New Bells for St George’s Ypres

St George’s Ypres was built as a place of remembrance following the horrors of World War 1. The church building included a bell tower, given by the Knott family in memory of their two sons killed in the Great War. But, back in the 1920s, there was no money to buy a set of bells. So the bell tower has been used mainly as a store room and dumping ground.

The sun rises over the bell tower of St. George’s Ypres.

Ten years ago, Mr. Alan Regin, Steward of the Rolls of Honour of the Council of Bell Ringers, had the idea of equipping the tower with a full set of change ringing bells. Alan carried the project forward during the ministry of three chaplains – Ray Jones, Brian Llewelyn and now Gillian Trinder. A trust was formed which raised the large sums of money needed. Skilled workmen were found to refurbish completely the ringing room. And John Taylor & Co., the last remaining bell foundry in England, was commissioned to cast the bells. The bells were delivered to Ypres at the end of August and on Sunday 22nd October I had the privilege of dedicating them.

St. George’s Ypres was packed with local people, members of veterans’ organisations, and bell ringers from all over the United Kingdom.

The service included some stirring traditional hymns, and a reading from the Book of Numbers 10:1-10 – ‘the silver trumpets’. I had not previously noticed that Moses’s silver trumpets had two uses, just like English church bells have had – to summon people to assembly and also to warn of impending war.

After the sermon, Andrew Wilby, the Managing Director of John Taylor and Co. Bell Founders in Loughborough, presented a token bell rope to The Revd. Gillian Trinder as a sign of the new ministry at St. George’s Church. We then heard a delightful ‘touch’ rung on a set of handbells, newly presented to St. George’s by Mr. John Coles.

The set of 16 handbells were cast by James Shaw of Bradford in the nineteenth century and were once owned by John’s grandfather, Charles Coles, himself a wonderful ringer. They have recently been restored by Steve McEwan of Whitechapel Handbells and will now be housed in the ringing chamber of St. George’s for use by local and visiting ringers.

At the end of the service, a (very) few of us proceeded to the beautifully refurbished and panelled ringing room, dedicated to Bertram Prewett, a renowned bell ringer who perished in the Great War. These lovely words were used:
“In the faith of Jesus Christ, we dedicate these bells.
May they proclaim Christ’s message of love and salvation to this parish;
May they warn the heedless, comfort the sorrowing
And call all willing hearts to prayer and praise.”

The bells then rang out for the first time!

After the service, I spoke to many bell ringers who were thrilled with the new set of bells. I was also introduced to the chairman of the Sir James Knott Charity. The charity exists mainly to give grants to good causes in the North East of England (in fact I applied to it as a vicar in County Durham!). The chairman told me that because of the particular link of the Knott family with Ypres, and having in mind the ‘unfinished’ bell tower of St. Georges (built in memory of two of the Knott brothers), they had made a donation of £100,000 to purchase one of the set of 8 bells.

Following the dedication of the bells, a team of British bell ringers has offered to live in Ypres for 6 months in order to train up local teams of ringers in the art of bell ringing. Moreover, I was assured that St. George’s will now be firmly on the ‘bell ringers pilgrimage’ itinerary. These are the only ‘in use’ public set of English church bells on the European continent of which I’m aware, so they are very special!

One of the Christian creeds, the Westminster Catechism says: ‘man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.’ Bells put that catechism into practice. They summon us to worship God, they declare the praise of God and they point to the enjoyment of God.

And I think that church bells have a very important and contemporary function. Because in our time, people mostly neglect the worship of God. They have forgotten how to praise God, and they don’t know how to enjoy God. And religion is something which, if it is tolerated at all, is supposed to be something quiet and personal and private. By contrast, a set of pealing church bells says to us: ‘Don’t apologise! We have good news to share! Come and join us! Praise God with all your heart and mind and strength! It will do you good. And it will do your community good too.’

So, as some words we used at St. George’s put it:

‘We pray that the ringing of these bells will awaken in the hearts of all who hear them, the desire to worship God in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’

A Memorable Weekend in Trier

Trier is famously Germany’s oldest city. It is well known for its Basilica (below), built as Emperor Constantine’s throne room and now a magnificent Lutheran church and world heritage site. Next door to the Basilica stands the Roman Catholic cathedral that goes back in its origins to before Constantine and exhibits in its architecture a melange of styles testifying to the multiple extensions and rebuilding it has seen over its long history.

The Trier Basilica

I was staying slightly outside Trier in a place with significant history too: the Benedictine monastery of St. Eucharius and St. Matthias. The monastery is on the southern edge of the city, outside the original city walls and on the site of the city’s former burial ground – one of the oldest cemeteries north of the alps. The story of this monastery goes back some 1750 years to the very beginnings of Trier’s Christian history. For in St. Matthias’s crypt lie the sarcophagi of two of Trier’s first bishops: Eucharius and Valerius.

The monastery of St. Eucharius and St. Matthias

But my purpose in being in Trier wasn’t so much historical as ecumenical. In the 1960s St. Matthias was at the forefront of European Anglican-Roman Catholic relationships. This monastery forged a relationship with the Anglican Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield. Bishop Stein (now buried in Trier’s Cathedral) gave permission for full inter-communion between members of these two communities. In a wave of ecumenical enthusiasm, an extensive ‘Anglican centre’ was built – though this closed due to shortage of money to maintain it.

To express their continuing close relationships, and bearing in mind that this year is the special 500^th anniversary of Luther’s Reformation, the Anglican Community of the Resurrection and the Roman Catholic Monastery of St. Matthias decided to bring together three Anglican bishops and three German Roman Catholic bishops for a weekend of prayer, fellowship and discussion.

The monks were wonderfully hospitable. It was a personal delight for me to spend a weekend in the spiritually refreshing Benedictine rhythm of prayer. I was greatly privileged to be invited to preside at one of the community eucharists. I enjoyed getting to know the monks – some of whom had livelihoods beyond the monastery – I discovered one was a judge and another a town planner.

Supper at St. Matthias monastery

The main purpose of the weekend was dialogue between the English bishops and our German Roman Catholic counterparts. It is probably true to say that Anglican-German ecumenical attention is mainly invested in German Protestant Churches. This was my first serious encounter with German Roman-Catholic bishops – and equally, I think, their first serious encounter with Anglican equivalents.

As Anglicans, we had opportunity to rehearse the last 50 years of very significant ecumenical progress. There was, I think, some genuine surprise and delight from the German side at the extent of ecumenical agreements that have been reached between our two communions. Our conversations covered many topics, but particularly the question of the ordination of women. This is, of course, a major sticking point, as a papal pronouncement has declared the priesthood of women firmly off the Catholic agenda. We wondered whether John Henry Newman’s honoured place within Catholicism, and his writing on the development of doctrine might be invoked? Could Catholics and Anglicans together discover in scripture a place for the ministry of women that might go beyond and behind serious difference in our current practice? Unsurprisingly, we didn’t make any theological breakthroughs. But our differences were discussed respectfully and honestly. And the presence amongst us of an ordained Anglican woman (and former Roman Catholic nun) from Mirfield gave those discussions added meaning.

Our meeting concluded with a joint statement giving thanks for the deep sense of fellowship we had enjoyed and expressing the heartfelt desire that the ecumenical progress made between our two communions might be better known and shared. I was thankful for the very kind hospitality of the monastery and for the longstanding good relationships between Trier and Mirfield that had made this warm encounter between bishops possible.

English Anglican bishops John Inge, Stephen Platten and Robert Innes
German Roman Caholic bishops Reihhard Hauke, Thomas Löhr and Wilfried Theising
With Abbot Ignatius and members of the monastery of St. Matthias; and Fr. George Guiver and members of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield

 

Progress With Brexit Negotiations

Contrary to the impression given in many sections of the press, I am very happy to report that there is steady positive progress behind the scenes in the Brexit negotiations in Brussels. This is particularly the case in relation to preserving the rights of UK and EU citizens currently living or working in a country different from their own who were the main subject of concern at the diocesan Brexit roundtable meeting that I hosted in Brussels back in January with then Brexit Minister Lord Bridges joining us by video link. When the 4^th round of negotiations in technical working groups finished at the end of September 60 individual items in relation to citizens’ rights that will need to go into the mutually binding UK-EU Withdrawal Treaty were listed. Of these 65% had already been the subject of agreement in principle, 17% were awaiting clarification of the position of the two sides or have been referred up for consideration at a higher level and for the final 18% disagreement still remains to be resolved. Looking at the issues raised in January the current state of play is as follows:-

• Mutual recognition of national insurance contributions for healthcare, pension and benefit entitlement. This would continue for those who have already at some time before a mutually agreed cut-off date (no later than 29^th March 2019) lived or worked in another country. But those moving to live or work abroad after the cut-off date would not necessarily benefit from these provisions. The actual cut-off date is in the 18% of items not yet agreed.
• Actual receipt of healthcare, pensions and benefits in another country. Only protected for those already resident or working in another country before the cut-off date. The possibility of continued British membership of the EU Health Insurance Card (EHIC) system for incidental holiday or business travel, especially for those who have not previously lived or worked in another country is still under negotiation.
• Moving between EU countries after the cut-off date and taking protected rights with you is not yet agreed. At the moment rights are only agreed to be protected in the country in which you are resident or working at the cut-off date. The UK wishes the rights to be extended to cover moving to another EU country, whereas the EU is currently not accepting that position.
• Annual Uprating of Pensions. The UK offered unilaterally at the outset to continue to uprate annually pensions paid to UK citizens’ resident on the Continent by the cut-off date. The EU side has now agreed that the same should apply to EU citizens receiving pensions from their home countries in the UK before the cut-off date.

• Rights of family members The protected rights of citizens living in another country by the cut-off date are also to apply to dependant family members, irrespective of their nationality and even if they are temporarily resident abroad (eg students abroad). These rights should continue after the cut-off date even if the family members concerned cease to be dependants (eg students becoming workers). Children born after the cut-off date to citizens with protected rights would also be covered by them. Certain non-dependant family members may also be eligible but only if they are resident in the country concerned at the cut-off date. The right of new family members (eg spouses) to join citizens with protected rights in a country of which they are not a citizen is currently under dispute. The EU would like them to be admitted on the same basis as family members already with the citizen before the cut-off date whereas the UK wants to be able to restrict their access on the same basis as current UK immigration laws for non-EU citizens.
• Voting Rights. The UK would like the current right of citizens living in another country to vote in local elections there to continue. The EU currently wants to leave it at the discretion of individual EU Member States as to whether to continue to grant resident UK citizens this right. Rights of citizens living in another country to continue to vote in elections in their home country have not been covered by these discussions.
• Definition of ‘Living in another Country’. The protected rights under discussion would only immediately apply on a permanent basis to citizens who have completed 5 years continuous residence by the cut-off date. Those with a shorter period of residence before the cut-off date would enjoy these rights on a temporary residence basis until five years residence has been completed. Absence of up to six months in any one year or 12 months for an important reason (eg childbirth) would not count as a break in continuous residence. Also those reaching the age of retirement or having to retire on the grounds of incapacity before reaching five years continuous residence would qualify for permanent residence status from that point. However, even after permanent residence status has been granted an absence from the country concerned of more than 2 years could result in a loss of status. Currently the UK is offering to give qualifying EU citizens the right of return in perpetuity if they have an extended absence, but only if the EU will grant qualifying UK citizens to right to take their protected rights with them from one EU country to another.
• Enforcement of Protected Rights At present the mechanism for citizens to have disputes with national authorities as to whether they qualify for these protected rights settled has yet to be agreed. The EU wishes for there to be continuing access to the European Court of Justice for EU citizens resident in the UK. From the UK side there is an offer for the Withdrawal Treaty to be written into UK law and for the British Courts to be encouraged or mandated to take into account the case law of the ECJ in decisions on citizens’ rights under the Withdrawal Treaty.

However, I must give a strong health warning that EU Treaty negotiations work on the principle that nothing is finally agreed until everything is agreed. Phase one of the negotiations also includes the border situation in Ireland post-Brexit and the so-called ‘divorce bill’ to settle outstanding financial liabilities, where progress is not as good as it is on citizens’ rights. It is only when progress on all three topics is considered to be satisfactory by EU leaders (their first opportunity to make this decision would be at the Summit scheduled for 19/20 October) that discussion can open on other issues, principally the possibility of an implementation or transition period after Brexit when the UK’s economic relationship with the EU would remain substantially unchanged, and the negotiation of a new permanent economic relationship to kick in after the transition period.

Special Note regarding Gibraltar: At present Gibraltarians count as UK citizens for the purposes of EU law (even though Gibraltar is not part of the UK). It is HMG’s intention that this citizenship definition should carry over into the Withdrawal Treaty, although final confirmation of the status of UK citizens post-Brexit will only be possible once the negotiation is complete.