April 2017

Time to say Goodbye

Today I conducted my final service at St Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague. After nearly twenty-eight years of full-time ordained ministry, I have retired.

I really didn’t quite know what to expect today. But during the week beforehand, I decided to prepare for worship just as I have done previously week by week, for over eight and a half years since arriving Prague in September 2008.

My sermon was therefore based on the Biblical readings set in the Revised Common Lectionary for the Third Sunday of Easter. – in particular the resurrection appearance of Jesus to the the two disciples on the road to Emmaus as recorded in Luke 24. 13-35, together with the end of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost – Acts 2. 36-41. As I always do, I tried to put the readings into context and explain the historical and cultural background. Having done that, I then asked what the passages have to say to us about our faith and how we might live out that faith in the coming week.

Administering Holy Communion © Sybille Yates

Whilst we had a small number of visitors, the rest of the congregation was made up of our regular worshippers, together with some of the less regular ones who had made a special effort to be present on my final Sunday. Yet as our Welcomer Sally, (who did the head count), said, the attendance was actually slightly higher than that on Easter Day.

Presentation of gifts by Churchwarden Stephen Weeks © Sybille Yates

At the end of the service, I was presented with a framed drawing of St Clement’s, along with a framed photograph of myself wearing cassock-alb and stole. But I also made my own presentation, much to the amusement of the congregation – that of the Chaplaincy mobile phone, to Rev’d Nathanial Bm who will be the interim Chaplain over the coming months.

Presenting the Chaplaincy Mobile Phone © Sybille Yates

Following worship, there was a very well-attended bring and share lunch, held in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18, across the road from the Church. Here there was a second presentation, this time of a dummy cheque for a very large sum of money, which I was promised would be paid to me by bank transfer, early next week. This was then followed by a champagne toast.

After a whole series of ‘goodbyes’, Sybille and I finally set off for the tram, waving a goodbye to the Church as we passed by. We made our way to one of our favourite bar-restaurants for a beer and a bite to eat as, because of everyone wanting to speak to us, we ate very little of the bring and share lunch 🙁

Whilst we were sitting enjoying our drinks, what song should come over the bar-restaurant’s sound system? ‘Time to say Goodbye’ 🙂 We both felt it was rather appropriate.

A Tale of Two Laptops

As Sybille declared this evening, I look like a geek! On the desk in my office is not one laptop computer, but two! So a blog post of explanation.

Nearly five years ago, I started to use my first ever laptop computer. As I explained back then, it was purchased as a result of a generous donation by a member of the St Clement’s congregation, supplemented by a contribution from Sybille and myself. It has served me well since May 2012, both for running the Prague Anglican Chaplaincy, and for reasonably regularly updating this blog. But right from the day of purchase, we agreed that it belonged to the Chaplaincy, not to me.

Therefore with my forthcoming retirement now less than three weeks away, I have started the difficult task of separating my personal and Church life. So last Wednesday, I bought myself my own personal laptop computer, the one on the left in the photo above.

Earlier on Monday this week, we left both computers in the care of Hardware & Software Services, for them to transfer everything from the Chaplaincy computer, onto my new laptop. Also at our request, they kindly removed unnecessary and unusable software and services of both Microsoft & Hewlett Packard, from my new laptop. It cost CZK 1000, just under £32.00 – money well spent I believe.

Today, aided by Sybille, my two email accounts were separated. After Sunday 30^th April, I will no longer be chaplain(at)anglican(dot)cz. Therefore, whilst all my past email correspondence to this address has been downloaded onto my new laptop, no new emails can be. They can only be accessed by using the Chaplaincy computer.

Likewise, my new private email address, ry(at)rickyyates(dot)com, set up four years ago but hardly ever used until now, can only be accessed from my new personal laptop. The small amount of past correspondence on the Chaplaincy computer has been transferred to my new laptop, and then deleted from the Chaplaincy computer.

Over the next few days, I have the task of carefully deleting from the Chaplaincy computer, all my personal material, letters and files, leaving only material which will be useful to a locum Chaplain and my eventual successor.

Also, from now on, each time I arrive at my desk, I will first of all have to decide on which computer I should be working, depending on what I’m doing 🙂 The next few weeks should be fun!

Helpful instructions in Czech & Slovak 🙂 © Ricky Yates

A Purple Weekend

Yours Truly processing at the beginning of the Consecration Service between Archdeacon Walter Baer and Rev’d Nathanial Bm © Sybille Yates

My last month as the Anglican Chaplain of St Clement’s, Prague, started with what can be best described as a ‘purple weekend’. It featured bishops – lots of them!

As I have explained many times previously on this blog, for legal and ecumenical reasons, St Clement’s is officially the English-speaking parish of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. Back in April 2016, at a synod meeting held at Želiv Monastery, Pavel Benedikt Stránský was elected to succeed the retiring Bishop Dušan Hejbal, as head of the Czech Old Catholics. Therefore on Saturday 1^st April 2017, I attended what in English sounds like a contradiction in terms – the consecration of Pavel Benedikt Stránský as the new Old Catholic Bishop of the Czech Republic 🙂

Archbishop Joris Vercammen © Sybille Yates

The Consecration Service took place in the Basilica sv Markéty, located within the Brevnov Monastery complex in Prague. The service was presided over by the Archbishop of Utrecht, Joris Vercammen, whose role within the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht is very similar to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury within the Anglican Communion. Also participating were Old Catholic bishops from the Netherlands, Germany Switzerland and Austria.

Bishop-elect Pavel between two supporting OC priests with contrasting hairstyles 🙂 © Sybille Yates

However, because of the Bonn agreement of 1931, by which Old Catholics and Anglicans, mutually recognise each others orders, Anglican bishops from the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Church of Ireland, the Lusitanian Church – Portuguese Episcopal Church, together with my Church of England Diocesan bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, also participated in the Consecration Service.

The service lasted for nearly three hours and was conducted mainly in Czech and German, with a little English. It was, as Bishop Robert has himself written, a test in humility for us English-speakers! But it was good to be there, and see Bishop Pavel take up his role as head of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, before my own retirement, as he and Bishop Robert will have joint responsibility, for appointing my successor.

On the morning of Sunday 2^nd April, Bishop Robert was the Celebrant and Preacher at our Sung Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Lent – Passion Sunday. Wanting to engage the St Clement’s congregation with the very long Gospel reading – the story of the raising of Lazarus as recorded in John 11. 1-45, he got me to read it in five separate sections with his sermon interspersed between each section. You can listen to the reading and sermon here. Within the service, he also confirmed three members of the congregation, Sebastian, Radka and John.

The three confirmees, together with Bishop Robert, Rev’d Nathanial & Yours Truly © Sybille Yates

At an extended Coffee Hour with copious amounts of food, Bishop Robert met with members of the congregation, displaying his language skills by speaking in both French and Flemish/Dutch as well as English. Then, whilst I headed off to Brno for our regular monthly service in the second city of the Czech Republic, the Church Council met with Bishop Robert to discuss the future of the Chaplaincy and the strategy and timetable for appointing my successor.