcopal Asset Map entry for your church or ministry. If you need help contact the archdeacon .
Convocation Communications Committee
Trinité Magazine
Spring 2020 issue
The Convocation Communications Committee (CCC) coordinates the communications of the Convocation. Special emphasis is given to Social Media, and close coordination with the parishes and missions of the Convocation. Existing modes of communication such as newsletters and the website are getting a facelift.

Members are: Thomas Girty (Paris), chair; Felicity Handford, Marc Smets-Tolley (both Waterloo), Walter Baer (Paris), Audrey Shankles (Wiesbaden), Helena Mbele-Mbong (Geneva), Maleah Rios (Rome) and Ellen Hampton (Paris), ex-officio. Others are being added.

The Convocation is now also featured with four pages in the cathedral's semi-annual publication Trinité , covering Convocation events.
Sermons Online

Did you miss Church?


Check out an on-line sermon:




See Bishop Edington's Sermon for Easter 2 - here
Francophone Outreach...
A la radio : le Magazine Anglican
Le « Magazine Anglican », animé par Laurence Moachon, paroissienne de la Cathédrale de la Sainte Trinité à Paris. 
À propos du Magazine Anglican :
Depuis septembre 2012, Laurence Moachon présente le 4e samedi du mois, le Magazine Anglican. Avec l’objectif de faire mieux connaître la tradition anglicane au public français, elle traite de sujets d’actualité culturelle, historique, liturgique ou ecclésiologique dans la Convocation et la Communion Anglicane. 
ÉCOUTEZ OU TÉLÉCHARGEZ LE MAGAZINE ANGLICAN sur :
Regarding Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse
Important information on the lifting of the Statute of Limitation regarding clergy sexual abuse...

Let it be known that for three years in the Episcopal Church there is no statute of limitation on clergy sexual abuse. Every diocese has a confidential way to make a report. In Europe here is ours:
"Go forth for God; go to the world in peace; be of good courage, armed with heavenly grace, in God's good Spirit daily to increase, till in his kingdom we behold his face."

                                                   Hymn 347 - Holy Eucharist; Music: Litton 
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