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Tuesday 19 July 2016

Is there any point in being a traditional Anglican, particularly in the Church in Wales?





The joy of the Christian faith is simply expressed in this rendition of the Te Deum (H/T Anglican Pastor). There is a far more stirring, majestic example here. It is punctuated by loud blasts on the organ which echo my feelings of exasperation and probably that of many other traditionalists at having been left by the Church.

Exhibiting their profound ignorance of matters spiritual, the response of New Anglicans to traditionalists  has been "Go to Rome if you don't like it" or, from the mainly menopausal feminist brigade, "Get used to it, we are in charge now". There have been no concessions in Wales. The only message is keep giving. For what? While the Church of England genuinely valued all church members as true Anglicans when binding provisions were made for faithful worshippers who, in common with most Christians, cannot accept the ordination of women on theological grounds, the attitude of the Church in Wales (CinW) has been take it or leave it. Theology is rejected while the latest secular fads are adopted by the bench of bishops for dissemination to congregations through largely compliant clergy.

Sunday by Sunday we are served with helpings of the latest Christian Response from an Anglican Perspective (CRAP) heavily laced with a misguided view of equality that has everything to do with political correctness and nothing to do with Christianity as the Gospel is bent to accommodate the latest alleged injustice. It is indeed very odd that the Bible can be taken literally in circumstances which threaten our very existence while bending other parts to suit a fashionable political stance.

Led by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Wales with the Archbishop of Westminster often in step, Christianity is continually being sold short to its own detriment with misapplied views on neighbourliness while giving succour to Islam as Muslims abroad continue to convert non-Muslims by the sword if necessary and in the UK demand more and more special privileges to enhance their status such as opting for Sharia, a legal code that systematically discriminates against women, children, apostates, blasphemers, non-believers (infidels), adulterers, and homosexuals. Imagine the outcry if Christians espoused such discriminatory values.

The CinW is fast reaching the end of the road with extinction predicted in a generation. The possibility of the first woman bishop in Wales draws ever closer making it even more difficult for traditionalists who have remained in the Church to continue their membership. Not that there should be a woman bishop in Wales. Better that the measure be rescinded as a breach of faith since the promises of care evaporated as soon as the bishops had their way with their ultimate plan unfolding.

Moving from feminism to their next PC project the bench of bishops has made it perfectly clear that the CinW is to fully embrace the LGBT agenda en route to the acceptance of same sex marriage, again under the guise of 'equality', while the Church of England talks her way into it with 'Facilitated Conversations' concluding with this mumbo-jumbo. If LGBT people are having such a hard time being accepted, how are there so many openly gay and lesbian people in the Church with clergy very much in evidence promoting their particular life style and often viciously condemning anyone who dares to hold a contrary view to theirs? Women deacons were not enough. Women priests were not enough. Civil Partnerships were not enough. What next? The slide is endless.

True Anglicanism is expressed here in a Pastoral Letter by the Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council, making all those pennies we saved in little cardboard boxes in Sunday School worthwhile. Too late for many, there are now just 'empty boxes, empty gestures, empty words'. Read the sorry tale of the final straw for an ex-CinW worshipper here.

For many traditionalists the final straw has been drifting in the breeze while searching for that crumb of comfort but there has been none, nor will there be. The Church in Wales is going from bad to worse with Credo Cymru apparently impotent. As Dr Morgan approaches retirement he will have much on which to reflect having brought the Church in Wales to her knees, not in prayer but in desolation. What a legacy.

So is there any point in being a traditional Anglican? Unless you are exceedingly fortunate I think not. But Christianity is not dead. "Be joyful and keep the faith!", even if your church has left you.

15 comments:

  1. Ex 9 o'clocker20 July 2016 at 09:58

    As if you didn't know AB, but the short answer to your question is "No, none whatsoever".

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  3. Yes, it is possible. There is the Mission Church of St Deiniol and St Asaph in Pembrokeshire. Meeting faithfully in Pembrokeshire as part of the Anglican Catholic Church (not a departure from true orthodoxy, just continuing the same with quietness and joy). People are welcome to come and see. But, I hope you can mention this on line. Can it become public?!

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    1. Thank you Father Miles for your determined faith.

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    2. I have added a link to the Anglican Catholic Church in the right hand column Father.

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  4. This is interesting and refreshing to learn Fr Miles and must surely be a blessing. How very much in tune with scripture. It reminds us also of the opening of 'old wells' tradition in Genesis, and of course to this day, the well dressing season of the Peak District. Our salvation history theology. God does provide.

    Sadly however, it is the Church in Wales' Constitution and its convenient manner of construing 'canonical obedience' to a bishop, not scripture and tradition, which reigns supreme here. Sooner, if not later, one has to take into consideration whether, (for the sake of a pension possibly?) we can be part of such a lipstick laced outfit through disobedience.

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  5. Yes, Enforcer. The cost of conscience is to seek alternative episcopal oversight and leave the CinW, which I have done. The CinW got rid of its flying bishop, and publicly states that the matter of female priesthood and episcopacy is settled such that no ordinands will be able to challenge that. So I sought to take mine from a bishop of the ACC (Anglican Catholic Church). You are right to say that outward trappings and disobedience is not edifying to the Church's mission. It should promote both Spirit and Truth.

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  6. Praise God. There came a time when Israel had to go (wilderness tradition) in order to grow. May God pour His Holy Spirit on you.

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  7. In the U.S. the question was "Is there any point in staying Episcopalian?" The answers I received ranged from "Yes, keep up the good fight" and "Find a parish with a traditionalist priest" to "No, leave, it is a lost cause." As things have evolved over the past 20 years, the answer is now clear that the Episcopal church is a lost cause and that it would be best to let it auger itself into the ground. Fortunately we have many new options for those who desire Anglican worship outside of the Episcopal sham of fancy dress and liturgy covering up for theological decay and apostasy. I pray that alternatives develop for you in Wales. Don't expect or even desire communion with ++Welby as the CofE is on the same downward spiral.

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    1. Hi underground pewster I could not agree more especially that of the (US)Episcopal Church as lost cause.As well that of CofE - leaving aside a few Evangelical communities.Where to go from here I believe to be for prayerful discernment.

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    2. Since the Church in Wales, (more than CofE) is contemplating further apostasy, I believe that you are correct to advocate departure. It would also be perfectly biblical to do so. They merely emulate, impersonate and frolic with the establishment that existed prior to 1920. The ACC is a valid alternative episcopal community. I reiterate, "Israel had to go to grow".

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  8. I'm looking east - to the Orthodox Church. I've been made welcome, more so than in the CofE, and the priest has told me that it doesn't change. As it was, it is now, and will be. Once you've made the move you won't go back. John

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  9. Anglicanism is historically connected to Christianity, and this is evident when you notice the similarities in worship, the structure of the church, and beliefs.
    Saint Michael the Archangel Anglican Church

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  10. I am with the Anglican Church of North America. I have just recently been confirmed in this church, and I think it sounds like what you are looking for. It is growing by leaps and bounds in America!

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