Europe Group
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| The Bishop of St Albans being entertained by Archbishop Coccia of |
News from the Europe Group
What is the Europe Group ?
We are a gathering of clergy and lay people with an interest in European unity and a keen desire to be part of a church - focussed attempt to engage with Europe. We meet 3 or 4 times a year and welcome new members.
What does the Europe Group do?
The exchange and dissemination of information is central to our work as the Diocesan’s ‘eyes and ears’ on Europe. We share news of developments, courses, training and study visits for and from the Diocese. We receive an eight page monthly e-mailing from the Council for Christian Unity, updating news of ecumenical and inter-faith work across Europe.Information and ideas from other dioceses are also shared through regular contact with a UK network of diocesan European officers. We produce our own Bulletin for parishes across the Dioceses called Around Europe.
Our second key role is to encourage and promote diocesan and individual parish links with churches across Europe.
We contribute a European perspective to cross-cultural debate in the Diocese on issues such as asylum seekers and aids through our membership of the Board for Church and Society
We have a growing network of contacts from recent study visits to Strasbourg and Brussels.We hope that in time these will enable us to join forces with the European church lobbyists in Brussels in practical ecumenical, humanitarian and peace making projects.
We keep abreast of developments in the Porvoo communion and the Meissen Agreement.
What are Porvoo and Meissen?
As a result of the Porvoo Common Statement on church unity signed in 1992, Anglican clergy in Britain and Ireland are able to share ministry with clergy in the Nordic and Baltic Churches. The statement is named after Porvoo Cathedral in Finland where the eucharist was first celebrated together. The purpose of Porvoo is to draw the churches involved into a new and closer relationship for the sake of greater unity and more effective mission.
The Meissen Commission oversees relations between the Church of England and the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) and seeks ecumenical co-operation and reconciliation. It has been in existence for over a decade. Initiatives include Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEPs) involving English and German parishes, the bi- annual Kirchentag gathering, delegations and youth exchanges.
Check out Europe!
Europe’s identity and future is currently a hot issue and the Diocesan Europe Group is calling on the 16-30 year olds of the Diocese to get involved. The Group wants internet- savvy young adults to take a lead in organising a debate in their own parish. For parishes with a European link parish, the Group suggests setting up an online debate with their counterparts in Europe.
The European Commission is running a citizens’ internet debate on the future of Europe. At the same time,the churches of Europe are supporting continent-wide and ecumenical discussions on the priorities for Christians in Europe this century. Representatives from churches including the Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox traditions will meet together in Sibiu, Romania next September. The challenge for the churches in their public role in Europe within the context of cultural diversity and integration will be one of the key issues.
A leaflet, Check Out Europe, which carries full details of the civic and faith debates can be downloaded here (PDF). A list of web resources is available here (PDF).
The Check Out Europe initiative was launched at a recent meeting of Rural Deans and Lay co-Chairs in the hope that deaneries will help in raising awareness. Plans are also in the pipeline for a debate on Europe at the March 2007 Diocesan Synod.
Later in the year the Europe Group will be inviting representatives from all parishes to participate in a Saturday Forum in St Albans to be addressed by a celebrity speaker.The Forum will produce a Diocesan statement of ‘Belief in Europe’ which the Church of England delegation will take to the European Assembly in Sibiu.
Contacts
If you would like to know more about us contact:
- Group Chair: Helen Hutchison on helenhutchison@btopenworld.com
- Porvoo Desk: Rev Peter Budgell on pcbudgell@aol.com St Anne's Luton Website
- Meissen Desk: Rev Anne-Marie Renshaw on alr@fish.co.uk
- Italian Desk: Revd John Williams on italianchurchlink@hotmail.com
- Taize Desk: Rev Richard Pyke on richard.pyke@btopenworld.com
News
- Final Message from the 3rd ecumenical assembly ..here
- Helen Hutchinson on the 3rd ecumenical assembly in Sibiu, Romania ...more
- New link with Linköping, Sweden...more
- Austin Smith hears the 2005 Charlemagne Lecture and ponders what it means...more
- Helen Hutchinson reports on a conference of European churches debating the future of the European Union...more
- The Winter issue of Around Europe
- Shirley Williams speaks on Europe...more
- Peter Budgell on a recent conference in Estonia...more
- A recent visit to Paderborn, Germany, explored the possibility of links at several levels... more
- Simon Cutmore on a recent Diocesan visit to Norway...more
European Bulletins From Church House
Links
The Italian Link - http://www.italianchurchlink.org.uk/
The Third ecumenical Assembly, Siibiu, Romania - http://www.eea3.org
