Annwyl Gyfeillion

Anniversary of the Middle East Conflict

War is a suppurating wound on the life of humanity. Not only does the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to inflict misery and loss, but more recently, the Middle East has erupted into violence once again. It is hard to believe that the Hamas act of barbarity which triggered the whole of the current situation is now one year ago, but the aggressive reprisals by the forces of the State of Israel, under the leadership of Bibi Netanyahu, egged on by the extremist parties which keep him in power, have devasted Gaza, oppressed the West Bank, and now threaten to undermine the fragile state of Lebanon. Over eleven thousand children have been killed in the last year – it is as if almost twice the number of all the children in our Church schools in the diocese were wiped out.

What I cannot understand is why our UK government appears to give Israel free rein to act as they wish. More than that, we continue to arm them, and fuel the conflict. Of course, I stand by the right of Israel to exist, and to defend itself. Of course, some of the terrorist organisations against which they fight appear to hide themselves among civilians, making reprisals against them difficult. But how long can we just be bystanders as the wounds inflicted increase, as innocents are destroyed on a massive scale and the seeds of generations of hatred and ongoing insecurity for Israeli and Palestinian are sown?

As we approach the first anniversary of the current conflict in the Middle East on October 7th, the Bishops have issued a statement along with the request that all our churches say prayers this coming Sunday to pray for all impacted by this conflict. The bishops’ statement can be found using the link below, and the bilingual litany (Welsh / English) has been written for use across the Province can also be found attached to this ad clerum. On Sunday, October 6th, please would you and your congregations remember all those who are affected by the violence and to pray for a swift and just resolution to this intolerably painful conflict which has cost far too many lives. You can download the prayers and litany at: https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-events/bishops-call-for-prayers-to-mark-anniversary-of-middle-east-conflict/

The Bishops’ Advent Course : O Come let us adore him

The bishops, with considerable help from the comms teams and some of our colleagues in ministry, have produced a seven session course for Advent this year. Based upon the Sunday and festival Gospel readings, each session encourages people to encounter Jesus through Bible Study, prayer and reflection. The course, which is fully bilingual, may be found here:

https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/evangelism/o-come-let-us-adore-him-advent-course-2024/

At the moment, there is a trailer, and the introductory session led by the Archbishop. All the sessions will be available for private use or for download by the end of this month. I would love to think that this joint initiative by the bishops to offer scriptural teaching to the Province would receive a good reception in our congregations.

Diary and Events

Please read this diary carefully. The diary below has been updated to include all those fixed dates for events that clergy are required to attend as part of their professional commitment, together with those opportunities to build up our common life by supporting significant moments for our colleagues. Please ensure that dates which are a professional requirement are in your diary, even where the exact format may be open to change.

Especially important are the plans for the forthcoming Diocesan Conference, which are outlined in the diary below. Where a clash with your own plans comes to your attention, please raise it with Esgobty at the earliest opportunity. I am still occasionally getting excuses late in the day from clergy who don’t seem to have planned ahead, or even read this diary, and I am much more amenable when approached early to discuss any potential clashes.

We have traditionally held a Confirmation service in St Asaph at Nicholas-tide in early December. I would be grateful therefore if those with candidates can contact Esgobty as soon as possible, and no later than October 15th, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Also, enquiries are now welcome from the mission areas for dates for Confirmations in 2025. Please be in touch with Siân at Esgobty to discuss your requirements so that dates can be secured in my diary for next year.

October

17 October Diocesan Conference online evening session, 1900hr.

19 October Diocesan Conference, in person, all day meeting at Llanfyllin High School

November

13 November Mission Area Leader Training 17 November Licensing of Dan Morgan and Sam Quilty as Priests-in-Charge in Denbigh Mission Area, and Mike Haslam as Diocesan Director for Transforming Ministry, St Mary’s, Denbigh, 1530hr.

24 November Licensing of Huw Bryant as Priest-in-Charge in Aberconwy Mission Area, St Grwst’s, Llanrwst, 1530hr.

27 November Licensing of Vicki Burrows as Priest-in-Charge and MAL in Alyn Mission Area, All Saints’, Gresford, 1900hr.

2025

29 January Clergy Synod, whole day meeting, details to be confirmed

17 April Chrism Eucharist

31 May LLM Annual Meeting and Service

28 June Diaconal Ordinations, Cathedral, 1000hr

15-18 Septr Residential Clergy School

Hwyl a Helo

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jo Mackriell as the next Convenor of the Diocesan College of Spiritual Directors. Jo succeeds Alexis Smith whom we thank sincerely for looking after this role of late. Alexis will continue as a member of the College and will hand over to Jo at the Annual Commissioning Service in the Cathedral this Thursday. Please contact Jo with all referrals for Spiritual Direction. Jo will then be able to take the referral forward by finding the most appropriate person in the College to support the individual concerned.

We were very sorry to learn of the death of Ivor Hawkins in mid-September. Ivor was ordained in 2016 after a long and dedicated ministry as Reader. We give thanks to God for his life and ministry in Caereinion Mission Area. Ivor’s funeral will take place at Emstrey Crematorium, Shrewsbury, on Friday 11 October at 1445 hr. We were also sad to learn recently of the death of Moira Davies, widow of Canon Philip Davies, former Rector of Hawarden. May these servants of God rest in peace and rise in glory.

Renewal of Permissions to Officiate

We are now in the midst of the triennial process of renewing my Permission to Officiate and I thank those who have already been in touch with Esgobty to request renewal or to indicate they wish to stand back from a public ministry. The triennial renewal involves the majority of clergy holding PTO, whose current certificates expire on December 31st. New PTO Certificates will be issued before Christmas and will be valid from January 1st 2025, until 31 December 2027.

I urge those who have not responded yet to do so during October. It would also be helpful if clergy deciding not to renew could write to let me know.

Those who have received my PTO earlier this year will already have received certificates for the new date and are not required to take further action.

A renewal application form is here for those who wish to continue offering PTO ministry to the diocese. Completed application forms, along with current PTO certificate countersigned by the Mission Area Leader, should be submitted to Esgobty as soon as possible.

As part of the renewal process each applicant’s DBS and Safeguarding Training record will be checked. For this reason, applications should be submitted as soon as possible so that, if necessary, sufficient time is available to renew DBSs or access the autumn Safeguarding Training programme as this will need to be done before a new PTO certificate can be issued.

I should be grateful for the assistance of mission area leaders and other clergy in reminding priests who hold PTO in their area of their need to renew.

Spiritual Direction and the Ministry of Deliverance

I wish to remind all clergy that these are specialist ministries, and that neither formal spiritual direction nor any deliverance ministry should be undertaken without appropriate authorisation. For Spiritual Direction, this means having taken the diocesan training or equivalent, and having been commissioned as part of the Diocesan College of Spiritual Direction. For further information, please contact the Revd Jo Mackriell, who will be the convenor of the college.

For deliverance ministry, or any ministry which seeks to address phenomena of a potential supernatural nature beyond simple house prayers or the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, particularly if they involve prayers of exorcism, the first port of call is my office, who will log the basic information, and refer the matter to my trained and commissioned deliverance team.

As clergy of the Church in Wales, your ministry is underwritten for legal liability by insurance with Ecclesiastical. However, if you conduct either Spiritual Direction, or attempt any Deliverance ministry, without formal authorisation from me, any insurance cover would be invalid, and you would be personally liable should anything go wrong. Beyond this, these are serious ministries, in which there is a danger of spiritual abuse, either intentional or accidental, and appropriate training and authorisation is the right course of action.

Notes and Queries

‘This is Alpha’
A conference run by Alpha UK which is being hosted at Hope Street on Saturday 23rd November for church teams of any denomination who are interested in running Alpha. Chloe Swart, Nathan Sadler and Nicky and Pippa Gumbel will be running seminars as part of the day and stories will be shared of what God has been doing across Wales, including in our prisons.
Bookings to attend may be made at
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/this-is-alpha-wrexham-wales-tickets-841449296497

Archbishop of Wales Fund for Children

Many of you will know of the work of the Archbishop of Wales Fund for Children which has, since the early 2000s, raised money for work amongst children across Wales. The work of the fund has now come to end and all the money which has been raised has been distributed by the trustees. Many of the trustees have given considerable service and the Bench of Bishops is deeply grateful for all their hard and dedicated work.

It has been the practice of many to send an annual donation to the fund. This was often the proceeds of a collection taken at Christingle services. Since the fund has now closed to new donations, this is no longer possible. The bench has discussed this and recommend that any money raised is either sent to the diocesan office to fund work with children in the diocese or used locally for work with children. It is, of course, a decision to be made with your MAC.

Residential Clergy School – September 2025

It’s time for our triennial residential Clergy School in Autumn 2025. The provisional dates have been set for the week of 15th to 18th September. Watch this space for further details as they emerge, but do put those dates in your diary now, and begin to put in any arrangements that may be necessary to enable you to attend.

The Clergy Support Trust

A reminder to those clergy who may be in need of particular financial assistance that the Clergy Support Trust can fund well-being grants, retreats, holidays and respite breaks for clergy. The following link will enable you to investigate this further as appropriate: www.clergysupport.org.uk/wellbeing-grants.

Concise Almanac 2024-25 Year C

We are grateful as ever to Canon Martin Snellgrove for his work each year in providing us with a user-friendly Concise Almanac. Those who appreciate this simplified form of the lectionary will find the edition for the next liturgical year attached.

The Membership App

The Membership App has been rolled out right across the diocese and we thank those churches that are using it to systematically record weekly attendance for services and related activities. This provides a large and valuable body of information detailing how many people are attending Church and what projects are bearing fruit. This data will support how we make best use of our funds and resources.

For us to get the very best from this system, we need to ensure we get regular weekly returns from all our churches. This is hugely important. The more complete our figures are, the richer and more useful the data will be in enabling this very powerful tool to support growth, and to be able to plan the future deployment of ministry across the diocese.

We are now working with the software development team in Cardiff to develop further the reporting facilities in the app. This will make it far easier to summarise and understand what is happening at church, mission area and diocesan level.

For those people who want some help on how to get started, there is a dedicated Membership page on our Diocesan website. You will find it here: www.stasaphdiocese.org.uk/membership. You can also contact the Diocesan Office directly to have a chat with one of the team who will be happy to help you.

Students of Clergy Families

Please let my office know if you have a son or daughter starting tertiary education this year. I like to be able to send a small gift to assist them and wish to do that once again. Names, ages, courses of study, and the right address to which to send my greetings would be appreciated.

Clergy Synod – Mission and Liturgy

It was good to see a good turnout at the Synod last week, and feedback coming directly to me has been very positive. Do remember to send the evaluation sheet back into Siân here at Esgobty, so that we can form a more objective idea of how things went down, from the location to the various sessions.

I extend my warm regards and every blessing to you all. As ever, I am honoured to be your colleague,