During the Annual General Meeting this week, our Dean and Rector, the Very Reverend Roger Bird, submitted and read his report, which we have the pleasure of transcribing below. We feel this message is extremely important as Revd. Roger and our church have reached a turning point.

"During these past few weeks, my thoughts have definitely drifted towards life, and the meaning of life. Actually there are several motives for this.

Firstly, was the imminence of the arrival of my second grandchild. In fact, Julia was born yesterday afternoon, weighing 3,7 kilos and measuring 48,5 cm. I am not going to say what a beautiful child she is, which she really is, because you will just laugh and say: “Listen to Grandpa speaking!”. What a miracle is the whole process of pregnancy. To think that this process began with the union of two little cells that cannot even be seen by the naked eye. Safe and protected in the mother’s womb, the baby develops for nine long months. Then it is born and becomes a living being in miniature. Who cannot gasp with amazement as they behold those little hands, each with four perfect tiny fingers and a perfect tiny thumb, each tipped with a perfect tiny nail? It is certainly a miracle!

My thoughts, when I see this miracle, invariably focus on that wonderful story in Genesis: “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Yesterday God breathed the breath of life into little Julia’s nostrils, and Julia became a living being. Praise be to God.

Secondly, we recently celebrated Easter. In the words of the Eucharist Prayer, we say; "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Easter has completely changed our thoughts on life. Life is no longer that span of time which starts with our birth and ends with our death. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, who believe that He is truly the Son of God, shall also be raised from the dead. Life is no longer something finite, but something infinite.

Furthermore, this promise of eternal life, this vision of life stretching throughout eternity, modifies our outlook on life here and now. We suddenly perceive God’s hand at work in our lives. Not only at spectacular events such as Julia’s birth, but at all times and in all places. Suddenly, to use the words of St. Paul, the focus of our lives is not on the material things of this mundane world, but on the heavenly things of the world to come. Our physical life may continue to be grim and earnest, and yet our spiritual life fills us with peace and confidence in the future.

Thirdly, I have come to the realization that life is not static, but living. We have to live life and no matter how much we want to cling to the present, or maybe even the past, life flows on as year succeeds year, just as a river flows down to the sea. Either we continue to ride the wave of life, or we lose our balance, sink and are left behind.

To conclude, I wish to share with you my current feelings. For nearly 16 years, I have been working full time at this Church. I always imagined retiring from my ministry when I turned 65, three years from now. However, I believe that God is now calling me to exercise a new ministry; that of being Bishop of this Diocese. It is a major challenge. However, if this is the wave that God wants me to ride, I must ride it knowing that He will provide all that I need to maintain my balance.

What about St. Paul’s Cathedral? I cannot be Bishop of the Diocese and Dean of the Cathedral at the same time, so I will have to resign being Rector of this Church and allow the Church Council to appoint a new Rector, which almost definitely will be my faithful associate minister, Rev. Aldo Quintão. Will the Church be the same? The answer is obviously no. But we have to remember that the Church is not static, but living, and must continue to grow as it has been doing for the last 16 years.

It is obvious that under Rev. Aldo’s leadership, the Portuguese-speaking congregation of our Church will continue to flourish. But what about the English-speaking congregation? As Rev. Aldo has constantly promised, as long as there are people wanting to worship in English at ten o'clock on Sunday morning, the doors of this Church will always be open to them. I also intend to minister to this congregation for as long as I can, with the aid of my lay ministers.

Let us all pray that God will continue to bless and guide Rev. Aldo and me in our respective major challenges, so that all that we do may be pleasing in His sight. Amen."