Church in Wales in denial

Church in Wales bishops

The duplicity of Church in Wales bishops knows no bounds.

Responding to concerns expressed by Anglican Essentials Wales in the Church Times in advance of their inaugural conference in March, a spokesperson for the Church in Wales said that it was “committed to proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, and this includes both a call to personal faith and commitment, and bearing witness to God’s call to justice and peace in society.

“All major policy decisions are, and have been, taken either by its Governing Body, which is made up of elected representatives from across the Province, or in consultation with it. This is a fair and democratic process, representative of the whole church, and we believe it is the best place for people to express their views and seek to bring in change.

“We do not recognise the criticism expressed by Anglican Essentials Wales as a fair description of our common life.”

'Proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God' in the Church in Wales has become how the bishops presume to interpret the message.

In the interests of 'democracy' they have embraced “a thoroughly this-worldly message” instead of upholding orthodox faith and practice.

Far from representing 'the whole church' as claimed, traditional Anglicanism is not officially represented. In an appalling breach of faith, commitments given to secure the ordination of women were abandoned when Bishop David Thomas retired.

Faithful worshippers have been left with nothing while overtures continue to be made to high profile minority groups who claim to be persecuted while enjoying their privileged status with access to special chaplaincies.

Movements such as Mae Cymru claim to be "a group of people with a vision of the Church in Wales as a community of God’s people where, regardless of gender, justice and equality prevail". That is exclusively on their terms.

'Gender, justice and equality' have become twisted. Love is everything so everything is permissible. But it is not agape, it is Eros, blatant sexual licence that has little if anything to do with the Gospel message.

Sad to say the ordination of women has proved to be nothing to do with equality. It is about power. Feminist power. Feminists demand equality. Equality demands equality 'regardless of gender'.

In the Church in Wales that means parity regardless of suitability, embracing everything LGBT+, advocating transgenderism and working towards same sex marriage even though the innovation failed to win the necessary votes at the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.

The bench did not accept the 'democratic' decision against same sex marriage in church after a heavily weighted discussion in favour. Instead they decided that more work was needed to implement their decision, using their Governing Body as a tool, drawing participants into heresy. 

In my entry Another farcical Church in Wales 'consultation'? I outlined how the bench of bishops use consultations to cherry pick comments they find favourable while binning those which fail to accord with their predetermined agenda. Their idea of democracy.

Small wonder that the Church in Wales is in terminal decline. The latest press release shows that Wales' struggling rural churches look to tourism for survival. The churches will be fitted out with sleeping stalls and 'services built for cycling'. Services for the faithful are no longer required.

The Church in Wales has entered into dialogue with followers of Witchcraft, Atheism, Peace Mala, Hare Krishna, Sufi, Islam, Yungdrung Bön, Judaism and Druids. Only orthodox Anglicans are regarded as beyond the pale. Unworthy of consideration because they remain true to the historic Apostolic faith in common with Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

That is the 'fair and democratic process' of the Church in Wales.

Caption corner 18 January, 2019

  Sign adopted for St Davids 'Parsonage Emergencies'  Source: Church in Wales

Other suggestions for the use of this sign are invited. Publishable contributions will appear under comments.

Absent bishop

Bishop Richard Pain                                                                           Source: Twitter @ChurchTimes

Over the weekend a Church Times tweet reappeared with curious regularity suggesting a possible early end to the saga of the long absent bishop of Monmouth, Richard Pain.

Glowing tributes from the bishop's supporters after the story broke along with current publicity suggest a concerted effort to reinstate the bishop as the victim of unfounded allegations.

No details of his absence were made known until an article appeared in the Western Mail forcing the story into the open and ending a curious silence which gave rise to much speculation and damaging rumours.

Given the almost saintly qualities poured on him by his supporters it is difficult to imagine  how any possible grievance could have been raised against such a bishop, a procedure which is not used lightly.

According to the Church Times the bishop is "spoken well of by his flock", presumably following a statement by 'six area deans and eight ministry area leaders in the diocese' who described their bishop as "a deeply kind and caring pastor to his clergy" and "much loved and respected not only among the clergy of the diocese but also amongst the lay members of the church from across the diocese in the parishes and communities amongst which he has served."

Appointed assessors 'exonerated' the bishop of unspecified wrongdoing but he remains absent at the archbishop's request while mediation is in process.

The bishop of Monmouth along with the bishop of St Asaph and bishop of Swansea and Brecon (now archbishop) were together at St Michael's College, Llandaff 1982-83.

The bishops of Swansea and Brecon, Monmouth and St Asaph                Photo: South Wales Argus

To avoid any suspicion of an old boy's network in operation, clarification of the grievances made against the bishop of Monmouth is needed to eliminate any doubt and restore confidence if he returns to episcopal ministry.

Anglican Essentials Wales

Source: Anglican Essential Wales

From their web site: "Anglican Essentials Wales is a national movement of lay and ordained Welsh Anglicans united in their common commitment to upholding orthodox faith and practice. Drawn from across the various traditions of the Anglican Church we are dedicated to the propagation of the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ in a post-Christian Wales.

Our purpose is to:

• provide a forum, a rallying point, and an identity for all "orthodox Anglicans" in the Church in Wales
• provide a voice for this constituency to the leadership of the Church in Wales, to other Anglican constituencies, and to the world

In the rapidly changing culture of Wales, where the Christian Church has moved from central to sidelined in half a lifetime, Christians need to present the unchanging gospel of a Saviour who is the same yesterday, today and forever. How should the Church in Wales attempt this task?  What should change and what shouldn’t?  This will be focus of our 2019 conference on Missional Anglicanism."

Details of the inaugural conference may be found here.

Thanks to regular commentator Whamab for this link.

Caption corner 10 January 2019

Source: Twitter

As usual captions will appear under Comments.

Finding faith

In this video published on Nov 8, 2018 the Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, was the first to testify in a series of videos that describe how senior members of the St Davids diocesan clergy "came to discover the faith that sustains them."

When Penberthy was elected the former Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan said of the 'election', “This is an historic moment for the Church in Wales as it hasn’t been possible to elect a woman bishop until now. But what is really important to stress is that Joanna wasn’t elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop. She has considerable gifts – she is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy."

The election was widely regarded as a political fix.

In her December 2018 Ad Clerum bishop Penberthy wrote:

"We are not called to persuade people of the truth of our particular religious

opinions so as to feel better as we surround ourselves with those who agree with us. We

are called to be communities of flawed people, open to the healing love of God that we

might live that truthful open-eyed healing love admidst [sic] “the present form of this world

that is passing away.” (I Cor 7:31)."

The bishops have certainly surrounded themselves with people who agree with them - to the exclusion of faithful Anglicans who were promised an honoured place in the Church but abandoned after archbishop Morgan and his bench sitters achieved their objective of turning the Church in Wales into a club for liberal, like minded people.

Contrary to what bishop Penberthy claims, there is only one way to the Father, through Jesus Christ, not through other gods, paganism and witchcraft.

Jesus charged His disciples, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Today, Anglican bishops write their own version of the Gospel message.

Postscript [09/01/2019]

Church of England bishops out of touch with clergy:

Oxford diocese in meltdown as clergy reject bishops' view on sexuality

Untenable

The bishops of Bangor, St Davids, Monmouth, Swansea & Brecon (Archbishop), St Asaph and Llandaff .                                                Source: Church in Wales

As the Monmouth diocese saga drags on, the position of the bench of bishops and the bishop of Monmouth in particular is becoming increasingly untenable.

‘Show people the power of our faith’ said the Archbishop of Wales at his enthronement (pictured) when he challenged churches to rehabilitate and refresh how they explained the Gospel message. But being a Christian, he said, was not about just going to church.

According to the archbishop, "young people would high-five the prophet Job and queue for selfies with Jesus if they properly understood Christianity".

Referring to the witness of young people he observed: "They are keenly aware of the need for social and economic justice, the stewardship of creation, and equality of opportunity; they are equally aware of the need for a society free from any form of prejudice rooted in anything which is part of the individual identity, gender, race, origin, religion or orientation of anyone."

The 'progressives' gospel.

Generally young people no longer go to church. Consequently the average age in dwindling congregations is often around 70 with few if any families left to provide continuity. The Church has become irrelevant to society.

The message reaching the people is not one of faith but one of impotence.

A recent article in the South Wales Argus, Bishop of Monmouth Richard Pain has not carried out official work for six months, was met with complete indifference and resulted in only a few derogatory comments about bishops and the Church.

The article appeared in the Argus after "Parishioners" raised "serious concerns about what is going on within the Diocese of Monmouth."

Bishop Pain's supporters want him to be reinstated in apparent ignorance of the nature of the complaints made against him. 

Contrary to the views of sources who have remained silent, the bishop has been eulogised with threats by his supporters to withhold funds due to the diocese unless the bishop returns to duties, thus prejudging the outcome of a mediation process.

Of one thing we can be sure. The departure of the bench of bishops from the true Gospel message has rendered their position as ambassadors for Christ completely untenable.