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.

From l to r: Licensed Reader Jack Noonan, Rev’d Nathanial Bm, Bishop Robert, Yours Truly © Stephen Weeks

Preparing for the Bishop’s visit, Holy Week and Easter

Candles, wafers, wine, palm crosses, (note ‘Ricky’ on the side of the box 🙂 ), & altar linen © Ricky Yates

There is a month with five Sundays to go, before I retire. But within that short period, I have a visit from my Anglican Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, followed by Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter, then two weeks later, my farewell service.

Following worship last Sunday, I realised that there were several things that needed attention. The first was, that unless we were to expect Bishop Robert to perform the miracle of Cana 🙂 , we needed more wine for communion. Whilst not quite as desperate, we were also running quite low on communion wafers.

Secondly, both altar candles had burnt quite low and one had sprayed wax onto the main altar cloth. There were also spots of wine on both the corporal and the credence cloth so, along with the two purificators that had been used that morning, I took all the altar linen home with me for washing, to make sure everything is pristine for the Bishop’s visit this coming Sunday.

I solved the lack of wine problem in the normal manner by picking up a screw top bottle of Italian red from our local Kaufland supermarket, when shopping there earlier this week. But this morning, I realised that I’d better get started addressing the other issues, to ensure my last month as Anglican Chaplain in the Czech Republic, does proceed smoothly.

First thing this morning, I set up the iron and ironing board. Then, aided by a supply of kitchen roll, I proceeded to melt and remove candle wax from the altar cloth. Wine stains on the other linen were sprayed with ‘Vanish spray’ before everything was put in the washing machine for a 95° hot cottons wash, along with a sachet of ‘Intensive white & stain remover’, just for good measure.

Once everything was washed and hung out on the balcony to dry, taking full advantage of our current warm, Spring, sunny weather, I then headed into town by tram. First, I went to the Church vestry, to pick up the two bases for our altar candles, the Confirmation register, together with a sample priest’s and people wafers. Then it was three stops on the Metro to Karlovo námestí, to visit the Roman Catholic supplies shop, Pro Ecclesia.

Aided by a very friendly and helpful member of their staff, I came away with a rather heavily laden rucksack containing:

two new altar candles.
three candles for our Confirmation candidates to carry down the aisle with the Bishop at the end of the service this coming Sunday.
two baptism candles for the twins I’m due to baptise on Palm Sunday.
A packet of a thousand peoples wafers.
A packet of fifty priests wafers.
Two new purificators to replace two that went AWOL when I was on holiday 😉

The total bill was CZK 1400, about £44.00. I suspect it would have been far greater at a Church suppliers in the UK. I was amused to note from my receipt, that Communion wafers, Hostie in Czech 🙂 attract a lower rate of VAT, presumably because they are deemed to be food! To be fair, once consecrated, they are the ‘Bread of life’.

On the way home, I also stopped by at our nearest post office, in order to collect a packet our post lady chose not to try and deliver to us a few days ago. It was our supply of Palm Crosses, ordered from the UK, as distributing Palm Crosses on Palm Sunday is very much an Anglican tradition, unknown in the Czech Republic. There was the usual problem of trying to find it as no Czech surname begins with the letter ‘Y’, therefore there isn’t a slot to store it. Instead, it had been filed under ‘Ricky’ 🙂

Once home, Sybille kindly washed and cleaned the altar candle bases. Armed with a sharp knife, I then carved out a bit more wax to make the candles sit firmly upright. Then I ironed all the altar linen. The result of all my labours can be seen in the photograph at the beginning of this post, except for the yet to be completed Confirmation register, everything sitting ready to be taken to Church.

When on a pastoral visit to a family on Wednesday, I was kindly given a bottle of Prosecco as a present. After getting all that lot sorted today, I decided this evening that I needed a reward and cracked it open. I’ve been drinking the contents whilst writing this blog post 🙂

A flying visit to Brussels

The headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels © Ricky Yates

On Wednesday 18^th January, I spent a very long day, travelling to Brussels and back. It involved getting up at 04.00 in the morning and eventually getting back to the Chaplaincy Flat at midnight.

I did so, in order to attend a meeting to ‘discuss concerns and priorities in relation to the Brexit process’, with Lord George Bridges of Headley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union – in other words, the Junior Minister at the Brexit Department. The meeting had been set up by my Diocesan Bishop Robert, ably assisted by his sidekick David Fieldsend, and it is to their joint credit that the minister agreed to it in the first place. I was one of seventeen British people, both clergy and laity, drawn from our chaplaincies in EU countries within the Diocese in Europe, who were invited to Brussels for the meeting.

Unfortunately, on Monday 16^th January came the news that, because Prime Minister Theresa May was making a major speech about Brexit the next day, all ministers had to remain in London on Wednesday 18^th January, in order to be available to answer parliamentary questions. Therefore, instead of meeting with the minister in person for a two hour discussion, he joined us by video link. This also meant the meeting being moved from the Chapter Room of our Pro-Cathedral, to the British Embassy.

Then, soon after the video discussion got going on our first issue of pensions and finance, the minister had to leave us and go to answer questions in the House of Lords. He promised to return for the latter part of our two-hour time slot, but never did. Apparently their Lordships had lots of questions for him and whilst he was on his feet, it was announced that on the following Tuesday, the Supreme Court would give its judgement on the activating Article 50 case, prompting yet more questions.

Whilst I do appreciate that government ministers need to answer parliamentary questions, I did think it was pretty poor that when seventeen of us had travelled from far-flung parts of the EU, most of us like me, at our own expense, we only got about twenty minutes of the minister’s time. I fear that it does reflect the fact that the fate of the 1.2 million British nationals living in the other twenty-seven EU member states, are not so high up the priority list of issues of the current British government.

In the absence of Lord Bridges, the British Ambassador to Belgium, Alison Rose, along with Emma Gibbons, Deputy Head of Mission at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, fielded our questions. Various embassy staff sat in the background taking notes and civil servants were also listening in from London and assured us that the concerns we were expressing, would be fed back to Lord Bridges.

The issues we raised with the UK government come under four main headings – Pensions & Finance, Healthcare & Social Security Cover, Recruitment & Retention of UK Clergy in the Diocese in Europe, Citizenship/Identity/Voting Rights. I have to say that we didn’t get any actual answers to any of our questions. It was always, ‘this will be a subject for negotiation’ with the additional, ‘the negotiations will be highly complex’. Several times I wanted to point out that there is a simple answer for the UK government to all of them – don’t try and leave the EU!

My ordained colleagues working in France and Spain, where many elderly UK citizens have settled in retirement, spoke of mental health problems amongst these members of their congregations, unsure whether they will lose their access to free healthcare once the UK leaves the EU. They are already suffering from the drop in value of their pensions as a result of the serious fall in the value of Sterling, following the June referendum. Many cannot afford to return to the UK and, even if they have to, would they still be eligible to receive NHS care?

The impact on people with EU spouses/partners and their children was highlighted. Will they be able to return and settle in the UK with their British husband/wife/father/mother, or will families be split? The current UK government’s obsession is with immigration, rather the than the well-being of individuals and families.

I particularly raised the issue of the language used by two government ministers who have described EU nationals living and working in the UK as ‘cards’ and as ‘bargaining chips’. By inference, that is what we UK nationals living in the other twenty-seven EU member states are too. No! we are all individuals, made in the image of God and to be valued as such – not to be regarded as mere ‘cards’ or as ‘bargaining chips’ in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

Bishop Robert’s wife Helen, took comprehensive notes of our discussions which were immediately circulated to all participants the following day. The fact that Ambassador Rose has since asked for the slight re-wording and expansion of a few points to fully clarify what was said, does seem to me that we are being taken seriously, for which I am thankful. However, I still fear that our concerns may well be sacrificed on the altar of Brexit, as the UK chooses to become a lonely island, floating in the North Atlantic Ocean 🙁

PS There is now a report about the meeting on the Diocese in Europe website here. In the second photograph, you can see the back of my balding head on the right-hand side of the table 🙂 A further report can be found on the Anglican Communion News website.

Into 2017

A humorous reminder from my son Phillip, that Christmas 2016 would be my last in Prague. Artwork © Phillip John Yates

The New Year of 2017 has arrived and for me, all the forthcoming changes that go with it.

As I wrote here back in October 2016, at the end of this post and this post, I have formally written to both Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, Anglican Diocesan Bishop in Europe, and to PhDr Pavel Stránský, Bishop-elect of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, resigning as Priest-in-Charge/Chaplain of St Clement’s, Prague and retiring from full-time ministry, with effect from Sunday 30^th April 2017. Both have since responded, acknowledging my letter and expressing appreciation for my ministry.

My decision came completely into the public domain when in the ‘Church Times’, on Friday 2^nd December 2016, the following announcement appeared.

Resignations and retirements

Posted: 02 Dec 2016 @ 00:01

YATES. The Revd Warwick Yates, Priest-in-Charge of St Clement’s, Prague (Europe): 30 April 2017.

I have now received a letter from the Church of England Pension Board setting out the details of my pension entitlements and how to go about claiming them. Likewise, the UK Department of Work and Pensions have written to me in a similar vein. But their letter clearly states that if I intend to continue living within the European Union(EU) or European Economic Area(EEA), then I have to make my claim via the authorities of the country in which I will be residing. This means making my initial claim via the Czech authorities, not least because I and the Church, have been paying into Czech Social Security for over eight years which should provide me with an additional state pension.

But whilst this may be the current situation, what will it be in two or three years time, after Dictator May and her cohorts, have taken the UK over the cliff edge into the oblivion of Brexit? As I wrote six months ago, I’m currently left Living in Limbo-land and still without any clarity as to what my future financial or right of residence situation might be. Fortunately, in two weeks time I will be part of a small group having a meeting with Lord George Bridges of Headley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, and you can guarantee that he will be getting an earful from me!

But I have to plan ahead, even if the current UK government doesn’t have any plan beyond the inane ‘Brexit means Brexit’ 🙁 So to answer those who have asked the question as to where I intend to retire to and what I plan to do in retirement, this is what I envisage.

I plan to invest the lump sum from my Church pension scheme, in buying a small house in the north-west of the Czech Republic, where I shall live. It will be well away from Prague, so I will not be seen in any way as interfering with my successor as Anglican Chaplain. But instead, I intend the location to be within easy travelling distance of Dresden.

The reason for this is that, whilst I shall be relinquishing my responsibilities for the Prague and Brno congregations and drawing my pension, I will be applying to Bishop Robert for permission to officiate(PTO) in the Diocese in Europe and continue with my responsibility for the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer at the Frauenkirche and exploring the possibility of establishing a second service there that is Eucharistic. I have held off saying anything publicly about this until now, because I only received episcopal agreement to this arrangement, just before Christmas.

Whilst this is the plan, I still live in dread as to what will happen to the value of the pound Sterling and therefore the value of my lump sum and future pension, once the UK government signs its own suicide note, also known as Article fifty of the Lisbon treaty. All I can do is watch and pray.

The 2016 Eastern Archdeaconry Synod in Warsaw

Members of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod with Bishop Robert, following the concluding Sunday morning Eucharist © Ricky Yates

Between Thursday 22^nd – Monday 26^th September, I attended my ninth and final meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod which this year, was hosted by the Warsaw Chaplaincy. My first Eastern Archdeaconry Synod was in mid September 2008, held in Corfu, in the week before Sybille and I moved to Prague and before I commenced writing this blog. Subsequent Synod meetings were in Izmir in 2009, Vienna in 2010, Bucharest in 2011, Attica, Athens in 2012, Woking 🙂 in 2013, Prague in 2014 and Zagreb in 2015.

Our Synod meeting took place in Dobre Miejsce, a Roman Catholic Conference Centre located in delightful woodland on the north-western outskirts of Warsaw. It proved to be an excellent venue with comfortable single rooms, a well equipped conference meeting room and a large chapel for worship. The only downsides were the food, which was quite repetitive and very traditionally Polish, and a wifi network which frequently disconnected 🙁

In order to get to Warsaw, I chose to drive, accompanied by Churchwarden Gordon Truefitt, one of our two lay delegates to the Synod. Jack Noonan, the other lay delegate, was also going to travel with us but eventually chose to fly, (at his own expense), as he needed to leave Prague later on Thursday 22^nd and return on Sunday evening, rather than on Monday 26^th. It is an indication of the vast size of our Eastern Archdeaconry in that the Prague Anglican Chaplaincy is the nearest one to Warsaw, yet my journey was one of almost 700 kilometres.

During the Synod, we enjoyed three Bible studies led by Rev’d Neil Richardson, a Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar. He explored the ministry and writings of St. Paul and how they can be applied in the life of our Chaplaincies.

A good part of our time on Friday, was taken up addressing the issue of ‘Safeguarding’ and how we are to implement the instructions with regard to this subject, coming down to us from the Church of England centrally and the House of Bishops. We had two long sessions, led by the Diocesan Safeguarding Manager, Ian Carter, a former police officer. The training clergy and volunteer leaders are going to have to undertake, seems incredibly onerous. It is the quickest way to put off people volunteering to help in our Chaplaincies!

However, the need to do this was brought home to me in part of the address to Synod the following day, by our Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes. Here are two paragraphs from that address, which clearly highlight the problem.

‘In recent decades it has become apparent that the Church in Europe has not cared as it should have done for children and vulnerable people. As a direct result, in some countries, trust in the church has plummeted. In Belgium, (where Bishop Robert is based), a recent survey by our leading consumer magazine, showed that the RC church is one of the least trusted institutions in our country – trusted far less than the army, the social services, even politicians. I found that deeply shocking.

So our emphasis on safeguarding is about building a high trust culture. It means establishing systems and procedures that, as far as we can, give people confidence that those of our people who are in positions of trust are genuinely trustworthy.’

Late on Saturday afternoon, we had a session on growing new congregations. We heard about some exciting developments in Poland with new Polish-speaking and English-speaking congregations being established in Kraków and with plans for a new congregation in Gdansk. I was asked to speak about how the Brno congregation came into being, here in the Czech Republic.

As always, the time spent informally with colleagues over meals and evening drinks at the bar, were some of the most valuable parts of our Synod in Warsaw. Working as we all do in isolated situations, it is difficult to put into words the importance of this time spent together, once a year.

The Synod ended with a Sunday Eucharist at which Bishop Robert was the celebrant and preacher. For this service, we were joined by the Warsaw Chaplaincy congregation. Immediately afterwards, the Synod members posed for the photograph at the beginning of this post, though a couple of Chaplains are missing from the picture.

I should end this post by expressing my thanks to Rev’d David Brown, the Chaplain in Warsaw, and to his Churchwarden Patrick Acheson, who together did a marvellous job, organising the Synod. Having hosted the Synod in Prague in 2014, I know the amount of work and stress that is involved! Thanks are also due to Archdeacon Colin Williams, for whom it was his first experience of being in overall charge of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod, having officially come into post at last year’s Synod meeting in Zagreb.