Prague Expat Life

Living in Limbo-land

My British passport which still currently declares me to be an EU citizen © Ricky Yates

Just over two weeks ago, the UK voted by a small majority, in a non-binding referendum, to leave the European Union (EU). This result has left me, and around two million other UK citizens residing in other EU member states, living in Limbo-land, totally unsure about our future.

I have lived and worked in the Czech Republic since September 2008, on the basis of being a citizen of another EU member state. The free movement of people and labour is one of the founding principles of the EU. And as I wrote in a post earlier this year, it is my intention to retire in 2017 and live somewhere else within the EU, most likely in Spain. Now, because of the referendum, my future plans maybe completely scuppered.

There are two big questions to which I need answers. Firstly, will I as a British Citizen, be able to continue living within the EU, once the UK has made its Brexit? Secondly, what will happen to my UK state pension after Brexit? Let me explain more about each of these in turn.

The migration of many citizens from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the UK, and the perceived strain this has put on health, education and social services, was one of the major complaints of those arguing for people to vote ‘leave’. This despite the fact that most of these ‘immigrants’ are in employment, paying tax and national insurance, and frequently doing the jobs that British people don’t want to do. This news item that I read this morning, illustrates precisely the point I’m making.

If, as part of the UK leaving the EU, the ability of EU citizens to live and work in the UK is curtailed, the governments of the other 27 EU member states will not look kindly upon us Brits living in their countries. I would like to use the lump sum from my Church pension scheme, to purchase a small home in which to spend my retirement. But what do I then do if I’m told I cannot live their because I’m no longer an EU national?

I may have to seriously consider changing my nationality. I am given to understand, though have not yet thoroughly checked it out, that I could apply to be Czech as I’ve lived here for more than five years, and being over sixty, would not be required to pass a language test. The other alternative would be to become German because of being married to one. Sybille and I have been married to each other for nearly eleven years. Apparently, I could become German after being married to her for just three years. However, those three years of married life together, need to have been spent living in Germany 🙁 Ours have been spent in the UK and then in the Czech Republic.

Before leaving the UK in 2008, I had just completed paying sufficient National Insurance contributions to be entitled to receive the minimum UK state pension upon retirement. Since beginning work in the Czech Republic, I and the Church as my employer, have been making Czech social security payments, which means I will in due course, receive a small additional pension from the Czech state.

Under current EU regulations, those two state pensions would be combined and paid to me wherever I would be living within the EU in retirement. More importantly, that pension would be regularly uprated each year. But if Brexit happens, there is every likelihood that the UK part would be frozen and not increased in future years.

Unfortunately, nobody can provide answers to my two big questions, nor can they tell me when I might reasonably expect to receive answers. All those responsible for this mess are busy resigning. Messrs Cameron, Johnson and Farage have rightly been described as ‘rats abandoning the sinking ship’. They only concern they seem to have is for themselves. Meanwhile, I’m left living in Limbo-land 🙁

Last Sunday evening in Dresden

The River Elbe with the Frauenkirche beyond © Ricky Yates — The River Elbe in Dresden with the Frauenkirche beyond © Ricky Yates

Last Sunday evening, one week later than usual, I officiated at the English-language Anglican Service of Evening Prayer, hosted by the Frauenkirche in Dresden. At the beginning of the service, I welcomed all those attending, explained who I am, and then made three announcements.

The first was to apologise that, once more, my troublesome front crown, having managed to stay in place for the three previous months, had again become loose and then fallen out on Sunday morning. Besides making me look goofy, this also meant that speaking publicly was difficult as numerous speech sounds are made by putting your tongue to your front teeth and it is therefore somewhat difficult to be articulate, if there is a big gap 🙁

Secondly, I thanked everyone for attending, being very aware that the service had coincided with a rather important football match 🙂 Germany were playing Slovakia in the last sixteen of the Euro 2016 football competition, the match kicking off at exactly the same time as our service began.

But thirdly I said, I just wanted to clearly declare that, ‘Last Thursday, I voted to remain!’ The congregation of native English-speakers from around the world, together with English-speaking Germans, erupted in sympathetic laughter the like of which I’ve never experienced previously when officiating at the Frauenkirche.

I was originally going to write about the theme of the service and how I tackled it in my sermon, which had very clear resonances with the referendum result. But instead, in order to get this post published tonight and to keep it reasonably short in length, I just want to tell you of a conversation I had following the service, which encapsulates one very unpleasant aspect of the recent referendum campaign.

As I explained in a previous post, following worship, a small number of the regular Dresden congregation, gather for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der Frauenkirche. It being warm and dry, we were able to sit outside, enjoying the evening air and hearing a loud cheer from a nearby establishment, when Germany scored a third goal part-way through the second half of their match.

We were joined for the first time by an Anglophile German couple – Stephan and Kornelia. Stephan explained to me that he was a GP and had undertaken some of his medical studies in the UK, including his GP training, and had then worked as a GP for a few years in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, before returning to Germany. He added that one of the reasons they had started attending the monthly English-language service was to ensure they didn’t lose their English!

But they then told me how their daughter had just finished her studies at Gymnasium, and had arranged to have gap year, before going to university. She had been accepted to work for a UK charity based in London, starting in July, providing respite care for the parents of handicapped children.

Hearing the outcome of the referendum on Friday morning, she had expressed to them her fear, that she might not now be able to do this. And even if she did, she was concerned as to how she would be perceived and received in current British society.

The ‘Leave campaign’ has released a very unpleasant current of xenophobia and racism meaning that a German young lady who wants to give something very positive to British society, is now left feeing very uncomfortable and wondering whether her chosen path was wise. Messrs Johnson, Gove and Farage – you have an awful lot to answer for!

Farewell to Karen

From l to r: Yours Truly, Rev'd Dr Karen Moritz, Jack Noonan © Sybille Yates — From l to r: Yours Truly, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, Jack Noonan © Sybille Yates

On Sunday 17^th April, I, together with the St Clement’s congregation, bid a sad farewell to my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz.

As I explained in a post in May 2011, Karen is an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She has been in the Czech Republic since September 2010 as a mission co-worker, working with the Ceskobratrská církev evangelická (CCE) / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB), the main Czech Protestant Church, which is a united Lutheran/Presbyterian denomination. The Kliment congregation of the CCE/ECCB own Kostel sv Kliment, the Church building where we worship in Prague.

Since successfully getting Karen licensed under the Ecumenical Canons of the Church of England, she has contributed enormously to the life of St Clement’s during her time in Prague. She has regularly preached, led non-Eucharistic worship in my absence, helped with the administration of Holy Communion, and led intercessions.

Karen has also been a great supporter and contributor to our midweek activities. In 2014, she organised and led our Lent Study Course entitled ‘Discovering your spiritual gifts’ which was much appreciated by all those who attended. Then in 2015, she was the main organiser, as well as one of the speakers, at probably our best attended Lent Course during my time as Chaplain, looking at the Bohemian Reformation.

During her time with us, Karen has become a good friend of many in the congregation and on occasions, has given a listening ear, together with pastoral care and support, to a number of people. As I know from having, at various times in the past, three different ordained female colleagues working with me, sometimes an individual needs the insights that a female minister brings, rather than mine. None of us are gifted in all areas!

At a personal level, what I have very much valued and what I will miss the most, is having someone with whom I have been able to share issues or particular situations that I’ve faced in my ministry. Being able to talk with Karen, have the insights and understanding that she has gained from her many years of ministry in a variety of situations, knowing that anything said will be kept with complete confidentiality, has been invaluable to me.

The reason Karen has now returned to the USA is tied up with decision making, or lack of willingness to make a decision, within the Synodal Council and HQ of the CCE/ECCB. It is my personal view that they have basically shot themselves in the foot! They will only fully realise all that Karen has contributed, most notably getting a whole variety of things into English rather than Czenglish, and organising various events and visits for members of partner Churches, when she is no longer there to do these things.

As I write this, Karen still does not have a definite new position to go to. She will continue to be employed by Presbyterian World Mission until the end of June and over this month and next, will be carrying out deputation work as well as hopefully attending interviews for a possible future post. I am very much hoping for positive news very soon.

On Sunday 17^th April, when the photograph at the beginning of this post was taken, Karen was the preacher at our 11.00 Sung Eucharist. You can listen to her sermon here, though the sound quality is not as good as I would like it to be. My Licensed Reader Jack Noonan, led our intercessions and Karen and Jack administered the two chalices.

Because Karen had already packed and dispatched most of her belongings back to the USA, including her black preaching gown and stoles, Jack and I dressed her up as an Anglican 🙂 , wearing my black cassock and surplice, together with a white stole that lives in our wardrobe in the Church vestry.

Thank you, Karen, for everything you have given in the five and half years you have been such an intrinsic part of St. Clement’s. We will miss you enormously!

Electing a new Old Catholic Bishop for the Czech Republic

As I have explained previously in this blog, the Prague Anglican congregation legally functions as the English-speaking parish of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic or Farní obec Starokatolické církve pro vericí anglického jazyka v Praze. This came about as the result of a covenant signed in September 2000 by Bishop John Hind, the then Anglican Bishop of the Diocese in Europe, and Bishop Dušan Hejbal of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic.

Under the covenant, we are treated both as a Chaplaincy in the Anglican Diocese in Europe, and as a constituent parish of the Czech Old Catholic Church. One consequence of this is that I am expected, along with one lay person from my congregation, to attend any meeting of the Synod of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic when they take place. Fortunately, this is normally only once every three years as the meetings, which usually take place over a couple of days, are conducted entirely in Czech 🙁

Back in October 2010, Sybille I broke into our holiday to attend a Synod meeting held in Moravia, as mentioned in this post, whilst three years later in 2013, I attended the next Synod meeting, along with a lay representative, which was conveniently held in Prague. But last year, Bishop Dušan called an extra Synod meeting, in order to gain approval for his proposal to stay on as Bishop for a further three years beyond his sixty-fifth birthday in July 2016, exercising a provision within the Church’s constitution. Unfortunately, the date of that Synod meeting fell in the middle of our previously booked holiday in Poland, so I was unable to attend, nor could we find a lay representative to go either.

At that meeting in October 2015, the Synod decided not to accept Bishop Dušan’s proposal. Thus was set in motion, a procedure that had not happened for over twenty years – a further Synod meeting was called to take place in April 2016, to elect a new Old Catholic Bishop. As I have said numerous times, I do realise that ‘a new Old Catholic Bishop’, does sound like a contradiction in terms 🙂

This Synod meeting took place between the evening of Thursday 7^th and the morning of Saturday 9^th April at Želiv Monastery, located in the Vysocina/Highlands, about 100km south-east of Prague. I was accompanied by one of my Churchwardens, Stephen Weeks, who the Church Council had previously elected to be their lay representative. After an opening Eucharist, followed by our evening meal, the Synod meeting began.

Fortunately, whilst having supper, Stephen and I were overheard speaking to each other in English, by a lay member of the Synod called Vlad’ka. Like many of the Old Catholic laity, she had no idea of our existence as an English-speaking parish in the Czech Old Catholic Church and asked us in English, who we were and what we were doing there. Once we had explained, she kindly offered to interpret for us as she is a teacher of English to vocational students in Brno. She sat between us, interpreting all that was being said, enabling Stephen and I to follow the proceedings.

The evening session began with the two candidates to be the new Bishop, each making a presentation as to their understanding of the role and what they hoped to achieve if elected. There was then a short break, during which time written questions could be submitted to the moderator for the candidates to answer in the following session. Stephen and I compiled a couple of questions which we wanted to ask, which Vlad’ka kindly translated into Czech for us to submit.

The question and answer session went on until it was 22.00 which had previously been agreed as the finishing time for that evening. But it resumed again after breakfast, the following morning. Issues raised included the candidates attitude to same-sex blessings, what was the first things they would do upon becoming bishop and the question of the ordination of women as priests. Currently, the Czech Old Catholic Church only ordain women deacon, unlike their fellow Old Catholics in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland who do ordain women as priest.

We raised the specific question of their attitude to us being able to advertise for a successor to me, being open to ordained Anglican priests of either gender. My Church Council are unanimous that this should be the case, and fortunately we now have an Archdeacon and Bishop who are committed to supporting us in this. We did not get as clear an answer as we would like from the candidates, but we certainly did not get an outright rejection on the issue.

By the middle of Friday morning, there were no further questions. So we moved to a coffee break, to be followed by the election of the new Bishop. However, before the election could take place, a technical issue was raised. There were meant to be fifty-six Synod delegates but only fifty-five were present. The constitution provides that to be elected, a candidate needs a three fifths majority. Was it to be three fifths of fifty-five or fifty-six? After some debate, we voted that it should be three fifths of fifty-six 🙂

It took three rounds of voting before a conclusive result was achieved. The Synod elected Pavel Stránský, currently the Old Catholic priest in Zlín, to be their new Bishop. He was given a standing ovation and presented with a chain and crucifix, showing him to be the Bishop-elect. He then made a formal declaration, signed various papers and both he and Bishop Dušan were presented with flowers.

After lunch, the Synod meeting elected a new Synodal Council, who with the new bishop, will run the Church for the next three years. Various other committees were also elected and then, with no further business to conduct, the meeting ended with the singing of the Te Deum.

Exactly when Bishop-elect Pavel will be consecrated has yet to be decided but I’ve been told informally that it will probably be sometime in September or October.

Yours Truly with the Bishop-elect, Pavel Stránský © Ricky Yates

Walking Der Ökumenische Pilgerweg – Gröditz to Kamenz

On the morning of Friday 21^st August 2015, Sybille and I set out from the Pilgerherberge at Gröditz, to walk 20km to the large town of Bautzen. As you can see from the photographs, we were blessed with fine sunny weather.

Our route took us along a series of tracks and minor roads across undulating countryside.

The Pilgerweg approaching Drehsa © Ricky Yates

Here is the way approaching the village of Drehsa.

Within Drehsa, there was this fun mural of a flying pig and piglet 🙂

In view of the sunny weather, we both appreciated the shade provided by trees along parts of the route.

As on many pilgrim routes that I’ve walked, the approach to larger towns and cities is often not that pleasant for walkers. The last few kilometres into Bautzen involved walking uphill, alongside a busy main road. But we eventually made it, obtained the key to the pilgrim accommodation provided by the Lutheran Church, where we were able to shower, change and leave most of our belongings securely.

In the early evening, we enjoyed a drink, sitting outside in the main square, opposite the Rathaus.

St Peter's Cathedral, Bautzen © Ricky Yates — St Peter’s Cathedral, Bautzen © Ricky Yates

Nearby is St. Peter’s Cathedral, an example of a simultaneum or Simultankirche. Here Lutherans and Roman Catholics have shared the same Church building since 1530! After exploring more of the historic town centre, Sybille took me a very nice Sorbian restaurant which she had discovered during her pilgrimage earlier in April.

The Milleniumsdenkmal featuring St Cyril and St Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs © Ricky Yates

Fortunately, the route out of Bautzen the following morning, was along a series of quite quiet roads, though we did have to pass under the busy Autobahn 4. After 8.5km of walking, we reached the top of Roter Berg, a low hill on which has been erected the Milleniumsdenkmal featuring St Cyril and St Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs. Methodius was made a bishop therefore he is the one wearing a mitre 🙂

That afternoon, we walked on a further 8.5km, to the town of Crostwitz. Just outside the town, the correct way was indicated by a yellow arrow, painted on the road!

Roman Catholic Church in Crostwitz © Ricky Yates

In Crostwitz, we stayed overnight in this Pilgerherberge owned and run by a lady called Monika. She is a native speaker of Sorbian, the West Slavic language I mentioned in my previous post. In Crostwitz, the secondary/high school, teaches through the medium of Sorbian, with German only being taught as a second language.

Monika explained that when this area was part of the Soviet satellite state of East Germany, the communist authorities actively encouraged the use and preservation of the Sorbian language. This was because of it being a Slavic language and so much of what happened was orchestrated by the Russians in Moscow, their ‘fellow Slavs’ 😉 It is ironic that now, one place where the language continues in active use, is within the Church. On the evening of Saturday 22^nd August 2015, Sybille and I went to a very well-attended mass in the Roman Catholic Parish Church, conducted only in Sorbian.

Street name in German & Upper Sorbian with waymark for the Pilgerweg © Ricky Yates

Believe it or not, despite only being spoken by about 50,000 people, there are two different versions of Sorbian! About 40,000 people speak Upper Sorbian and live in the Bundesland of Freistaat Sachsen, the area we were walking through. Immediately north, in the Bundesland of Brandenburg, there are a further 10,000 speakers of Lower Sorbian. Upper Sorbian relates more to Czech; Lower Sorbian to Polish.

Our final day on this first part of the Ökumenische Pilgerweg was Sunday 23^rd August 2015, when we walked 16.5km from Crostwitz to Kamenz. Once more it was fine and sunny and my main recollection of that day, was finding nowhere that was open to serve us a cool drink! Fortunately, when we reached the eastern outskirts of Kamenz, we had to walk right through where a travelling fair was set up for a week and we finally were able to purchase a couple of beers.

We then walked on to the town centre to the tourist information centre, where we collected the key to the Pilgerherberge. Following that, we treated ourselves to a further beer, sitting outside a hotel on the town square, opposite the Rathaus. One problem we encountered throughout our week on the Ökumenische Pilgerweg, were an abundance of wasps, who tended to take a great interest in any beer we were drinking. This was a novel way of preventing them doing so 🙂

My other recollection of the whole week was the almost total absence of anyone who spoke English. My normal experience of trying to use my limited German when in Germany, is being spoken back to in word-perfect English! But the first time this happened to me during our five days on the Ökumenische Pilgerweg, was in Kamenz, ordering this beer and a different one for Sybille, who had gone off to use the toilet facilities in the hotel. I presume the reason for the lack of English was being in the former East Germany and being places not normally frequented that much by non-German tourists.

Brass plaque outside the Kamenz Pilgerherberge © Ricky Yates

Suitably refreshed, we then walked on a further kilometre uphill 🙁 , to the Kamenz Pilgerherberge.

Rucksacks, walking poles & hats © Ricky Yates