Monthly Archives: February 2017

St George’s Andorra status

For the three years 2017 to 2019 we are now a worship centre of St George’s Barcelona, under the supervision of the chaplain in Barcelona, Revd John Chapman and represented at synod by their synod reps. We have no churchwardens, officers or church council and will be represented at Barcelona church council meetings by John Pinnell, who will also keep our books under the supervision of the Treasurer in Barcelona, and act as local safeguarding contact for the Barcelona Safeguarding Officer. We have a small informal worship committee which will coordinate services and we have the invaluable assistance of Revd Deborah Chapman who will visit us eight tomes a year while Revd john Chapman will visit us four times a year. For our second monthly services we will continue to use worship CDs prepared for us by Revd Canon Mel Smith who is visiting us in April to renew his contacts with us and plan the next series of worship CDs.

Annual Church Meeting 2017

We held the annual church meeting very early this year – on January 22 to be precise – before lunch at the Valet restaurant in Arinsal and after holy Communion led by Revd Deborah Chapman, who also presided at the meeting.

There was a very positive surprise presented by then Treasurer in his report – we have been then recipient of some very generous donations during 2016 and recorded what (for us) is a substantial annual surplus, sufficient to see us through the coming year or two and ensure that we can fund the new status we will have as a worship centre of St George’s Barcelona.

The first consequence of this status change is that Revd Deborah Chapman as agreed to visit us eight times a year for the next three years and to stay with us for a few extra nights when she comes so that she can get to know people and provide pastoral care to those who may need it.

The second and, from an organisational point of view, the more important consequence, is that Revd John Chapman has formally take responsibility for overusing us as part of his chaplaincy and will himself visit us four times a year.

At the annual church meeting, we thanked Michael Derham for his many years of services as churchwarden, noted that we no longer would have other churchwardens or a church council, noted that John would continue to act as treasurer and administrative liaison, and welcomed our new status with a general feeling of relief and positive motivation for the future.

 

Archdeaconry Synod 2017

Brenda and John went to synod for ten last of their three year stint as synod reps and potentially as the last synod reps from Andorra, as we are now organising ourselves as a worship centre of St George’s Barcelona under the guidance of Revd John Chapman, the chaplain there.

John and Revd John met with Bishop David during synod and “cleared” the arrangements that had been approved by both church councils and the annual church meeting in Andorra for this change.

Synod was full of things we need to know and a great opportunity to meet with reps from other chaplaincies and contrast and compare their life with ours. It seems that Andorra actually manages very well compared to chaplaincies used to having a resident chaplain but with a vacancy needing to be filled and that we have a good reputation for looking after visiting chaplains.