Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 07:25 PM GMT [General]
SPCK bookshops have seen changes since they were handed over to the Society of St Stephen the Great, a charity run by two Texan brothers, Mark and Phil Brewer, as I wrote on Saturdsay in the Sacred Mysteries column. Many have closed.
Now I read on a website called Orthodox Poole
"For the grace of God, and by the intercessions of Saint Stephen the Great, the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (Reg. No. 1109008) successfully took possession of this magnificent Church of England church in Poole, Dorset in May 2005.
The church was consecrated and named Saint Stephen the Great Church on the 12th of August, 2007 by Metropolitan Joseph as a part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Western Europe. With God's will, the church is being restored to its former glory and will remain as a prominent landmark for future generations!"
That was written by Mark Brewer.
The church, built for the Church of England between 1913 and 1916, made Nikolaus Pevsner very excited. It looks remarkable, In 2001 came the news that it was being declared redundant.
Since then, the Antiochian Orthodox Church had been worshipping at the church. No Longer. "The Community, originally sited at the old St. Osmund's church in Poole, is currently worshipping at the church hall belonging to the Roman Catholic parish of St. Edmund Campion at Castlepoint," says the community website.
The problem seems to be that the bishop who "consecrated" the church belongs to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and the Antiochian Orthodox worshippers have their own bishop.
The "Normal Weekly Service Schedule" at St Osmund's, or St Stephen's as it is now, is, according to the Orthodox Poole site, Divine Liturgy on Sundays at 10.30. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
SOURCE:
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SPCK bookshops have seen changes since they were handed over to the Society of St Stephen the Great, a charity run by two Texan brothers, Mark and Phil Brewer, as I wrote on Saturdsay in the Sacred Mysteries column. Many have closed.
Now I read on a website called Orthodox Poole
"For the grace of God, and by the intercessions of Saint Stephen the Great, the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (Reg. No. 1109008) successfully took possession of this magnificent Church of England church in Poole, Dorset in May 2005.
The church was consecrated and named Saint Stephen the Great Church on the 12th of August, 2007 by Metropolitan Joseph as a part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Western Europe. With God's will, the church is being restored to its former glory and will remain as a prominent landmark for future generations!"
That was written by Mark Brewer.
The church, built for the Church of England between 1913 and 1916, made Nikolaus Pevsner very excited. It looks remarkable, In 2001 came the news that it was being declared redundant.
Since then, the Antiochian Orthodox Church had been worshipping at the church. No Longer. "The Community, originally sited at the old St. Osmund's church in Poole, is currently worshipping at the church hall belonging to the Roman Catholic parish of St. Edmund Campion at Castlepoint," says the community website.
The problem seems to be that the bishop who "consecrated" the church belongs to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and the Antiochian Orthodox worshippers have their own bishop.
The "Normal Weekly Service Schedule" at St Osmund's, or St Stephen's as it is now, is, according to the Orthodox Poole site, Divine Liturgy on Sundays at 10.30. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
SOURCE:
READ THE PREVIOUS POST RELATED TO THIS STORY:
Unfortunately the St. Stephen the Great trust is now filing for bankruptcy, and the future of many of the SPCK shops it acquired is in doubt.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time as the SSG filing for bankruptcy, Mark Brewer sent 'cease and desist' letters to two UK bloggers who were covering the SPCK story in detail, threatening them with libel unless they stopped reporting, and closed down their websites. This has blown up into quite an embarassing situation for SSG, especially as 30 former bookshop employees are taking them to an employment tribunal over unfair dismissal.
More details at http://spckssg.wordpress.com/
and http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/07/25/an-introductory-guide-to-the-dave-walker-case-start-here/
David,
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and thank you for the links.
I haven't had a chance to check out the links yet but am curious if the bloggers complied?