St Vincent’s Anglican Church

My first experience of attending an English language church service in Portugal was in Madeira nearly 25 years ago. Although I had visited Funchal, the island’s main town, in the mid-1980s, it was only after we bought a timeshare apartment that we became regular attendees at the English church there. By regular, I mean two or three times a year, depending on how often we were able to visit the apartment. And the English church in Funchal is a magnificent building, built in a circular fashion and often used for concerts.

In Luz, there is a thriving church community, part of the St Vincent’s chaplaincy, and is fortunate in having a resident priest who lives in a church house close to the beach. For services, we benefit from being able to use the local Roman Catholic church. Attendees come from all over the western Algarve (there is a sister church in the east) and enjoy three services a week – two on Sunday and a shorter service mid-week. There is also a choir, which practices each week in the church, as well as regular other opportunities to get together, such as regular bible study sessions.

Once a month the congregation is invited to donate food to be distributed by the Mustard Seed Café in Lagos to families in need. From time to time an ecumenical service will be held with the Roman Catholics – something I seldom find taking place back in England. There is a strong social side to the church as well, with many occasions, like lunch, coffee morning or quiz night, being held. Most Sundays there is a lunch club that meets after the 11.30 service and visits a variety of local restaurants. Known as Les’s Lunches, after the founder and organiser Les Johnson who sadly died last year, the tradition has been kept alive by his widow, Christine.

So, the Anglican church in Luz is a vibrant and social community. It embraces more than just Church of England members and there are plenty of other nationalities that attend regularly. I can attest to the strong bond that exists between its members who are always on hand if anyone needs help. I will keep Tomorrow readers abreast of news from the Anglican church and would remind all that they are welcome to join us at our services.

Brian is a Financial Journalist and Broadcaster.

Dear Friends in Christ, The Portuguese Episcopal Council of churches has suspended services throughout Portugal until further notice. We likewise, write to tell you that public services at St. Vincent’s Chaplaincy (The churches of Praia da Luz, Pereiras and St Luke's) are now suspended until further notice. We have started using a video conferencing piece of software called Zoom - free for anyone who wants to 'attend' the services. I am going to do two broadcasts a week in some shape or form and will also put the recordings on the Facebook page as well.

If people want to 'join' by Zoom, these are the details:

For my weekly 10.30 a.m Sunday Eucharist service, the permanent link will be - https://us04web.zoom.us/j/528054087

And for my Thursday 10.30 a.m service, the link will be https://us04web.zoom.us/j/655213503

For further updates check the FB page, Father Rob Kean