AFTER nine years as vicar of Cirencester I am on my way East. Not to Essex or Aberdeen, but Athens where I have been appointed as the Anglican Chaplain.

Some may have an interest in what that might entail, so for once, if you don’t mind, I’m using this column to talk about my future role.

There is a congregation at St Paul’s Church in Athens on Philellinou Street in the centre of the city where the Sunday congregation is about 70 strong. 

There is a real task to do there in building numbers, deepening faith and lowering the average age which is not much different to most other places really.

There are several Anglican congregations scattered throughout Greece, namely Thessaloniki, Patras, and Crete and I will have some oversight of these congregations. 

Because of the Greek economic crisis, for many people in Greece, and in the cities especially, there is real social hardship. Many salaries are reduced, pensions halved and unemployment high. 

The small Anglican minnow, compared to the mighty Greek Orthodox Church, punches well above its weight and assists with funding and resourcing of 800 free meals in central Athens every lunch time and has done for several years.

The present Anglican Chaplain has been instrumental in working with UNHCR and UK based mission societies in response to the refugee and migrant crisis that has impacted on the Greek islands and on the northern borders of Greece. 

The Chaplaincy has some paid human resources to contribute to the humanitarian crisis. The Chaplain is also Apokrisiarios of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece. 

This is a church corps diplomatic type role.

All in all much of what I will be doing is quite a stark contrast to the Cotswolds. 

My thanks to the Wilts and Glos Standard for printing a Thought for the Week and for receiving my contributions over the last nine years.

FATHER LEONARD DOOLAN
Vicar of Cirencester