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Revd Canon Patrick Curran (Chaplain) Patrick was born in Germany in 1956 and spent his early years in Ontario, Canada (Toronto, Scarborough, and Galt, now Cambridge) before returning to Germany in 1969, where he completed secondary school at a Lutheran boarding school on the Baltic coast. He returned to Canada to study at the University of King’s College in Halifax, obtaining a BA in Classics and German. He was sponsored by the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe to train for the ordained ministry at Chichester Theological College in England. There he completed a BTh with the University of Southampton. In 1984, he was ordained deacon, and in 1985 priested in Exeter Cathedral, England, serving his title at St. Michael’s and All Angels, Heavitree, with St. Paul’s, Burnthouse Lane, Exeter. In 1987, he moved to Bradford, West Yorkshire, to be the Bishop’s Chaplain to Students. After this, he returned to the Diocese in Europe as Chaplain in Bonn and Cologne and latterly as Chaplain in Vienna and Archdeacon of the Eastern Archdeaconry (2001-2015). He is married and has two adult daughters and two grandsons. Canon Curran is eager to commend the Christian faith as a living tradition with increased and daily increasing relevance as the Way of Life for peoples the world over. He has been nurtured in the Anglican tradition having trained for the ordained ministry in the Church of England and worked in the same since his calling in 1979. The Christian faith is the means of grace that allows us “to pass through things temporal so that we lose not our hold on the things eternal.” He is blessed to be serving an international congregation committed to this tradition. He is grateful that through the gathered church Sunday by Sunday, the ancient liturgy, the historic church building, he is privileged to see the gifts of faith made manifest in people from “from every nation, tribe, people and language”. Email: |
| CURATE (To be licensed by the Venerable Leslie Nathaniel, Archdeacon of the East, Deo Volente, on 16 June) | |
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The Revd Dr Michael Dormandy Michael Dormandy was born and grew up in London in a church-going family and made a personal commitment to Christ in his late teens. He studied Classics at New College, Oxford and then worked as a lay assistant in churches in North London and Kent. He also briefly taught Classics at Ashford School, Kent, and taught English as a foreign language in Innsbruck. He trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and also completed a Masters in Theology at Keble College, Oxford, and a PhD at Christ’s College, Cambridge. His thesis concerned the earliest manuscripts containing the whole Bible in Greek. He has taught New Testament Greek and Theology in Cambridge University and Ripon College, Cuddesdon, a training college for Anglican clergy. He is now a researcher and teacher in the history and theology of the Early Church at the University of Innsbruck. He is married and in his spare time enjoys walking in the woods around Innsbruck and films and books connected to spies. He wants to share with others through word and worship all he has learned of God’s goodness and grace and looks forward to doing so with Christ Church. |
| LICENSED LAY MINISTER | |
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Frank G. C. Sauer, PhD Frank moved to Vienna in 2004 after leaving his birthplace of Leverkusen, Germany, where he was born in 1974. His license to operate as a Reader at Christ Church Vienna was granted on June 16, 2024. Readers are laypeople called to serve the church on the front lines and participate in leadership roles alongside clergy and other ministers. He has been a lengthy member of Christ Church and has participated in many events and programs, including teaching, directing animal blessing ceremonies, leading morning and evening prayers, and giving speeches at Soundings. He presently serves as a representative of Christ Church on the Church Council and before the Archdeaconry Synod. He works with Caritas Vienna as an educational coordinator, regional supervisor, and public relations speaker. Prior to that, he spent several years working in the field of vocational training as a coach, advisor, and trainer. In 2002, he received his master's degree in education, sociology, and Old Catholic theology from the University of Bonn. In 2018, he received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Vienna, specializing in advanced theological studies and religious education. His dissertation, „Versöhnung und Migration. Missionstheologische Ansätze aus Anglikanischer Perspektive“ addressed missiological methods in the context of migration from an Anglican viewpoint. Frank has been involved in the church since he was a small child, serving in choirs, organizing liturgies, leading children's and youth organizations, and leading ecumenical Bible studies. He worked with the German Youth Red Cross on volunteer training and teaching programs while he was a student. Frank's favorite things about Christ Church include the parishioners' high level of dedication, the diversity of the flock, and the church's cultivation of the English musical tradition. In 2015, he became a member of the global Anglican Franciscan Religious Order known as the Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis (TSSF). |
| STAFF | |
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Joan Avery, PhD (Choir Director) Joan was born in England, went to school in several continents, and moved to Austria in the early nineties to study music. She has a licentiate in Violin Performance from the ABRSM and a PhD in German Literature. She is currently leading four choirs, as well as playing in various orchestras. She enjoys getting the best sound out of people, especially those who think they cannot sing. She tutors in English, French, and violin. |
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Andrew Couse (Organist) Andrew has served as our organist for several years. He came to Vienna in 1998 to take a position at the Volksoper and has taught at the Musik und Kunst University of the City of Vienna (formerly Konservatorium) for the past ten years. Originally from Ottawa in Canada, he studied piano and organ with Marion Hewitt and Dr. Godfrey Hewitt, received a bachelor's degree in music from Carleton University and went on to Montreal to do a master's degree in Musicology and Conducting at McGill University, concurrently with completing an Advanced Diploma in Organ Performance at Concordia University under Bernard Lagacé. He spent several years working as Director of Music at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Montreal before travelling to Germany in 1990, under a Canada Arts Council grant, to study orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst "Franz Liszt" in Weimar. He particularly values the high standards and appreciation of good music here at Christ Church and the enthusiasm that the congregation brings to singing the hymns! Outside of music, Andrew is a qualified Shiatsu practitioner. He teaches at the International Academy for Hara Shiatsu in Vienna, regularly travels to China to study aspects of traditional Chinese medicine, and has a Shiatsu practice in Vienna. |
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Andrew Seneviratne (Verger) As Verger, Andrew is responsible for looking after the church premises. He works with the Chaplain to ensure that all runs smoothly during regular and special services, particularly baptisms, funerals, and those over the Christmas and Easter seasons. Born and brought up in Sri Lanka, he came to Vienna to be with his brother and to work in the hospitality industry. Brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, he feels at home at Christ Church and particularly appreciates the fact that the services are in English. He enjoys getting to know Christians of a variety of different nationalities within our congregation. Being a hotelier does not allow Andrew much free time, but he enjoys getting involved, along with his wife, at the Vienna Christian Center. |
