Malaga induction

This morning, Iain and I took the train to Malaga to attend the induction service for the new chaplain of St George's Malaga, Rev'd Mary Ellen Dolan. The Church is set in an historic English cemetery dating back to the early nineteenth century.

The gatehouse, shown here, was built in 1856. Malaga has the oldest Church of England chaplaincy in Spain. The cemetery is set on the eastern flank of the base of the mountain on top of which is Malaga's Gibrafaro fortress, with several terraces of graves and some enclosed sections with niches. It's maintained by a trust, since the British Foreign Office sold off the land which it originally owned and tourists must pay to enter though not worshippers. It proclaims itself to be a member of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe. As with all churchyards, maintenance in good order is a perpetual challenge, added to which is the need to conserve many monuments of historical interest, if not artistic merit. It contains a record of nearly two centuries of expatriate residents in Andalusia and the city.

There were about thirty of us in a chapel holding sixty, to celebrate the Eucharist in which the induction ceremony was set, conducted by my old friend Fr Geoff Johnston in his role as acting Archdeacon. It was good to see him and his wife Carole again, as they leave for Britain and retirement at the end of October. Judith his churchwarden in Nerja was with him too, and that gave us an opportunity to discuss my return to Nerja to be their locum chaplain for the Lent-Easter period. If all goes to plan, we'll have a family party there for my 70th birthday, as it falls in Easter week.

After the service, refreshments were served on the terrace outside the church building, then Fr Peter Ford, who has spent much time recently as locum chaplain in Malaga joined Iain and I for the return journey to Los Boliches. It was good that he was given a role, reading the Gospel during the service, a good way of recognising the continuity in ministry with locum clergy freely offer. Fortunately he hadn't returned to Britain, as he lives in Fuengirola.