Author: Edna Gregory

New Bishop Appointed

ANNOUNCING BISHOP-ELECT THE REVD SEAN SEMPLE

Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and the Synod of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf are pleased to announce the election of the Revd Sean Semple to be the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

The Revd Sean Semple is currently the Rector of the Benefice of Ross with Walford and Brampton Abbotts in the Diocese of Hereford. He has served on various committees in the Diocese including chairing the Council for World Partnership and serving as Rural Dean of the Deanery of Ross and Archenfield.

Sean has served in 3 provinces of the Anglican Communion. Before coming to the Diocese of Hereford, Sean served as a priest in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, and the Diocese of Natal, South Africa. He was ordained priest in the Diocese of Natal in 2011 following a decade of ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Sean’s undergraduate studies in Psychology and Theology were undertaken at the University of Natal and the University of South Africa, followed by post graduate studies in Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Nicosia respectively.

Sean is married to Jenny and they have five children and one grandchild.

A date for the service of consecration, and installation in the two cathedrals of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, St Christopher’s Bahrain and St Paul’s Nicosia, will be announced shortly. 

Al Alhi Hospital in Gaza

Anglican-run al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza damaged by Israeli rocket fire as war continues.

After it was hit by rocket fire yesterday, Archbishop Hosam told ACNS: “The Diagnostic Centre is the crown jewel of Ahli Hospital, providing cancer diagnosis as a prelude to various treatment options both at Ahli and in other facilities. Next month, we were due to open a new chemotherapy centre there in partnership with Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives – a principal reason for our visit to the hospital last week.

“Please continue to pray for the safety of the hospital,” said Archbishop Hosam, “its staff, and the patients and refugees who are being housed there.”

Secure online donations to support Ahli Hospital may be made via The American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ) at www.afedj.org/give/give-online 

Donations in support of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza can also be made via JMECA (Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association).