secretaris centraalcomite
Royal Evensong Vêpres Avondgebeden

The Right Revd and Right Hon Dame Sarah Mullally will be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury

The Central Committee was delighted to learn on 3 October that the Bishop of London, whom we know well as the historic patron of Holy Trinity Brussels who nominated Arani Sen as Canon Chancellor last year, has been nominated by King Charles of England as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the successor of Augustine of Canterbury, who established the Diocese of Canterbury in 597, and the first woman to become Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop Sarah was previously Chief Nursing Officer of England (for which she received her damehood from Queen Elizabeth), before following a call to ordination. She was ordained deacon in Southwark Cathedral, where the Chaplain-President was ordained deacon and priest. She became Bishop of Crediton in 2015 and was the first female Church of England bishop to lead an ordination service later that year. She has been Bishop of London since 2018. As a Lord Spiritual, she regularly speaks in debates in the House of Lords and she has a particular interest and expertise in medical care and medical ethics. We wish her all our support and we offer her our sincere prayers as she begins this new ministry of leadership and guidance of the Anglican Communion.

Le Comité central dans le monde scientifique

Le 2 octobre, le chapelain-président a participé à une réunion du comité de rédaction de la revue francophone et anglophone à comité de lecture Analecta Bruxellensia, dont il est membre La revue est spécialisée dans les sciences religieuses, la théologie historique et contemporaine et les études bibliques. L'un des projets de Jack consiste à établir un lien entre l'Institut Anglican de Belgique et Analecta en tant que forum universitaire de haut niveau pour la théologie anglicane.

Vlaamse Vereniging van Steden en Gemeentes (VVSG)

Op 1 oktober heeft de secretaris-generaal een prestatie gegeven aan vertegenwoordigers van verschillende steden en gemeentes in Vlaanderen die bij de VVSG horen. Dit was in verband met het erkenningsdecreet van lokale geloofsgemeenschappen en de relatie tussen gemeentes en de erkende levensbeschouwingen vooral wat integratie en duurzaamheid betreft. Er waren ook prestaties door Orbit vzw, Provincie Limburg en de Federale Synode van Protestants-Evangelische kerken in België.

Addressing the climate emergency

On 1 October, the Chaplain-President was one of three experts who led a Diocese in Europe round table on the climate emergency, moderated by the Ven. David Waller, Archdeacon of Gibraltar. 48 people attended the zoom, which demonstrates the extent of the unease across European Anglicanism about the advancing destabilising of the planet's climate. Jack as a professor of theology was joined by Mags Bird (an activist with Christian Climate Action) and Prof Warren Cairns (a climate researcher for the Italian National Research Council) to share ideas about how to interpret the current climate emergency and how best to focus the Anglican Church's energies in addressing it both internationally and locally.

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.