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to Bishop David's blog. Here you can find news, information, articles and pictures about the Church of England Diocese in Europe. We have over 300 congregations or worship centres serving Anglican and (mostly) English-speaking people in Europe, Morocco, Turkey, Russia and some central Asian countries.

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Not gone for long!

Each year we raise up
more vocations to the sacred ministry than we have places for in this diocese. In the Church of
England, people are ordained to serve a curacy - a "title" it is
called - a period of 3 to 4 years in post-ordination training. So each year our Director of Ordinands, Canon William Gulliford,
negotiates with other dioceses to seek title posts for some of our ordinands. Thus we are a net exporter of fine talent to the rest of the Church of
England. However, as this is the best
diocese in the Church of England (or even in the Anglican Communion?) we should
not be surprised that people, whose vocation was discerned here but who left
and were ordained in other dioceses, find their way back.

This
summer, two priests who were originally our ordinands but whom we
exported to other dioceses have recently returned to take up positions, both
co-incidentally in the Netherlands.

The
Reverend James Hill (pictured above) began his work as Assistant Chaplain of
Christ Church, Amsterdam, on 30 June. He comes back to us from the Diocese of
Coventry where he served his title curacy. James is accompanied by his wife
Anna and their two children, Jonathan and Lucy.

The Reverend Ruan Crew began his work as Chaplain of the Anglican Church of St James, Voorschoten, on 1 July. He returns to us from the Diocese of Bristol where he served his title curacy, and is joined by his wife Lisette and children Emily, Hanna and Tim. Ruan is pictured above, left, as he is licensed by the Acting Archdeacon of NW Europe, Meurig Williams.

About me

Burmese-Scottish, educated in Canada. Former priest in Niagara Diocese, Anglican C. of Canada’s Mission Co-ordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean, and Anglican Communion's Director of Ecumenical Affairs & Studies. Bishop since 2002. IARCCUM co-chairman. My wife Dr Colleen Hamid is a medical researcher. We have two sons, Jonathan and Michael. My office is in that great European city called London