A new Anglican province is formed in Egypt and across North Africa

Patrick Comerford with Archbishop Mouneer Anis at a recent USPG conference in High Leigh

Patrick Comerford

The Province of Alexandria has become the 41st province or self-self-governing Church in the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria officially became the 41st province of the Anglican Communion yesterday (29 June 2020).

The new province was previously known as the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and was then a diocese within the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

The first Primate of the new autonomous church is Archbishop Mouneer Anis, who will continue in this role and in his existing role as the Bishop of Egypt until his retirement next year (2020).

The new Province of Alexandria has four dioceses: Egypt, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Gambella (Ethiopia). It also covers ten countries: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Morocco is included within the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe because to its proximity to Gibraltar.

The former Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa completed its transition into an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion after the move was approved at meeting of Anglican Primates in Jordan in January and by the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council.

The General Synod of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East approved the request to secede from its province, and the diocese then came under the temporary Metropolitical authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who signed a Dead of Relinquishment legally inaugurating the new Province of Alexandria.

The new Province is named after Alexandria, the north Egyptian city that was home to one of the earliest branches of the Christian Church.

Archbishop Mouneer Anis said, ‘the early church in Alexandria has shaped the Christian thought of the whole world during the first millennium. It is our prayers that the new Province of Alexandria would do the same during the third millennium.’

The former Diocese of Egypt has played a vital role in inter-faith dialogue and in recent years has been helping refugees from South Sudan and other countries along it borders.

An international service of thanksgiving to mark the inauguration of the new Province will be held in Cairo at a later date. The Province of Alexandria has been allocated Sunday 2 August in this year’s Anglican Cycle of prayer – a date that had been allocated to the now-postponed Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.

Some years ago, when Archbishop Mouneer was the President Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, he was a speaker at the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), when he spoke about recent upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa.

He was asked frank questions about the conflict in Libya, the state of affairs in the ‘Holy Land,’ and what Anglicans can do.

Archbishop Mouneer has visited Libya many times, and before his fall Colonel Gadafy had handed over to the Anglican Church ‘a wonderful 16th century church’ in Tripoli that had been renovated at a cost of $1 million.

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that Jerusalem has been at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict not just since the Israeli state was declared in 1948, but from very early on. Jerusalem is at the heart of the issue and at the heart of the conflict, he said, and we cannot ignore the place of Christians either. All three faiths have rights in the city. This is an international city, to which these three main religions should have free access. Both Jews and Muslims want exclusive access to Jerusalem, but a common-sense solution is required he said.

He spoke openly of the role of Anglicans as a small Church in every part of the Middle East. We have a bridging role between the Churches, as is being experienced in Egypt and Jerusalem, and in the Gulf, but Anglicans also have a bridging role between Christianity and Islam, and he believes Anglicans are the most active Church in dialogue in the region.

He provided an interesting analysis of the different Islamic groups in the Middle East, and pointed out that the majority of Muslims in the Middle East are peaceful, peace-loving moderate people, who have co-existed with Christians and Jews in the region for the past 14 centuries.

He offered interesting insights into the recent developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, and spoke with compassion and passion of the experiences of young people and of women.

Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis with the Coptic leader, the late Pope Shenouda III (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

At the USPG conference that year, Archbishop Mouneer pointed out that the Coptic Orthodox Church, with 12 million members, is not only the biggest Church in Egypt, but is also the biggest Church in the Middle East. They are paying a heavy price, he said, and they remember that they were martyred in the first centuries and after the Islamic conquest, that they have suffered in the past, and that they have paid the price.

He offered interesting insights into the role of Turkey and its influence on many thinkers in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia. He pointed out that Islam in Turkey is different, more moderate and more peaceful, that Arab countries are watching Turkey, and, he suggested then, they were thinking Turkey’s model could be a good one.

I first got to know Archbishop Mouneer during working visits to Egypt around 2003 and 2004, when I was working on a resource pack, including a DVD, on Christian-Muslim dialogue. Later, he visited Ireland, including Christ Church Cathedral Dublin. He took part in one of the ‘Discovery’ services in Saint George’s and Saint Thomas’s Church, I brought him to the mosque in Clonskeagh, and he and his family were guests in my home in Dublin.

Archbishop Mouneer Anis spent 26 years in medical practice before becoming a bishop. Speaking at that USPG conference in High Leigh, near Hoddesdon, he drew on his own experiences as a doctor and a bishop in Egypt.

A pressing need in the 21st century is the need for health care, which is a basic human right and which underpins the millennium development goals. As Anglicans, he said, we need to be involved in restoring wholeness, and to follow in the steps of Jesus who sent his disciples to heal the sick and preach the kingdom.

Archbishop Mouneer pointed out that the healing ministry of Christ was linked with his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, and the outcome of healing always was that people give glory to God. When the Church offers healing, we walk in the steps of Christ and fulfil his mission, offering a practical response to the command to love our neighbour.

He also recalled the beginnings of the medical mission of the Anglican Church in Egypt, which is traced back to Dr Frank Harpur, a TCD-trained doctor and CMS missionary from Ireland who is well-known for eradicating the parasite enclostomi in Egypt.

Dr Harpur began working on the Nile on a floating house boat that he used as a hospital, visiting villages on the banks of the Nile and in the Nile delta, treating villagers. From this work, the Harpur Memorial Hospital was built in Menouf in 1910. ‘And they are still talking about Harpur,’ said Dr Mouneer, a former director of the hospital.

Providing figures on the state of the health of the world’s children, he told that year’s USPG conference: ‘Looking at all these sad figures, the Church cannot be silent.’ The work may be like a drop of water in the ocean, but we should do our best to relieve the suffering of people, in that way becoming partakers in Christ’s mission and compassion, he said.

We need to translate the good news of the Gospel into action, Archbishop Mouneer said. ‘There is an abundance of preaching in the Church, but the world wants to see the Gospel in action and not just to hear about it.’

He said health care is showing the Gospel in action. He recalled that he is asked frequently by Muslim friends in Egypt when they see the work of Christian-run hospitals, why Christians care in such a way. He answers because Jesus taught us to love everyone, and because he loved everyone. Love involves action and sacrifice. Healing and health are not only physical but holistic. The healing ministry is a vocation and not just a job, and practising medicine is a calling and not a job.

Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis in Christ Church Cathedral during a visit to Dublin

Poems for Lent (33): ‘Affliction’ by George Herbert

‘My thoughts are all a case of knives, / Wounding my heart / With scattered smart …’ George Herbert’s consoling words recall a night of nightmares and prayers that turned to a beautiful day at High Leigh in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

For my Poem for Lent this morning, I have chosen another poem by the poet-priest George Herbert, ‘Affliction.’

George Herbert wrote five ‘Affliction’ poems. This is the fourth ‘Affliction’ poem and sometimes headed ‘Temptation.’ This is a poem of spiritual conflict and healing.

In the privacy of our own hearts and minds, on the most intimate level, we all deal with affliction, pain, criticism, loneliness, regret and fear.

I was reminded of this poem as I recalled a restless and sleepless night last year while I was at a conference in High Leigh, near Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire. I had been travelling since early morning, and had a busy working morning in Cambridge, before going on the conference that afternoon. and late at night realised I had forgotten to take my medication, prescribed for my sarcoidosis, with breakfast that morning. Anyone who has been prescribed steroids knows the dangers of taking them too late and night, and the fears and dreams that can come to the fore in our dreams.

I woke constantly, and was disturbed continually. But I was comforted throughout that night by the truth of the words of Compline we had prayed collectively that night before I went to bed:

Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep
Your watch around us while we sleep.

From evil dreams defend our sight,
From fears and terrors of the night;
Tread underfoot our deadly foe,
That we no sinful thought may know.

O Father, that we ask be done
Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death

(Common Worship, p. 82)

I awoke to a very pleasant morning and a fresh new day in the Hertfordshire countryside.

In this morning’s poem, George Herbert gives voice to interior pain, to thoughts that are out of control, to helplessness in the face of anxiety. But in his honesty, we can see a way forward to hope.

However, he does not mention any external event at the root of his affliction. His entire focus is on the experience of suffering on the spiritual, mental and emotional level.

He reminds us that we are not in total control of our thoughts, and not all thoughts are good, true or helpful. He asks God to “dissolve the knot” of his fears and emotions, because he cannot do it for himself. Into the unruly conflict of his own mind, he invites God’s presence, because God’s light will “scatter” all the “rebellions of the night.”

Herbert concludes that life’s difficult journey, “day by day,” has God alone as its goal. If our thoughts can wound us, then God alone can heal us. God can subdue and calm our painful and rebellious thoughts, and he is the source of all Light.

Affliction, by George Herbert

Broken in pieces all asunder,
Lord, hunt me not,
A thing forgot,
Once a poor creature, now a wonder,
A wonder tortured in the space
Betwixt this world and that of grace.

My thoughts are all a case of knives,
Wounding my heart
With scattered smart;
As wat’ring-pots give flowers their lives.
Nothing their fury can control,
While they do wound and prick my soul.

All my attendants are at strife
Quitting their place
Unto my face:
Nothing performs the task of life:
The elements are let loose to fight,
And while I live, try out their right.

Oh help, my God! let not their plot
Kill them and me,
And also Thee,
Who art my life: dissolve the knot,
As the sun scatters by his light
All the rebellions of the night.

Then shall those powers which work for grief,
Enter Thy pay,
And day by day
Labour Thy praise and my relief:
With care and courage building me,
Till I reach heav’n, and much more, Thee.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

A window tells the tragic story that inspired a novelist

The East Window in Kenure Parish Church remembers Mary Ellen Peel who died in 1863, ten days after the birth of her baby daughter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

After my attempt to reach Lambay Island from Skerries Harbour on Friday night, I was back in the area this morning for three services in the churches in this part of Fingal or north Co Dublin: presiding and preaching at Holy Communion in Kenure Church, Rush; leading Morning Prayer and preaching in Holmpatrick Parish Church in Skerries; and celebrating the Eucharist and preaching in Saint George’s Church, Balbriggan.

In Kenure, I was asked to make an interesting announcement about a local fund set up almost 200 years ago to benefit young women in the Rush area. The fund, which makes no discrimination on religious grounds, is administered by the local St Maur branch of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and was established in 1820s by Sir Roger Palmer of Kenure House. Later, standing at the altar or Holy Communion table in Kenure Church, I was conscious of the beautiful stained glass window in memory of Mary Ellen Peel and the tragic story this window tells about another member of the Palmer family from Kenure House.

And, little more than a week after another visit to Lichfield, her story also reminds me of how searches for family origins in south Staffordshire brought my great-grandfather into contact with the Peel family.

Mary Ellen Peel was born Mary Ellen Palmer, and was the daughter of Sir Roger Palmer (1802-1869), the 4th baronet, of Kenure House. She grew up in Rush and on 25 May 1857 she married Archibald Peel.

For Ellen and Archie, life must have offered many promises on their wedding day. Archie came from a distinguished political family. His uncle, Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), had been the British Prime Minister, while his father, General Jonathan Peel (1799-1879), had been Secretary of State for War. Soon after Archie Peel and Ellen Palmer were married, his first cousin, Sir Robert Peel (1822-1895), became the Chief Secretary of Ireland in 1861 – a post that made him the head of government in Ireland, I suppose the equivalent in pre-independence Ireland of being Prime Minister or Taoiseach in those days.

Ellen and Archie Peel moved to Broxbourne in rural Hertfordshire, half-way between Cambridge and London, close to Hoddesdon and the present High Leigh Conference Centre, where I attended the USPG Conference earlier this summer. Ellen and Archie had three children, but only one of those children – their third child, Ellen – survived. To compound the tragedy, Ellen Palmer died on 9 September 1863, only ten days after giving birth to this child.

The East Window in Kenure Church which recalls this sad story is the work of James Powell and Sons, who worked on so many of the Pugin churches in Ireland and England. The three-light window depicts the Crucifixion, with images on either side of Christ in Gethsemane and the Empty Tomb on Easter Morning.

Three years after Ellen Palmer’s death, Kenure Church was built in 1866. A year later, on 15 August 1867, Archie Peel married his second wife, Lady Georgiana Russell, aunt of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. Lady Georgiana Peel was a daughter of the former British Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, and through her mother, Adelaide Lister, she was direct descendant of Nathaniel Lister and the Lister family of Armitage Park or Spode House, halfway between Lichfield and Rugeley.

In 1899, Archbishop Joseph Peacocke of Dublin consecrated the burial grounds around Kenure Church. On that occasion, Ellen Peel’s brother, (1832-1910), Sir Roger Palmer read the lesson, and his wife Lady Gertrude presided at the organ, and “conducted the psalmody of a hearty and efficient choir.” Afterwards, it was reported, the congregation and clergy dined in Kenure House.

A novelist’s story

Ellen (Peel) Graham, whose mother is commemorated in this window in Kenure Church, survived the tragic death of her mother and grew up to be a successful writer. She wrote under her first married name as Mrs Henry Graham, even after she married her second husband, Lord Askwith.

Ellen Peel’s tragic yet colourful and romantic life was also described by her grand-daughter, the novelist Betty Askwith (1909-1995), only daughter of the Askwiths. In her introduction to Crimean Courtship, she draws on the diaries of the two Ellens, her mother Ellen (Peel) Graham and her grandmother Ellen (Palmer) Peel.

Comberford Hall … home to Archie Peel’s cousin, William Fenton Peel, when James Comerford visited around 1900 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Meanwhile, sometime around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, my great-grandfather, James Comerford (1817-1902), in search of his ancestors, turned up on the doorsteps of Comberford Hall, then the home of William Fenton Peel (1839-1907). This other member of the Peel family was a son of Archie Peel’s second cousin, Captain Edmund Peel (1801-1871).

William Felton Peel was born in Tamworth and worked as a cotton and foreign produce merchant in Alexandria in Egypt and in Bombay in India, where five of his eight children were born between 1868 and 1874. He later returned to England, and was in business in Broughton, Salford, near Manchester, where the other three children were born between 1876 and 1879. He lived at Hawley Hill, Blackwater, Hampshire, before moving to Comberford Hall with his wife Sarah Edith Willoughby and their children around 1900.

Almost a century earlier, Sir Robert Peel had foreclosed the mortgage on Comberford Hall and other estates in the Lichfield area owned by the Chichester family, forcing their sale to the Howard family.

When James Comerford turned up on his doorstep that year, I wonder did William Peel know the tragic story of his cousin’s Irish wife, Ellen Palmer Peel, who is commemorated in the window in Kenure Rush?

James Comerford died in 1902, shortly after publishing privately his account of the Comberford family, based on his travels through south Staffordshire; William Felton Peel died five years later in 1907.

New USPG leader emphasises Church-to-Church relationships

The new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill (right) with the Revd Dr Alan McCormack (left), USPG council member from the Diocese of London and formerly of Trinity College Dublin, and Canon Patrick Comerford (centre) of USPG Ireland (Photograph: Chris Dobson)

The August 2011 edition of the Church Review (Dublin and Glendalough) carries these photographs, captions and report on page 14:

New USPG leader emphasises
Church-to-Church relationships

The new chief executive of USPG (the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel – Anglicans in World Mission), Mrs Jeanette O’Neill, has spoken of her vision for USPG and her approach to the challenges facing Anglican mission in the 21st century.

Speaking at the USPG conference at the High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, she said: “We are a Church-to-Church society,” and she emphasised the call to strengthen partner churches in the Anglican Communion.

She emphasised the need to build and develop partnership and relationships, and talked about support for new bishops in their role and in their advocacy. That had to have an impact on the people the church serves at grassroots, through programmes in health, education, capacity building and human rights, she said.

Mrs O’Neill, who brings key experiences to USPG, she spoke of her previous work as Senior Programme Officer with Episcopal Relief and Development in New York, involving partnership in development programmes with the Anglican churches in Africa, particularly in Uganda and Southern Africa.

She has also worked for ten years in Lesotho, where she joined the board of a mission hospital, and watched the HIV/AIDS crisis unfold.

She spoke of how she had been “dazzled” by the way people at conference had a sense of ownership of USPG, in an unbroken chain of links back to the foundation of SPG in 1701.

The new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill (centre) with Canon Patrick Comerford and Mrs Linda Chambers de Bruijn of USPG Ireland

Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria, an international trustee of USPG, told the conference he was assured that USPG is “in good hands.” Mrs O’Neill succeeds Bishop Michael Doe, who has retired as General Secretary of UISPG and from the board of USPG Ireland.

The conference was attended by almost 200 delegates and participants from over two dozen countries, including a dozen or more bishops, among them three primates, and they came from most Anglican provinces and from every continent where there is an Anglican presence.

Canon Patrick Comerford of USPG with Bishop Mouneer Anis of Cairo at the USPG conference.

Other speakers at the conference included Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana, Bishop Mouneer Anis of Cairo, Bishop Paul S Sarker, Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh, and the Brazilian Primate, Archbishop Maurício Andrade.

Building on the work of the saints who have gone before and the legacy they have left

The new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill (centre) with Patrick Comerford and Linda Chambers de Bruijn of USPG Ireland

Patrick Comerford

This year’s USPG conference came to a close this afternoon at the High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. This morning’s programme was an opportunity for the new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill, to introduce her vision for the society and her approach to the challenges facing Anglican mission in the 21st century.

“We are a Church-to-Church society,” she said, and emphasised the call to strengthen partner churches in the Anglican Communion.

Constantly she emphasised the need to build and develop partnership and relationships. She talked about support for new bishops in their role and in their advocacy. But what does that mean for the people the church serves at grassroots, through programmes in health, education, capacity building and human rights.

She brings key experiences to USPG, and she spoke of her previous work as Senior Programme Officer with Episcopal Relief and Development in New York, involving partnership in development programmes with the Anglican churches in Africa, particularly in Uganda and Southern Africa.

She has also worked for ten years in Lesotho, where she joined the board of a mission hospital, and watched the HIV/AIDS crisis unfold in that time.

She spoke of how she had been “dazzeled” by the way people at conference had a sense of ownership of USPG, in an unbroken chain of links back to the foundation of SPG in 1701. She pointed out that USPG dates back to 1701, before the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, so that “we predate the country we are living in.” She said USPG “is built on the work of the saints who have gone before and the legacy they have left.”

Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria, who has retired as an international trustee, told the conference he was assured that USPG is “in good hands.”

An early morning walk in the countryside near High Leigh this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The conference concluded with the Eucharist celebrated according to the South African rite by Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria. The preacher was Canon Edgar Ruddock.

The conference has been attended by almost 200 delegates and participants from over two dozen countries, including a dozen or more bishops, among them three primates, and they came from most Anglican provinces and from every continent where there is an Anglican presence.

The new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill (right) with the Revd Dr Alan McCormack (left), a council member from the Diocese of London and formerly of Trinity College Dublin, and Patrick Comerford (centre) (Photograph: Chris Dobson, 2011)

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, member of the Council of USPG, and a director of USPG Ireland and USPG Northern Ireland.

Remaining ‘faithful, viable and sustainable’ through the changes

Ringing out the changes for USPG ... High Leigh Conference Centre, near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire

Patrick Comerford

There were warm tributes to Bishop Michael Doe at the council meeting of USPG – Anglicans in World Mission, last night [Tuesday, 21 June 2011]. Bishop Michael has been general secretary of USPG for seven years since 2004, and previously spent eight years as Bishop of Swindon. In the last two years, he has faced tough truths and tough decisions in his efforts to make USPG “sustainable, viable and faithful.”

He said last night that USPG is not a Western charity, is not an NGO, and is not a fund-raising, grant-making foundation. It is primarily a Church-to-Church mission agency engaging in God’s holistic mission so that the Churches in the Anglican Communion can strengthen each other.

We said farewell too to a number of international trustees and council members, including Archbishop Mauricio Andrande from Brazil, Bishop Purely Lyngdoh of North-East India, Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria, and Bishop Royden Screech of St Germans, in the Diocese of Truro The new trustees elected last night are Bishop Jacob Ayeebo of Tamalae, Ghana; Bishop Edward Malecdan, Prime Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines; Bishop Andrew Proud of Reading; and the Revd Dr Ian Rock, Principal of Codrington Theological College in Barbados.

Earlier in the afternoon, we had a rich diet of content, and the themes from the day’s discussions were brought together at a panel discussion.

The Bishop of Botswana, the Right Revd Dr Trevor Mwamba, had spoken on “Leadership Formation,” and talked about developing character and developing capacity so that leaders can be relevant in their societies. The Church must be seeking out people with the right mindset, and not just the right skills set, he set.

He talked about the vulnerable leader, comparing it with the leadership style of Christ, who came not be served but to serve.

The panel included Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana, Bishop Mouneer Anis of Cairo, Deaconess Dr Evie Vernon from Jamaica, who is Director of the Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies in Birmingham, and the Revd Dr David Evans, Anthony McKernan and Canon Edgar Ruddock of USPG staff.

Bishop Bill Down reported on the fund-raising efforts of the 300 Club, formed among USPG supporters in 2011 to mark the 300th anniversary of the foundation of SPG. He hopes the club can close the year by reaching a fund-raising target of £310,000 to make the 310th anniversary of USPG this year.

This morning’s programme gives an opportunity for the new Chief Executive and General Secretary of USPG, Mrs Jeanette O’Neill, to introduce her vision for the society and her approach to the challenges facing Anglican mission in the 21st century.

The conference concludes with the Eucharist celebrated according to the South African rite by Bishop Jo Seoka of Pretoria. The preacher is Canon Edgar Ruddock

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, member of the Council of USPG, and a director of USPG Ireland and USPG Northern Ireland.

Houses with history in Hoddesdon

Walking back to High Leigh in the mid-summer sunshine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

I am staying the High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire, where I am attending the annual conference of USPG. The house dates back to at least the 1870s, when it was bought by the Barclay banking family. But the nearby village of Hoddesdon has many older buildings, and the High Street is lined with timber-framed, black-and-white Tudor houses and pubs, dating back to the mid-16th century.

Rawdon House, Hoddesdon, built in 1622 and extended and restored 1879-1887 ... seen through the Victorian arch on the north side of the house (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

I took some time off this afternoon. Well it is Mid-Summer’s Day, and the sun was shining. One of the houses I wanted to see again is a 17th century house at No 38 High Street, Rawdon House, which was built in1622 by the merchant adventurer, Sir Marmaduke Rawdon (1582-1646).

The town benefited from his philanthropic provision of a new water supply and repairs to the town chapel and the town hall. He put money into building the New River, he gave the town its fresh water supply, flowing from the urn of a statue known as the Samaritan Woman, and he helped to build a Market House.

After fighting as a royalist in the English civil war, he died in 1646. After the war a monument was erected in Faringdon church with a Latin epitaph: “Who lieth here? Rawdon, that Name suffices, What worth can comprehend, this tomb comprises.”

During the rest of the civil war, and throughout the Cromwellian era, his widow Elizabeth Rawdon remained firmly in residence at Hoddesdon.

In the mid-19th century, Sarah Stickney Ellis (1799–1872), a campaigner for women’s rights and educational reform, established a short-lived school at Rawdon House for the education of women in 1847. She described her principles and experiences in books such as The Wives of England, The Women of England, The Mothers of England, The Daughters of England and – of course – Rawdon House.

After her school came to an end, the red-brick mansion was extended and restored between 1879 and 1887 by Ernest George and Peto for Henry Ricardo, who was the owner of Rawdon House from 1875 to 1892. The house was sold to CP Christie in 1895 and remained unoccupied for three years.

In 1898, Rawdon House was bought for the Order of the Nuns of Saint Augustine and was renamed Saint Monica’s Priory. The nuns were canonesses of the Augustinian order, and during their time many of the original fittings were sold about a century ago, and three of the fireplaces bought by Sir Charles Wittewronge were set up at Rothamsted House in Harpenden.

The name of the convent survives in the neighbouring Roman Catholic parish church. Rawdon House is now used as offices, and despite the vandalism of the past century, many of its original Jacobean architectural features survive and there are traces of a knot garden to the rear.

Rawdon House, an L-plan building, is built of red brick, with stone dressings, and machine and terracotta tile roofs, and imitation Tudor chimney stacks. The Jacobean wing is five bays and is three-storeys high. The square porch is rusticated at ground-floor level with detached Doric columns on pedestals and the brick upper floor has Ionic columns.

There are canted two-storey window bays on each side with mullioned and transomed casements, crenellation and a continuous entablature. There are shaped gables to the attic, with the centre one is raised and pedimented, bearing a terracotta date plaque.

The rough-cast rear elevation has a full-height, square, central staircase tower. There are Tudor hood moulds and an arch-headed door with a scrolled date plaque. The much-restored 17th century interior includes a 19th century restored staircase with carved beasts on newel posts and figured strap-work panels. There is a good Ionic door-case on the first floor landing with strap-work pilasters and pedestals. There are also strap-work plaster ceilings to the ground and first floors. In the entrance hall, there is a Jacobean revival fireplace.

The Victorian wing of Rawdon House is a four-window, two-and-a-half storey wing with a south-facing elevation. One of its most visible features is a wide, rusticated carriage arch with detached Doric columns.

Historic public houses

Rathmore House ... where did it get such an Irish-sounding name? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Across the street from Rawdon House, the Golden Lion public house has a blue plaque and a sign proclaiming it dates back to the 1530s.

Further along High Street, Rathmore House (No 56) dates from the 1715, but there is no sign explaining why it has such an Irish-sounding name. This is a three-storey over cellar red-brick house with rubbed brick dressings, and an old tile hipped roof. The ornate Doric doorcase has fluted pilasters, triglyph frieze with patterned metopes – one with the date 1715.

The Conservative Club (No 76) has fine Tudor-style and timber-framed features. This Grade II listed building was built in 1635, but parts of it date back to the 16th century and the house was known in history as The Stanboroughs.

The Rye House plot

The most famous incident in the history of Hoddesdon may have been the Rye House Plot, which was a conspiracy in 1683 to assassinate King Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, later James II, who had become a Roman Catholic.

The 1681 Exclusion Bill sought to exclude James from the succession, but Charles out-manoeuvred his opponents and dissolved Parliament. Many of those opponents were in disarray, and some fled to Holland.

Rye House, a manor house north-east of Hoddesdon, was owned by a well-known republican, Richard Rumbold, and it was said he planned to hide 100 men in the grounds of his house and ambush the king and the duke on their way back to London from a day at the races at Newmarket. But a fire in Newmarket forced the cancellation of the races, and the attack – if it had ever been planned – never took place. This did not stop Charles ordering the arrest of the suspects, many of whom were minor Whig leaders.

The Duke of Monmouth escaped to the continent, but Lord Russell, a son of the Earl of Bedford, Algernon Sidney, and Sir Thomas Armstrong were executed, Lord Grey escaped from the Tower of London, and the Earl of Essex died by suicide in the Tower. However, the whole plot may have been a fabrication of Charles II or his supporters to allow the removal of most of his strongest political opponents.

The judge at the trial was the “Hanging Judge,” Sir George Jeffreys, who has gone down in history with notoriety. James II eventually succeeded to the throne in 1685, but the excessive reactions to the Rye House Plot helped create the climate that led to the Revolution of 1688.

The White Swan ... a good place to sit reading the newspaper (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Through pubs and pathways

After my stroll through history along the High Street, I sat for a while in the White Swan, reading the Guardian. This is one of the many pubs in Hoddesdon dating back to the mid-16th century.

I strolled back up to High Leigh in the mid-summer sunshine through the public pathways by the river and through the woods and farms on the west of the town.

‘The world wants to see the Gospel in action and not just to hear about it’

The High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire ... the venue for the USPG conference, ‘Pushing boundaries’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

Wholeness and healing were the focus of this morning’s [Tuesday’s] discussions at the annual conference of USPG – Anglicans in World Mission. Dr David Evans said USPG’s overall policy and programme direction: the revitalising of primary health care (PHC).

The Bishop of Cairo, the Right Revd Dr Mouneer Anis, who spent 26 years in medical practice before becoming a bishop, drew on his own experiences as a doctor and a bishop in Egypt.

A pressing need in the 21st century is the need for health care, which is a basic human right and which underpins the millennium development goals. As Anglicans, he said, we need to be involved in restoring wholeness, and to follow in the steps of Jesus who sent his disciples to heal the sick and preach the kingdom.

Bishop Mouneer pointed out that the healing ministry of Christ was linked with his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, and the outcome of healing always was that people give glory to God. When the Church offers healing, we walk in the steps of Christ and fulfil his mission, offering a practical response to the command to love our neighbour.

He recalled the beginnings of the medical mission of the Anglican Church in Egypt., which is traced back to Dr Frank Harpur (right), a TCD-trained doctor and CMS missionary from Ireland who is well known for eradicating the parasite enclostomi in Egypt.

Dr Harpur began working on the Nile on a floating house boat that he used as a hospital, visiting villages on the banks of the Nile and in the Nile delta, treating villagers. From this work, the Harpur Memorial Hospital was built in Menouf in 1910. “And they are still talking about Harpur,” said Dr Mouneer, a former director of the hospital.

Providing figures on the state of the health of the world’s children, he said: “Looking at all these sad figures, the Church cannot be silent.” The work may be like a drop of water in the ocean, but we should do our best to relieve the suffering of people, in that way becoming partakers in Christ’s mission and compassion, he said.

We need to translate the good news of the Gospel into action Bishop Mouneer said. “There is an abundance of preaching in the Church, but the world wants to see the Gospel in action and not just to hear about it.”

He said health care is showing the Gospel in action. He recalled that he is asked frequently by Muslim friends in Egypt when they see the work of Christian-run hospitals, why Christians care in such a way. He answers because Jesus taught us to love everyone, and because he loved everyone. Love involves action and sacrifice. Healing and health are not only physical but holistic. The healing ministry is a vocation and not just a job, and practising medicine is a calling and not a job.


Bible study

This morning’s Bible study was led by the primate of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (IEAB), Archbishop Maurício de Andrade, who introduced us to John 6: 1-15, the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

John 6: 1-21

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus realised that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

‘Vulnerability and communion’

Before we read this passage, we were asked two questions:

● What do I have to offer in my life?

● What do I need to better serve the Lord?

After the passage was read twice, we were asked what word came to your attention, and to share this. And we were asked to consider the vulnerability of the boy in the story.

Archbishop Maurício pointed out that the answer to the problem that day came from a boy, not from Christ or from the Disciples. The Disciples did not have the answer, boy element of surprise for the miracle, with bread and fish leading to solidarity and communion. No-one expected anything from a boy, but he shared barley bread, the bread for poor people, and fish. He offers all he has, from the periphery and from the marginalised. Sometimes the solution comes from the periphery and not from the centre, he said. Food comes from creation, and we need to recognise the opportunities for miracles.

After Archbishop Maurício shared images from his dioceses in Brazil, we shared in the prayer, “Bakerwoman God,” by Alla Bozarth-Campbell:

Bakerwoman God,
I am your living Bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God.
I am your low, soft, and being-shaped loaf.

I am your rising bread,
well-kneaded by some divine and knotty pair of knuckles,
by your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.
Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.
I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard, brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.

Break me, Bakerwoman God!
I am broken under your caring Word.
Bakerwoman God,
Remake me.

The conference session this morning began with an early Eucharist, celebrated according to the rite of the Church of Bangladesh, presided over by the Moderator of the Church, Bishop Paul Sarker. During the day, we also received a message on a video clip from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

We were also joined today by the Revd Dr Alan McCormack, who is a former Dean of Residence at Trinity College Dublin, and chaired the Dublin University Far Eastern Mission when I was secretary. He is now the Rector of Saint Botolph-without-Bishopsgate and Saint Vedast-alias-Foster, Foster Lane, and the Archdeacon of London’s nominee on the council of USPG.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a director of USPG Ireland and USPG Northern Ireland. He represents the Church of Ireland on the council of USPG.

Pushing boundaries ... in mission and in the Middle East

Patrick Comerford with Bishop Mouneer Anis of Cairo at the USPG conference, ‘Pushing boundaries,’ in High Leigh

Patrick Comerford

This year’s USPG annual conference is taking the theme ‘Pushing boundaries’ and is focussing on leadership, development and health, with talks and seminars exploring new thinking in Anglican global mission.

The High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddesdon in rural Hertfordshire is the venue for this year’s conference of USPG – Anglicans in World Mission.

There were introductions yesterday afternoon [Monday 20 June] from Canon Linda Ali, chair of USPG, and we began with worship and music led by Canon Rob Jones, a council member from the Diocese of Worcester.

The past year has been a difficult, if not traumatic, one for USPG, with upsets, changes and new opportunities, and there was an honest exchange of views when we moved to an open forum on the topic ‘This is USPG.’

Dr David Evans, who has been Director for Health since last September, comes to USPG with a background in medical research, developing vaccines and looking at HIV antibodies. Anthony McKernan has been Director of Donor Engagement since January and he has a background in social research and marketing. Behind them as they spoke was the slogan: “More than an aid agency.”

They spoke of an “Old USPG” that was unsustainable, and that was relying on small “loose change,” and of the “New USPG” that must be sustainable, with larger programmes and attracting larger donations.

What has not changed, however, they said, is USPG’s commitment to “God’s holistic mission.” But this was more than freshening up the image of USPG, and they spoke about a mission agency that must be more collaborative.

Canon Edgar Ruddock, USPG’s Director of Leadership Development, said taking stock over the past year or so involved listening, and facing up to new opportunities in their contexts, with consultations with 16 partners in 10 Anglican provinces or autonomous churches, revising policies and priorities, and developing new relationships.


Later in the afternoon and in the evening, we broke up into interest groups, and I went to hear the Most Revd Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt and President Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, speak about the recent upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa.

He was asked frank questions about the current conflict in Libya, the present state of affairs in the ‘Holy Land,’ and what Anglicans can do.

Bishop Mouneer has visited Libya many times, and in recent years Colonel Gadafy handed over to the Anglican Church “a wonderful 16th century church” in Tripoli that had been renovated at a cost of $1 million.

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that Jerusalem has been at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict not for the past 63 years since the Israeli state was declared in 1948, but from very early on. Jerusalem is at the heart of the issue and at the heart of the conflict, he said, and we cannot ignore the place Christians either. All three faiths have rights in the city. This is an international city, to which these three main religions should have free access. Both Jews and Muslims want exclusive access to Jerusalem, but a common-sense solution is required, he said.

He spoke openly of the role of Anglicans as a small church in every part of the Middle East. We have a bridging role between the Churches, as is being experienced in Egypt and Jerusalem, and in the Gulf, but also have a bridging role between Christianity and Islam, and he believes Anglicans are the most active Church in dialogue in the region.

He provided an interesting analysis of the different Islamic groups in the Middle East, but pointed out that majority of Muslims in the Middle East are peaceful, peace-loving moderate people, who have co-existed with Christians and Jews in the region for the past 14 centuries.

He offered interesting insights into the recent developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, and he spoke with compassion and passion of the experiences of young people and of women.

He pointed out that the Coptic Orthodox Church, with 12 million members, is not only the biggest Church in Egypt, but is also the biggest Church in the Middle East. They are paying a heavy price, he said, and they remember that they were martyred in the first centuries and after the Islamic conquest, that they have suffered in the past, and that they have paid the price.

He offered interesting insights into the potential role of Turkey as a good model, influencing many thinkers in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia and pointed out that Islam in Turkey is different, more moderate and more peaceful, Arab countries are watching Turkey, and are thinking Turkey’s model could be a good one, he suggested.

The High Leigh Conference Centre ... the venue for the USPG conference (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

During the day we also heard that Clare Amos is moving on to work with World Council of Churches on interfaith dialogue.

After dinner, I took part in an interesting workshop on music and liturgy led by Canon Jones. This morning [Tuesday, 21 June], we begin with the Eucharist, according to the rite of the Church of Bangladesh, celebrated by the Moderator of the Church, Bishop Paul Sarker. Our speakers include Bishop Mouneer and Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana, and there is a meeting of the Council of USPG in the evening.

Five people from USPG Ireland are taking part in the conference. Also here are Linda Chambers de Bruijn and Jan de Bruijn, and two students from the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Colin Darling and Iain Jamieson.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a director of USPG Ireland and USPG Northern Ireland. He represents the Church of Ireland on the council of USPG.

Pushing boundaries in the home of Dick Turpin

The centre of Hoddeson ... a charming town in the Lea Valley, with timber-framed Tudor inns, market stalls and interesting shops and cafés (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am in Hertfordshire this week for the USPG Annual Conference 2011, which takes place from today [20 June]until Wednesday [22 June]. This year’s conference, ‘Pushing Boundaries,’ has a special focus on the importance of leadership development and health within Anglican global mission.

The conference, which runs from lunchtime to lunchtime, is being held at the High Leigh Conference Centre on the outskirts of Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire.

The speakers at the conference this week include:

• The Most Revd Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt
• The Right Revd Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana
• The Right Revd Paul S Sarker, Moderator, Church of Bangladesh
• The Most Revd Maurício Andrade, Primate of Brazil

High Leigh ... the venue for the 2011 USPG annual conference (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I was last in High Leigh two years ago for USPG’s 2009 conference. High Leigh is set in the heart of the Hertfordshire countryside and stands in 40 acres of lawns, parkland and woodland.

From High Leigh, it’s a short walk into the nearest town, Hoddesdon (population 20,000), a charming town in the Lea Valley, with timber-framed Tudor inns, market stalls and interesting shops and cafés.

The White Swan ... a timber-framed, Tudor-style inn on the High Street in Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A number of these timber-framed inns lining the High Street date from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when the town was enlarged and her Secretary of State, Sir William Cecil, acquired the manor of Hoddesdonsbury. The Cecil family maintained its connection with Hoddesdon in the centuries that followed. This link is recalled in the name of the Salisbury Arms – the family has held the title of Marquis of Salisbury since 1789, although the pub itself dates back to the 16th century, when it was first known as the Black Lion Inn.

Many of Hoddesdon’s ancient inns remain to this day. As well as the Salisbury Arms, they include the Golden Lion (1535), the White Swan, which also dates from the 16th century, and the Bell (1660). Local lore says that it was from one of these inns that a “broad-shouldered, pock-marked man” called Dick Turpin operated during the 1730s, holding up travellers and stealing their possessions on the road between Hoddesdon and Ware.

Saint Augustine’s, Broxbourne ... a church in parish with a history that dates back to the 11th century (Photograph © John Salmon)

The local train station for Hoddesdon is at Broxbourne, and these two neighbouring villages, divided by Spital Brook but difficult to distinguish from each other, have been part of the same borough since 1935.

Broxbourne grew up on the Great Cambridge Road, now the A10, and Broxbourne High Street, like its counterpart in Hodesdon, is also lined with a number of old houses and inns dating from the 16th to the 19th century.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the Manor of Broxbourne was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The manor passed into Norman hands after the Conquest, and the Domesday Book mentions Broxbourne Mill. King John granted the manor to the Knights Hospitallers, and following the dissolution in the 16th century, the manor passed to John Cockin 1544.

Broxbourne’s parish church, Saint Augustine’s, stands a little to the east of the village and is Grade 1 listed building. The Domesday Book refers to a parish at Broxbourne in 1086 and to a priest, but not to a church.

The present church has a 12th century Purbeck marble font. But Saint Augustine’s was entirely rebuilt in the 15th century, probably funded by the Lord of the Manor, Sir John Say, who died in 1478. The tomb of Sir John and Lady Say remain in the church and is a National Monument. The church has other monuments and brasses dating from the 15th century, some of the Communion plate dates from the early 17th century, and three of the eight bells in the belfry date from 1615. Saint Augustine’s is now part of the Parish of Broxbourne with Wormley, formed in the late 1970s.

Today, Hoddesdon and Broxbourne are safer places for travelers and visitors than they were in the days of Dick Turpin. I look forward to some strolls around these streets and some walks in the countryside, as well as meeting some old friends and making some new friends.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a member of the council of USPG.

‘The Challenge of a Secular Age’ in Cambridge

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in the sunshine this morning ... the venue for this year’s summer school of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Cambridge this morning, on my way to a conference, and called into both Sidney Sussex College, where I have stayed and studied each summer since 2008, and the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, which is the Orthodox house of theological studies in Cambridge.

The institute is based at Wesley House, around the corner from Sidney Sussex in Jesus Lane, and is a full member of the Cambridge Theological Federation as well as being a designated Allied Institution of the University of Cambridge and a Regional Partner of Anglia Ruskin University.

The IOCS was founded in 1999 with the blessing of all the Orthodox hierarchs in Western Europe. Guest lecturers and supporters have included Metropolitan Kallistos of Diocleia, Metropolitan John Zizioulas, Father Thomas Hopko, Father Professor Andrew Louth, Archimandrite Symeon and Archimandrite Zacharias of Saint John the Baptist Monastery in Essex, and the late Metropolitan Antony of Sourozh.

I hope to be back in Cambridge again next month for the 12th Summer School of the institute, which takes place from 24 to 29 July in Sidney Sussex College.

Wesley House, Cambridge and the offices of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The theme of the summer school this year is ‘The Challenge of a Secular Age.’

This year’s Summer School promises to investigate the genesis and nature of secularism and to reflect on the role of the Christian faith in the contemporary world. Recent debates have shown that secularism is a complex and multi-layered phenomenon that defies easy analysis. An undifferentiated rejection of secularism is as unconvincing as its uncritical embrace.

The questions to be addressed at the summer school next month include:

● When and why did modern secularism come into being?
●In what way does secular thought influence our way of perceiving the world, and how is this influence manifest in the different spheres of public and private life?
●How are Christians to meet the ‘Challenge of a Secular Age’?

The speakers and topics include:

● Metropolitan Kallistos Ware: ‘Our Orthodox Answer to Secularism I: The Transfiguration of Christ’; ‘Our Orthodox Answer to Secularism II: Pray without Ceasing.’
● Dr Jonathan Chaplin, the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Tyndale House, Cambridge, and a member of the Divinity Faculty at Cambridge University: ‘Between Theocracy and Secularism: Religion and the State in Britain Today.’
● Dr Brandon Gallaher of the University of Oxford and Stipendiary Lecturer in Theology at Keble College: ‘An Alternate Modernity? Orthodox and Roman Catholic Engagements with Secularism and (Post-)Modernity, and the Nature of Episcopal Authority.’
● Dr Mihail Neamtu, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and for the Memory of Romanian Exile: ‘Communism: a Secularised Eschatology?’
● Revd Professor Nikolaos Loudovikos, Professor of Dogmatics and Philosophy at the Superior Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki: ‘Psychology and Secularism,’
●Dr Irina Kirillova, of Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Department of Slavonic Studies: ‘“If there is no God, then all is permitted!” (FM Dostoevsky).’
● Dr Andreas Andreopoulos, Senior Lecturer in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Winchester: ‘Art: from Ritual to Voyeurism.’
● Revd Dr John Hughes, chaplain and tutorial adviser, Jesus College, and the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge: ‘Beyond the Secular Market: Christian Social Teaching and the Economic Crisis.’
● Dragos Herescu, graduate secretary, IOCS, and Durham University: ‘Secularisation and the Curious Case of the Orthodox Church.’

Another speaker, Alexander Ogorodnikov, is yet to be confirmed. He is a former chair of the Russian Orthodox Argentov Seminar, a peace activist, a Gulag survivor and the founder of several Russian humanitarian organisations.

The programme also includes a pilgrimage to the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, for the Divine Liturgy, followed by a tour of the monastery.

King’s College and King’s Parade in the morning sunshine in Cambridge today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

After my visit to Cambridge this morning, I headed south to Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, where the annual conference of USPG (Anglicans in World Mission) begins this afternoon. I’m looking forward to my return visit to Cambridge next month.