The Anglican Church of St. Thomas, Kefalas
The Anglican Church of St. Thomas, Kefalas
The Anglican Church of
St. Thomas, Kefalas.
We are the only Anglican church on Crete. However, all Christian denominations are welcome at our services. We are situated within the Apokoronas area of Crete, east of Chania, in the picturesque rural village of Kefalas.
We hope that this website will guide you around the Parish - our worship, events and organisations and contact points for any further information.
Tomorrow we mark
The Feast of St Francis of Asissi
(transferred from October 4)
and Animal Welfare Sunday with the Blessing of Pets
Good Saturday morning!
We invite you to come to church tomorrow with your animals, whether cats or dogs or some other domesticated animal. During the service I will take the opportunity to bless the critters and give thanks for their presence in our lives. The readings for tomorrow may be found below, as usual, with links to the full texts, as well as the hymns and the psalm and a few texts we will use.
6 October
Feast of St Francis of Assisi –
Blessing of Pets & Animal Welfare Sunday
The Hymns, the Psalm, & Texts
Isaiah 11:1-9
Psalm 148
Galatians 6:14-end
Luke 12:22-34
You may join us in person in the Tabernacle at 11:00 am, o,r alternatively, if you click here that should get you into the Zoom live stream (if you prefer, you can type or copy https://zoom.us/j/91269383194 into your browser, or, sign in to your Zoom account and use the Meeting ID: 912 6938 3194; there is no passcode, just a waiting room as a security feature).
.
Next Sunday, 13 October, we will observe Safeguarding Sunday, a day on which we remember that before anything else we do in the mission of the church, that we must ensure we are a safe place, especially for the most vulnerable among us.
God be with you and those you love in the coming week,
Bruce+
---------------------------------------------------------
Announcements
The Wednesday evening online Small Group Bible Study meets every Wednesday at 7:30 PM EEST at https://zoom.us/j/95398454424 (Zoom Meeting ID: 953 9845 4424). There is always room for one more, so please consider joining us. This Wednesday will continue our lectio divina by reading and praying our way through the Third Letter of John.
+++++++++++++++++
Our Harvest Festival Service is on Sunday, 20 October.
As usual, in addition to the usual decorations of vegetables and fruit, we are collecting food for those who are not so well off here in Crete. Please consider making a donation.
As well, please sign up for our harvest supper & quiz evening on 22nd of October; advertisement below!
+++++++++++++++++++
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF ST. THOMAS, KEFALAS IS HOLDING A
HARVEST SUPPER QUIZ PARTY
on
TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER, 2024
7PM TO 10PM
Do join us at St Thomas's in Kefalas for a delicious 2-Course Supper followed by a General Knowledge Quiz & Raffle!
Bar will be available
Please book your place by Sunday,
October 13 to
Cost 15 euros per head including a glass of wine or beer
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SONGS OF PRAISE
On Sunday 24th November our morning service will be a Songs of Praise service, 11.00 am as usual
We will be singing your favourite hymns, with a reading and a couple of prayers.
So please let us know which 2 or 3 hymns you would like us to sing and Gina will play your favourites
Send your vote by October 27th to:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We are continuing with our Late Summer Appeal to cover the expenses related to our property's certification and licensing. I am pleased to say that we have now raised 2625€ towards our expected costs of 5600€. If you have not yet had an opportunity to consider making a donation, we would appreciate it if you do so soon over the next couple of weeks. More information can be found in the Letter from the Wardens and the Treasurer, which you can find here. Thank you so much!
LATE SUMMER APPEAL 2024
Dear Friends:
We are writing to you, members & friends of St Thomas Church, Kefalas, to enlist your help.
During the past few weeks it has become apparent that the Church Council will have to spend in the region of 5600 Euros (including V.A.T.) in order to comply with Greek legislation and building regulations.
According to Greek law, we are required to have a license from the Ministry of Education, Sport, and Religion to operate a church building; without that license, we are open to significant fines and possibly being shut down.
To get that license we need four different certificates, among them being one from the local fire department, and another from the health department. Another certificate is done by an engineer who certifies that we are in compliance with all building regulations.
This is where things get even more complicated. While the Chapel, the apothiki, the w.c., and the Tabernacle were all built in accordance with regulations and with a building permit, the porch roof that overhangs the walkway between the chapel and the Tabernacle was added later.
We have discovered that it was put up without a building permit, and, also, it encroaches on the required distance from the property line. We must do a modest alteration to the porch roof to deal with the encroachment issue, get a building permit for what has already been built, and pay a fine for having built it without a permit. As you can imagine, this all starts to add up.
Specifically, we have to pay out the following amounts:
Preparation of plans for Building Licence, Surveying and Design of Buildings & Roofing, Land Use Certificate
1364.00 including V.A.T.
Cut away Porch Roof Overhang to comply with Building Regulations, Building Permit and Fines
1824.00 including V.A.T.
Church Operational Licence after Porch Work is complete, including Certificate of main use of church, Fire Safety Study, Fire Safety Certificate
2418.00 including V.A.T.
The Church Reserves are limited at £4500 and we have in the last week put in motion the drawdown of funds to make payment of (1) as above
Therefore, we are starting a LATE SUMMER APPEAL to raise the required funds. If everyone could donate 50 Euros this would be an enormous help. Clearly, we hope that some people may feel they are able to give more than this, for which we would be hugely grateful.
There will be a basket in church from Sunday, 15th September and St. Thomas Bank Account details (sterling or euros) can be found at the bottom of this letter.
If you require any assistance with making the transfers or would like a UK payment to be Gift Aid, please contact the treasurer, Mary Hurley, at moonspinners56@gmail.com
We are most grateful for your support which has enabled us to function as the only Anglican Church on Crete for over 17 years
On behalf of the Chaplaincy Church Council, we thank you in advance for your continued financial support which will enable us to continue to minister to the people of Crete for many years to come.
With Best Wishes,
Church Wardens: CHARLOTTE POTTER & SUE WHITEHOUSE
Treasurer: MARY HURLEY
ST. THOMAS FINANCIAL DETAILS
EURO ACCOUNT
Piraeus Bank
Iban: GR48 0172 0500 0050 5008 6327 606
ANGLIKANIKI EKKLISIA STIN ELLADA THRISKEFTIK
REF: 2024 APPEAL+++++
STERLING ACCOUNT
Barclays Bank
Sort Code: 20.06.13
The Diocese in Europe Fund
Acc> 40317039
REF: ST. THOMAS CRETE++++++
+++++++ PLEASE INCLUDE THE ABOVE REF DETAILS TO YOUR PAYMENTS
PLEASE WOULD YOU SEND THE TREASURER A NOTE WHEN A TRANSFER HAS BEEN MADE SO MARY CAN CHECK THE MONEY HAS BEEN RECEIVED AND A THANK YOU NOTE WILL BE SENT!
TREASURER:
MARY HURLEY
0030 6955 300 301
Very many thanks to the donors that have already been in touch with me regarding a donation. Your support is greatly appreciated. For cash donors there will be a basket at the back of church from this Sunday.
All Good Wishes.
Mary Hurley
+++++++++++++++
Our Early Autumn Coffee Morning was a good success, with lots of personal interaction, drinking of coffee, and purchasing of everything from baked goods and fine jewelry to high quality bric-a-brac and books. The end result was that some 608.50€ was raised towards the ongoing expenses of the church.
Our many thanks to all those who volunteered and supported this event!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Safeguarding
in
the Anglican Church of St Thomas, Kefalas, Crete
If you see something that you think may be a safeguarding issue, you should speak to the
Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officer here on Crete or the Diocesan Safeguarding Team:
Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officer:
Jan Lovell +30 69791 64716 jand.lovell@yahoo.com
and/or
Diocesan Safeguarding Team:
For urgent enquiries during operational hours (9 am to 5 pm UK time, Monday to
Friday), please call: +44 (0)207 898 1159
For non-urgent enquiries contact: +44 (0) 7464 544715
For urgent enquiries outside operational hours call our
partners Thirtyone:eight on +44 (0) 303 003 1111.
Email: europe.safeguarding@churchofengland.org
https://www.europe.anglican.org/resources/safeguarding-diocese-europe
St. Thomas is one of many churches in the rapidly growing Diocese in Europe which, in itself, is part of The Church of England. You can visit the Diocese website at http://europe.anglican.org/homepage/ .