Thank you to Mrs Helen Innes and Rev Evelyn Sweerts for these images and videos.

Following a pre-ordination retreat led by the Reverend Canon John Wilkinson, Canon Pastor of Holy Trinity Brussels and Area Dean for Belgium and Luxembourg, Bishop Robert ordained seven candidates (six deacons and one priest) at a joyful service of commitment and celebration at Holy Trinity Brussels on Sunday.  Those ordained as deacons were:
 
Seth Barker (to serve as Assistant Curate at All Saints, Vevey) 
Samuel Haiser (to serve as Assistant Curate at City Kirche, Vienna) 
Graeme Lloyd-Roberts (to serve as Assistant Curate at St Albans, Copenhagen) 
Jacob Quick (to serve as Assistant Curate at St Edmund's, Oslo) 
Stephen Razafindratsima (to serve as Assistant Curate at St George’s, Paris) 
Claire Smith (to serve as Assistant Curate at Holy Trinity, Maisons-Laffitte) 

And ordained as a priest:
Florence Lorrain, to continue to serve as Assistant Curate at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Poitou-Charentes.

The packed church welcomed friends and family from across the world who travelled to support the ordinands, and many from across the diocese tuned in to the live stream.  Clergy guests included representatives from the theological colleges where some of our ordinands have trained, as well as ecumenical guests.   A video of the livestream is available on Holy Trinity Brussels' YouTube channel until the end of July if you'd like to see it. In his sermon, Reverend Canon John Wilkinson appealed;

"All of us here who name Jesus as our Lord and Saviour are also part of this amazing community of faith, which Jesus proclaims to Peter and the disciples.  We are in this together - newly ordained and long ordained, deacons, priests, bishops and the whole people of God, of which we are all part, whether we are ordained or not.  The responsibility for the Kingdom of God is entrusted by Him to us, and it's a shared responsibility.  So to your congregations, some of whom are here today, some of whom are watching us online, I say do not take too lightly the calling that these people have received from God.  Love them, support them; don't expect them to get everything right any more than you do.  Give them time and space to grow and to flourish as Christians as well as ordained ministers."

Here are some photos taken just before the service:

The smiles got even bigger after the service:

Rev Sam Haiser:

Rev Claire Smith:

Trying to organise the big group shots can be very tricky!

In the coming week, the rest of the current deacons will be ordained as priests in their home chaplaincies of Luxembourg, Lisbon, La Côte, Barcelona, Budapest, Zwolle, and Bern. 
 
Please hold all our curates, their training incumbents, and their church communities in your prayers. 

There are wonderful stories of faith and vocation journeys, as well as reflections on the uniqueness and importance of the Diocese in Europe, currently available on our YouTube channel. Watch here.