Diocese in Europe

2014 – The year ahead

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates

On the first day of 2014, it seems good to think and write about the year ahead and what it might have in store for Sybille and I, for the Anglican congregations in Prague and Brno that I lead, and for the wider Czech Republic. What follows is what I’m currently contemplating, but as always, God might have other ideas 🙂

New leadership of State and Church

It does appear that, more than two months after elections at the end of October, the Czech Republic will once again, shortly have a properly functioning government which is able to command a majority in the lower house of parliament. It will be a three-party coalition, with Bohuslav Sobotka, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (CSSD), as Prime Minister.

However, one can never be sure, especially as all ministerial appointments have to be approved by President Miloš Zeman. Whilst the three political parties who will form the coalition have agreed on the number of ministries they will each control, the names of those proposed as ministers have yet to be made public. Several likely ministerial candidates from the CSSD are people Zeman fell out with before leaving the CSSD some ten years ago. Apparently, according to press reports, the President has indicated that he might refuse to formally appoint some of these individuals, should they be nominated.

If this happens, the matter will probably end up with a complaint to the Constitutional Court, seeking a ruling as to the extent of presidential powers. I do hope that all sides will see common sense and put the well-being of the country ahead of settling old personal and political scores.

It also does appear, that sometime in the coming Spring, the name of the next Anglican Bishop of the Diocese in Europe, will be announced. He, (sadly no chance of ‘she’ just yet), will succeed Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, who retired in early November 2013. If you want to know more about what lies ahead for my next Bishop, see this link to the ‘Description of the Diocese and Statement of Needs‘.

I do find it absurd that, having known since early 2013, the date of Bishop Geoffrey’s retirement, it is only now that the process of appointing his successor is underway. What other major organisation, knowing the date of the forthcoming retirement of its CEO, would not have appointed their successor and had them ready to take over straight-away, thus ensuring a smooth transition? I do think that this is where the Church of England does need a complete rethink. I experienced a very similar situation previously in the Diocese of Oxford where we were without a Diocesan Bishop for around eighteen months.

The Liturgical Year ahead

This year, Easter Day is quite late, falling on Sunday 20th April. This is vastly preferable as far as I’m concerned, in comparison to 2013 when Easter Day was 31st March, the clocks went forward one hour overnight the night before, and there was snow on the ground in Brno.

What it also means is that there is a far longer period of ‘Ordinary Time’, between the end of the Epiphany season on 2nd February, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, which with Easter Day being late, in 2014 falls on Wednesday 5th March.

Therefore, with now being in Year A of the three-year cycle of readings from the Revised Common Lectionary when the Gospel of Matthew predominates, throughout February, the Sunday readings focus on sections of the Sermon on the Mount. This should certainly make for interesting preaching material!

However, I note that during Lent, we also get several large chunks of the Gospel of John each Sunday. Appropriate Lenten penance, both in the time it takes to read the passages as well as then trying to expound them 🙂

Family, holidays and travel

I am looking forward to my son Phillip and his girlfriend Lisa, coming to Prague for a long weekend visit at the end of February. The dates of their visit were partly governed by when jet2.com are scheduled to resume their East Midlands Airport – Prague flights after a post-Christmas/New Year hiatus of seven weeks.

Phillip & Lisa during their previous visit in January 2013 © Ricky Yates

But I’ve since discovered that the weekend they are here, is when the Czech Gambrinus Football League resumes matches following their current mid-winter break. It means that Phillip and I can go and see Dukla Praha play in their stadium which lies directly behind where the Chaplaincy Flat is located, something we’ve talked about doing for the past four years. Dukla will be home to FK Teplice – a fourth versus third-in-the-table clash, which should be most enjoyable. Sybille has promised to take Lisa for a ‘Girls night out’ 🙂

After last year’s Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) Chaplains and Families Conference being held in Switzerland, this year the ICS conference will be in the UK, between Monday 12th – Friday 16th May, in a Conference Centre on the Leicestershire-Northamptonshire border, near Market Harborough. As this location lies almost equidistant between my daughter and son-in-law’s home in Daventry, and Phillip’s home in Nottingham, my plan is to take a week of annual leave following the conference, and spend time with both of them.

I have also been doing some price comparisons and have decided that probably the cheapest, and certainly the most convenient way to travel, will be to drive back to the UK, meaning the first time my right-hand-drive car, will have been driven on the left side of the road, for nearly six years. This will allow me easy movement around the UK which will hopefully also include a trip to the south coast to see one or both of my sisters.

The other big family news I hinted at, in reply to a comment on an earlier post about ‘Discovering the Way of St. James in the Czech Republic‘. Probably starting in late May/early June, Sybille is planning to make a long distance pilgrimage and walk from Prague, all the way to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. We reckon that she will need somewhere in the region of four months to complete the journey, meaning that she will not be back in Prague until probably early October.

Provisionally, I am planning to take a couple of weeks of annual leave in July-August, and walk with her through part of France. I may well be able to bring back some things she will not require in Spain, thus lightening her load.

Eastern Archdeaconry Synod

Further ahead, at the end of September, there will be the annual meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod which in 2014, as I previously indicated, is being hosted by the Prague Anglican congregation. I’m very much looking forward to it, especially if we by then, finally have a Diocesan Bishop who is able to join us. But there is a lot of planning and organisational work to undertake in the meantime.

The 2013 Eastern Archdeaconry Synod

St. Columba's House, Woking © Ricky Yates — St. Columba’s House, Woking © Ricky Yates

As I wrote in my previous post, rather than being hosted by one of the Chaplaincies within the Eastern Archdeaconry, our 2013 Synod meeting, took place at St. Columba’s House, a Conference and Retreat Centre in Woking, Surrey, England, between Thursday 19th – Sunday 22nd September. Here is the post about the Synod meeting itself, as promised at the end of my previous rant about the profusion of unnecessary notices.

From my point of view, having the Synod meeting at Woking did mean it was relatively easy to travel to. I flew Prague – London Gatwick and return, using that well-known low cost airline one of my Church Council members has christened ‘SqueezyJet’, leaving Prague at lunchtime on Thursday and arriving back home in the middle of Sunday evening. The flights both ways, departed right on time, and the onward train journey from Gatwick to Woking, was relatively quick and simple.

As I frequently explain, the Diocese in Europe, of which the Eastern Archdeaconry is part, is the forty-fourth diocese of the Church of England, but no part of it is in England! Strictly speaking, that statement is not quite true as the Diocesan Office is in London and the Bishop’s residence and office, is at Worth, near Crawley, ten minutes drive from London Gatwick Airport. Therefore, the idea of holding our Synod meeting in Woking was so that we might meet with and hear from members of the Diocesan and Bishop’s staff, who are normally only names on the end of emails.

During our Synod meeting, we heard from our soon to retire Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, who sought to answer the question, ‘What is a Diocese and what is its purpose?’ Other speakers were the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF), the Diocesan Appointments Secretary, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO), and the Diocesan Communications Officer. The last of these is also a member of the Diocesan Safeguarding Committee so he also spoke about the very important issue of the safeguarding of children & vulnerable adults.

The Chair of the DBF, obviously spoke about the finances of the diocese – where the money comes from, (mainly the annual contributions of each of the Chaplaincies, together with the income from historic grants and investments), and what it is spent on. The Appointments Secretary spoke about all the procedures involved in appointing a new Chaplain, when there is a vacancy. This was of great help to lay members of the Synod who may face this situation in the near future; for example St Andrew’s, Moscow, where Canon Simon Stephens is due to retire in June next year.

Following the talk by the Diocesan Appointments Secretary, there was quite an interesting discussion around the issue of the legal status of the Anglican Church in each of the over forty countries across which our diocese is spread, and regarding complying with employment law within each of them. This is becoming an ever increasing problem for several Chaplaincies within the Eastern Archdeaconry. Much of this arises out of the historical origin of many of our Chaplaincies.

Particularly in capital cities, many European Anglican Chaplaincies were established with the support of the British government, in conjunction and with the British Embassy in each country. This is reflected in the geographical location of several of them. For example, Christ Church, Vienna is directly opposite the British Embassy in the Austrian capital. St. Nicholas, Ankara, is within the grounds of the British Embassy in the Turkish capital. In the past, Chaplains were often deemed to be Chaplain to the Ambassador and thus had diplomatic status. Despite the Church of England still officially being the Established Church in England, (though not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland), these days there is an ever-increasing distance between Church and state.

At one level, I’m very pleased that there is this distancing as many people still think that somehow we are the spiritual arm of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and financed by the British government. Just to be clear, we are not! But this change has also created problems. For example, the Athens Chaplaincy, despite being in existence since the middle of the nineteenth century, recently had its bank account frozen because it was deemed not to be a legal entity and was therefore accused of tax fraud! Their problem is in the process of being resolved, but not without a few difficulties on the way.

As well as our speakers, the Synod meeting also provided various opportunities for corporate worship in the Conference Centre Chapel, led by ordained members of the Synod and by licensed Readers. Both Jack Noonan and I, led services of Morning Prayer. We also enjoyed two Bible Studies led by Canon Meurig Williams, Chaplain to our Diocesan Bishop and currently also Acting Archdeacon of NW Europe.

Canon Meurig Williams leading a Bible Study © Ricky Yates

As I have written several times previously, one of the most valuable parts of our annual Archdeaconry Synod meetings, is the opportunity for fellowship and mutual support for those of us who work in very isolated situations. In many respects, it is an annual meeting of old friends as well as meeting one or two new ones too.

Finally, in 2014, I will not need to travel at all to attend the meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod as the Prague Chaplaincy have agreed to be the hosts. Between now and Thursday 25th September 2014, I and my Prague Church Council, have a lot of planning and organising to do. As I often write – watch this space!

I do not have a criminal record in the Czech Republic

My certified 'Extract from the Criminal Records of individuals' which declares that 'there is no information about convictions regarding this person'. — My certified ‘Extract from the Criminal Records of individuals’ which declares that ‘there is no information about convictions regarding this person’.

This is what this two page official document, which I successfully obtained today, declares. In the nearly five years I have now lived in the Czech Republic, I have thankfully, done nothing to officially trouble the Czech Police or judicial authorities.

Whilst I can, and have 🙂 , made jokes about having evidence of my lack of criminality, the reason behind my obtaining this certified ‘Extract from the Criminal Records of individuals’ today, is quite serious. It is part of fulfilling the requirements of the ‘Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy’ of the Diocese in Europe and the wider Church of England.

When I was offered the post of being the Anglican Chaplain in the Czech Republic, back in May 2008, it was subject to a ‘UK Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Enhanced Disclosure’ being obtained. This was despite already holding such a document, applied for by the Diocese of Oxford, some four years previously. Only when the new ‘Enhanced Disclosure Certificate’ came through, showing I had no criminal record of any description, could my appointment be officially confirmed and publicly announced.

The policy of the Diocese in Europe, in line with the rest of the Church of England, is that every person exercising a licensed ministry in the diocese, should be re-checked not less than once every five years. It was because my current UK CRB clearance dates from July 2008, that the Diocesan Safeguarding Administrator wrote to me some weeks ago, asking me to complete a fresh ‘Self Declaration Form’, but also to obtain the equivalent of a UK CRB clearance from the Czech authorities.

I was greatly helped in obtaining my Czech certified ‘Extract from the Criminal Records of individuals’, declaring that, ‘there is no information about convictions regarding this person’, by my good friend and colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. She was previously required to obtain a similar document, before being licensed to help in the ministry of the Anglican Chaplaincy in the Czech Republic, under the Ecumenical Canons of the Church of England. However, whilst her certificate came out of the system within a couple of hours, mine ended up taking the full twenty working days that are officially allowed.

The reason for this discrepancy became clear today. For along with the official Czech documentation, there was a further two pages in English, declaring what the Diocese in Europe and I already know – that there is no record of any convictions against my name, recorded in the UK.

As a result of the EU Council of Ministers Decision 2009/315/JHA, each EU member state, shares with each other, evidence of criminality recorded within their jurisdiction. Therefore, although I had not requested it, I also effectively received, an updated CRB clearance from the UK. Actually, it is from the ‘Disclosing and Barring Service (DBS), which is what the CRB was renamed in September 2012, for reasons that are beyond my comprehension!

Whilst fulfilling all the requirements of the ‘Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy’ of my diocese, can at times, feel excessive and burdensome, I completely understand the reasons for them. For it has been the failure of the Roman Catholic Church to have a similar policy in place until recently, or even when belatedly put in place, the policy being bypassed or ignored, that has caused it so much adverse publicity in recent years, not forgetting the lives of the many innocent victims who have suffered at the hands of those who should have been caring for them.

Finally, on a lighter note, I could not help but notice the contrast in costs between the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. To obtain my Czech certified ‘Extract from the Criminal Records of individuals’ today, cost me CZK 100 / £3.33 at current exchange rates. A new CRB (now DBS 😉 ) enhanced disclosure, currently costs £44.00 to obtain!

The 2012 Eastern Archdeaconry Synod at Attica, near Athens

Athens rising sun — The sun rising over the Aegean Sea at Attica © Ricky Yates

Once a year, the clergy of the Anglican Chaplaincies scattered across Central & Eastern Europe, together with elected lay representatives of their congregations, meet together as the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod. This year’s synod meeting took place at the Cabo Verde Hotel in Attica, just outside of Athens, between Thursday 27th – Sunday 30th September.

This was the fifth Eastern Archdeaconry Synod meeting that I have attended. In the week prior to moving to Prague in September 2008, Sybille and I attended as observers, the Synod meeting held that year in Corfu. You can read about all the subsequent Synod meetings here on my blog. They were in Izmir in 2009, Vienna in 2010, and Bucharest in 2011.

Because of the very scattered nature of our Archdeaconry, synod meetings can only realistically be held once a year and have to be residential. They consist of a mixture of worship, Bible Study, talks and discussions. There is always also some input from the host country and this year we heard about the work the Greek Orthodox Church is doing, assisted by St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens, to provide welfare services to those suffering from the current economic crisis that has hit Greece so hard in recent times.

Jack & +Geoffrey 2 — Jack Noonan with Bishop Geoffrey © Ricky Yates

During the Synod meeting, a Eucharist was celebrated by Archdeacon Patrick Curran, to mark the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels on 29th September. Within the service, our Diocesan Bishop Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, licensed Jack Noonan as a Reader to serve the Chaplaincy of St. Clement’s, Prague in the Czech Republic.

Jack is an Irishman, originally from Cork, who has owned a flat in Prague for many years. Following taking early retirement from teaching just over five years ago, he moved to live permanently in the Czech Republic. As a licensed Reader, Jack will work alongside me, assisting both at St. Clement’s and in our recently established satellite congregation in Brno.

The licensing marked the culmination of a process that began more than two years ago, when a meeting of the Prague Church Council on 1st May 2010, agreed to support Jack being put forward for consideration for training as a Reader. Bishop Geoffrey was actually present at that meeting on his first visit to Prague since I became Chaplain four years ago.

Bishop Geoffrey has since taken a personal interest in Jack’s progress, frequently suggesting books which might further aid his studies. Therefore both Jack and I were very pleased that he was able to license Jack in person rather than by delegation to the Archdeacon or to me. Jack is also now in his third year as one of our two lay reps on the Archdeaconry Synod and is therefore well known by many of the other Synod members who were most supportive of him on this very special occasion.

Jack, +Geoffrey, RY & Patrick Curran — From l to r, Jack Noonan, Bishop Geoffrey, myself, Archdeacon Patrick Curran © Ricky Yates

The Synod concluded with all the participants joining the congregation of St. Paul’s, Athens, for their regular Sunday Morning Eucharist at which Bishop Geoffrey was the celebrant and preacher. After the service, which lasted nearly two hours 🙂 , we enjoyed a sandwich lunch under warm sunny skies, sitting in the grounds surrounding the Church.

Acropolis Nikki — The Acropolis seen from the Acropolis Museum © Nikki Hertford

On Sunday afternoon, many of us including myself, enjoyed a most informative guided tour of the relatively recently opened Acropolis Museum, giving a wonderful insight into more than two thousand years of Greek history and culture. From the top floor of the museum, there is a superb view of the Acropolis itself which is currently undergoing major renovation work.

The Celtic Fringe — Canon Meurig Williams & Jack Noonan – two thirds of the Celtic Fringe © Ricky Yates

As always, the most valuable part of Archdeaconry Synod meetings is the opportunity to talk and share fellowship with other members of our scattered Anglican congregations over a coffee, glass of wine or even something slightly stronger 🙂 Here is the Bishop’s Chaplain, Canon Meurig Williams, glass of red wine in hand, deep in conversation with Jack Noonan who has a ‘wee dram’ immediately to his left 😉 Putting these two together with the Prague Church Treasurer Gordon McDonald Truefitt, who was attending his first synod meeting since his election as our second lay rep, and you really did have a gathering of the Celtic Fringe 🙂

Not being able to get a seat on one of the few direct Prague- Athens flights, I flew both ways via Geneva on Swiss airlines. My return trip on the morning of Monday 1st October, gave me this amazing view of Mt Blanc.

Inaccurate assumptions about the Prague Anglican Congregation

St. Clement's from Letna — St. Clement’s Church spire from Letna © Ricky Yates

From time-to-time I get emails, or comments here on my blog, each of which make wholly inaccurate assumptions about the Prague Anglican congregation that I serve as Chaplain. So this post is intended to explode a few myths and instead, try to paint a more accurate picture.

We are the Brits abroad – Wrong!

Many people are surprised to discover that only about a third of our regular congregation are citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give my home country its correct full name. The other two-thirds come from a variety of English-speaking nations from around the world. Or, they are second or even third language English-speakers, happy to worship using the medium of English. Every Sunday, you can almost guarantee that there will be double-figure nationalities making up the congregation.

We are funded by the UK government – Wrong!

Yes, we are part of the forty-fourth diocese of the Church of England, the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. And yes, the Church of England is the ‘Established Church’ in England, (but not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland). But despite being ‘established’, we receive no money whatsoever from the British government to pay the clergy or meet running costs. Contrary to popular opinion, the Church of England is NOT the spiritual arm of the Department of Social Security, nor here in the Czech Republic, the spiritual arm of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office!

We are a bunch of wealthy expats – Wrong!

Many people assume that my congregation consists of wealthy business people and/or diplomats. It doesn’t! Back in the 1990s, and even in the very early years of the new millennium, there were English-speaking expats living in Prague, who were here to set up and run the newly established Czech branch of major international companies. And several of these did worship at St. Clement’s and were generous financial supporters. But now, these jobs are held by well educated Czechs who will be able to speak English, but will not be looking for an English-speaking Church in which to worship.

Instead, the congregation currently consists of teachers of English, teachers in the various International Schools, students (numerous University courses here are taught through the medium of English), the English-speaking half of a Czech-English-speaker marriage, etc. Very few congregational members come anywhere near the category of ‘wealthy’.

We are all Anglicans – Wrong!

A survey undertaken a couple of years ago, revealed that only about half of the congregation are Anglican/Episcopalian by background. All the rest come from a wide variety of other Christian traditions. Fortunately, the Church of England allows those members of other Christian Churches who ‘habitually worship’ with us for at least six months, to join the Church Electoral Roll and fully participate in our congregational life. We use Anglican liturgy in our worship, we follow the laws of the Church of England which govern the way our congregation is administered, but we are far from all being Anglicans.

Amusing assumptions

A couple of assumptions that I’ve read or heard could probably best be described as ‘delusions of grandeur’ and each brought a smile to my face. One was a Czech lady, a member of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, who thought I was the Anglican Bishop of this country!

The other was a female Canadian lawyer who worshipped with us whilst visiting Prague at Easter, two years ago. A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from her, saying how much she had appreciated the service and enclosing 300 Kc in cash. Her request was that I ‘ask my assistant to send her a couple of postcards of the Church as she had forgotten to purchase them when she was there’. I did smile at the assumption that I have a full-time paid assistant!

Consequences and complications

Having a congregation with such a mix of nationalities and Christian traditions is a great joy. But it also raises a number of interesting issues, especially in two important aspects of our worship – liturgy and the hymns we sing.

The liturgy of the Church of England in various places asks us to pray for ‘Elizabeth our Queen’ and on occasions, for ‘the High Court of Parliament’. For many in the Prague congregation, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is not their Queen! Fortunately, by producing our own Orders of Service, we can omit the inappropriate words. The formula those who lead intercessions often use is to pray for ‘….the President and government of the Czech Republic and for the leaders of all the nations represented here today’.

I had long been aware that in England, Anglicans and Free Church people often sing the same hymn but to different tunes. For example, Charles Wesley’s great hymn ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’, used normally to be sung by Anglicans to John Stainer’s tune called ‘Love divine’, whilst Methodists and others would sing it to the Welsh tune ‘Blaenwern’. In more recent times, many Anglicans have taken to using ’Blaenwern’ thus lessening the issue.

But what I have discovered since being in Prague, is what might best be described as the ‘transatlantic divide’. Americans and Brits know many of the same hymns but sing them to totally different tunes! We use a British Hymnal with a very wide range of hymns and more modern worship songs. But they frequently are not set to the tunes that Americans are familiar with.

One further practical problem also arises. What other important days beyond those of the Christian calendar, do you celebrate? For British and Irish people, last Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, was Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day. But for Americans, Australians and many other nationalities, Mother’s Day, (or specifically for Americans, ‘Mom’s Day’), is the second Sunday in May.

Life might be simpler if the Prague Anglican congregation who I have privilege to minister to, would be monochrome. But I’m glad it isn’t, as it is much more fun to work and worship with such a diverse and fascinating group of people, even allowing for all the issues that arise.