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Diocese in Europe

NEW BISHOP FOR EUROPE

Bishop Geoffrey's ministry to date has been characterised by pastoral care, theology and teaching  (he is a distinguished church historian) and contributions to improving relations between the Churches.  As Chaplain, Fellow and Tutor at Keble College Oxford from 1972 - 1994, he  had pastoral responsibility not only for the students and staff but also for clergy in the 67 parishes for which the college is the patron. As Bishop of  Basingstoke, he has pastoral care of 125 clergy and their families in North Hampshire. From 1997 he has chaired the Churches Group on Funeral Services at Cemeteries and Crematoria.

Bishop Geoffrey is a major player in building relations with other Churches. He has been a member of the Anglo-Oriental Orthodox International Forum since 1985 and co-chairman since 1996. He is also a member of the newly constituted Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations.

His present Diocese of Winchester has historic links with Stavanger in Norway and he was instrumental with others in creating a twinning link with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Florence in Italy.

As a theologian Bishop Geoffrey served on the Liturgical Commission from 1981-91 and became a member of the Doctrine Commission in 1991. He is also a member of the House of Bishops' Theological Group and the Working Party on Women and the Episcopate.

He said of his appointment " It is an honour and a privilege to have been asked to become the new Bishop in Europe. I look forward to building strong  pastoral links with the many chaplaincies spread over the enormous area which makes up the Diocese, and to the many opportunities to work with our ecumenical partners of many different Christian traditions. I am both humbled and excited by the prospect of this new ministry, and hope that I will be able to bring to it the fruits of many years of teaching, of work with young people, of ecumenical friendship and more recently of the many aspects of a bishop's work in my native North Hampshire. I know that in being asked to succeed John Hind I will be able to build on the firm foundation he has laid in many areas, and I ask the prayers of the Diocese as I begin my ministry in the autumn."

An ardent traveller he claims to have visited most European countries. He is off to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang for his holidays. He also relaxes by listening to music, reading poetry and is a prolific writer.

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Further information from the Revd Eric Shegog

Tel: 01462 743251

Fax: 01462 743207

Email: ericshegog@yahoo.co.uk

BISHOP GEOFFREY WRITES:

It is a great honour to have been asked to succeed Bishop John Hind as Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, and I look forward to getting to know the priests and people of the many chaplaincies which will be under my pastoral care, with the assistance of Bishop Henry and the archdeacons.

Ever since His All-Holiness Athenagoras I, the then Ecumenical Patriarch, welcomed me as a student to his theological seminary at Halki, I have had a concern for the visible unity of the church. Some eighteen years later I spent a sabbatical term in the desert monastery of St Macarius in Egypt, a  shaping experience of my own Christian life and ministry. That experience, and contact with other churches of the Oriental Orthodox family, have contributed to my work as Anglican co-chair of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Forum. But my ecumenical interests are wide and I am able to bring the perspective of a church historian to the many ecumenical dialogues and conversations in which I have been engaged, believing that friendship is essential to all concern for the unity of the church, as indeed it is to pastoral care and Christian mission.

I ask prayers as I take up my new responsibilities.

+ GEOFFREY BASINGSTOKE

Press statement by Bishop Henry

14 May 2001

I am delighted to hear of the appointment of Bishop Geoffrey Rowell as the next Bishop in Europe and I very much look forward to working closely with him in the future. Thanks to Bishop John Hind's vision and the close co-operation of the Intercontinental Church Society, the diocese is at a  very exciting stage of development with many imaginative initiatives and  partnerships. The possibilities for mission and growth are almost endless  and we know that Bishop Geoffrey will bring great insight and wisdom to this demanding task.

The Archbishop of Canterbury along with the Bishop of London and the Bishop of the Lusitanian Church in Portugal, have appointed the Right Revd. Geoffrey Rowell to be the next  Bishop of Gibraltar in  Europe.

The Archbishop said: "Dr Rowell is a well known scholar, teacher and pastor and he has much to offer the many and scattered congregations in the diocese of Europe. I know they will receive him with warmth".