Christian freedom as St Paul spells it out is always freedom from isolation – from the isolation of sin, separating us from God, and the isolation of competing self-interest that divides us from each other. To be free is to be free for relation; free to contribute what is given to us into the life of the neighbour, for the sake of their formation in Christ's likeness, with the Holy Spirit carrying that gift from heart to heart and life to life. Fullness of freedom for each of us is in contributing to the sanctification of the neighbour.
Presidential address, General Synod, 9 February 2009
Easterncurrents provides ongoing information about the Eastern Archdeaconry and the Anglican Church of Christ Church, Vienna in the Diocese in Europe as well as other matters relating to Central and Eastern Europe together with Turkey. It will also contain personal reflections and observations.
Archdeacon Patrick Curran
- easterncurrents
- My parents (father English, mother German) met after the Second Wold War in Hamburg, Germany. They moved to Canada in 1954 where we lived until returning to Hamburg in 1969 where I attended school in Timmendorfer Strand on the Baltic Coast. After finishing school I went to study in Canada at the University King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia. My first degree was in Classics/German. In 1980 I went to Chichester Theological College to train for the ordained ministry of the Church of England and to study theology at the University of Southampton. In 1984 I was ordained deacon and priested in 1985 while serving my title post in the parish of Heavitree, Exeter: the birthplace of Richard Hooker. In 1987 I was appointed Bishop's Chaplain to Students in the Diocese of Bradford. In 1993 I was appointed chaplain of St Boniface, Bonn with All Saints, Cologne. In 2000 I was appointed chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna. In 2002 I was appointed archdeacon of the Eastern Archdeaconry in the Diocese in Europe stepping down in 2015. I am married with two daughters.