Edith Cavell award 2025 recipient Pat Deckmyn Norman

On Sunday 28 September 2025, the Secretary-General and Second Second Secretary were honoured to attend St. Boniface, Antwerp to present the Edith Cavell award to Patricia Deckmyn Norman.

This award is named in honour of a true Anglican heroine who lived in Belgium during the First World War and whose faith embodied the principles of faith, selfless-service and sacrifice prior to her execution by the German army. As part of the Central Committee’s celebrations of 150 years of legal recognition, the Edith Cavell award was established to recognise those who offer these qualities of faith, service and sacrifice in the Anglican Church in Belgium today. The award was presented in the presence of Pat’s family and her church family of St. Bonficace.

Pat was nominated to the Central Committee by her parish in recognition of her many years of faithful service. The Central Committee was impressed to learn about Pat’s commitment to ecumenism, teaching Sunday school for many years, as a faithful member of the choir, and arranging flowers each week. Pat has been an active member of the Ladies Guild and has offered pastoral care for many people and visited the sick. One member wrote, “[Pat] thinks of her input as ‘just what I do’ but it goes above and beyond people’s care for their fellow parishioners.”

We give thanks to God for the examples of faith from people like Edith Cavell and Pat. Congratulations!

(Thank you to Bob Turner for the photos of the special occasion)

EI&V vergadert met kabinet Demir

Op 29 september 2025 waren de secretaris-generaal en de adviseur inspecteur anglicaans godsdienst onderwijs aanwezig samen met de leden van de EI&V bij een kennismakingsgesprek met vertegenwoordigers van het kabinet van Vlaams minister Demir.

Sindsdien hebben vertegenwoordigers van het godsdienstonderwijs voor elk van de erkende erediensten een verklaring afgegeven aan de leerkracht LBV.

All Saints' Waterloo

On 28 September, while others in the Central Committee were visiting St Boniface's Antwerpen, the Chaplain-President preached at the parish communion service at All Saints' Waterloo. The former Secretary of the Central Committee, the Revd Jo Jan Vandenheede, is now the Assistant Priest in Waterloo, as the parish continues its search for a new Rector. After a warm and uplifting service, the congregation had coffee together, along with some delicious carrot-cake.

Fête de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles

Le 27 septembre, le chapelain-président a eu l'honneur de représenter les anglicans de Belgique à la fête de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, qui se tenait à l'hôtel de ville de Bruxelles. Au programme des discours des personnages politiques entrelacés des interventions des humoristes La Framboise frivole. A noter particulièrement était le discours de M. Benoît Dispa, président du Parlement de la Fédération, qui donnait un plaidoyer énergétique contre les trois P "populisme, polarisation, post-vérité" qui - dans le contexte du virage des démocraties occidentales vers des politiques extrémistes - rappelait au chapelain-président qu'il était finalement chez lui en Belgique.

How European states formally relate to religions and convictions

On 24 September, the Chaplain-President attended a dinner at the Maison du Cygne in Brussels offered by Madame Maïté De Rue and Madame Eline Roofthooft of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, to which the chefs de culte et de conviction in Belgium were invited alongside senior civil servants from across the EU and the UK who work in the area of State relations with religious and philosophical groups. Conversations were rich and varied about how different European countries navigate formal relations with churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and meeting-houses. Jack was able to defend the solutions adopted in Belgian law as offering the nation religious and philosophical groups which related well together and acted for the public good.

Prison chaplain training day

On the 24th of September, Anglican prison chaplains met in Church House at Holy Trinity Brussels for a training day. The programme started with a time of Bible study and singing, led by one of the volunteer prison chaplains, Balthazar. Later, the Secretary-General Stephen Murray, facilitated a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) which the group worked through over the course of the day. The prison chaplains also attended the mid-week Eucharist that takes place at Holy Trinity every Wednesday.

Collation service of Reverend Canon Jean Bosco Turahirwa

On Sunday the 21st of September, the newest member of the Central Committee, Grace West, attended the service at Holy Trinity Brussels during which the Reverend Jean Bosco Turahirwa was collated as Canon of the Diocese in Europe by Bishop Andrew Norman, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese in Europe.

Revd Jean Bosco was appointed as Canon in recognition for his ongoing work in peace and conflict transformation. He is part of the team that offers the Peace and Conflict Transformation course, which helps people deal with conflict in many areas of life and help them in the process of conflict transformation. Registrations for the 2025-2026 course are now open.

Congratulations, Reverend Canon Jean Bosco, and many blessings for this new phase in your ministry!

Centenary Conference on the Malines Conversations articles and reports

Centenary Conference on the Malines Conversations #2

The final two days of the Malines centenary conference were as busy as the first two days. On 20 September, the Chaplain-President led the morning plenary session of conference-papers from the Revd Dr Kirsty Borthwick (Christ Church, University of Oxford) and Prof Sigrid Muller (Universität Wien) on Anglican-Catholic approaches to liturgy and to making moral judgements. Two of the conference rapporteurs were local Anglican clergy: the Revd Evelyn Sweerts (Bishop Robert's chaplain) and the Ven. Sam van Leer (Archdeacon of Benelux). Mgr Terlinden hosted lunch in Mechelen Palace and later in the day the conference dinner was held in a local restaurant. Mgr Terlinden hosted breakfast on 21 September, and many of the Anglican delegates attended mass in Mechelen Cathedral, where the welcome from Father Filip Hacour was effusive (we were invited for coffee and cake afterwards). The Chaplain-President hosted Lord and Lady Halifax for lunch, before an academic session held in Mechelen Cathedral at which Mgr Johan Bonny (Bishop of Antwerpen), Mgr Stephen Cottrell (Archbishop of York), Cardinal Kurt Koch, Lord Halifax and Mgr Terlinden all gave speeches on Anglican-Catholic relations. Mgr Terlinden moved us immensely by inviting the Chaplain-President to advise the Belgian Bishops' Conference on how to introduce more synodality into the Catholic Church in Belgium - this had been a theme of the conference. A commemorative plaque was unveiled by Lord Halifax and Mgr Terlinden in the Mercier Chapel of the cathedral. A festal evensong sung by the choir of Christ's College, University of Cambridge and co-presided by Mgr Terlinden, Mgr Cottrell and Cardinal Koch was the culmination of the conference, with Bishop Robert, Cardinal De Kesel, Mgr Bernard Longley (Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) and Mgr Bonny also participating. This conference has been an enormous boost to our relations with our Catholic sisters and brothers. We are unreservedly grateful for their hospitality, encouraged by the quality, courage and warmth of the conference papers and grateful for Mgr Terlinden's invitation to share our experiences of synodality in our Christian discipleship.


Katholieken en anglicanen vieren honderd jaar 'Mechelse gesprekken': “Unieke gelegenheid om befaamd koor aan het werk te horen” | GVA

Centenary Conference on the Malines Conversations #1

The centenary conference to celebrate the Malines Conversations, held in Mechelen from 18 to 21 September, is going full-swing. The Chaplain-President, Secretary-General and Second Secretary have joined a large group of Catholic and Anglican theologians to discuss and mark the ground-breaking talks on doctrine between Cardinal Mercier and Viscount Halifax from 1921 to 1926. The Catholic welcome, led by Mgr Terlinden and Cardinal De Kesel, has been flawless, with generous hospitality offered in Mechelen Palace. The conference has been fascinating, with high-level contributions from friends from KU Leuven (Prof Jan De Volder) and UCLouvain (Prof Arnaud Join-Lambert) and from afar (Archbishop Ian Ernest, Prof Paul Murray, Canon Jamie Hawkey and others). Bishop Robert and Bishop Andrew have been constant supportive presences. The choir of Christ's College Cambridge sang a wonderful concert of Anglican church music in Mechelen Cathedral on the evening of 19 September, to huge applause. We are overjoyed that Anglican-Catholic relations can still take on this warmth, quality and energy.

The European Democracy Shield

On 17 September, the Chaplain-President, in his capacity as Bishop Robert's adviser for EU affairs, participated in a seminar at the European Commission on the proposed European Democracy Shield, a combined approach to safeguarding democracy in the EU via both action against hostile online misinformation from outside the EU and supportive action for critical thinking, digital literacy, transparency and encouraging good practice within the EU. Religious and philosophical groups are particularly interested in encouraging critical thinking and transparency within their communities and in wider society.

Requiem for Mgr Noël Treanor

We spoke last year of the untimely death of our great friend Mgr Noël Treanor, Papal Nuncio to the EU. On 15 September, the Chaplain-President represented Lambeth Palace and Bishop Robert at a requiem held for the anniversary of Archbishop Noël's death at Notre-Dame du Sablon de Bruxelles, concelebrated by Mgr Bernadito Auza (Papal Nuncio to the EU), Mgr Franco Coppola (Papal Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg), Mgr Lode Aerts (Bishop of Brugge) and Mgr Jean Kockerols (Assistant Bishop in Mechelen-Brussels) and a large group of Catholic clergy. It was a bitter-sweet occasion of confidence in God's eternal plans and many happy memories, together with sadness at the loss of so dear a friend. Requiescat in pace ut in gloria resurgat.

Meeting the new Chair of the Diocese in Europe Board of Finance

On 10 September, the Chaplain-President met the Revd Lord Stephen Green at Bishop Robert's office in Brussels. Lord Green is a priest of the Church of England who has exercised most of his ministry in finance and banking, notably as chairman of HSBC Bank. He received his peerage to work as Minister for Trade and Investment in the UK Coalition Government from 2011 to 2013. Bishop Robert mentioned his appointment as chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance in his address to the Diocesan Synod in June this year. Stephen has a wealth of financial and ethical acumen on which European Anglicans will be able to draw and is a passionate European: Jack was able to discuss with him ways in which his experience could serve the Archbishop of Canterbury's Permanent Representation to the EU, which Bishop Robert chairs.

Anglicans in the European Institutions

On 11 September, Bishop Robert and the Chaplain-President spent the day in meetings with various European personalities: Dr Vincent Depaigne, who heads the European Commission's Article 17 Dialogue with religious and non-confessional bodies; Metropolitan Athenagoras de Belgique, who co-chairs the Anglican Communion's formal dialogue with the Orthodox Churches; Dr Fearghas O'Beara, who heads the European Parliament's Liaison Office in Dublin, and Ms Anne Sherriff, British Ambassador to Belgium. Many topics of pressing importance to the Anglican Churches and to Europe were discussed.

Meeting of the Central Committee

On 10 September, the full Central Committee (members: Jack, Eric, Grace; bureau: Stephen, Rebecca) met online with a very full agenda to discuss and make decisions concerning our parishes, religious education in schools, prison ministry, hospital ministry, the Anglican Institute in Belgium, plans for the Malines Conversations centenary conference this month, plans for the King's visit to Holy Trinity Brussels in November and other relevant matters.

Stuurgroep Thomas More Hoge School professionaliseringstraject lokaal geloofsgemeenschapsbestuur

Op 10 september 2025, de secretaris-generaal heeft het Centraal Comité vertegenwoordigt bij een vergadering van de stuurgroep voor een professionaliseringstraject bij Thomas More hoge school in Mechelen voor bestuurders van lokale geloofsgemeenschappen.

Deze postgraduaat opleiding is een aantal jaar geleden begonnen met de bedoeling om vrijwilligers in lokale geloofsgemeenschappen te ondersteunen met professioneel, actueel en accuraat informatie over hun opdracht als voorzitter, penningmeester of secretaris. De stuurgroep komt regelmatig samen met coördinators van Thomas More en andere stakeholders zoals de Vlaamse overheid en federale ministerie van Justitie om updates te horen en over de toekomst te bespreken.

Preparing for Malines 100 - AIB Anglican Insights lecture

On 3 September 2025, the Chaplain-President led an Anglican Insights session for the Anglican Institute in Belgium (AIB) online under the title "The Malines Conversations: a Fresh Look". Jack outlined the reasons for a dialogue between Anglican and Catholic theologians in Mechelen in 1921 being a surprising and unlikely occurrence, given the climate of mutual suspicion which affected both Churches until the middle of the 20th century. He then spoke of what conclusions the Conversations reached and how they shape current ecumenical conversations. We recommend the centenary international conference of the Malines Conversations, which takes place in Mechelen from 18 to 21 September, as the perfect way to deepen your understanding of what is at stake when the Churches talk together in friendship. The lecture was attended by 20 people from across Europe.


"Well done, thou good and faithful servant"

On 27 August, the Chaplain-President, Secretary-General and Second Secretary entertained Canon Ann Turner from St Boniface Antwerp and Sister Julian OSB from Holy Trinity Brussels to lunch in Antwerp. This was to thank Ann for her years of service to the Comité Anglicaans Godsdienstonderwijs, which she has served since her arrival in Belgium in 1991, latterly as President for many years. Sister Julian is the current Inspecteur-Adviseur of the CAGO. Several generations of schoolchildren in Flemish and Brussels state schools have benefited from Ann's faithful and diligent service to Anglican Religious Education and we are unreservedly grateful for her service.