Fr Mika Pajunen and his wife Liina have returned to St John's Church!

Fr Mika will lead the Eucharist Service on Sunday Mornings and the Tuesday Morning Reflection at church.

They will be in Menton during the months of January & February.

ECUMENICAL PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY San Siro Cathedral, Sanremo
Saturday 22 January 2022 – 4.00pm

King Wenceslas

 A Prayer for Friendships and Relationships ...

Life at St. James-the-Least The Rectory St. James-the-Least

My dear Nephew Darren,

I was pleased to hear that you enjoyed your first Christmas in your parish, although a little disappointed that you replaced the 'boring' Crib Service with a 'more exciting' alternative. I have yet to understand the theology - or even point - of your 'Bananarama' celebration. I'm sure your bishop would be interested to hear of its biblical authority.

Having said that, our own Crib Service proved to be a little unorthodox and far from boring. Choosing the cast from the Sunday school is always a delicate process. One of the youngsters who wanted to be Joseph was only given the part of the innkeeper. He seemed to accept the disappointment with good grace, but had clearly made his plans.

On the evening of the performance, Joseph knocked on the innkeeper's door and asked if there was any room. This was our innkeeper's great opportunity. He threw open the door and told Joseph and Mary that there was plenty of room and they were both welcome. The cast and audience froze, while the teacher responsible contemplated early retirement.

But Joseph hadn't got the star part for nothing. He pretended to look round inside and then turned to Mary and said, "Nah, it's too crowded in there; we'll use the stable round the back."

And so the nativity was rescued by one nine year-old. There's Episcopal material in that boy.

Christmas would not be the same without carol singing round the village. There is the annual dilemma of deciding just the right moment to go and sing in the pub. Too early, and the customers aren't sufficiently maudlin to give generously; too late and they drown out the choir with their own variations of 'Silent Night'. We are offered mulled wine at most of the houses we visit. Mr Prentice's solo as Balthazar became ever more operatic with his "sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying," as the evening progressed. Perhaps by the time of our last call he was even getting a little too operatic.

And so to the climax of it all, with the midnight Service.  We had a full church lit only by candles, which ruin many a good coat every year. However, Mr Onion's behaviour in putting up his umbrella as he stood under the great nave candelabra on his way to receive Communion was regarded as being a little de trop by most of us.

But a new year is now upon us; after the joys of Christmas, Lent comes hard on its heels. Precisely my philosophy: every silver lining contains a cloud.

Your loving uncle,

Eustace

 Church of England/Italian Treaty Approved

New Archdeacon of France

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that Canon Dr. Peter Hooper has been appointed to be the next Archdeacon of France.

Peter is currently priest-in-charge of seven rural churches near Melton Mowbray and Area Dean of the Framland Deanery in the Leicester Diocese. He is the Chair of the House of Clergy, is a member of Bishop's Council, sits on various other Diocesan Committees and also serves as the Rural Officer for Leicester Diocese. Much of his time in ministry has been directed to growing Christian communities and presence, both within established settings as well as in start-up situations and secular
organisations. Children and young people have been a particular focus, and he has helped two communities register as Eco-Churches. He is interested in national initiatives on clergy flourishing and has co-ordinated a series of projects looking at reducing the administration burden for clergy. Peter has been Area Dean for two different deaneries, both of which have been re-organised under his leadership, and his ministry has emphasised the need to care for and encourage clergy and parishioners who find change difficult.

Prior to ordination Peter worked in agriculture, eventually becoming managing director of a large agricultural seeds subsidiary of DuPont, based in Toulouse, and represented the industry up to national level in France. As a business leader he nurtured discipleship through a 'faith in the workplace' course and continues to tutor on various Diocesan Discipleship programmes. A major part of Peter's ordination training took place at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse, though more as a result of geography than tradition, as Peter has a very broad churchmanship. Whilst living in
Toulouse he served as Chaplaincy Warden in the Anglican Chaplaincy, so
understands well the realities of chaplaincy life in the Archdeaconry from a lay officer perspective, particularly as related to financial issues.
Peter was widowed in 2019 and has two grown-up children, William who is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Catherine, a Human Nutritionist, who works in the Food Industry. Whilst they will not be returning with him to live in France, they are excited about the opportunities to visit.

Peter has lived and worked in France for over a decade and looks forward very much to returning to a country that he regards as his home.
Peter will begin work with us on 15 February 2021. He will be licensed initially as Acting Archdeacon, continuing to live in Leicestershire. A move to Francer will be organised as quickly as possible in these difficult times, when Peter will be licensed as Archdeacon in full title.

The new St John's English Library is now open .

Mrs Julia Wigart and Mrs Joanna Longhorne have done a marvellous job organising hundreds of books.

Please come to the church on Wednesday afternoon, 14h30-17h30 and Saturday morning, 09h30-12h30 to look through the Fiction and Non-Fiction books. To view the library online, please click HERE.

Church of the Holy Ghost, Genova – Mission to Migrants
There have been places of Anglican worship for British people in Bordighera, Ospedaletti, San Remo, Diano Marina, Alassio, Spotorno, Genova, Rapallo e Levanto. They came in great numbers to Liguria during the winter months of the 1860s until the end of the Second World War. By the end of the 20th century, mainly for financial and numerical reasons, all but the Church of the Holy Ghost, Genova
and the Anglican Chapel in Bordighera had closed.
Genova, being a very important port on the Mediterranean coast, welcomes people from many nations and continents to work and study. “The Church of the Holy Ghost has survived, despite some very difficult times”, writes Canon Tony Dickinson, their Chaplain “because of its ministry to a much wider community. It is not just a church for “ex-pat” Brits. The church greets those who prefer to worship
in English or for whom English is their first European language and the resident congregation at present includes people from Canada, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Romania, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

In recent years the church has established a distinctive ministry to refugees and other migrants, particularly those who have made the dangerous journey from West Africa across the Sahara to Libya, and then risked their lives in overcrowded inflatables crossing to Lampedusa. Some were persuaded to embark on the journey by the
narrative of “El Dorado” peddled by the traffickers and their agents, or were sent by their families to “make their fortune”. Many in the initial wave of migrants came because they were trapped in Libya by the overthrow of the Ghaddafi regime and the attendant chaos. Others came to escape gang violence. Some of the young women travelled to Italy in order to escape abuse at home.
Ministry to the migrants demands a lot of energy and commitment from the core members of the congregation, who have been unstintingly generous with their time,
money and pastoral care, this has been shown in the following ways:
• supporting those who are going through Italy's immigration process
• bailing out (in extremis prison visiting) the few who get into trouble with the law or with the institutions which offer accommodation for migrants
• providing rent deposits for those who are moving on into private
accommodation and are awaiting their first pay packet
• guiding them round the intricacies of Italian bureaucracy
• sorting out health-care
• helping with CVs
• writing references for prospective employers or for immigration
commissions (and appeals against negative commission decisions)
• preparing people for job interviews
• running a small-scale food-and-clothing-bank, including bedding for those who need it, and children's clothes (the food bank serves about a dozen people each Sunday)
• keeping their eyes and ears open for any job opportunities that may be going and might be suitable for one or other of the people on our books
• encouraging them along the way of Jesus Christ

In July 2019 the church presented seven adult candidates from the Nigerian community for baptism and/or confirmation. A similar number had been presented in 2017. Many of the migrants first came to the church because they had heard from friends about the food-bank but stayed because of the warmth of fellowship which they encountered and have made the commitment to follow Jesus Christ.
Most of the work I have described is down to the personal generosity of established church members and their openness to newcomers. As one of our churchwardens has said, 'We don't have a congregation at Holy Ghost. We have a family.' The church's electoral roll currently stands at just under 30. Our average Sunday congregation is in the region of 30-40, about two-thirds of whom are “migrants” in the popular sense of the word. We are aware of 50-60 “on our books”. All but two or three of us (the native Italian members of the congregation) are in fact migrants of one kind or another, here to work, or to study, or because they fell in love. Our weekly income in recent months has normally been between €100 and €150, but if earners in the congregation are away on holiday and cruise ships aren't sending any passengers in our direction, it can be as low as half that. That income is supposed to cover our utilities' bills, the rent on the chaplain's flat, the chaplain's expenses, the maintenance of our worship amd our contribution to the running costs of the Diocese in Europe. There is a “Neighbours in Need” fund from which grants and loans are given to people in need of immediate cash help. This has been made possible largely through the generosity of the people of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rock Creek, Washington DC.
A favourite saying among the congregation is “God sees and provides”, and what is being done here by way of pastoral care and nurturing people in Christian faith is little short of miraculous. However, the work that was done to bring the building back into use 70 years ago is showing its age, and we are very much aware that another major storm of the ferocity of last October's could lead to the church being closed as unsafe – and we couldn't afford the cost of repairs. We have only just paid off the very patient contractor who carried out the most recent refurbishment of the building seven years ago and to do that required us to run our scanty reserves down to a worryingly low level. We are also very much aware that we could do a great deal more if the building were brought up to scratch in terms of its facilities – but that also requires money that we do not have. We are also facing the likelihood of new demands in the New Year as the “camps” where many of the African migrants have been settled are due to be closed. Members of the congregation are already involved in a process of giving advice on saving and guidance on flat-sharing.