Anglican Theology course in KU Leuven

On Tuesday 11 February, the Chaplain-President began teaching this year's masters course on Anglican theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven. Students from Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Britain, the USA, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Angola will spend the semester learning more about the English Reformation, Anglican approaches to ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, African Anglicanism and Anglican social theology.

IMG-20200211-WA0000.jpg

Confirmation at Holy Trinity Brussels

The Chaplain-President participated in a Confirmation service at Holy Trinity Brussels on Sunday 9 February, hosted by the mainly Rwandan Anglican community which organises the 14:00 Sunday service there each week. The service was led by Dr Robert Innes, Anglican Bishop in Europe. In the Anglican tradition, Confirmation is the service when Christians confirm personally in public the vows made by their parents and godparents at baptism. Jack had prepared six of the candidates for Confirmation, three from the Anglicaanse kerk Sint Martha en Sint Maria te Leuven and three from the Eglise anglicane à Liège. Congratulations to all concerned!

IMG-20200210-WA0000.jpg

Church in Wales

This evening on 5th February, the Chaplain-President welcomed two visitors at Holy Trinity Brussels to discuss the future of Welsh-Belgian church relations after Brexit. Canon Carol Wardman, Bishops' Adviser for Church and Society in the Church in Wales (the Anglican province in that country) and the Revd Gethin Rhys, Policy Officer for the Churches Together in Wales, were able to have a free, honest and optimistic discussion about maintaining cross-Channel contact and initiatives.

CiW.png

Emouna Belgique

Today 5th February, the Chaplain-President, accompanied by the Secretary, chaired a whole-day meeting of Emouna Belgique, the new interfaith leaders' training course set up by the Recognised Religions in Belgium. This took place at the Vicariat catholique de Bruxelles. After a warm welcome by Mgr Jean Kockerols, the Catholic bishop for the Brussels Region, the morning was devoted to the theme of "La révélation et la raison" with a paper by Bernard Pottier SJ and with focus-groups discussing contemporary conflicts between reason and revealed religion. Lunch was followed by an afternoon on "La place de la femme dans les religions", with papers by Martine Henao (Catholic), Lydia Lehmann (Evangelical) and Lama Rinchen Palmo (Buddhist). The day was searching, frank and enjoyable. The next Emouna day will take place at Holy Trinity Brussels on 19 February on the theme of "Arts et religion".

InkedIMG_20200205_154945_LI.jpg

Sant'Egidio Interfaith Breakfast

The Chaplain-President accompanied Dr Robert Innes, Anglican Bishop in Europe, to this year's Interfaith Harmony Breakfast, organised at Brussels Airport today by the Community of Sant'Egidio. Interfaith leaders from the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant Christian traditions, and from Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, took part. The topic for discussion was the 2019 Document sur la fraternité humaine, pour la paix mondiale et la coexistence commune issued by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Rector of Al-Azhar University Cairo (the Muslim equivalent of Oxford and Cambridge universities for Anglicans or KU Leuven for Catholics). Those present recommitted themselves to active interfaith dialogue and action.

IMG_20200203_123450.jpg

Solemn commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Canon Jack McDonald writes:

I was privileged to be asked by Bishop Robert to represent him at the European Parliament's official commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the extermination camp in Auschwitz on 29 January - Bishop Robert was attending the College of Bishops in London and so could not attend himself.

This is a cliché, but sometimes clichés are true: it was a profoundly moving event, begun at a reception and continued in the hemicycle, ably chaired by the president of the EP, David Sassoli. Three survivors of Auschwitz, one now British, the others Dutch and Italian, all very elderly and frail, spoke about their experiences in the death camp. One of them, in a gesture of almost unlimited poignancy, played the cello for us. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, replied in a speech explicitly given as a German citizen which hammered home the message that the EU was born out of the ashes of European culture represented by Auschwitz, and that unambiguous action against racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and discrimination would always be part and parcel of the core work of the EU. The applause was rapturous and heartfelt - I found it difficult to stop applauding after the survivors spoke.

When I looked at the United Kingdom's flag displayed in the hemicycle, which will be taken down permanently on 1 February, I felt an anguish I have never known in my adult life outside family death. Britain is unwise to leave and to continue the struggle against the rising tide of antisemitism alone.

HolocaustDay2020.png

GO! New Year's reception

Also on the 21st, in the evening, the Secretary attended the New Year’s drink of the GO! or Gemeenschapsonderwijs, the official net of public schools in Flanders and Brussels. The reception took place at the Flemish Parliament in attendance of Mr Ben Weyts, the Minister of Education. In public Dutch-speaking schools students and pupils may opt in for Anglican Religious Education for two hours a week.

IMG_20200121_170701.jpg