About Us
StaffMme. Sophie Plé – Canon for Administration, Convocation Office – email
Mme. Sophie Plé serves as Canon for Administration in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe in the convocation office in Paris. All questions regarding finances and administration can be directed to Sophie. A native of Paris and French, Sophie is also an excellent source of information about France and all things French. She is active in BEST, an Episcopal organization of Bishops’ Administrative Assistants, and regularly attends General Convention.
The Ven. Dr. Walter J. Baer – Archdeacon – email
Archdeacon Baer’s work is concentrated in the areas of transition ministry, assisting the bishop in congregational and clergy care, liaising with convocation commissions and committees, organizing clergy events, and representing the Convocation to the wider Episcopal Church in various administrative areas and in ecumenical and interfaith dialogues. He also assists from time to time at the cathedral in Paris. Archdeacon Baer is currently vice president of Province II of the Episcopal Church (known as the “International Atlantic Province of the Episcopal Church”), composed of the dioceses in New York, New Jersey, Europe, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, is part of the Convocation’s General Convention Deputation, and serves the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Ecumenical & Interreligious Relations. Ordained deacon and priest in the Diocese of Milwaukee in 1985, he has served in four dioceses and currently makes his home in Paris and Vienna.
Audrey Shankles – Communications – email
Audrey is responsible for Communications needs for the convocation. She lives and works out of Wiesbaden, Germany, where she is a member of the Anglican/Episcopal Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury. She brings her professional marketing, social media, and event-planning skills to her work in the convocation. She has an important role in organizing the annual convocation convention and other convocation-wide events.
Schedule a call or chat with Audrey! https://calendly.com/audreyshankles_cece
The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth – Canon for Racial Justice and Beloved Community – email
The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth was installed as Canon for Racial Justice and Beloved Community, at a service on All Saints Sunday, November 5, 2023, at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. Canon Mpho has accepted the call to open our eyes and hearts to the sin of racism, to guide us to repentance, and to encourage us as we seek to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ by fulfilling our part of God’s dream of beloved community. In exercising her ministry, Mpho will seek to help us enter more fully into the work already begun. We thank Mpho for accepting this call and offer a heartfelt welcome!
Canon Mpho is an Episcopal priest, co-vicar of All Saints Episcopal Church in Amsterdam, an artist, an author, an accomplished public speaker and retreat facilitator. She was the founding executive director of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. With her wife, Marceline she has established and is Executive Director of the Tutu Teach Foundation to enhance access to opportunity for women and girls. Canon Tutu van Furth and her wife live in the Netherlands. They have four children and two (amazing) grandchildren.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Alison Gray – Canon for Spiritual Development – email
The Revd. Canon Dr Alison J Gray was commissioned as the convocation Canon for Spiritual Development at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France on 5th November 2023.
Having trained as a doctor and specialised in psychiatry Canon Ali was ordained priest in the CofE in 2010. She worked bi-vocationally inparishes in Worcestershire, UK, and in hospital as a consultant psychiatrist in Herefordshire, and served as Chair of the Medicine de la Personne British Group, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest group. She remains a senior Lecturer in the Medical School at Birmingham University and Fellow of the RCPsych.
In 2018 Canon Ali moved with her husband, Peter, from England to Germany because of Peter’s job teaching at Munich International School. They joined the church of the Ascension. In 2019 Canon Ali became a Priest Associate and member of COMB (the Commission On the Ministry of the Baptized). She and Peter have three adult children in the UK.
During covid time she trained as a Spiritual Director. In early 2023 Canon Ali began to chair COMB, became an Episcopalian, and later that year the Canon for Spiritual Development. This role is a new development in the convocation, and includes signposting people who are seeking the ministry of Spiritual Direction (Spiritual Accompaniment, a Soul Friend), identifying and sharing resources to help with spiritual growth, and organising programmes for the convocation, such as Praying Lent and the annual spring spirituality retreat. Canon Ali works closely with Bishop Mark, COMB and EICS (the European Institute for Christian Studies).
The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz – Transition Consultant – email
The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz has assisted the convocation as Transition Consultant with various parish clergy search processes and with Mutual Ministry Reviews in several convocation parishes. In these capacities she assists the bishop and archdeacon in their work with congregations. Linda was ordained deacon in 1976 and priest in 1977, and is in the first generation of women priests in the Episcopal Church. Her career has included parish ministry, a longtime appointment at the Episcopal Church Center in New York first in World Mission and later in Adult Education, Leadership Development, and Lay Ministry. Her Christian Education materials published through LeaderResources include, most notably, the widely used “Journey to Adulthood” program. She most recently as served as Canon to the Ordinary and Transition Officer in the Diocese of Rhode Island until her “retirement” in 2019. She is currently serving as Transition Consultant in the Diocese of Vermont and in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Linda and her husband Del Glover make their home in Washington DC, but can be seen from time to time in France and Italy, and elsewhere in the convocation, working on their language skills.
Giulia Bonoldi – Chief Welcoming Officer – email
As Chief Welcoming Officer, Giulia Bonoldi works closely with many of the 23 congregations and institutions of the Convocation in training and building awareness of refugees and migrants in their midst, and ways to extend the Love of Christ to all. She is the administrator of Convocation Refugee Grant Program (CRGP), which offers grants to Convocation congregations and congregations of our full-communion partners in continental Europe for work with refugees and migrants. She is also the Managing Director of the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, a ministry of St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church in Rome.
Soccoro Heepe – Program and Administrative Manager of the Refugee Grant Program – email
The Program and Administrative Manager of the Refugee Grant Program is responsible for the overall administration of the Refugee Grant, including preparing reports for Episcopal Relief & Development in collaboration with the Chief Welcoming Officer, providing support to the Grant Review Committee, coordinating with the project managers of the funded organizations, and conducting public relations work for the Refugee Grant.