Chaplain to the House of Commons

It has been reported that Mr Speaker Bercow has appointed the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin to be the new Chaplain to the House of Commons.

According to The Telegraph, Mrs Hudson-Wilkin was picked by John Bercow ahead of the preferred candidate. The Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin denied that she was a “victim” or a “token”, and insisted she could perform well in the high-profile role. She defended herself following claims that she had been chosen by the Speaker to avoid having “another predictable middle-aged white man” in the job.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7862058/Black-woman-Chaplain-to-Commons-denies-political-correctness-claims.html

So against advice, the son of Jewish parents has appointed a black woman to a high-profile position at the heart of Government at the very time the Church of England is being ripped apart by controversy. Forget ‘Jewish’, ‘black’, one-legged or whatever the saying is in anti-PC vernacular, it is not whether she can ‘perform well in the high-profile role’ but whether she should. It is not just the Anglican Church which appears to be thumbing its nose to the majority of Christians throughout the world.

Charity? - Not for WATCH

I shall not repeat what can be read here:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/archbishops.proposals.on.women.bishops.met.with.mixed.feelings/26185.htm

Of their charity the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have struggled against the tide of liberalism to find a formula that will avoid splitting the church further.

As usual the women of WATCH are having none of it. All that matters to this ultra-feminist pressure group is outright victory for their cause.

It's time to put Christianity back at the heart of the Church of England.

Carry On England

In a recent blog http://letnothingyoudismay.blogspot.com/2010/06/anyone-care-to-risk-prophecy.html Fr Michael Gollop wrote “It always seems to help if you know absolutely nothing about the subject you are talking about.” To that I plead guilty. I know nothing whatsoever about the football game that uses a round ball.

Unlike rugby football where the shape of the ball ensures the bounce is unpredictable, in soccer a round ball makes for easy placement. Perhaps that is why it is called the beautiful game but not so beautiful for England in their World Cup game against Algeria who they just managed to hold to a 0 – 0 draw. One of the team members, a Mr Rooney, was heard to complain after the match, “Nice to hear your own fans booing you – that’s loyal supporters”. Could it be that his loyal supporters were disappointed that a player receiving a reported £90,000 a week (I can’t say earning), failed to justify his enormous pay packet after fans had spent thousands of pounds, probably saving for years, to watch their heroes do their bit for England, if only in the opening rounds? After all, he didn’t have to do it all himself for the money; there were ten other players to assist him.

Fanned into frenzy for weeks in the build up, England supporters expected their team to walk on water but to tread water was not what they had paid to see. Like failed bankers, these over-paid soccer players have become divorced from reality. They show their contempt for ordinary mortals by using the pitch as a spittoon, hardly the role models we might expect for the money, but carry on England, no doubt your ‘expectorant’ will continue to serve you in the manner you think you deserve.

Hatless

Mrs Jefferts Schori was allowed to preside and preach in Southwark Cathedral (see below) but she was not allowed to wear her hat.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100043931/southwark-cathedral-allows-woman-bishop-to-carry-mitre-but-not-to-wear-it/

That’s alright then!

“Compassion rather than judgment”

Compassion rather than judgement was the message Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, wanted to leave with the congregation in Southwark Cathedral where she preached yesterday:
http://www.episcopal-life.org/79425_122868_ENG_HTM.htm
but her address was self-serving. It was not so much the message that was off key but the messenger.

Her message doesn’t sit well with her actions. In a letter to The Times, clergy of Southwark diocese distanced themselves from Bishop Schori’s teaching and presiding in the cathedral. “Bishop Schori is well known for her doctrinal statements and practice that are contrary to the teaching of the Bible. She is also well known for initiating many litigations against orthodox congregations within the Episcopal Church and defrocking doctrinally orthodox bishops and clergy, so exacerbating disunity in the Anglican communion. Only recently she defied the instruments of the Anglican communion by reneging on the agreement made by the Episcopal Church to abide by the moratorium regarding the consecration of actively gay and lesbian bishops.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7148346.ece

Compassion is the key to New Christianity. In their liberal world everyone is expected to show compassion allowing them to do just about anything they please but it quickly dries up when it does not suit their cause. If predictions for Synod are correct, orthodox Anglicans can expect no compassion from those who have turned away from the historic faith. Dr Schori’s plausible message will have been well received by fellow liberal converts while ‘traditionalists’ have already been betrayed using judgement rather than compassion.

[Note. This a re-post due to problems with formatting]

“One Church, one Faith, one Lord”

In my youth, our church choir used to sing the last line of each verse of Thy hand, O God, has guided, with great gusto: “one Church, one Faith, one Lord”, lingering lovingly on those last words.

The fifth verse said much:

And we, shall we be faithless?
Shall hearts fail, hands hang down?
Shall we evade the conflict,
and cast away our crown?
Not so: in God’s deep counsels
some better thing is stored:
we will maintain unflinching,
one Church, one Faith, one Lord.

Rather than ‘maintain our church unflinching’, the Anglican church has become irrelevant to most British people except for rites of passage. Ecumenism has given way to inter-faith dialogue while Christians are persecuted abroad. Our tolerance has become our undoing. From The Telegraph: “In non-faith state schools, Christian assemblies are being dropped in favour of multi-faith worship, despite a legal requirement for Christian collective worship, and children are no longer taught the Lord's Prayer” according to an Ofsted report:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7805772/Schools-failing-to-teach-children-the-core-beliefs-of-Christianity-says-Ofsted.html

Reports from Wales indicate that their politically obsessed Archbishop is to dine out in celebration of inter-faith dialogue "aimed at promoting understanding and tolerance across the country in the wake of international terrorism fears."

http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/dynamic/press_releases/display_press_release.php?prid=4955

Tolerance and understanding are fine but we are not all playing by the same rules. Christianity is being undermined in our own country.

In some predominately Muslim schools mentioning Jesus is now regarded as unacceptable. The God of Abraham has to be the same God for Jews, Christians and Muslim or there would be three gods so if “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” why do we deny that truth by not proclaiming the Christian message? As another hymn aptly puts it:

The Church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation’
by water and the word;
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride,
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Legendry101#p/a/F374EFA5EB9DCAD5/0/WtZ5JrDd8OE

Our church is dying while her leaders play politics. Faith needs to be nurtured; it is much more than a history lesson. Our ministers both sacred and secular must act quickly before it becomes no Church, no faith, one Lord.

Harriet’s Half n Half

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman told a Unite union conference in Manchester that Labour party rules should be changed so that half the shadow cabinet are women. She said the party had more women MPs than all other parties added together but still had twice as many male MPs; it was time for Labour women to step out of the shadows.

What is it about being a woman that entitles some to think they should have ‘equality’ by special privilege? Feminists have all but wrecked the Church of England with their false claims confusing vocations to the apostolic ministry with secular employment. They already have a short list of future women bishops expecting ultimate parity with men. How many male ministries must be lost for the sake of feminist ideology?

In the secular world, should a first-rate man be overlooked for a second-rate woman in the mistaken guise of equality? Men and women must compete on equal terms so that the best person wins. Using Ms Harman’ criteria the next calls will be for representation by minority groups as though office holders were incapable of seeing their needs.

'Half n half' completes a good curry but will only enhance the shadow cabinet if it occurs by natural selection.

Postscript

I read in The Independent that "Ed Miliband has strengthened his pledge to promote women to senior political jobs by supporting a plan to ensure half of the party’s new shadow Cabinet team is female". He previously advocated a third. Couldn't be anything to do with his bid for the leadership, could it? The same thing happened in the church. Once clergy saw which way the wind was blowing many 'saw the light' and had a change of conscience embracing the ordination of women contrary to the teaching and tradition of the universal church. Just look what's happened there.

Turn the Other Cheek David

While The Daily Telegraph continues to take its few pieces of silver for disclosing what it judges to be wrongdoing, there is news from The Guardian that David Laws could play an informal role in advising Danny Alexander who replaced him as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Good news indeed putting our recovery above self and a good lesson for The Daily Telegraph as it continues to put profit above the stability of the coalition Government in its struggle to put the country back on its feet.

This solution was first suggested to me by an old friend after The Telegraph ran its story but I thought the notion too unlikely an outcome. The idea has many attractions not least for David Laws who has been considering whether to stand down as an MP. That would be disastrous not only for his supportive constituents but also for himself in losing a second chance of an input to the job he felt called to do.

If he goes the country will the loser. He made no profit from his financial arrangements, in fact the tax payer could have paid out more if other arrangements had been made, and he was not living in a partnership in the way the rules were drafted. As ever in this country people are so obsessed with what others do in the bedroom that they are blind to the important things in life.

David Law’s resignation speech was a model of integrity. If he can be persuaded to turn the other cheek and stay on as an advisor the slap would be felt by his accusers.