St Clement’s Church

Are Czech Churches welcoming?

Back on the last Sunday of January 2016, we were joined at St. Clement’s for worship by Alex and Kathleen, a Czech-British couple, together with about fifteen of their family and friends. Alex and Kathleen live in the UK and are regular worshippers at their local parish church. But they also maintain a flat in Prague and, whenever they spend time here, they always join us for worship at St. Clements.

Alex was celebrating his ninetieth birthday, hence his family and friends had travelled from various parts of the world, to be in Prague to mark this special occasion. And attending our Church service that morning, was seen as an integral part of the weekend of celebrations.

A few months previously, Kathleen had asked me if they could invite a young Czech soloist called Jan, to sing during the service that morning. Jan is a personal friend of Alex’s and had studied music under our regular organist, Professor Michal Novenko. I assured her that this would be a wonderful addition to our worship and Michal was very pleased to cooperate and accompany Jan from the organ.

Therefore on that Sunday morning, Jan sang three different arias from Handel’s ‘Messiah’ – one after the sermon, before we said the Nicene Creed, and two during the administration of communion. He did so, standing on the balcony at the west end of the Church, where the organ is also located. From that vantage point, he watched and followed all of the service.

During the colder months of the year, following worship, we have Coffee Hour in the hall across the road from the Church in Klimentská 18. It is an opportunity both to share fellowship and to warm up after spending around eighty minutes in a Church with limited heating 😉 That morning, we also all got to share in a special birthday cake that Kathleen had provided.

At Coffee Hour, Jan sought me out in order to speak with me. He firstly thanked me for giving him the opportunity to sing during the service. But he then said to me, ‘ I want to bring a whole series of Roman Catholic priests to your services, to show them how to be warm and welcoming to everyone who comes to worship’. He then went on to say how he appreciated that everyone had a complete Order of Service containing all of our liturgy. How I explained when to stand, when to sit, when to join in, etc. For me, this is what I normally do. To him, it was a revelation!

As always, it is nice to be complimented and appreciated for what I do. But I was also deeply saddened to once more hear of the lack of warmth and welcome experienced by those who have attended Czech Churches, in Jan’s case, Czech Roman Catholic Churches.

Four and a half years ago, I wrote here on this blog, about the conversations I had with Czechs in their twenties, thirties and forties, at the reception following the wedding of Petr and Kristin. That they found the way I led that wedding service both warm and welcoming and in total contrast to their past experience of attending occasional Czech Church services. As I wrote then:

‘It is not the primary purpose of my being here in the Czech Republic, to minister to the spiritual needs of Czech people, but rather to the spiritual needs of native English-speakers. But I increasingly feel that the main reason that the Czech Republic is as atheistic or agnostic as it appears to be, is not because of a deliberate rejection of Christian faith by its population, but rather as a result of the failure of the Czech Christian Churches to be an attractive advert for the Christian faith.’

In recent months, I’ve tried to understand the reasons for this lack of welcome to newcomers or occasional worshippers in Czech Churches. So far, I’ve come up with two possibilities which I will now outline. I would welcome feedback, especially from native Czechs, as to whether I’m correct.

One reason is that it is a hangover from Communism. During the nearly forty-two years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, those who attended Church worship; those who were Church members, all suffered. They were restricted in the area of employment, often being forced to only do menial tasks. Their children were limited regarding educational opportunities. Therefore Church congregations turned inward, seeking to mutually support each other. They didn’t welcome any outsider who wanted to join them, suspecting such individuals to be informers.

The second reason is not unique to the Czech Republic – I’ve come across it many times in England. It is the attitude that those who decide to come to Church, should already ‘know what to do’. They shouldn’t need any explanation – they should know!

Both of these attitudes have got to change! It is nearly twenty-seven years since the fall of Communism. The outsider is to be welcomed and not feared. And there is now an almost completely un-churched generation who cannot be expected to know what ‘we do in Church’.

Sadly, the answer to my question in the title of this post is that many Czech Churches are not welcoming. If they do want to grow and not die, habits need to change – rapidly!

My April 2016 visit to the UK – Brownsea Island & St Tecwyn’s Church, Llandecwyn

The castle on Brownsea Island, as seen from the ferry from Sandbanks © Ricky Yates

Following worship at St. Clement’s on the morning of Sunday 17^th April, when I and the congregation bid farewell to Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, I was away from the Czech Republic for the rest of the month, only returning to Prague on the afternoon of Saturday 30^th April, ready to lead worship the following day. It was first a week of annual leave, which was then followed by attending my final ICS Chaplains Conference.

I drove from Prague to the UK over a period of two days, following the almost identical route I described two years ago, when I last made this journey. The only difference this time was that I spent the night of Sunday 17^th, staying with the York family in Luxembourg. Then when I drove off the ferry in Dover the following afternoon, rather than heading north to the East Midlands, I instead headed west to Bournemouth to spend two nights with my eldest sister June and brother-in-law Garry.

On Tuesday 19^th April, I had a delightful day out with June and Garry, visiting Brownsea Island, situated in the middle of Poole Harbour. We first drove to nearby Sandbanks, where Garry parked the car, and then took the small passenger ferry across to the island.

Lord Baden Powell memorial © Ricky Yates

Now in the care of the National Trust, Brownsea Island is famous as the site of the first-ever Scout Camp organised by Lord Baden Powell in 1907.

It is also one of the few places in southern England where indigenous red squirrels survive, largely because non-native grey squirrels have never been introduced to the island. The red squirrels are normally quite shy but this one came near enough for me to photograph.

Brownsea also has a small ornamental population of peacocks. This one even kindly posed for me.

View across Poole Harbour from Brownsea Island © Ricky Yates

The island is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and 0.75 miles (1.2 km) wide and consists of 500 acres (202.34 ha) of woodland (pine and oak), heathland and salt-marsh. We walked right around the island, stopping for our picnic lunch en-route. The weather was kind to us and I was delighted to visit somewhere I had seen from a passing cross-channel ferry, but where I had never previously set foot.

On Wednesday 20^th April, I set off from Bournemouth on the south coast of England, heading for North Wales. I had arranged to stay that night at Bryn Derw, a small Bed and Breakfast establishment located just outside Talsarnau. This was to enable me to enjoy a scenic train journey the next day, about which more in my next post.

This was the view from in front of Bryn Derw, with blue skies, warm sunshine, and being able to see the tops of the mountains – a relatively rare event in Wales 🙂

After putting my belongings into my room for the night, I drove up a steep narrow lane into the hills behind, hoping to get a better view across to the mountains of Snowdonia and the nearby estuary of the Afon Dwyryd. On both counts, I was not disappointed as you can see.

The estuary of Afon Dwyryd © Ricky Yates

St Tecwyn's Church, Llandecwyn © Ricky Yates — St Tecwyn’s Church, Llandecwyn © Ricky Yates

But what was even more pleasing, was finding this beautifully located and very peaceful little Church. It is dedicated to St Tecwyn, an ancient Welsh saint. These days, it is only used for occasional services in summer – Evening Prayer in Welsh. But the Church is kept open for visitors and as a peaceful place for prayer. I only discovered it by pure chance but was thrilled to do so.

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!

When I’m Sixty-Four

Tomorrow will be my sixty-fourth birthday. Yes – on 26^th February 1952, in the upstairs bedroom of a semi-detached house in Allesley, Coventry, UK, Yours Truly made his entry into the world. Of course, if I had arrived three days later, then it would only be my sixteenth birthday as 1952 was a leap year 🙂 , just like 2016.

The reason I was born at home and not in hospital, was because my two older sisters had been born in hospital. My mother had had no problem with either delivery so was told that baby number three could be born at home. My mother was under the care of her district midwife, a situation which is now much more widely understood by the younger generation, because of the TV series ‘Call the Midwife’. However, I chose to enter the world on my mother’s district midwife’s day-off, meaning that a colleague covering for her, had to assist with my delivery.

Unlike 25^th February 2015, when Sybille and I celebrated our joint birthdays with a delightful meal at Sansho, I cannot celebrate with her today, as she is currently in Spain, walking the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago de Compostela. So instead, I sent greetings to her by Skype yesterday, wishing her both ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Alles gute zum Geburtstag!‘ I’m sure she will return the compliment to me tomorrow. And I have been invited out to lunch tomorrow, in honour of my birthday.

Whilst my birthday tomorrow is not a landmark one with a zero at the end, it still has great significance. Why? Because it means that in exactly one year’s time, both the Church of England and the state, will allow me to retire if I choose to do so. Whilst because of increased human longevity, retirement ages are being raised for younger people, it doesn’t really affect me, because of my age.

I probably will not retire in exactly a year’s time. However, my current Bishop’s Licence as Chaplain of St. Clement’s, Prague, only goes to the end of April 2017. Therefore sometime between my sixty-fifth birthday on 26^th February 2017 and the expiry of my Bishop’s Licence on 30^th April 2017, I will retire – the exact date to be decided in the next few months.

The other major decision to be made is where to retire to. That is a big issue to be resolved sometime this summer. In the mean time, I end this post with a song that I’ve been whistling and singing the past few weeks in anticipation of tomorrow. Rather than the original from The Beatles, here’s a fun version by a male voice choir.

A snowy Sunday and Monday in Prague and Dresden

On Sunday 17^th January 2016, I conducted worship in two different countries, something I shall now be doing quite regularly in 2016 on the third Sunday of each month. At 11.00, I celebrated the Eucharist and preached at St Clement’s Anglican Church in Prague. Then at 18.00, I led a service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden.

St Clement's Church, Prague in the snow © Ricky Yates — St Clement’s Church, Prague in the snow © Ricky Yates

Over the weekend, we had a further serious snowfall, so this was the scene that greeted me as I arrived outside St. Clement’s, waiting for our host Czech Protestant congregation to finish their service. It was still snowing when I took the photograph.

From the second week in January, through to around the second or third week of March, Prague enters what I always refer to as the ‘non-tourist season’. It is the time when you can walk around some of the popular historic sights in Prague, without being run over by hordes of visiting tourists. However, tourists are a great boon to us as a Church as, on most Sundays, the congregation is boosted numerically by visitors. Some of them also contribute quite generously to the collection. But for the second Sunday running, we had no visitors at all in the congregation – I knew everybody by name. Clearly we are in the ‘non-tourist season’!

We were therefore, a slightly smaller congregation than usual, with the weather and winter ailments, preventing some people from attending. But nearly all those who did come were very un-Anglican – they sat together in the front pews! Being regulars, they knew where the limited under-pew heating is most effective 🙂

After warming up at Coffee Hour and enjoying post-service refreshments in the hall across the street in Klimentska 18, I then headed off on a short three-stop tram journey to Praha hlavní nádraží (Praha hl.n.) – Prague main railway station, in the company of my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. I had invited Karen to be the preacher at the January English-language Anglican Evening Prayer service in the Frauenkirche, in advance of her leaving Prague in the next few months.

Upon arrival at Praha hl.n., I immediately checked the departures board, to see whether the platform number for our train to Dresden Haupbahnhof (Dresden Hbf), was displayed. Unfortunately there was no platform number but instead, a note that departure would be delayed by thirty minutes. The train was coming from Budapest and presumably had experienced problems with the adverse weather conditions en-route.

Sitting on the station concourse, constantly scanning the departures board, I increasingly began to panic that we wouldn’t make it to the Frauenkirche on time. Finally, we were summoned to platform six, and the train that was meant to set out at 14.27, departed just after 15.00. Fortunately, there were no further delays between Praha hl.n. and Dresden Hbf. Instead, we actually made up nearly ten minutes of the delay. Following a three-stop tram journey and then a five minute walk, we safely arrived at the Frauenkirche, just after 17.30.

I knew from reading the Frauenkirche website, that between Monday 11th – Saturday 16 January, the Church had been completely shut down, to allow a variety of repair and maintenance tasks to be carried out, as well as a very thorough cleaning of the interior. Apparently, this happens every year, during a quiet week in January. Having been admitted by the verger, I immediately smelt the wood stain with which the wooden floor under pews, had been treated. Sitting on the dais for the service, I noticed how bright and sparkling the rededos was, behind the altar 🙂

I had been told back in July, that numbers attending the Anglican service in winter, could be quite low, around 35-40, for exactly the same reason as in Prague – it being the ‘non-tourist season’! But when I did a rough head count, during a musical interlude within the service, I arrived at a total of just over sixty. They looked somewhat scattered, but then the main body of the Church will seat in excess of three hundred people. It made me realise that my figure of around one hundred attending the service last September, may well have been an underestimate.

With Rev'd Dr Karen Moritz in the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates — With Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz in the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

I have to say that I felt a lot less nervous leading the service last Sunday evening, than I did on my first outing last September. I really felt I had begun to build a bit of a rapport with some of the regular attendees. It was also a pleasure to hear Karen preach as she spoke about ‘The Foolishness of the Cross’, based on the Biblical text from 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31. We posed for this picture, under the pulpit, following the end of the service.

With members of the congregation in the neighbouring Bierstube © Gary Hohenstein — With Karen Moritz and members of the congregation in the neighbouring Bierstube © Gary Hohenstein

After getting dis-robed, Karen and I accepted an invitation to join a few of the congregation for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der Frauenkirche I ordered ein großes Bier, assuming I would get a 0.5l glass, in contrast to ein kleines Bier, a 0.3l glass. Much to everyone’s amusement, what arrived was ein sehr großes Bier, a one litre glass 😀 Evidence in this photograph.

The Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau © Ricky Yates

After staying overnight in Hotel Martha, I had hoped to get some photographs of snowy Dresden in daylight, especially as the sky cleared and the sun came out as we were finishing our breakfast. But catching the correct trams to get back to Dresden Hbf in time for our train back to Prague, took greater priority. However, we were treated to some spectacular views on our train journey home, which I was able to capture.

Soon after leaving Dresden, the railway line follows the valley of the River Elbe as it cuts through an area of sandstone mountains known as the Sächsische Schweiz – Saxon Switzerland. The mountains form the natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic. On the Czech side, the mountains are known as the Ceské Švýcarsko – Czech or Bohemian Switzerland. The name for the area was created by two Swiss artists, appointed to the Dresden Academy of Art in the second half of the eighteenth century. They believed the area to be very similar to their homeland in the Jura region of Switzerland.

Just after passing through the spa town of Bad Schandau, the train came to an unscheduled halt, which allowed me to get this photograph of the Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau.

When we did continue, once a long freight train had passed by in the other direction, we moved very slowly onto the other track, to pass a broken down freight train blocking our track. This is what enabled me to take the following three photographs. Whilst this caused us to be fifteen minutes late getting back to Prague, on this occasion, I wasn’t complaining 🙂

Snow-covered field by the River Elbe © Ricky Yates — Snow-covered fields by the River Elbe © Ricky Yates

Sächsische Schweiz and the River Elbe © Ricky Yates

Seeing this area, covered with snow and glistening in sun, has made me add Sächsische Schweiz and Ceské Švýcarsko to my ever-lengthening bucket list of places I would like to visit and explore.