“The Convention and the Festival of Gathering continue to be – in a very special way – a (re)gathering of the family of the Convocation,” observed David Case, chair of Racial Justice Beloved Community. “New faces and old faces from all over Europe make it the once-in-a-year opportunity where one can feel the Convocation in a very different way.”
The 114th Convention of the Episcopal Church in Europe, followed immediately by the fourth annual Festival of Gathering, took place recently at the Wilhelm-Kempf-Haus outside Wiesbaden, Germany, with a record high attendance of some 120 people.
“We had a lot of new people, including a large number of young adults from the 20s and 30s group who also came for a pilgrimage,” said Pippa Mahoney, who is the Council of Advice’s liaison to the convention planning committee. “One thing that was quite successful is we extended the Festival by a half day, and this created more space for informal gatherings,” she added. “Social gatherings are so important when we’re so spread across the Continent. Delegates from parishes don’t have many other opportunities to gather.”
Fr. Jonathan Evans, the new priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s Within the Walls (Rome), said the convention was an opportunity to get to know the “magnificent diversity of nationalities and ways of thinking” in the Convocation.
The main business of the Convention, which is attended by delegates and clergy from each of the parishes and affiliated communities in the Convocation, is to make decisions and policy for the Convocation as well as to conduct business that maintains our connection to the wider Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
This is the fourth year that the CECE moved part of its required business meetings online to make space for a Festival of Gathering, which is open to anyone and explores a topic linking the commitments of our faith to the word God calls us to do in the world. This year’s theme – Becoming Good Stewards of God’s Creation – is “critical for all of Christendom to address,” said Evans. “Given the environmental crises we are experiencing, I believe that theology is not relevant without serious rethinking of our theology of creation and corporate repentance.”
“The fact we had both Claes Hedström and Lester Mackenzie there was a coup. And they both bring such different energies,” remarked Janet Day-Strehlow, chair of European Institute for Christian Studies (EICS). “Lester Mackenzie had us dancing in the aisle before he even started speaking,” said Mahoney.
The Rev. Lester Mackenzie is chief of mission program in the Office of the Presiding Bishop and the Rev. Claes Hedström is change leader in environment and climate for the Church of Sweden. “One of the interesting things about Claes is his commitment to the environment,” noted Case. “He traveled all the way by train. He wasn’t just talking the talk – he actually acted on it.”
The theme was also borne out in the venue itself. “We were in this wonderful retreat center – surrounded by a gorgeous autumn forest – that suited the topic,” said Mahoney enthusiastically. “We were talking about becoming good stewards of God’s creation and we could then go out and spend time in it.” And, as a retreat venue, the Wilhelm-Kempf-Haus meant everyone was staying in the same place with more opportunities to socialize.
Mahoney and Case found the Festival participation of several Communion partners from outside the Convocation a plus. Among them was the Rev. Canon Dr. Rachel Mash, who is the environmental coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; she presented the second keynote address online: “Stewards of God’s Creation: Acting Faithfully in the Midst of Climate Change.” “It worked so well that that you could feel her energy coming through the screen,” noted Case.
Another first over the weekend was the graduation of the first cohort of the Episcopal Lay Preaching Foundation. “We had such brilliant people go through the program,” said Day-Strehlow. “Thirteen people are now certified as lay preachers and two of the graduates – Kim Powell and Ben Seidl – preached.” “They were simply first-class,” said Case.