Remise des diplômes au cours Emouna Belgique

Le 12 juin, le chapelain-président, membre-fondateur d'Emouna Belgique, a eu le plaisir d'assister à la cérémonie de remise des diplômes aux émouniens de la promotion 2023-2024, dont trois anglicans : Philip de Holy Trinity Bruxelles et Marie-Rose et Balthazar de Saint-Esprit Mons. Deux anciens émouniens anglicans, Eric Sibomana et Grace West, sont également présents pour soutenir la nouvelle génération. Toute la journée s'est déroulée dans une atmosphère de joie et de célébration, équilibrée par la détermination de maintenir le dialogue interreligieux dans un monde déchiré par des conflits à Gaza, en Ukraine, au Congo et ailleurs.

Meeting of the Chefs de culte to discuss Brussels Region business

On 6 June, the Chaplain-President met with the other chefs de culte at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in the Brussels Region, as the guest of Mgr Tony Frison, Episcopal Vicar for the Brussels Region. A full agenda discussed various practical aspects of the new Brussels Region law for religious buildings and communities, together with a selection of new ideas for how the recognised religions could further help the inhabitants of Brussels, especially those in most need. We were all delighted to receive a parting gift of chocolates from Mgr Tony!

Round Table with Herman Van Rompuy and Prince Lorenz

On 5 June, the Chaplain-President, in his capacity as Bishop Robert's adviser for EU affairs, attended and participated in a round table organised by Comece at the Chapelle de l'Europe with the title "Governmental responsibility and personal ethos". This apparently heavy title did not prevent a lively and fascinating debate, with the main speakers being Herman Van Rompuy (former president of the European Council) and Prince Lorenz (King Philippe's brother-in-law). Count Van Rompuy spoke about the constitutional crisis in Belgium in 1990 concerning King Baudouin's opposition to the parliamentary decision to legalise abortion. Prince Lorenz spoke about his grandfather's (Charles I of Austria, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004) personal ethical and faith journey in the wake of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. There was loud applause at the end for an evening full of insight.

Meeting at the European Commission about Nigeria

On 5 June, the Chaplain-President, acting in his capacity as Bishop Robert's adviser for EU affairs, participated in a meeting at the European Commission with Baron Frans van Daele, the EU's special envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, on his forthcoming visit to Nigeria.  A full and interesting exchange of views occurred about the current situation in Nigeria with respect to tensions between common law and Sharia law, the persecution of Christians and terrorist violence, and concerning possible ways in which the EU could be of real and non-interfering assistance to Nigeria.

European, Federal and Regional Elections in Belgium: Sunday 9 June

Please find below a statement by the heads of the recognised religions and of Buddhism in Belgium concerning the importance of the European, Federal and Regional elections to be held in Belgium this Sunday.

Voici une déclaration des chefs des cultes reconnus et du bouddhisme en Belgique concernant l'importance des élections européenne, fédérale et régionale qui se tiennent ce dimanche.

Hieronder volgt een verklaring van de hoofden van de erkende erediensten en het boeddhisme in België over het belang van de Europese, federale en regionale verkiezingen die deze zondag plaatsvinden.

Episcopal Church USA Summer School on Anglicanism in Utrecht

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is organising a second edition of last year's very successful summer school in the University of Utrecht: "Anglicanism in European Perspective." This will occur from 21 to 26 July and further details are here: Anglicanism in European Perspective | Utrecht Summer School. The Chaplain-President will be delighted to lecture again this year, accompanied by several old friends in university Anglican studies circles. The summer school provides an excellent introduction to the Anglican tradition for the interested outsider or newcomer, and its sponsorship by a non-British Anglican province underlines Anglicanism's worldwide scope.

Belgian and British Ministries of Defence Invictus Games Ceremony at Holy Trinity Brussels

On 30 May, the Central Committee and Holy Trinity Brussels were delighted to host this year's annual Belgian Ministry of Defence interconvictional ceremony for veterans. This year, the Belgian Ministry of Defence invited their British counterparts to celebrate the Invictus Games at which both countries participate Invictus Games. The four chaplaincies of the Belgian Service d'Assistance Religieuse et Morale (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Secularist) together with the four new chaplaincies in the process of being recognised (Anglican, Orthodox, Muslim and Buddhist) played a full role in the ceremony. The Chaplain-President gave the welcome. General Régis Bornain, Director-General of Health and Well-being in the Belgian armed forces, introduced the ceremony. Air Vice Marshal Giles Legood, Archdeacon for the Royal Air Force (and long ago a university chaplaincy colleague of the Chaplain-President) spoke on behalf of the British armed forces. Eric Sibomana, Project Manager for the future Anglican Military Chaplaincy, preached. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Founder of Invictus, gave an excellent speech by videolink. There was beautiful music. The main part of the ceremony was given to the Belgian and British veterans themselves, who spoke movingly of their experiences of injury and of how Invictus had been an important part of their ongoing recovery. Two veterans with disabilities showed their skills on rowing machines, to thunderous applause. The ceremony was followed by a delicious high tea provided by the HTB Community Kitchen, who prepared the tea on top of their normal quota of 1,000 meals per day for the refugees of Brussels.

The Chaplain-President and Secretary-General were delighted to end the day by accepting an invitation to dinner from the British and Belgian delegations.

Our special thanks and admiration go to the veterans who spoke or performed: Vincent Vanpuyenbroek, Jean-Bernard Mathieu, Jean-Christophe Génicot, Stef Wolput, Stacey Denyer, Peter Saunders and Thierry Dutrieux, and thanks too to Stacey and Peter for their kind present to the Central Committee of an Invictus UK team medal, which we will treasure. God bless you all.

Staten-Generaal religieus erfgoed 2024

Op donderdag 23 mei 2024, heeft de secretaris-generaal de Staten-Generaal over religieus erfgoed 2024 in het Vlaamse parlement bijgewoond. Lieve Van Hoofstadt, Directeur van PARCUM heeft alle aanwezigen verwelkomt. Dan gaf ze het woord aan monseigneur Koen Vanhoutte. Ellen Descamps heeft een interview geleid met Paul Lambrechts van Herita en Kristof Lataire van Toerisme Vlaanderen over het belang van een duurzaam en dynamisch dialoog met erfgoed in de maatschappij. Daarna liepen vier sprekers heel snel door verschillende voorstellingen waar later iedereen de kans heeft gehad om over na te denken bij gesprekstafels. De voorstellingen waren: 1) Openbaar domein, 2) Cultuurgoederen, 3) Opslagproblematiek, 4) Immaterieel erfgoed. De slotbeschouwing werd gedaan door Minister van Onroerend Erfgoed Matthias Diependaele. Dan vond er ook receptie plaats.

Ministry of Justice training morning

On May 23, the Chaplain-President, the Secretary General and the Second Secretary attended a training morning offered by the Ministry of Justice on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) register and how these impact the running and bookkeeping of registered charities - VZW in Dutch and ASBL in French - in Belgium. It was a good opportunity to refresh our knowledge of the rules and regulations on this topic.

Dialoog inburgering

Op dinsdag 21 mei 2024 hebben de kapelaan-voorzitter, secretaris-general en tweede secretaris van het Centraal Comité meegedaan bij een eerste vergadering tussen de erkende levensbeschouwingen, de Vlaamse overheid en agentschappen van 3 gemeentes die verantwoordelijk zijn voor inburgering. Kabinetschef Gunter Van Neste heeft iedereen samen gebracht om dialoog te beginnen tussen deze actoren rond dit thema. De overheid beseft dat levensbeschouwingen veel contact hebben met nieuwe burgers in het land en tegelijk de levensbeschouwingen zoeken meer mogelijkheden om hun aanhangers te helpen integreren. Alle partijen waren heel blij met deze eerste kennismaking en verder dialoog zal voortkomen.

Revd Annie Bolger speaks in Anglican Theology lecture

On 16 May, the Chaplain-President was delighted to welcome the Revd Annie Bolger, Assistant Chaplain at Holy Trinity Brussels, to his lecture at KU Leuven on Women in Anglicanism. After a survey by Jack of Anglican attitudes to the place of women in the Church, Annie took the floor to speak about her personal experiences as a new Anglican, as a parish intern in Leuven, as an ordinand in Leuven and Mirfield and as a priest in Brussels. A lively session of questions from the students followed. Thanks to Annie for offering so much of herself in this session!

Caring for seafarers in Antwerp

On May 15th, the Second Secretary travelled to the Antwerp Harbour Hotel to meet with Revd. June Mark Yañez, who works as a chaplain for St. Boniface Anglican church and the Mission to Seafarers, and Steve Morgan, Regional Director for Europe for the Mission to Seafarers. The Harbour Hotel is where the Mission to Seafarers share offices with similar organisations and offer services to seafarers who have docked in the port of Antwerp.

It was a wonderful opportunity to learn from Revd. Yañez about the help and support that the Mission to Seafarers offers to the people of many nationalities who come on ships of all sizes to the port of Antwerp. In turn, the Second Secretary was able to explain in detail how this fits into the Anglican Church’s ministry in Belgium and together we discussed what future ministry opportunities might look like.

We give thanks for all the work the Mission to Seafarers does in accompanying seafarers who are far from home and family, working in very difficult conditions and we are thankful for many years of partnership between the Anglican Church and this organisation.

Remise des diplômes au Centre pour la Paix

Le 28 avril, a présidé le chapelain-président, au nom de Mgr Robert Innes, la séance annuelle du Centre pour la Paix et la Transformation des Conflits, abrité à Holy Trinity de Bruxelles, au cours de laquelle les diplômes ont été remis. 19 candidats, ayant suivi des filières francophone ou anglophone, ont reçu leurs diplômes en une atmosphère de joie et de liesse. La cérémonie a eu lieu lors d'une eucharistie dans l'église Holy Trinity et a été suivie d'un repas festif dans la salle paroissiale. Nous tenons à remercier tout particulièrement notre cher collègue le révérend Jean-Bosco Turahirwa, qui préside et anime le Centre pour la Paix avec tant d'enthousiasme et d'inspiration. Félicitations aux diplômés !

A new beginning

Just over a year ago, the Anglican Church in Leuven, which is comprised of many students and several families, agreed to work together with Sant’Egidio and Humanitarian Corridors to welcome refugees for the next year. There was a lot of work to prepare. Then, the first family arrived. Thankfully, they were able to be registered legally in Belgium and moved in Antwerpen in November 2023. A second family arrived just days later. Again, they have gone through a succesful procedure to have their status recognised by the Belgian government and just this past week, they moved to an apartment in Brussels. With their move, the 1 year agreement to help with resettlement has ended. The Central Committee would like to thank the incredible team of volunteers from St. Martha & St. Mary’s, Leuven for all their hard work.

We will remember them

On 2 May 2024, the Secretary-General was honoured to lead a re-burial service for Flight Sergeant Charles Carr Atkin at the Noorderbegraafplaats Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Vlissingen. While FS Atkin already had a tombstone, additional remains were found in 2013. A long historical process ended recently and his remains have now been re-buried and re-united. Members of FS Atkin’s family from Australia were also present. Other artefacts that were found from when his plane crashed on the Dutch coast were displayed and shared. The service was organised by the Australian Embassy in Belgium and the Australian defense attache to Belgium, the Netherlands, NATO & SHAPE.

Encore une visite du Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale

Le 30 avril, the chapelain-président, dans sa qualité de professeur titulaire à la FUTP Bruxelles, a animé une visite guidée du Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale pour un groupe d'étudiants qui suivent son cours "L'afropéanité". Les étudiants sont majoritairement d'origine africaine ; pour presque tous c'est leur première visite du plus grand centre de recherche scientifique sur le Congo au monde. Une longue conversation s'en suit au café du musée sur le rôle des Eglises, y compris de l'Eglise anglicane, dans la colonisation ainsi que dans la décolonisation des pays africains. On y aborde aussi les possibilités ouvertes aux diplômés en théologie et sciences religieuses de poursuivre des ministères anglicans en Belgique.

Thanksgiving Mass for the 56th anniversary of Sant'Egidio

On 28 April, the Chaplain-President was honoured to represent the Anglicans of Belgium at a mass celebrated by Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Malines-Bruxelles and Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville of Liège to celebrate the 56th anniversary of our friends at Sant'Egidio, with whom we work so effectively in the Humanitarian Corridors programme. After the service, the first bricks of a new Sant'Egidio social centre based at the parish were ceremonially laid by Archbishop Terlinden, Philippe Close (Mayor of Brussels) and Baroness Hilde Kieboom and Baron Jan De Volder of Sant'Egidio. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolis2012/sets/72177720316546597/

Central Committee Bureau blue-sky thinking day

On 24 April, the Central Committee Bureau (the Chaplain-President, Secretary-General and Second Secretary) had a blue-sky thinking day at the Africa Museum in Tervuren, choosing this location because Jack's academic work includes Central Africa and he is familiar with the museum and its Research and Documentation Centre, which is the largest research facility in the world for Congolese history and culture. Jack offered his colleagues a tour of the museum and they then had a very constructive vision-meeting, imagining what the Anglican Church in Belgium might look like in 2030 and how to respond faithfully and creatively to the social and political pressures and opportunities which our situation brings.