Christ Church Vienna Crossways April 2013

C ROSSWAYS
No. 70
f
April 2013
News and views from Christ Church Vienna
the Anglican/Episcopal Church in Austria
The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby
2
Christ Church Vienna
Jaurèsgasse 17/19, 1030 Vienna
Articles and photos in this magazine may only be reproduced with the permission of the Editor.
For further information, contact [email protected].
Postal address: Jaurèsgasse 12, 1030 Vienna
Church office: Salesianergasse 24, 1030 Vienna ] Tel. and Fax: 714 8900
www.christchurchvienna.org ] [email protected]
also serves Bratislava, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Ljubljana and Zagreb
Chaplain of Christ Church
and Archdeacon of the Eastern Archdeaconry
The Venerable Patrick Curran
Reisnerstraße 42/7
1030 Vienna
Priests with permission
to officiate
The Revd. Aileen Hackl
Hardtmuthg. 28/3/20
1100 Vienna
The Revd. Clair Filbert-Ullmann
Reader with permission
to officiate
Ms. Laura Fairburn
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718 5902
Church Office Administrator Ms. Miranda Kopetzky
Wed. 13.30-17.30
Thur. 09.30-16.00
Verger
Mr. Sean Nield
Choir Director
Organist
Mr. Jack Ridley
Mr. Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer
For information on services in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana and Zagreb, please contact:
Klagenfurt: Ms. Helen Taupe
Ljubljana: Ms. Barbara Ryder (Reader)
Ms. Janet Berković
Zagreb:
The 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin
Welby was formally enthroned on 21 March as
and leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans
just eight days after the Roman Catholic church
welcomed its new pope, Pope Francis.
0650/5668278
00386 4572 3015
00385 98193 1774
The opinions expressed in this publication are
those of the individual authors and should
not necessarily be considered as carrying the
endorsement of Christ Church, its officers or
the Editor.
3
Editorial
I
t seems that wherever we turn, we are confronted
with words of wisdom designed to refocus our lives,
equip us to get in touch with our inner selves (whatever
that means) or spread joy and good fortune among our
Outlook contacts. Since in this latter example, the unsolicited advice tends to come from a friend of a friend of
a friend, I wonder exactly what he or she knows about
the state of my life and whether I need the advice in the
first place! I can’t even enjoy my early morning cup of
herbal tea without the tea-bag label that dangles on a
little string admonishing me to “Remember you exist
with a purpose” or (today’s advice) “See yourself in the
mirror of Grace”.
I recently turned to—and equally quickly turned my
back on—chi-gong where I was obviously the only
one in the room who couldn’t feel the energy let alone
sweep it gently heavenwards with a slow movement of
my arms. I know people who swear by gong therapy,
colour therapy and a range of equally enticing and
esoteric ways to spend money and pass the time. Do I
sound awfully fuddy-duddy and conservative when I say
that the only therapy I personally need is to be able to
communicate with God, to feel his presence not only in
church but in my daily life? Most of us know the peace
and fulfilment of praying in an empty, silent church, the
utter joy of singing a favourite hymn, or the magic of a
baptism. I suppose its a case of chacun à son gout. I’m
glad I’m a Christian.
This month’s Crossways features inputs from the
Bishop of Gibraltar, Geoffrey Rowell as well as an
introduction to the newly enthroned Archbishop of
Canterbury. Changes as a result of new leadership in
the Church of England may or may not trickle down to
individual churches such as ours, but the retirement
of Bishop Geoffrey later this year will certainly affect
our diocese. This magazine will also be undergoing a
change, not in appearance or content, but in frequency
of publication. From next month, there will be six double issues per year instead of the current ten. This will
reduce printing costs. Up-to-date information will be
available in the weekly wrap and on the website. I trust
Judy
this solution will be acceptable to readers.
In this issue
From the Desk of the Chaplain
page 4
Bishop Geoffrey’s Easter
page 6
Bishop Geoffrey’s retirement
announcement
page 8
The new man in Canterbury
Introducing the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Justin Welby
page 10
The seven last words
A guest string quartet performs
Haydn’s musical meditation on Christ’s
seven last words
page 12
Austrian Abbeys:
The beginnings and Salzburg
The first in a new series by Claus Vogl
page 14
Adieu Rosemary
Christ Church says goodbye to
Rosemary Moravec
page 22
Alice and Edith
A link between the family of Rosalind
Shakespear and a Viennese pianist
page 24
Kids’ Church in Action
Andrew Smith recalls the Nativity Play
page 26
In and Around Christ Church
page 28
The deadline for submissions for the
May/June 2013 issue of CROSSWAYS
is 15 April. Please send contributions
to be considered for publication to:
[email protected] AND
[email protected], or phone the
Editor on 0650/4747473.
4
The Venerable Patrick Curran
n 1938 Austria became part of
the Third Reich. Subsequently
Christ Church was to play a part
in helping Jews from Austria,
but also from neighbouring
countries such as Czechoslovakia and Hungary. After annexation (Anschluß), which many
Austrians favoured at the time
for differing historical and political reasons, some Jews made
plans to leave Austria. They had
been following the unfolding events
in Germany since the Machtergreifung in 1933, which included growing discrimination against Jews on
racial grounds, and they feared that
the same fate would befall them as
their fellow Jews in Germany. In time
their concerns became a reality as
many millions of Jews were killed by
the dictate of the Nazi regime.
and on the 26th he baptised 19. He
reached 103 on the 10th of July, and
his record was 229 on the 25th.”
(Daily Telegraph, 11 August 2011) The
Jews who were baptised at Christ
Church were given a crash course
in the catechism and asked to learn
the Lord’s Prayer before baptism the
following day. There is also some
evidence that they were handed a
copy of the Book of Common Prayer.
In May, during Bishop David Hamid’s
visit to Vienna for a Confirmation
service with reception into the
Church of England, Christ Church
will mark this unique event in the
life of the church. Bishop David is
our suffragan bishop. On Saturday,
18 May beginning at 18.00 hours
with Choral Evensong we will unveil
It soon became apparent to those
who wanted to leave that their reception in neighbouring countries
such as Italy would be more favourable if they could show that (a) their
paperwork was in order and (b) they
had been baptised.
Beginning in March 1938 for four
months, some 1,700 Jews were
baptised at Christ Church, first by
the Revd. Hugh Grimes and later by
the Revd. Fred Collard. Those asking
for baptism “began to form queues
outside the chaplaincy,” reports
historian Giles Macdonogh. “On the
14th of June, Grimes baptised eight
Jews, on the 19th he baptised 12,
Revd. Hugh Grimes in later years
From the Desk of the Chaplain
I
5
The wedding photograph of
Gerald Terence Reginald Byrne
and Eva Madeleine Duschnitz
was taken in Christ Church
in 1935. The bride’s father,
Willibald Duschnitz (partially
obscured by Revd. Grimes’
left shoulder) was baptised by
Revd. Grimes on 19 July 1938.
He later emigrated to Brazil.
The photo was kindly provided
to Christopher WentworthStanley, during the course of
his research on the story of
the mass baptisms at Christ
Church, by Eva’s son, Dr. Harold Chipman. The photographer was Laszlo Willinger, well
known for his portrait photography of celebrities.
a plaque that the Church Council
commissioned assisted by the artist
Anna Zeilinger. The unveiling of the
plaque at the back of the church will
be preceded by a short historical
introduction; afterwards there will
be a reception.
As a council and a church we believe
it is important to remember what
happened at our church in 1938 and
to make it known to a wider public
especially visitors to Christ Church.
I first heard about plans for a plaque
soon after arriving in Vienna as your
chaplain. I am pleased that we are
soon going to bring this project to a
conclusion which began during the
time of my much beloved predecessor the Revd Canon Jeremy Peake.
Baptism is never administered lightly, because it is as we learn in con-
firmation the outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace.
My predecessors as chaplains of
Christ Church must have overcome
their reservations in a situation that
demanded more than observing well
established norms as they proceeded
with the baptisms of mainly but not
only adults. It has come to light that
a man who had been baptised as an
infant at Christ Church asked to be
baptised as he grew up in Kenya.
He received the surprising answer
at the time. There is no need! You
were baptised at Christ Church in
Vienna in 1938!
6
Bishop Geoffrey:
A
t the very heart of our Christian
lives, at the very heart of the life
of the Church, is what we call “the
Paschal Mystery”. The word “paschal”
comes from the Greek word pascha,
referring to the Jewish Passover
that celebrated God’s deliverance
of his chosen people from slavery
in Egypt and their exodus journey
to the Promised Land. Passover was
therefore a feast of liberation by God,
and a recalling of God’s faithfulness
to his promises to his people. The
Christian Passover is a celebration of
an even greater liberation and faithfulness. This is not just a celebration
of deliverance from slavery in Egypt,
but of deliverance from the enslaving
power of sin and death. It is a victory
won by the God who in Jesus freely
chooses to know from the inside our
human condition, to bear the crushing burden of human sin, to enter into
our dying.
As in Holy Week we follow again the
events of our Lord’s Passion, we remember on Maundy Thursday Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, taking the role of a servant;
his taking of bread and wine at
the Last Supper, breaking the
bread and sharing the wine,
identifying his life with this
sacramental sign and telling
his disciples to go on doing this in remembrance of
him to share in his life. We
remember that this gift of
communion is given in the
context of betrayal, the denial
of that very communion.
We move to Gethsemane, the “place
of the pressing out of the olives” (for
that is what the name Gethsemane
means), where the Messiah, the
Christ, the Anointed One, is “pressed
out in agony in the costliness of love
and sacrifice”. Judas, one of the close
circle of the disciples, gives a kiss
not of friendship but of betrayal; the
disciples flee; and the Lord is handed
over, bound, led to trials, savagely
scourged, mocked, condemned, and
in the end led out to the appalling
torture of crucifixion. Nailed to the
rough wood of the cross in excruciating pain, hands spread wide in what
is the human embrace of love, Jesus
hangs a scarecrow figure, beneath a
mocking inscription, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”, a crown
of sharp and spiky thorns rammed
hard down on his bleeding brows.
There is darkness over the land, over
the whole world, as the Light of the
world is blotted out. And from the
heart of that darkness comes a cry of
dereliction: “My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?” And then with
a great cry Jesus dies. The centurion
at the foot of the cross utters words
of amazing faith : “Truly this was the
Son of God!”.
He is dead. Wrapped in a shroud,
laid in a tomb. Holy Saturday, Easter
Eve, is a day of desolation, a day on
which the living God embraces the
annihilation and nothingness of our
human dying.
But if that was the end, the full stop,
so to speak, of the story, there would
7
On Easter ...
be no story for Christians to remember, to enter into, to celebrate. It would
simply be one more story among
many of another martyrdom, another
terrible example of torture and the
triumph of evil and injustice. There
would be no church, no Christianity,
and Jesus would be but another deluded prophet broken on the crushing
wheel of human sin.
Yet this is not the end. The horizon is
not the death of Jesus, but new life,
new creation, a life born out of death.
All four Gospels end with accounts of
that new life, a tomb found empty, a
stone rolled away, frightened women
who had come to perform the last rites
for the dead and found themselves
face to face with a new, overwhelming and unbelievable mystery. Mark,
the earliest of our Gospels, probably
ended with the women fleeing from
the tomb, for fear and astonishment
had come upon them; and they said
nothing to anyone, for they were
afraid and overcome with awe. That
awe and wonder is at the heart of
Easter. This event blows open human
history, blows open human life, to the
life of a new order. Jesus, the Risen
One, appears the same, yet different,
transformed, transfigured, his physical being taken up into this new order.
His disciples and Mary Magdalene
recognise him, yet not immediately,
as do the two disciples on the road
to Emmaus. St Paul, trying to explain
to the Corinthian Christians what this
means, uses the analogy of the seed
sown in the ground and the plant that
springs up from it, the same but dif-
ferent. This is Paul says, a “spiritual
body”, by which he means a body
“animated by the Holy Spirit”. For this
is the life of God’s new creation. It is
because this is the case that we can
sing at Easter, Jesus lives! Henceforth
is death, but the gate of life immortal!
It is because of this that we can speak
triumphantly in the Creed that we
look for (literally wait with longing
expectation for) the resurrection of the
dead and the life of the world to come.
Matthew’s Gospel ends with the Risen
Jesus appearing to his disciples in
Galilee and sending them out to proclaim the good news, “Go, therefore,
and make disciples of all nations,
baptising them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you: and
lo, I am with you always to the close
of the age”. That is the Church’s
mission. That is the Easter message
running like wildfire in our lives and
hearts, a new creation energised by
the Holy Spirit, the living breath of
God breathed out by the Risen Lord on
his disciples on the evening of the first
Easter Day. For Easter is not something shut up in the past, in a single
life, but is your life and mine, for, as
St. Augustine proclaimed long ago,
We are Easter people and “Alleluia¨”
(Praise be to God) is our song! May
God bless you in the singing of that
song and the living of that life. And
may you over and over again meet
and know the Risen Lord of life as did
the disciples in the breaking of bread
at the supper at Emmaus.

8
... And On Retirement
Welby, had taken office, I was in correspondence with him about a date
of retirement. We have now agreed
that this will be 8 November of this
year and I have signed the necessary Deed of Resignation. The date
chosen will enable the Friends of the
Diocese service on 23 October to be
my farewell to the Diocese, to be followed in All Saintstide by a farewell
visit to the Cathedral in Gibraltar,
where I was enthroned as Bishop on
All Saints’ Day 2001.
A
s most of you will be aware, I
celebrated my 70th birthday last
month. This is the normal final date
for retirement of diocesan bishops,
as of other clergy. The Archbishop
of Canterbury has discretion to
grant an extension of office for up
to a further year. Being aware that
the Archbishop of Canterbury has a
special role in the appointment of
a new Bishop in Europe (which is
not a Crown appointment, but is an
appointment made, after appropriate consultation, by a triumvirate
of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Bishop of London, and a bishop
appointed by the Anglican Consultative Council), Archbishop Rowan
Williams agreed last year to such
an extension, so that my retirement
should not coincide with a vacancy
in the see of Canterbury. Once Archbishop Rowan’s successor, Justin
I give thanks to God for calling me to
serve as bishop of this unique and
far-flung diocese. For almost twelve
years it has been a great privilege
to be able to meet with and support
priests, deacons and congregations
in many different places and I thank
all who have welcomed me on many
pastoral visits with warm hospitality. I have often—taking as my cue
the collect for All Saints’ Day, which
speaks of God ‘knitting together his
elect in one communion and fellowship’—compared my ministry as one
of knitting the scattered chaplaincies
together. In this I have been helped
and supported by many: Bishop
David, my Suffragan; a succession
of Archdeacons and Area Deans;
the staff in the Diocesan Office and,
especially and personally, in my own
office at Worth; and the Diocesan
Chancellor and Registrar. This is a
ministry that you cannot do alone.
In the annual residential Diocesan
Synod, which is in so many ways
a model for synods elsewhere, and
9
in the two Pastoral Conferences of
clergy of the Diocese, we have seen
and known something of that internet of the Spirit which is at the core
of the life of this Diocese.
after a time of suspension, is now
to resume.
What lies at the heart of a bishop’s
ministry is prayer, teaching and
pastoral care, all of which enable the
bishop to encourage and enable the
mission of the church, the sharing of
the Gospel—the good news of God
in Christ—which is what each and
every one of us is about. In Europe
we have a unique ecumenical vocation, and it has been a priority for me
to build and to sustain, on behalf of
the Diocese, the Church of England,
and the Anglican Communion, ecumenical relations, particularly with
the great churches of East and West.
Ecumenical relationships always
grow from personal encounters and
from friendship, as well as from
theological exchange. As Aelred
of Rievaulx dared to say: “God is
friendship”.
I came to this Diocese, after learning the ministry of a bishop on the
ground as Bishop of Basingstoke,
from many years of teaching and
pastoral care in the university. The
teaching of the Christian faith, and
the preaching of the Gospel, is a
commission given to the Church by
Christ. In an age of relativism and
individualism we need to remember
that our faith is something which
is not individual opinion, but is a
revealed truth which transforms our
lives. As St Paul said, ‘I handed on
to you that which I also received’.
Where there have been differences
on disputed issues, I have stood
where I have because I have seen
my responsibility as a bishop to defend the faith which I have received
through the Church—the faith once
delivered to the saints—knowing
that true discernment requires the
consent of the whole Church.
To be bishop of the Diocese in Europe has enabled me to meet with
many church leaders and to share
their welcome and friendship, and
to pray in many holy places for that
unity that enables the mission of
the church. It is a special responsibility of ministry in this Diocese
which I treasure, and which in due
course I will of course hand on to my
successor. I shall be remaining as
Anglican Co-Chair of the AnglicanOriental Orthodox dialogue, which,
In the months which remain to me as
your bishop, I shall continue to serve
you as I have always endeavoured to
do. Writing this on the verge of Holy
Week and Easter is a recalling of all
of us to that transforming grace and
divine life which, in Christ, entered
into our human living and dying,
that goodness of God which the Lady
Julian of Norwich said was our highest prayer, which comes down to the
very lowest part of our need. With
every blessing,+Geoffrey Gibraltar
10
New Man in Canterbury
try, becoming group treasurer of a
large British exploration and production company. He focused mainly on
West African and North Sea projects.
During this period he became a lay
leader at Holy Trinity, Brompton, in
London, having been a council member at St Michael’s Church in Paris.
On 21 March, the Right Reverend
Justin Welby was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. The ceremony
reflected the new Archbishop’s world
focus and included dancers from
Ghana and Punjabi music. For those
unfamiliar with his background, the
following brief biography, drawn from
various Internet sources, will help
understand the man who now sits at
the head of the Church of England.
A major influence both on Justin and
his wife Caroline was their experience
of personal tragedy. In 1983 their
seven-month old daughter died in a
car crash in France. Six years later in
1989, after sensing a call from God,
Bishop Justin stood down from industry to train for ordination.
He took a theology degree at St John’s
College, Durham, in which he focused
on ethics, particularly in business. He
has since published articles on ethics,
international finance and reconciliation. His booklet, Can Companies Sin?
drawing on his experience in the oil
industry, evolved from his dissertation
at theological college.
orn in 1956 in London, the
Right Reverend Justin Welby was
educated at Eton College and Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he studied
history and law. His father’s family
were German Jewish immigrants who
moved to England to escape antiSemitism in the late 19th century, and
integrated quickly. His British ancestors, on his mother’s side, include
several clergymen.
After his ordination as a deacon in
1992, he spent 15 years serving the
diocese of Coventry. His curacy was
at All Saints Chilvers Coton with St.
Mary the Virgin Astley, in Nuneaton.
In 1995 he became Rector of St James,
Southam, a small market town in the
same diocese, and also the next year
of St. Michael and All Angels, Ufton.
Between 2000 and 2002 he also
chaired an National Health Service
hospital trust in South Warwickshire.
For 11 years—five in Paris and six in
London—he worked in the oil indus-
In 2002, he was made a Canon of
Coventry Cathedral, where he ran
B
11
the reconciliation work based there.
He worked extensively in the field in
Africa and the Middle East and had
a particular interest in Kenya, the
People’s Democratic of Congo and
Nigeria, where he was and remains
involved in work with groups involved
in conflict in the north. An expert on
the politics and history of Kenya and
Nigeria, he has lectured on reconciliation at the US State Department. In
the Niger Delta, he has worked on
reconciliation with armed groups.
He left Coventry five years later, being
installed Dean of Liverpool. During his
deanship, he brought the cathedral
into much greater contact with its
local community, working with asylum seekers and in partnership with
neighbouring churches. In 2011, he returned to the place where his journey
towards becoming Archbishop began:
on 2 June 2011, he was announced as
the new Bishop of Durham. He was
enthroned at Durham Cathedral on
26 November.
He is married to Caroline, who studied Classics at Cambridge, where
they met. They have two sons and
three daughters. His interests include
French culture, sailing and politics.
photos courtesy of Picture Partnership/Lambeth Palace
He has met with religious and political
leaders in Israel and Palestine, and
on one trip to Baghdad reopened the
Anglican Church with Canon Andrew
White, shortly after the allied invasion. In 2006 he also took responsibility for Holy Trinity Coventry, the
main city centre church, as Priestin-charge.
Speaking of his successor, the
outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury,
Dr. Rowan Williams says “He has an
extraordinary range of skills and is
a person of grace, patience, wisdom
and humour; he will bring to this
office both a rich pastoral experience
and a keen sense of international priorities, for Church and world. I wish
him—with Caroline and the family—
every blessing, and hope that the
Church of England and the Anglican
Communion will share my pleasure
at this appointment and support him
with prayer and love.”
12
The Seven Last Words
by Claus Vogl and Rosalind Shakespear
I
n 1785, the bishop of Cadiz commissioned Joseph Haydn to write
for the Holy Week sacred orchestral
music. The composer agreed and
wrote “seven sonatas with an introduction and a concluding earthquake”. When the piece was first
performed in the principal church
of Cadiz during Lent 1786, Haydn
observed later that the windows of
the church were covered in black
clothes and only a single lamp in the
middle of the church illuminated the
darkness. The Bishop pronounced
one of the Seven Words and delivered
a homily on it. Then he fell on his
knees before the altar and the music
filled the interval. Haydn’s composition had to fit with these arrangements. The composer found the task
of writing seven adagios, one after
the other, without wearying the listeners difficult, but he succeeded. A
year later, he published a version of
the sonatas for string quartet.
More than 200 years later, and in
a more familiar church setting, this
sacred piece of music was heard
again by those who filled the Christ
Church pews on the evening of 2
March and it was this version, for
string quartet, that the Ensemble
Prisma played for us.
Ensemble Prisma
Given the music, Joseph Friebert,
canon and musical director of the
Passau cathedral, wrote a text to
the orchestral version. Haydn used
this text for his own oratorio version
of 1795/1796 altering only a few
words with the help of Baron van
Swieten. (This collaboration between
the composer and librettist later
produced the famous oratorios The
Creation and The Seasons). It was the
oratorio version that was performed
and recorded by Nicolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus on
original instruments. This recording
has become the one I (Rosalind) have
played most often during the last ten
years. In fact, I had to hold myself
back to not sing the words, while listening to the quartet’s performance.
Incidentally, the members of the
Prisma Quartet are also members
of Concentus Musicus and played
on original instruments. These are
harder to play than modern instruments, but I find the sound better
than that of modern instruments
and, as members of Christ Church
know, our chapel has excellent
acoustics. The music was glorious
but it was more than a performance.
Between each sonata our chaplain
13
took each phrase of the last words
of Christ and led a short meditation
on it. I was struck by the combination of reverence and relevance to
our daily lives in these meditations.
The suffering of Christ linked to the
humanity he shared with us.
It was a profound experience and
we could have walked away with
our own thoughts. But a simple
Lenten repast awaited us in the
Centre and a chance to exchange
these thoughts with others. There
were many visitors and of course
the quartet themselves and people
close to them. A conversation I had
with David Drabek, second violinist,
brought home to me the struggles
that chamber music ensembles
are having to survive. The large
orchestras are the supermarkets
of the music world, filling the
concert halls and bringing in the all
important profit. It is worth thinking
about when we make our concert
selection here in Vienna. Of course,
small ensembles such as the Prisma
quartet are best heard in the more
intimate environment of a Saal or
a church. We could not have been
more blessed to have experienced
them in our church on this evening
in Lent.

Moving the Vicarage
The Chaplain and Lucille were obliged to move apartments on 9 March. A willing band of
helpers from the congregation assisted them with the task and at the same time enjoyed a
day of fellowship and esprit de corps. Sustenance was generously provided by Alexandra
and Lara Schmidt (coffee break) and Katharine Obi-Okoye (lunch) in order to maintain
the energy levels of volunteers! Patrick and Lucille are deeply grateful for the gift of time
and effort on the part of all those who participated in the move that was masterminded by
Ted Scheiber and Herbert Stenzenberger.
14
Austrian Abbeys
T
by Claus Vogl
his is the first in a short series of
articles in which I would like to
introduce readers to Austrian abbeys
and monasteries that can be reached
on a day trip from Vienna. I will also
weave other themes into the text,
such as the history of monasticism
and religious orders in Austria and
generally in the Western world, as
well as the history of Austria.
Austria has been evangelized twice,
the first time during the Roman
rule. During the migration period
(also called “Barbarian invasions”
or “Völkerwanderung”) in the fifth
century, Roman rule broke down,
Christianity disappeared from Austria along with the Romans. But the
memory of those times still lives on
in the vitae of Saints, such as St.
Severin of Noricum, who knew of
the life of St. Anthony of Egypt. I
am mentioning St. Anthony, because
he is considered to be a founder or
even “the” founder of monasticism.
St. Severin himself also attracted
a group of monks and founded
monasteries, such as those in Passau and Favianis (now Mautern) in
Lower Austria
The second phase of the evangelization of Austria arrived from France,
starting in the west of the country.
In the year 700 or thereabouts, St.
Rupert founded a men’s convent
“St. Peter” and a women’s convent
“Nonnberg”. on the ruins of the Roman city Iuvavum. Both these monasteries still exist today, and can be
visited together with many other notable sites in the city of Salzburg. St.
Peter (lat. Archiabbatia sancti Petri
Salisburgensis) is actually the oldest
surviving monastery in the Germanspeaking world. The monks follow
the Benedictine rule. Members of the
congregation who have attended our
annual retreats, are already familiar
with this order as both the monks of
our host convents Heiligenkreuz as
well as Göttweig belong to it.
Before returning to Salzburg and
becoming a tourist among many,
I will now digress to the history of
the beginnings of Western monasticism and the early religious orders. I
will base my account mainly on the
book Das christliche Mönchtum in der
Geschichte by Georg Schwaiger and
Manfred Heim, C.H. Beck. Monasticism originated in the orient. It is
based on Jesus’ and the apostles’
teaching of resistance against the
demands of the world. With a sober
and austere life and often physical separation from the world, the
first monks aimed to earn the true
and eternal life. Such exceptional
individuals often attracted followers
and influenced the people around
them, leading to the establishment
of the first monastic communities.
In this way, the monastic movement
positioned itself from the outset
somewhere between a retreat from,
and a mission to, the world. The
most famous of these early monks
was St. Anthony of Egypt, who died
in 356. His vita written by Bishop
15
Part One: The Beginnings and Salzburg
The Benedictine rule is praised for
its moderation and balance and
consists of two parts: how to live a
Christian life and how to run a monastery. Communities adopting the
Benedictine rule spread through the
early mediaeval ages. By the time the
monasteries in Salzburg were founded, it was the norm. In fact, they have
remained Benedictine abbeys until
now. Up to about 1000, the abbot
was also the bishop of Salzburg.
Many other abbeys were founded or
have been influenced by Salzburg.
As was customary in mediaeval
times, the abbey’s buildings have
been built and rebuilt over centuries.
The substance of the current church
building (Stiftskirche St. Peter) is
Romanesque and was consecrated
in 1147. Over the following years, the
St. Peter’s in Salzburg
Athanasius spread his fame as well
as the monastic movement to the
Western part of the Roman Empire.
In fact, the great St. Augustine of
Hippo learned of the life of St. Anthony and of monasteries founded
by priests and laypersons before his
baptism. Once he became a bishop,
St. Augustine founded a monastic
community in his family home. With
his rule (lat. regula), he also became
the patron saint of “regular clergy”.
Many religious orders continue to
base their lives on St Augustine’s
rule. The other monastic rule from
the transition of antiquity to the
earliest mediaeval times that has
survived and prospered until now is
that of St. Benedict of Nursia.
inside was remodelled in the Gothic,
Renaissance, and finally Rococo (a
very ornamental late Baroque style)
styles. These “modernizations” are
typical for Austrian church building. In fact, only few Romanesque
buildings remain with their original
facades and interiors.
The library of St. Peter is the oldest
in Austria. Among its treasures is a
book by Bishop Virgil of 784 that
contains the names of people who
supported the abbey financially
and for whose salvation the monks
è continued on p 20
April 2013
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
2
08.30 Morning Prayer
7
Second Sunday of Easter
08.00 Holy Communion (BCP)
10.00 Sung Eucharist 18.00 Choral Evensong
14
Third Sunday of Easter
08.00
10.00
18.00
21
15
16
08.30 Morning Prayer
18.30 Council Meeting
22
Holy Communion (BCP)
Sung Eucharist
Kids’ Church
Six O’Clock Service
28
Fifth Sunday of Easter
08.00
10.00
18.00
9
Holy Communion (BCP)
Sung Eucharist
Kids’ Church
Six O’Clock Service
Fourth Sunday of Easter
08.00
10.00
18.00
8
The Annunciation 08.30 Morning Prayer
of our Lord to
the Blessed Virgin
Mary
Holy Communion (BCP)
Sung Eucharist
Kids’ Church
Six O’Clock Service
23
Saint George
Patron of England
08.30 Morning Prayer
29
30
08.30 Morning Prayer
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
3
4
5
6
12
13
19
20
09.30 Holy Communion 10.00 Toddler Group
19.00 Choir Practice
10
11
09.30 Holy Communion 10.00 Toddler Group
19.00 Annual Church Meeting
17
19.00 Choir Practice
18
09.30 Holy Communion
10.00 Toddler Group
19.00 Prayer Ministry
19.00 Choir Practice
24
09.30 Holy Communion
25
Saint Mark the
Evangelist
10.00 Toddler Group
11.00 Anzac Service in the Karlskirche
19.00 Choir Practice
19.00 Quiz night and bring and share
26
27
18
celebrants and
preachers
On Sunday, 28 April the Revd. Jan Jensen will be taking the Sunday services
having received permission to officiate from our Bishop. On Sunday, 5 May the
Revd. Maria Scharffenberg (Church of Sweden) will celebrate and preach at the
10.00 service. On the same day Bishop Bernhard Heitz of the Old Catholic Church
of Austria and a good friend of our church will conduct the 8.00 celebration of
Holy Communion and lead Choral Evensong as well as preach in the evening
at 18.00. It is worth noting that the ecumenical movement of the 20th century
bore fruit with regard to both the Church of Sweden (Porvoo Agreement, 1993)
and the Old Catholic Church (Bonn/Vienna Agreement 1930/1931). We are
churches in communion with one another. We welcome each at each other’s
services and we can participate fully in the life of both of these churches. Technically, the Chaplain could be a priest of the Old Catholic Church in Austria or
of the Church of Sweden.
benjamin
britten
The chaplain has been invited to make a contribution to an evening of music
marking the 100th anniversary Benjamin Britten’s birth. The evening is entitled
“Evening Song” and is a celebration of English choral music. Date: Friday, 12
April at 19.30. Venue: the Lutheran City Church, Dorotheergasse 18 in Vienna 1.
christ church
annual
retreat
The annual retreat will once again be held at the Benedictine monastery of
Göttweig, which overlooks both the Danube valley and the Waldviertel, truly a
stunning location. Benedictine spirituality to my mind is the dominant spirituality
of the Anglican tradition. This year we have been able to secure the Revd. Dr.
Richard Fermer as our retreat conductor. Richard is a former assistant priest of
St George’s, Paris and was recently appointed chaplain of Grosvenor Chapel,
London. His theme, Cultivating God’s Mission in us: a spirituality of mission or the
mission of spirituality draws on his experiences as a missionary overseas, with
the missionary context of the Church in the West and Christian spirituality.
Dates: 7 to 9 June 2013.
six o’clock
service
Church Notices
In 2009, the first six o’clock services were held at Christ Church. They were led
by the Revd. Jady Koch. We are now into the fourth year of this service. The
service resumes on Sunday, 14 April and we will finish in June for the summer.
After every session of services we have to evaluate if it is worth continuing. The
service requires a lot of work to prepare etc. If you cannot get to a morning
service, please think about joining us at the evening service, which is a good
way to conclude the weekend and prepare for the working week. We always
retire to the Church Centre for a light, but always enjoyable meal with much
conversation that is not possible over a cup of coffee after the 10.00 service.
19
This year the Lange Nacht der Kirchen is taking place on Friday, 24 May. Christ
Church will not be participating as we have decided to focus our energies on
Saturday, 18 May when we will commemorate the baptism at Christ Church in
1938 of some 1,700 Jews (see page 4-5). Since many members of the congregation are generally present at Christ Church during the Lange Nacht, this year
they will have an opportunity to visit many of the other churches in Vienna that
open their doors on this special night.
lange
nacht
I continue to look for people to join the prayer ministry of our church. We meet
once a month. During our meeting we pray for our church and the needs of
individuals and especially for those who have requested prayers for themselves
or for others. It is one of the most important things I do as your Chaplain. Please
think about making a commitment to intercessory prayer and joining us at our
next on Wednesday, 17 April, 19.00 in the Church Centre.
prayer
ministry
The week after Easter week is the Annual Church Meeting. The date set is
Wednesday, 10 April, beginning at 19.00 in the church. As you will know by
now, the electoral roll has had to be completely revised. This is something
that happens every six years. We are a slimmer organization. Nominations for
churchwardens and Council members are open until Sunday, 7 April.
annual
church
meeting
On Tuesday, 14 May those who participated in the February pilgrimage to the
Seven Churches in Turkey will be presenting their impressions of the pilgrimage
at an evening in the Church Centre at 19.15. Anyone who could not take part
but is nevertheless interested to learn about our trip is kindly invited to attend.
pilgrimageg
We are urgently looking for someone to take over as Bazaar Coordinator. Sheila
Hargreaves has done a sterling job over the past few years, but it involves a great
deal of time and commitment and is not something one can do for too many
years in succession. On the other hand, the Bazaar is probably our single most
important event of the year in terms both of fund-raising and as a service to the
Austrian public. There is a team of very willing and able helpers, but they need a
team leader to assume overall responsibility and act as coordinator. The Bazaar
has followed a very successful tried-and-tested pattern of late and while there
is always a need for fresh ideas and inputs, many of the groundwork procedures
are already in place. If you feel you are able to take on this responsibility for
the current year (or more), please contact the Chaplain.
bazaar
cordinator
20
è continued from p 15
reaction was to be appalled by the
portrayal of the politics of the time.
The film family would not have survived the confrontation with the real
Nazis. In fact, the real Nazis expelled
the monks from St. Peter and from
many other abbeys in Austria, imprisoned many and even killed some,
and used the buildings for special
academies (Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten).
Stift Nonnberg
prayed in return. Other works describe the Benedictine movement,
mediaeval church history, and the
history of the country.
Stift Nonnberg is a Benedictine abbey that was also founded by St. Ruprecht; its first abbess was his niece
Erentrudis. In mediaeval times, the
nuns were drawn from the nobility.
As is customary for high medieval
abbeys, it owned much of the surrounding land and only in the 15th
century farmers who did not depend
on the abbey were able to settle
there. Most of the church building
is late Gothic, since earlier buildings
burned down. The Gothic window
behind the altar is remarkable, as is
the late-Gothic altar that was moved
to Nonnberg from a daughter church.
In recent years, the musical The
Sound of Music, based on the life of
the nurse Maria Augusta Kutschera,
has spread the fame of the abbey.
I only saw the musical for the first
time as a mature adult; my first
A third abbey in Salzburg is Franciscan. The order of the Franciscans
was founded much later than that of
the Benedictines in the high mediaeval times. The founder of the Franciscan order was St. Francis of Assisi.
After a vision in 1204, St. Francis
joined the poor of his hometown
Assisi as a beggar and his preaching
soon brought him a following. The
Franciscan order that originated
from this movement has retained the
ideal of poverty. Together with the
Capuchins (who also claim St. Francis as their founder) and the Dominicans, they constitute the mendicant
orders (from lat. mendicare: to beg).
While the vows of the older orders
confined them to an abbey, members
of the mendicant orders were only
bound to the order as a whole. Crucially, neither individual members of
mendicant orders nor the order as a
whole owned property. They were
able to support themselves since abbeys have always been designed in
such a way that they could support
their inhabitants, usually through
agriculture and forestry. They often
21
The Franciscan abbey in Salzburg
was founded in 1583 to aid the fight
against Protestantism. The Franciscans inherited their buildings from a
Benedictine nunnery and the earlier
parish church. Both buildings were
renovated during Baroque times. The
Capuchin abbey was also founded
for the same reason and shortly after
the Franciscan abbey (1596). It is
situated on a hill called “Kapuzinerberg” after the abbey.
When in Salzburg, be sure to visit
the Cathedral as well. It is a magnificent building in the early Baroque
style. As anywhere else in Salzburg,
you’ll be sharing the experience
The Franciscan Monastery
became rich by owning much of the
land surrounding their abbey.
with hordes of other tourists. The
city owes its charm to an economic
downturn at the end of the Baroque
period, when the prince-archbishop
lost the sovereignty of what was,
until then, an independent state.
Hence, the old city has changed little

since that time.
Proud new fathers of baby girls: on the left, James Mackintosh with five-week old Elizaveta
and on the right, Wolfgang Reiter with four-month old Amber.
22
Adieu, Rosemary
R
osemary Moravec passed away
on 16 January at the age of 66
after a long illness that she bore with
great fortitude and humility. Like
many of her friends, I was not able to
say a final goodbye to her. This is an
imaginary conversation between us:
by the Editor
My illness progressed rather rapidly
towards the end but during my final
week in hospital I had the comfort of
the frequent visits of my loyal friend and
companion Johannes, of the Revd. Aileen
Hackl and, shortly before I left you all,
the Ven. Patrick Curran who prayed at
my side. I knew God was with me, as He
was throughout my life.
I trust you know what an important
place you had in the life of our church
and in the hearts of those who knew
you.
My faith was, from my earliest childhood
in an idyllic corner of South Devon,
an integral part of my life. Even when
life, as it inevitably does after a happy,
cossetted childhood like mine, served me
some disappointments, I never lost that
faith. I didn’t experience motherhood in
the traditional sense, yet God gave me
Merika, my stepdaughter and Mike,
my “adopted” son from Romania,
who formed my immediate family.
God also gave me the gift of music
that continued to bring me joy
throughout my life. I played the
piano from an early age and later
learned the organ, violin, guitar and
harpsichord. My home in Mödling,
visitors would tell me, was in many
ways a monument to music. I
collected instruments and musical
memorabilia that was on display along
with family photos, including the time
my father received his OBE in 1950 from
King George VI.
And yet you didn’t pursue a career
in music.
God had also blessed me with a keen
interest in a range of subjects as well as
the ability to follow an academic path.
I went to the University of Leicester to
study Latin, French and German before
taking up a place at St. Annes’s College,
Oxford for a second degree. I completed
my doctorate in Vienna in 1972 with
my thesis on the life of the Viennese
composer, Alban Berg. So you see, music
was always central to my life. I like to
think I left behind a legacy for music
aficionados in the form of my printed
publications. I played the organ in Christ
Church for some years back in the early
23
Dr. Rosemary Moravec
(24 July 1946 — 16 January 2013)
1970s and helped set up the first choir
with myself as choirmaster, organist and
soprano.
For many years, you had an important
job at the Austrian National Library,
yet you didn’t have much time to
enjoy your golden years once you
retired at the end of 2010.
True, but I was able to fulfil some
ambitions. I took driving lessons and
bought myself a little car that didn’t
require a full licence. I enjoyed the
independence it gave me and was quite
content to trundle along the highways
at leisure instead of tearing down the
motorways. I took part in the Christ
Church pilgrimage last year in February,
despite my poor health. It was an
enriching experience, particularly our
visit to the Sea of Galilee where we could
imagine people listening to Jesus’ words
as the quiet waters lapped the boat. Those
who “had ears to hear”, as Jesus said, “let
them hear”. (Mark 4:9). I also enjoyed the
Retreat in June led by Revd. Jady Koch.
What impressed me most at the Retreat
was the Christian love of the congregation
at Christ Church given to others in their
hour of need. I know I was in people’s
prayers throughout my illness and this
brought me great comfort.
Rosemary, you were a very generous
person in an unostentatious way, yet
I know you enriched the lives of many
people who had no one else to turn to.
I realised that the gift of a happy childhood
with loving parents was not something to
be taken for granted. For many years I
supported orphanages in Romania by
providing supplies and money. I was
able to make a real difference to the life
of one elderly man who needed a hip
operation and I continued to support
him until his death. In Vienna, I taught
Romanian children English and German
while their parents did odd jobs for me
in my rambling house. I would teach the
children songs while I played the guitar.
I also enjoyed making jams and chutneys
for the Bazaar from the fruit-trees in my
beautiful garden and contributing to the
life of Christ Church in every way I could.
You were a very warmhearted person
under a slightly aloof shell that made
it difficult for people to know you.
You also preferred to attend the 8.00
service—another reason you were
not familiar to every single member of
the congregation—although you were
always present at 10.00 on special
occasions.
I am the first to admit that I always
set high standards for myself and, I
suppose, expected the same of others. I
know this doesn’t necessarily make for
an easy person, but those who knew
me well realised that I was much more
approachable than I might have looked.
As an only child, I was used to my
own company and although I often felt
lonely once I retired, I was always more
comfortable in a small group than in a
crowd. The 8.00 Sunday service offered
me an opportunity for quiet contemplation
that is hard to find during a lively 10.00
service! I don’t mind admitting that I was
slightly Victorian in my outlook on life
and preferred a more conservative service.
To those I was not able to say a personal
goodbye, know that I valued your prayers,
support and friendship. God bless you. 
U
24
submitted by Rosalind Shakespear
Edmund and Alice Cude and family, ca. 1930
Alice and Edith
This extract is taken from the unpublished autobiography of my aunt, Ruth
Torrington, entitled Leopards in the Air. It
refers to a time just before World War 2
when my grandmother opened the doors
of her house to shelter two Austrian Jews.
My grandparents, Edmund and Alice
Cude, lived in Highgate, London. My
grandfather had his own estate agency
(till he was 92!), but his passion, and
that of the whole family, was music. It
dominated their lives. A Bechstein grand
piano filled much of the living room
space. My mother and her two sisters
learnt to play the piano and sing from
an early age. Music filled their lives with
concerts and music-making at home.
M
y mother had always been a
most hospitable person. It was
this side of my mother’s character
that brought us all into contact, at
least three years before the war broke
out, with the horrors of the Nazi
regime and the appalling persecution of the Jews in the concentration
camps. Reading of
their plight in Vienna, my mother
contacted the Red
Cross to see if there
were any refugees
in London who
would like to be
adopted by a musical family, mentioning in particular the pleasure our
Bechstein grand
piano might give to
an exile who was
a pianist. They told us of Edith Vogel, already an established concert
pianist in Vienna, who was doing
domestic work in London having
escaped from Austria. Her father had
committed suicide and her mother
and her brother were in concentration camps.
She came one winter’s night, after
her work of scrubbing floors, a small
pathetic figure in a black woollen
dress. She went over to the piano
and sat down, and knowing of her
reputation as a great concert player
we expected to hear some pianistic
fireworks. Instead, after a long pause,
the quiet opening bars of Chopin’s
third prelude came stealing across
the room, almost inaudible; then
another silence, followed by a storm
of tears.
On a fourteen year old, the impact of
this first contact with adult human
sorrow left an indelible mark. Edith
came like a dark shadow across our
25
complacent middle class, suburban
lives, reminding us of the suffering
and death millions of her fellow
Jews were having to endure under
the Nazis.
She looked upon our home as hers
and spent most of her time with us,
spending hours practicing on the
Bechstein. We heard of the appalling
conditions her brother was suffering
in Dachau and my mother made up
her mind that she would get him
out if it was humanly possible. She
heard through the Red Cross that
the German government would consider letting a Jew out of the camp
if a home and job could be offered
him in England. My mother offered
the one and my father the other and
after many months negotiating with
the Austrian Embassy he arrived in
1937. He was half starved, and his
back was heavily scarred with the
marks of the daily beatings with
rubber truncheons, naked in the perishing winter, that he had been given
by his Nazi hosts. The whereabouts
of his mother was unknown, and it
was assumed she had died in the gas
chamber of the camp to which she
had been sent.
Gradually, as other friends and relatives of the Vogels either escaped or
were got out of their concentration camps by the same means as
Marcel, our house became a great
meeting place for about ten of them,
all wonderfully musical. The musicmaking was of a high quality and
to add to our already fairly wide
knowledge of the great masterpieces,
we now learnt the enchanting Lieder
of Schubert, Brahms and Schumann.
Dr. Rosenzweig, a great musicologist,
who later married Edith Vogel, Adolf
Platchek, who married Jan Struther,
and his sister Suzi, who became a
nurse at the Royal Free Hospital,
were among their number.
Small private concerts were arranged
at our house for Edith’s benefit and
slowly she found her way back to the
musical scene where she belonged,
and where she is still a greatly admired concert player and teacher
[footnote: she died in 1992]. Marcel
was a master tailor and eventually,
after his internment on the Isle of
Man during the war, went back to his
trade and made a great success of it.
At my mother’s funeral in 1974, when
she was 86, I spotted a familiar figure at the back of the church. It was
Marcel Vogel. He had come to pay
his last respects to the stranger who
took him in, the woman to whom he

owed his life.
26
Kids’ Church in Action
by Andrew Smith
As the Church year moves on to the
death and resurrection of Christ, we cast
our minds back a few months to the celebration of his birth, so ably depicted by
the youngest members of Christ Church
in their nativity play. Andrew Smith’s
lively description cements the memories.
Once the theatrical machinery
kicked-in, lines were learnt, costumes were designed and parents
motivated in order that the play
got the household priority that it
deserved.
he production of this year’s nativity play was once again lead
by Alexandra Schmidt, who was,
as always, able to get the very best
from a cast of willing actors taken
from the rows of the Kids’ Church, an
ability that the church has benefitted
from for many years and that gives
the performance that extra touch of
class that always makes it so special.
T
The dress rehearsal is a well-kept secret from the uninitiated and is held
just before the opening (and, unfortunately, closing) performance the
day after. Despite the great theatre
tradition that a bad rehearsal will result in a perfect performance, it was
a great relief that even a successful
rehearsal did nothing to hinder a
perfect performance on the big day!
After an auditioning process which
successfully placed the children in
a variety of roles according to age
and aptitude, there were just three
rehearsals during which many of the
budding actors’ hidden talents were
discovered and developed (which
many parents, hitherto unaware of
their offspring’s ability, were witness to).
The Christ Church Nativity Play
2012 was based on an entertaining
story of a grumpy man’s experience
to the nativity, written by Nicholas
Allan and in which the main part is
that of the inn keeper. Little does
the man know when he allows Mary
and Joseph to bed in the stable that
night that he’s in for repeated interruptions of his beauty sleep. Being
forced awake to give
directions to shepherds and kings could
make any man cranky,
but when the innkeeper is awakened yet
again by the heavenly
host, the story really
becomes funny. Finally, he storms down
to the barn to give
them a piece of his
mind but stops when
A perfect performance
27
he sees the “lovely” baby - despite
the bright light and all the interruptions the innkeeper finally gets in the
spirit of things.
The cast was led by Stella as the Inn
Keeper, Emilia as the Narrator and
David and Elise as Mary and Joseph.
Nathaniel, Aiden and Nii were the
Shepherds; Harry, George and Jay
had the parts of the Three Kings and
the Angels were enacted by Vanessa,
Nicole, Bella, Angelina, Elena, Noah
and Sophie. Special thanks go to Kyla
for mastering the role of the donkey
at such short notice. All put in a great
effort, learned their lines perfectly
and entertained the audience, getting
everyone into the Christmas spirit.
The musical grand finale was supported as ever by Lucille on the
keyboard and the cast of many were
all supported by an army of helpful parents, who together with the
congregation were all rapturous in
their applause at the end of another
moving performance.

The wise men looked especially wise ...
... and the angels were particularly angelic
Christ Church has a lively group of pre-schoolers and elementary schoolchildren who enjoy their own time in the Church Centre during most of the 10.00
Sunday service. Kids’ Church involves Bible stories and readings, handicrafts—
the felt palms prepared for Palm Sunday were most impressive—and the children learn songs and prepare special events such as the annual Nativity Play.
Several people, under the overall coordination of Sheila Hargreaves, put a lot
of time and effort into making it a fun occasion for the youngest members of
the Christ Church community as well as providing that valuable introduction
into the Christian faith that will serve as a basis for their future worship. Kids’
Church takes place in the Church Centre at 10.00. Children join the rest of
the congregation in time for communion or blessing at the altar.
28
In and Around Christ Church
Albertus Magnus Choir
Our traditionally joyful 10.00 Sunday
service was further embellished on 3
March by the participation of Kammerchor Albertus Magnus. Under the
direction of Dr. Linsbauer, they sang
Spirit of God (James Moore); Sanctus
(JB Dykes); We give you thanks (David Haas); and Heaven is a Wonderful
Place (spiritual arranged by Lorenz
Maierhofer) to name a few. The crystal clear voice of the choir’s young
soloist was simply heavenly. At the
end of the service, they had to sing
two “encores”!
Mothering Sunday
On Sunday, 10 March, the Chaplain
distributed a rose to each mother in
the congregation (as well as to a few
fathers) to mark Mothering Sunday.
The day often comes as a surprise
to those used to the Austrian “Muttertag” in May, but the gesture was
much appreciated by all recipients
of the roses. The Chaplain referred
in his homily to the song Rote Rosen
by Hildegard Knef.
Palm Sunday
This year’s blessing of the palms
took place on an unseasonably wintry 24 March but the swirling snow
did little to diminish the joy of the
occasion or the gusto with which we
sung All Glory Laud and Honour as we
shivered in file back into the church.
The powerful reading of the Passion
according to St. Luke by the Chaplain
and a group of readers provided a
moving start to Holy Week.
29
Dates for your Diary
DATE
April 7 (Sun)
TIME
18.00
EVENT
Choral Evensong
April 10 (Weds) 19.00
Annual Church Meeting
April 16 (Tues)
Church Council meeting
18.30
April 17 (Weds) 19.00
April 19 (Fri)
Prayer Ministry
19.00 Quiz night and bring and share
April 25 (Thurs) 11.00
Anzac Service, Karlskirche
May 5 (Sun)
18.00
Choral Evensong
May 14 (Tues)
19.15
Account of Pilgrimage to Turkey
May 18 (Sat)
18.00
Choral Evensong followed by the unveiling of
the Grimes Memorial
May 19 (Sun)
10.00
Confirmation and Reception into the Church of England with Bishop David Hamid
May 22 (Weds) 18.30
Church Council meeting
June 2 (Sun)
Family Eucharist
10.00
18.00
Choral Evensong
June 3-7
Diocesan Synod, Cologne
June 7-9
Retreat at Stift Göttweig
Sept 19-22
Archdeaconry Synod, Woking UK
October 12 Council Quiet Day
November 10 Remembrance Sunday
November 16 Annual Bazaar
Bei Unzustellbarkeit an Absender zurück:
Return address if not claimed:
Christ Church Vienna, c/o British Embassy
A-1030 Vienna, Jaurèsgasse 12