Canon Barney Milligan, the Chaplain of St. Alban’s from 1984 to 1995, has died at his home in Dorset, in England. He would have been 93 this year. Roger Massie writes:

“Barney was a big man and when he was our Chaplain in the 1990s he made a huge mark on our congregation and became a close friend to many of us old-timers.  It is a bit of an understatement that he had Friends in High Places : our chaplaincy benefited from a stream of visiting preachers including Archbishops Runcie and Carey. Claire and I have a memory of the former stirring a giant Christmas pudding mixture at Church coffee – it must have been ‘Stir-up Sunday’.

He combined his chaplaincy duties with a representative role in bringing together European Churches, and it was for this work that Queen Elisabeth called him to Buckingham Palace to recognise his work with a medal (the rather anachronistic-sounding Order of the British Empire). This work brought him into contact with the European Institutions including the one several of us work or worked for.

This still left him, his energy being boundless, time for Africa. Claire and I were among the beneficiaries since we accompanied him to Rwanda where we met Bishop Venuste in his diocese of Butare, a link which exists to this day.

After retirement, Barney sometimes visited us in London on cultural trips and once he asked me to stand in for him at an occasion at which the Archbishop – yet another one – bestowed the Lambeth Cross on Cardinal Caspar for his ecumenical work. The Cardinal delighted me by admitting that he communicated with His Holiness Pope Benedict in their shared South German dialect with which we are familiar here.

Why, it is permitted to wonder, did Barney himself never become a Bishop himself ? Perhaps because he was not everyone’s cup of tea, including those whose job it is to put names forward. Anyway, except for the odd confirmation or installation, who needs a Bishop ? And we were the winners in being able to select him to serve here.  Rest in peace, dear much-loved Barney.”

                                     Barney Milligan, Roger Massie & George Walker at a Kolbsheim lunch

In 1984, Barney Milligan, then a Canon of St. Alban’s Cathedral in England and a self-confessed “Ecumaniac”, published a book on the challenges facing Christians in Western Europe.  This made him seem a suitable person to run the new office of the European Ecumenical Commission for Church and Society (EECCS, later to become the Conference of European Churches) in Strasbourg, with a view to strengthening the common witness of the churches in Europe. At the same time, he served as part-time Chaplain to the Anglican community in Strasbourg. In 1989 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, appointed Barney as the Archbishop’s Representative to the European Institutions in Strasbourg, which meant he could also continue here as Chaplain.  It was Barney’s idea then to dedicate this Chaplaincy to St. Alban’s.  He was a powerful preacher with a gift for making the Christian faith accessible to all.

“Barney’s great strengths were energy, delegation and a gift for friendship. He was passionate about involving everyone [in the life of the Chaplaincy].”  (From: “Our History”).

Barney’s wife Evie, as warm-hearted as he and a gifted hostess, worked as a physiotherapist at a London hospital and used to commute to and fro. They have three daughters.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them as we give thanks for Barney’s life and ministry among us.

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                                                                           Evie & Barney Milligan

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place this year from 18 – 25 January. This year’s resources have been prepared by the ecumenical Monastic Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland.  The theme that was chosen, “Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit”, is based on John 15: 1-17 and expresses Grandchamp Community’s vocation to prayer, reconciliation and unity in the church and the human family.  Follow this link for more information about the Community:

https://www.grandchamp.org

On these websites you will find A Guide for Daily Prayer that you can use individually or as a family throughout the eight-day period.

https://ctbi.org.uk/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2021/

https://unitedeschretiens.fr/semaine-de-priere-pour-unite-chretiens/

https://www.oikoumene.org/events/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity

In the season of Epiphany Mark Barwick writes:

“We have turned the page on 2020 and gladly so! But where will we find light in the darkness which persists in this new year?
Wise men (and women) still follow the light which leads to the Child of Bethlehem. Here we find a God that does not abandon us but enters our world to heal, to save and to restore. This light can appear pretty dim these days. It is there nonetheless, bidding us forward, giving us hope and yes, even joy.”

Therefore, tant même: A very happy New Year to you all!

It’s a double premiere for St. Alban’s: our own site on YouTube and a filmed Christmas message from our priest Mark Barwick, in English with French subtitles.  Recorded in the church of our kind hosts, the Dominican community in Strasbourg, his thoughts centre around the word Emmanuel: God with us, even in these difficult times.

To see and hear what he has to say, just follow this link.

Mark Barwick recording his Christmas message.

A blessed and peaceful Christmas to all!

Our Christmas Day service of the Holy Eucharist starts at 10.00am (half an hour earlier than usual!)

O Come, All Ye Faithful…

St. Alban’s will be celebrating the birth of Our Lord in a Service of Carols and Holy Eucharist
on Christmas Day, 25th December, at 10 o’clock, at the chapel of the Dominicans, bld de la Victoire/rue de l’Université.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
Entrez par ses portes en rendant grâce

In keeping with the government’s plan progressively to ease lockdown measures, we have resumed worship services at the Dominicans’ Chapel. You will find procedures will be similar to those in place before the most recent lockdown, except that the space between seats has been somewhat widened.  Our service of Holy Eucharist will be at 10.30h.

Don’t forget your masks!

Conformément au plan du gouvernement visant à alléger progressivement
les mesures du confinement, nous avons repris les services de culte.
Vous trouverez des procédures similaires à celles en place avant le confinement le plus récent,
sauf que l’espace entre les sièges a été quelque peu élargi.  À 10.30h  nous célébrons l’Eucharistie.

N’oubliez pas vos masques !