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Annual General Meeting 5 April 2009, MinutesANNUAL CHAPLAINCY MEETING MINUTES PRESENT Rev. J-H Bowden Chaplain – Chairman Rev. S Ajuka – Curate Rev. E Saninga
B Ejenonu; G Mbanali; J Mbanali I Wildgoose.
Agenda Item 1 Welcome and prayers The Chaplain opened the meeting with a prayer, and welcomed members to the 2009 AGM. Agenda Item 2 Apologies E Alum, P Alum, G Battistuzzo, P Smallpeice Agenda Item 3 Approval Minutes, Annual Chaplaincy Meeting D Newbold proposed, and F Clarke seconded, that the minutes of the last Annual Chaplaincy Meeting be taken as read. Approved unanimously. Approved unanimously. Agenda Item 4 Matters arising, Annual Chaplaincy Meeting 2008. The Chaplain noted that the AGM had recognised the need to adopt a new Constitution and for approval at the 2009 Annual Chaplaincy Meeting. The Council had requested D Newbold to prepare a draft for their consideration prior to submission to the AGM for approval. However, due to competing commitments, the Council had decided that this could not be reasonably achieved before late 2009 and thus a proposed new Constitution would be submitted to the 2010 AGM.
Agenda Item 5 Reports Electoral Roll Rev S Ajuka reported that there were now 87 members of the Padova congregation on the Electoral Roll, an increase of 10% over 2008. The Secretary reported that membership in The Chaplain noted that the increase in members, particularly in Padova, was remarkable as this is counter to the overall trend in the Church of England. The ordination of Rev S Ajuka had been a highlight of the year. Rev S Ajuka was to be congratulated on earning his BA in applied theology. M Udeagbara had taken up duty as regular server in Two artists had requested permission to display their work in The American Friends of St George’s have adopted a project to fund new hymn books for In conclusion Padova Standing Committee Report Rev S Ajuka reported that the considerable effort required to find new premises had paid off and that the congregation had settled into its new home. The Mother’s Chaplain’s Report The Chaplain announced that he would make his report at this stage of the meeting since it builds upon and amplifies the reports from the two Standing Committees as well as sets the scene for subsequent agenda items. Highlights of the year 2008-09 What a year it has been! This year I’m starting with the highlights of what God and we have done together over the past twelve months, for it’s been a most remarkable year, and we need to continue to be thankful for so much. If you remember this time last year we were just about to start looking for a flat for Sampson and Ugonna – it seems a whole world away now! Well, our search for the flat was rewarded with a nice one that seemed to be suitable and affordable. It turned out that the arrangements weren’t quite as tight as we would have liked; it was some time, for example, before poor Sampson and Ugonna had the gas connected.
But at the time it seemed as if the biggest problem would be to furnish the flat. Some of you already know this story, but it bears repeating – it was such an extraordinary example of…not good luck, but direct help from God! After I had been worrying about the furnishing for about 4 weeks, and just one week before Sampson and Ugonna were due to arrive, I suddenly had a telephone call out of the blue, yes, as if direct from Heaven!, from an English couple in Venice whom we didn’t know at all, who said, “We’re leaving Venice next week and we’ve not been able to sell our furniture; do you know anyone who could make good use of it?” They had a large quantity of good quality furniture, more than Sampson and Ugonna could possibly fit into their flat! But they insisted that we should remove it all, to save them the cost of having it taken away! So we worked hard for a week and with great help from Rosie (who got a chap with a boat), and Ian, and Roland with his van, and Henry and Charles and Ben and several others, we managed to clear their flat within the week, and the Padova curate’s flat was ready furnished, just a few hours before Sampson and Ugonna arrived! Not to speak of other beneficiaries of the adventure, including the Chaplain’s house. And in the course of it we made new friends of that English couple, who said, “if only we’d known Church was as much fun as this, we’d have joined you as soon as we came.” And not many weeks later Chiemela arrived. That was a very anxious time for us all, particularly for Sampson and Ugonna. They received excellent medical care at Padova, and we all rallied round with prayer, and again our prayers were answered in just the way we all wanted, and here is Chiemela now, baptised today and a full member of our Church. Before we had reached the end of that story, in September we were hosts to the Archdeaconry Synod. About 40 Anglican Church members from all over Before the Synod was over, we were able to welcome them all into this very place for the remarkable occasion of Sampson’s Ordination as Deacon. The church was full, including the presence of over 20 clergy, not only our own Anglican brothers, and sisters, but friends from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Waldensian, Baptist and Lutheran Churches both in Venice and Padova, and several who could not be personally present sent representatives. Clergy who had taken part in developing Sampson’s vocation and training also took part in the service, all led by Bishop Geoffrey at his best. Well, you might have thought that was enough for one year, but just remember, at the same time we were undertaking the stage 3 works for our St.George’s 400th Anniversary Restoration. This time last year we had hardly one toilet and certainly no kitchen or study in church. Hospitality was pretty cramped! Now we have all three, and the major part of this work was completed just in time for the Ordination, by dint of our friendly contractors putting in hours of overtime to get it done by then. This work also, again at exactly the right moment as if from Heaven, became possible due to the wonderfully generous grant from Venice In Peril which covered the cost of restoring these windows, assisted by other generous private individuals and trusts. It’s right also that at this point we should acknowledge with grateful thanks the support of the Comune di Venezia, who continues to be important partners with us in the work. We have also been active on the Ecumenical front, working with the other churches; this year 08-09 also happened to be the turn of the Anglican Church to take the chairmanship of the Local Council of Churches.
There is still one more major blessing to record, that we have been given this year. It is, of course, finding our new Church building in Padova. I seem to remember reporting to this AGM the vital importance and growing urgency of our search for such a building, every year for about the last three years. We thought we had looked under every stone, asked everyone we could think of for help and advice, and that we had prayed over this one as hard as we could. We have discovered once again that God’s timing is always right! Thanks to him, and to Sampson’s energy and persistence and imagination, and to the openness of our Roman Catholic hosts in Padova (whom we had been in danger of thinking less than generous), we now have a place that will be a good home to us for quite a few years. Indeed, to me it seems a much better solution than any of the building or renting schemes that we had been dreaming about. What a year it has been, thanks be to God!
Thanks You can see now why I wanted to remind you of all the blessings we have enjoyed, to put into context my thanks to so many of you for your partnership in this work, your tremendous help, and your friendship in supporting Marilyn and me. So many have taken part that perhaps it’s invidious to mention a few, but I believe you would all want me to thank here personally our Churchwardens, Frances and Warren, and our Congregational Churchwardens at Padova, Ben and Esther. Some of what they do is visible, and there’s a great deal more that most of you don’t see, and quite a bit that even I don’t see, which they cheerfully fit into lives that are already busy. We owe them a great deal. I also want to thank personally our Sunday School team at Padova, Ebele, Justina and Nneka, who are carrying out such important work on behalf of us all, work that many of us, including me, simply would not attempt. We are very grateful to you, and hope you will call on our support when you need it. We are also more dependent than anyone realises, I think, on the work of our Council Officers, George and Geoffrey as treasurers, and Hilary as secretary. Specially George, whose report has given us just a glimpse of the huge amount of work and worry involved, at a time when his own work in the world of international finance has been particularly gruelling. I must also thank specially Gaspare Battistuzzo for his help as secretary to the Ecumenical Council. I could not have taken the chairmanship on without him. The reason for his absence today is that he’s busy doing a translation into Italian for me of another Ecumenical talk. That will be about the 7th such translation he’s done over the year, and I’m very sad he could not be here to receive this public recognition for what he’s done in this way to raise the profile of this church in Thank you all so much. And of course I must mention my closest partners in this ministry, Charles and Michael and Sampson. It’s been challenging and exciting for me and Sampson building up this ministry team together. We are all so thankful to you and Ugonna for coming back to take on this essential job, under much less than perfect conditions. You have already shown up how much I was NOT doing at Padova and how important it is for us and for the Anglican Church in Challenges and Opportunities This work will always be challenging – and how tedious it would become otherwise! God is always sticking pins in us to stimulate us to new creation with him. As I see them, the pins in the coming year will be: Finance. We share this problem with the whole Western world. As the body of Christ, we are a church of Incarnation, involved in the world’s problems. In Padova, quite a few members have recently suffered unemployment, cutting off their ability to support us for the meantime. In Venice, most of our members, whose income is in Sterling or Dollars, find their ability to contribute has been drastically reduced by the change in the exchange rates. The budget that George has outlined to you is the minimum we should aim for, but to achieve it we shall ALL need to be imaginative and energetic, and to respond to God’s test of our commitment to this Church. In Unemployment. I’m afraid this situation has only just begun. It’s likely to continue getting worse for 18 months at least. More families in Padova will be hit, and we shall need to develop ways of caring for them – always a challenge when we have little resources ourselves, but we have a key one: prayer. Look what it has done for us in the last year: Our prayers this year will be different but they need to be just as constant. Keeping the two parts of our Church working and worshipping and praying together. Your Council has already recognised this need and given Sampson and me the job of finding more ways to do it. Michael has already disrupted his family’s Sunday life to start this process by coming with them to worship here, and we’d like to see that gesture reciprocated by Venice members. I shall have more to say on this in a moment. Finishing Optimising the use of our Website You would be astonished at how many people who come say, “We found you on the internet”. This window for the world on to us is now so important, and I’m keenly aware that my feeble efforts and technical grasp are simply not adequate to the task. With regular time spent on it each week, by several people with one editor, we could have a really interesting parish magazine there for our own use, for our international supporters, and for visitors to find us. The technology of our present site already allows this. PLEASE can we generate 2 or 3 volunteers who will take on this Godly work? Sampson’s Ordination as Priest I have been in correspondence with Bishop Geoffrey over the past month and he’s now confirmed that he will come to our new church in Padova on Sunday 4th October for Sampson’s Ordination. When Sampson and I were in Rome last week, I also invited the new Director of the Anglican Centre, Very Rev. David Richardson, to be present – you need as many priests as you can get for a priest’s Ordination, and on a Sunday that means finding those without regular parish duties. Bishop Geoffrey will also hold our Confirmation service, for 3 candidates from Padova, and one from Verona. Who represents a whole new opportunity for us, as it brings to 5 the number of Anglicans I know about in Padova Curate’s Flat. Now we know where our new church is in Padova, and where it’s likely to remain, we should give consideration to changing the curate’s flat to one that’s nearer to the church. We all foresaw that this might become necessary, and now it takes Sampson an hour’s ride on two buses to get to church, I should say the time has come, but this is a project I will leave for you to ponder. Because… Announcement. There is another thing I’ve been corresponding about with Bishop Geoffrey, and some, perhaps most of you already know this, but today is the time to make the Public Announcement. I do not think I am the person to lead you through the next stage of this Chaplaincy’s life. What we have done together during these last nearly five years has been hugely stimulating and exciting, but it has taken its toll on both me and Marilyn, and we don’t think we can do another year. So Bishop Geoffrey has agreed to allow us to step down at the end of October 2009 with our last Sunday being October 25th, which will be exactly five years to the day. I don’t want to hold you back, now you are on this great trajectory, by running out of energy and enthusiasm, and you will greatly benefit from the new ideas and impetus of a new Chaplain. You’ve got 7 months to find and select one before we go. I’ve already informed your Church Officers, and as I hoped, they’ve already made an energetic start on the selection process. I promised to refer again the importance of the cohesion of our two congregations, and this is what I meant. The fact that we are now When we first came, with a three-year commitment, I was a bit doubtful about whether this would be a fruitful way to spend as much of our lives as 3 years. Indeed, one of the Churchwardens who appointed me said, “I don’t know what you’re going to find to do, John-Henry”, which has proved to be probably the most ill-judged remark ever made to me! Sampson will agree with me, that there’s more than enough work for two of us! Now you are what you are, no applicant need have that kind of hesitation, and I pray sincerely that you will be successful in finding someone who’s willing to get to grips with all the challenges I’ve outlined, and take you forward to new ones. Thank you again for giving us the privilege of working here, for your friendship which we shall hope to take with us when we leave, and for all the things we are still going to do together between now and the end of October. On behalf of the Chaplaincy W Cairns, thanked the Chaplain for his energy and enthusiasm in leading the transformation of the Chaplaincy – despite his observation that his energy was depleted and the Chaplaincy needed new energy, the Chaplain had invested more than anyone could imagine, including finding hidden talents such as successful fund raising. R Forbes-Butler noted that recognition and thanks were also due to Mrs Bowden for her unstinting work of support for the Chaplaincy. Treasurer's Report The Chaplain requested the meeting to consider Agenda Item 9 prior to the Treasurer’s Report in order to ensure that the Independent external Examiner was duly appointed before approval of the Accounts for 2008 by the meeting. Accordingly, G Blunden proposed and F Clarke seconded the appointment of Dr G Sesani, Revisore Comptabile of Sesani e Trevisanato Studio STB be appointed Independent External Examiner for the years 2008 and 2009. Approved unanimously The Treasurer presented the Audited Accounts for 2008, noting that this was the first time that the Council had been able to review and approve audited accounts prior to the AGM. He thanked G Mbanali for his help in achieving this. He also expressed thanks to C King, the previous Treasurer for her assistance in ensuring a smooth handover. The format has been simplified so that the finances of The Treasurer noted that 2008 had been a very busy year, Venice Appeal work and the establishment of a full time, salaried priest in Padova. The Chaplaincy had “grown up”, but would have to face some financial challenges in the future. Since the reserves had been used, correctly, for the building and fabric, it was now necessary to re-build reserves for the future, as well as keep the day to day expenses covered. He noted that increased pledges from members of the congregation were important. Grants from the Diocese and other Chaplaincies in the Archdeaconry were expected to continue through 2009/10, following which the Chaplaincy, Padova in particular would have to become self sufficient financially. Looking forward to 2009, expenditure was budgeted at c. €70,000. The weak economic climate would likely persist and thus effort would be needed to ensure funds were available to meet day to day expenditure. In reply to a question from R Forbes-Butler, the Treasurer noted that the €/£ exchange rate set by the Diocese for accounting purposes had moved from 1.40 in 2007 to 1.22 in 2008. Most of the sterling income had been used at a rate of 1.31, which had reduced the negative effect of the weakening pound vs. the euro. The Treasurer proposed and C Onwukwe seconded the approval of the Audited Accounts for 2008. Approved unanimously, with thanks to the Treasurer Report of the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of both Churches. B Ejenonu reported that Padova had a good supply of hymn books in both English and Igbo, 1 chalice, 1 organ, 25 choir robes, 1 processional cross and 2 batteries of drums. Report of Proceedings of the Archdeaconry Synod In response to a question from C Bauer, it was noted that there are 16 congregations in A lengthy discussion took place concerning the difficulties being encountered in securing access to the “otto per mille” and/or the “cinque per mille” tax benefit for the Church of England in The discussion concluded that this was a very important issue for the Church of England in Agenda Item 6 Elections Two Churchwardens of the Chaplaincy for G Blunden proposed and F Clarke seconded the nomination of Two Congregational Churchwardens for St Anthony Abbott, Padova G Mbanali proposed and C Onwukwe seconded the nomination of B Ejenonu G Mbanali proposed and B Ejenonu seconded the nomination of E Alum C Onwukwe proposed and S Orji seconded the nomination of C Iroanya A vote by show of hands was taken, members of the Padova congregation each casting 2 votes, as follows: B Ejenonu 18 votes C Iroanya 17 votes E Alum 3 votes B Ejenonu and C Iroanya were duly elected. Chaplaincy Council Padova: 9 nominations had been received in respect of 6 vacancies. An election was duly held, each member of the Padova congregation casting 6 votes. The result of which was: G Nzeribe 20 votes S Oruchi 18 votes G Mbanali 17 votes V Orji 17 votes C Asole 16 votes C Ugochukwu 10 votes P Alum 9 votes E Igweanya 8 votes V Onyenaobi 4 votes G Nzeribe, S Oruchi, G Mbanali, V Orji, C Asole, C Ugochukwu were duly elected. Agenda Item 7 Child Protection Policy and appointment of Child Protection Officer. The Chaplain noted that the last Council meeting had approved a Child Protection Policy that followed the policy recommended by the Diocese and that complied with F Clarke proposed and C Asole seconded the appointment of Approved unanimously Agenda Item 8 To appoint sufficient ushers for both Churches G Battistuzzo, J Blunden, S Collins. R Forbes-Butler, G Ludbrook, M Richardson, J Stitt and I Wildgoose were unanimously approved as ushers for Venice G Nzeribe proposed and C Onwukwe seconded the appointment of I Ogoguom, C Ezinwa, J Mbanali, I Ogoguom, C Ezinwa, J Mbanali, Agenda Item 9 To approve the appointment of the Independent Examiner for the Accounts. Taken under Agenda Item 5 above Agenda Item 10 Chaplain’s Report Taken under Agenda Item 5 above Agenda Item 11 Any Other Business The sole item of Other Business notified in advance to the Chaplain was from M Udeagbara. He raised a concern that the use of the King James, Authorised Version of the Bible in A number of opinions were expressed reflecting a desire to retain variety through using the Authorised Version for Sunday services and the Common Worship version for Thursday services. The beauty of the language was felt to be important as was the historical link with the establishment of the church in Agenda Item 12 Closing and prayers The Chaplain closed the meeting at
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