Anglican Newsletter

September 2008

Volume 1 Number 9

Prologue

Monthly Greater Lisbon Chaplaincy Newsletter

·         If you looked for an August Newsletter there wasn’t one. Not that nothing was happening. Lots of church community activities were going on. It was just that the editor took a little holiday. Mea culpa. So here we are, onward and upward as summer memories fade into autumn leaves and thoughts turn to the beginning of the church year- Advent- and the Christmas season just beyond. 

·         Last Sunday, the 13^th, at St. Paul’s, we saw the first group of Sunday Schoolers leave for class after the opening prayers. Under the leadership and care of Jules Mason and the Shiells (Christopher, Heather, Matthew and Jonathan, St. Paul’s church in Estoril offers a lively Christian education programme,with an Anglican orientation, for young children. There is also a crèche for even younger attendees. The church school takes place during the Sunday service (9:30 AM to 10:15 AM).  

·         All readers are URGED to spread the news about the Sunday School to ex-pat community families who may be looking for a solid grounding in Christian education 101 for their youngsters. St. George’s in Lisbon is also a possible venue for this programme during the later service there. (11:30 AM - !2:30 AM). A call to the Chaplain or to Christopher Shiell (214 872 155) can answer all questions.

Services

September Services and Readings 

• Every Sunday - THE EUCHARIST   0930hrs St Paul’s, 1130hrs St George’s

• First Sunday of the month - EVENING PRAYER   1800hrs at Caldas da Rainha

• Every Thursday - HOLY COMMUNION   1230hrs St George’s

• Every Thursday – Intercessions for the Sick    1845hrs St Paul’s

• Other Festivals and Holy Days - THE EUCHARIST    1100hrs St Paul’s 

Readings

7 September

15 September

22 September

29 September

Trinity 16
Ezekiel 33. 7-11
Romans 13.8-14
Matthew 18.15-20
 

Holy Cross Day Transferred from 14 September
Numbers 21.4-9
Philippians 2.6-11 John 3.13-17

Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist Transferred from 21 September
Proverbs 3.13-18
2 Corinthians 4.1-6
Matthew 9.9-13 

Michael and All Angels

Genesis 28.10-17
Revelation 12.7-12
John 1.47-51

14 September

21 September

28 September

Trinity 17
Genesis 50.15-21
Romans 14.1-12
Matthew 18.21-35 

Trinity 18
Jonah 3.13-4.11
Philippians 1.21-30
Matthew 20.1-16 

Trinity 19
Ezekiel 18.1-4,25-32
Philippians 2.1-13
Matthew 21.23-32 

Sunday

School

Sunday School at St. Paul’s and St. George’s

During Sunday worship a crèche and a Sunday School programme is available at both Churches. Please contact Heather or Christopher Shiell or a member of the clergy/lay staff at 214 683 570 for further information.

Community

News

Comings and Goings (On)

• A well-attended mid-summer’s fundraiser dinner at the ‘QUINTA DO CORTADOR’ in Cobre was arranged and sponsored by the ever active Women’s Guild. The restaurant lived up to its reputation for excellent meat and fish dishes.

• The moneys raised in excess of €400 were credited to the €10,000 Euro Fund – the amount being the Treasurer’s estimate of the current year shortfall in church revenues when applied to expected church expenditures. Appropriately, in the US, accountants call this type of budget balancing mechanism “The Jesus Factor”. The Chaplaincy has been forced to look for income support above and beyond the weekly collections and other pledges since the loss of rental income at the Estrela Site. All members are asked to consider how they can augment this year’s “Jesus Factor.”

Church

Business

Church Business

The following Obituary appeared in the Summer 2008 edition of The Well, the magazine of St James’ Anglican Church, Oporto

Daniel de Pina Cabral

27 January 1924 – 23 June 2008

Bishop in the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe

Together with his wife D. Anita, Bishop Daniel was a familiar figure at St James’ Church where they have worshipped for many years and where they have been well known to parishioners and chaplains both past and present.

Since his birth, Bishop Daniel had been a member of the Lusitanian Church which forms part of the Anglican Communion and he was in fact baptised in the Parish Church of S. João Evangelista in Torne, Vila Nova de Gaia. Whilst reading Law at Lisbon University he was already playing an active part in the Student Christian Movement (MAC). Although he went on to enjoy a very successful career in the world of banking, his calling to the priesthood continued in parallel and he studied at the London College of Divinity during the time of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan.

In 1967 Bishop Daniel was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Lebombo in Mozambique and, giving up his more secular activities, set out for Africa with his wife and four children aged from 3 to 13. He and his young family quickly adjusted to their new life which was totally different from everything they had been accustomed to in Portugal. Their home in Lourenço Marques was adjacent to the Anglican Church of St Stephen and St Laurence. Bishop Daniel worked tirelessly in support of the African members of the Diocese and the people of Mozambique, travelling extensively and spending much time away from home. Occasionally he preached at the local church when the resident priest was on holiday and on other special occasions. His main involvement was with church building projects and it was he who raised funds and built the new and impressive diocesan headquarters on the outskirts of Lourenço Marques which was to become a symbol of his outstanding service in Africa.

In the aftermath of the “25 de Abril” he, like many others, suffered great personal loss and was forced to abandon Mozambique and return to Portugal: abandon is perhaps not the correct word as he had planned his succession, and left everything in the Diocese in good order as was his way.

The return to Portugal in 1976 brought many challenges, as indeed it did for most people in that situation. Bishop Daniel however soon picked up the threads of his life again and returned to the world of banking, to the Lusitanian Church and indeed to St James’, where he became very well known.

 He was appointed Assistant Bishop in the Diocese in Europe (1976) and Archdeacon of Gibraltar (1987 to 1993) and his membership of the Diocesan Synod saw him attending meetings year after year in London, only retiring when travelling became too difficult. He served with distinction at St James’ and was always available to assist at services when necessary, and to take the more formal services such as Confirmation. He was totally committed to the ecumenical cause and worked tirelessly in supporting this movement both in Africa and in Portugal. Similarly, the many years spent upon producing the Book of Liturgy for the Lusitanian Church were rewarded with its recognition by the Synod in 1991.

Bishop Daniel’s health began to fail some years ago and more recently he underwent several hip replacement operations. Notwithstanding these difficulties, he continued at his post, often leading Holy Communion in his frail condition, walking and standing with great difficulty. Likewise, he continued unfailing steadfast in his beliefs and attention to detail. His apparently serious appearance belied a most friendly and often amusing disposition. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him and will be remembered always, especially by his many friends at St James’ Church, Oporto. Our thoughts are with his wife and family at this time.

Peter Cobb and Jo Carrapato

Anglican

Thought for

the Month

Anglican Thought for the Month

“Hello- out sick visiting I expect”. That is how I was greeted when I was actually on my way to FNAC to buy a printer cartridge (I am incidentally grateful to report that a volunteer stationery buyer has now taken such tasks out of my hands). It is taken for granted that sick visiting is a priestly task, indeed it is less clearly taken as a task incumbent on all Christians. But what does a priest do when he visits the sick? He talks and prays for them. Yes, but how exactly does he talk and pray? In the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer there is what is called The Order for the Visitation of the Sick, which in my edition takes up six pages of close type, not including another page for the Communion of the Sick. Interestingly it contains one of the few encouragements in official Anglicanism to make one’s confession in the presence of a priest.

It is possible that my predecessors of past centuries read The Order for the Visitation of the Sick over the sick people they visited. They doubtless did so with a good spirit, but a reading of the text will show how it would be insensitive and indeed impractical to do so now. One serious objection is that it comes close to giving credence to the heresy that sickness is necessarily a punishment for sin. If I believed that, I used to say in my last English parish, it would mean that all in the intensive care ward of Peterborough District Hospital were unspeakable sinners and all members of Milton Golf Club were Mother Teresa clones. Life is not like that, and some of my prayer life is taken up with wrestling with that dilemma. 

But my main objection to The Order for the Visitation of the Sick is that it is just words. Obviously silence is often required in the presence of the sick: much of the discipline of visiting hours in hospitals is based on the assumption that the sick need silence. Just as important is the need for silence in prayer. Prayer can use words, it can use silence, or it can use material things that speak more deeply than words. The laying on of hands has been used in the Christian church from the beginning. It has been used at sickbeds, and I have also been moved to see its use in public worship: there are plans to include the laying on of hands for those who wish, and of course only those who wish, to make use of this ministry in our services on 10 August. Another way of praying for the sick is to anoint them with oil: this is considered to be sacramental, and derives its authority from the New Testament: “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord” James 5.14. 

These are all ways in which we pray for the sick: words, laying on of hands, anointing with oil. All these are available within this Chaplaincy: there has been a service of prayers for sick people at St Paul’s on Thursday evenings for decades, more recently sometimes combined with Evening Prayer, and I will respond to requests for the other forms of prayer, as well of course to requests to receive Holy Communion at home or in hospital. I would be interested to know if there is any call for more ministry of healing in our public worship. 

Prayer is not magic. It is rather a matter of conforming ourselves to the will of God. Sometimes we cannot tell in detail what is the will of God in individual cases and details and again prayer is sometimes simply a matter of seeking guidance. What we do know is that God desires wholeness for each person, and visiting the sick, praying for the sick in various ways, are means to draw closer to that wholeness. 

Although Christians have prayed for the sick from the beginning, there are of course differences from two thousand years ago in the environment in which God works. Life expectancy is longer which means that the presence of death is less imminent (or at least it is for the likes of us: I was horrified to learn of the age of life expectancy in Zimbabwe, and doubly horrified to learn of it within the context of President Mugabe’s eightieth birthday). Also medical science has progressed, and all Christian healing must draw on and co-operate with medical expertise. 

I conclude with a modern Anglican prayer to be used at the laying on of hands: May Christ bring you wholeness of body, mind and spirit, deliver you from every evil, and give you his peace. That prayer, learnt by heart and substituting me for you, could also be appropriate for personal use.

Michael Bullock