Jerusalem
and the Middle East
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Introducing:

The Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf is pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Canon Bill Schwartz OBE to be Archdeacon in the Gulf, to be held in conjunction with his present appointment as Chaplain in Qatar. It will take effect immediately upon the retirement of the present Archdeacon, the Very Reverend Alan Hayday.

The Bishop is also pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Christopher Butt, Team Rector of South Gillingham in the Diocese of Rochester, England, to be Dean of St Christopher’s Cathedral, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.

He will be installed in Bahrain in October on a date to be confirmed. Pray for him and for his wife Tricia as they prepare for life in the Gulf and in the diocese.

The Bishop is also pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Andrew Notere, priest of the Diocese of Willochra in the Province of South Australia, to be Chaplain in Paphos. He expects to license him to the post in early Autumn 2009.

Bishop Michael also notes the announcement by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral Nicosia and Archdeacon in Cyprus, the Very Reverend Stephen Collis, of his forthcoming retirement, due to take effect in August, 2009.

Bishop Michael Lewis

Canon Bill Schwartz

Canon Bill, who is to be the new Archdeacon of the Gulf, has served the diocese in so many lay and clerical roles that he brings an unrivalled knowledge of the area to the appointment. Bill was born in Omaha USA in 1952 but has been in the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf from the age of 25.

He first worked as a layman there for four years as Administrator of the Institute of Middle East Studies also working with Brother Andrew on the ‘Open Doors’ project. He became chairman of the diocesan House of Laity and Assistant treasurer of the diocese. In the early 1990s his vocation to the priesthood was confirmed and in 1993 he was ordained deacon in Cyprus and priest at All Hallows by the Tower in London.

Since then he has served as a ‘supply priest’ in many parishes in the diocese and then for several years as Rector of the Canterbury Group in Saudi Arabia. In 2006 he was made a Canon of Bahrain Cathedral and then chaplain to the congregations in Qatar. There he is the ‘front man’ in trying to raise £5million for the building of an Ecumenical church on land given by the Emir.

Bill is married to Edith and they have two daughters and two sons.