Under sunny German skies, delegates from parishes and missions of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe met October 12-16, 2005, for their Annual Convention at the Dominikanerkloster, a Christian conference center in downtown Frankfurt. Bishop-in-Charge Pierre W. Whalon joined with clergy, laity, and youth delegates from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland and representatives of the Diocese in Europe (Church of England), the Board of Foreign Parishes (USA), the Office of the Presiding Bishop, and the Office of Communication of the Episcopal Church Center to discuss and shape priorities which will guide the European mission and parishes for many years to come.
A new mission hymn, the presence of representatives of a fledging Spanish-speaking congregation in Rome, Italy, and of three free-standing Francophone missions in Toulon, Clermont Ferrand, and Bordeaux, France, and a decidedly mission-minded agenda contributed to shatter any lingering image of laid-back English-speaking chaplaincy churches.
The convention approved a budget of over $465,000, made changes to the by-laws of the Paris-based official European non-profit holding corporation for some of the American congregations, proposed changes to the canons regulating the life of the Convocation, and agreed upon six mission priorities: Youth Ministry, Training and Nurturing, Building New Missions, Spirituality and Worship Development, Environmental Justice, and Leadership and Visioning.
The convention's approved mission priorities call for planting congregations in English and other languages as the need is discerned. Indeed, the convocation has recently published editions of the Book of Common Prayer in French, Italian, and German. A bilingual English-Spanish edition of the Book of Common Prayer is also in use.
"Pray as if expecting your prayer will be answered, because it will," Whalon challenged the delegates and visitors in attendance to the opening Convention Eucharist. "Who's calling us? What for?" The business of the convention is to make happen "what we ask Jesus to do in each Eucharist--to be sent in mission into the world," said Whalon.
On Friday, Oct 14, the Convocation appropriately gathered at the Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) for Morning Prayer and the commemoration of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (1831-1906). Schereschewsky, a gifted linguist and former Bishop of Shanghai, translated the Bible into Mandarin and, despite a relentlessly devastating condition, "spent the rest of his life completing his Wenli Bible, the last 2000 pages of which he typed with the one finger that he could still move." His ministry, indicative of "how much can be accomplished with so little," highlighted the convocation's pressing need of educational materials in the Anglican tradition in languages other than English-- in French, Italian, German, Spanish and, eventually, even in Chinese, as according to Whalon, there are conversations for developing an English-Chinese mission congregation in Eastern Europe.
From traditional chaplaincy ministry to English-speaking residents, to ministry to US deportees, to ministry in higher education, to outreach to the unchurched in their native languages, under Whalon's leadership the congregations of the convocation are actively and faithfully involved carrying out God's mission in this world "to reconcile all things in Christ."
At the closing Eucharist, celebrated at Christ the King Church, Frankfurt, Whalon handed over the Cross of Canterbury to the Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood, ninth Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Paris, France. The 4 foot tall wooden cross was dedicated in 1997 as a commemoration of the arrival in 597 AD of St. Augustine to the British Islands. As a powerful reminder of the power of prayer and of the proclamation of the Gospel, the cross is sent from the congregation hosting the current year's convention to the next hosting church which, in 2006 will gather in Paris, France.
All through the Convention "A vision seen, a call obeyed," a hymn recently composed by former Convocation Bishop-in-Charge Jeffery Rowthorn of the Convocation "to be sung at the Annual Convention of the Convocation of American Churches...in commemoration of the first use of the new Book of Common Prayer (1552) by the English exiles in Frankfurt am Main in May, 1555," uplifted participants singing to be empowered, "with a faith well trained" to follow in St. Paul's missionary steps.
-The Rev. Thomas Mansella is Translation Services Coordinator of the Office of Communication at the Episcopal Church Center.
Article from ENS: By Thomas Mansella