How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!

There is much to be found about tents in the Bible including a reference in the beautiful Psalm 84 from which the heading is taken.


In the advance of civilization and its dwelling places there is no better expression than the rise from the tents of desert wanderers to the magnificent cathedrals as the house of God.


I am not suggesting that those dwelling in tents outside the house of God are wicked, rather their good intentions are misdirected. The church has enough problems without another split over how to deal with protesters who have chosen to set up their tents in a way that has no effect on their target but is causing great harm to the church, the latest casualty being the Dean of St Paul's.


Enough is enough. It is too easy to punish the innocent for cheap publicity. It is time to strike camp and move on.

Deception in the church

Ali Bari and his Band

In a previous blog entry I referred to the recent suggestion made by a woman vicar in the Church in Wales that those opposed to the ordination of women should no longer be accepted for ordination. More information has come to light including a copy of the Credo Cymru (Forward in Faith) 2011 Autumn Newsletter from which I quote:

“We were also made aware that Prospective GB candidates were now being asked to state their position on some major topics that might be coming up for debate. Within the last GB debate some participants were arguing that the church should no longer be ordaining men who cannot fully embrace the priestly ministry of women. It may be worth noting that this part of the debate did not get reported in Highlights and the viewpoint was strongly challenged by some of the speakers.” [My emphasis - Ed]

Selective reporting suggests further evidence of duplicity by the Church in Wales ruling elite, a view strengthened by other reports of an insidious campaign to marginalise those who refuse to abandon the traditional faith by favouring those who have fallen under the spell of the liberal establishment. 

In an earlier development, Fr Michael Gollop in his LNYD blog had expanded the theme tracing it back to a 2009 blog entry which referred to a report of the Standing Committee Working Group on Representation of Women in the Church in Wales. Among the Report’s gender politics was this quote: 'The authors also (section 6.5 on page 18) make the following observation: “The Working Group found it difficult to understand why the ordination of those opposed to the ordination of women continues in a Church committed to the ordination of women.”' Fr Gollop went on to expose the deception used by the Church in Wales in their failure to honour promises made to those who did not accept the ordination of women as explained in his link.

The following day the Rev John P Richardson wrote in his ‘The Ugley Vicar’ Blog exposing similar duplicity in the Church of England. He wrote that he "was responding to the claims by a leading member of the Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod [GRAS - Ed] that ‘no promises have been broken’ regarding the ordination of women."

Fr Gollop would not have been the only witness to promises made by the Church in Wales any more than people in the Church of England could have forgotten the basis on which earlier decisions were made. There may be no written contract but an oral contract with witnesses has equal force so why claim that promises have not been broken? But this is not a matter of contractual obligation, it is simply a matter of trust between Christians which has descended into a game of denial and deceit in order to marginalise anyone whose only wish is to keep their traditional faith in the absence of an acceptable alternative. Now the lies have been nailed in Wales and in England where, as The Ugley Vicar puts it, “the proposed legislation [for the ordination of women bishops] will introduce two classes of Anglican — the central and the legally marginalized.” Following the experience of those in the Church in Wales that will mean marginalization followed by the easing out of loyal members of the Church of England. This must not be allowed happen.

While the liberal majority talks of equality they see no contradiction in denying a significant minority of fellow Christians the opportunity to worship according to conscience, something fundamental to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This feminist inspired form of New Anglicanism makes much capital about women being ‘called by God’ yet they can dismiss God’s call in favour of “gender equality” when it suits them. Perhaps too much inter-faith dialogue has encouraged a culture of Taqiyya in the church but which ever way one looks at it, in Wales Ali Bari and his band are out to rob traditionalists of their heritage. The same deception is being used by GRAS in England. The feminist cause is robbing us of our right to the promised honoured place in the Anglican Church. That is stealing, contrary to God's law. 

Awarded For Lower Class Service

Dave's latest big idea is to re-introduce the British Empire Medal scrapped by his predecessor John Major as divisive.

"The medal will be handed out in recognition of the dedication and hard work so many provide to their communities", says the Prime Minister. No matter that there is no Empire or that God is irrelevant to most of the population, 'Meritorious Service' by the lower orders (people without rank) will be recognised as such in gratitude for their unpaid work.  

Why perpetuate a 'them and us' mentality? Surely it is not too difficult to come up with a new award such as the Queen Elizabeth Medal for service without all the class baggage.

"We are all in this together." (18)

A view from the past: David Low,  Evening Standard (October, 1943)

Nearly 70 years on Directors award themselves almost 50% increase in remuneration while workers are encouraged to tighten their belts.

All aboard!

Prayer for peace: Assisi 1986

Representatives of all the world's major religions again head for Assisi. Pray with them for peace throughout the world.

Pope Benedict's address here. More here including other participants.

Credit where credit's due

The Chancellor (George Osborne) says the eurozone is on the "right road".

The death of a Church near you

Back in 2006 a story appeared under the heading 'US Episcopal Church Says More Interested in Decline than Growth'. Some dismissed the story as a joke which backfired. 


Joke or not, their Presiding Bishop rationalised her belief on the basis that “Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children.”


In his 'VirtueOnline' Blog entry David Virtue details the grim statistics which predict the death of the US Episcopal Church in 26 years time. The Church of England and the Church in Wales, have both welcomed Dr Jefferts Skiori as a shinning example of modern Anglican church life. With Christianity on the wane in England and Wales one would have thought that church leaders would take a pause and ask themselves if they really do know better than the history and tradition of the Universal Church. It is not just the US Episcopal Church that is heading for oblivion.


Addendum
Please see this subsequent article in Anglican Mainstream: Two Communions?

The House of God

Photo: Alastair Stevenson

An excellent video from Ruth Gledhill here putting into perspective the anti-capitalist protest that looks set to continue as an end in itself. The closure of St Paul's Cathedral may be open to interpretation but again bankers escape while the innocent are made to suffer. The loss of Christian values can be seen everywhere but is this really the way to treat the House of God?

Entente Cordiale?

Little Jack Horner: The French view

"French President Nicolas Sarkozy lashes British Prime Minister David Cameron in EU summit." - Herald Sun.

Another dawn - for some?

Saint Augustine

For those Anglicans in England who feel abandoned by their Church and unable or unwilling for one reason or another to consider an Ordinariate option, today's BBC story about the Anglican Mission in England (AMIE) may offer some comfort but who will care for our neighbours in the Church in Wales? 

Excluded from the Mission Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda and with the St Augustine Society providing an Anglican Mission in England only, they have been left to the mercy of their Archbishop Ali Bari who has robbed them of their Anglican identity under any meaningful pastoral and sacramental oversight. No 'Mission Society of St David'; no 'Anglican Mission in Wales'; just 'take it' or 'leave it' with the one possibility of an Ordinariate or joining the majority of the population in staying home. 

The twilight of the cross

From Anglican Mainstream:

Ann Widdecombe is right: Christianity in Britain today is under severe persecution

Looking forward to a speech by Ann Widdecombe tomorrow, the Rev Peter Mullen in the Mail Online paints a depressing picture of the state of Christianity today. Please read it. 

Regardless of one's views of Christianity, or religion in general for that matter, what has shaped our British way of life is being extinguished. Yes there is much that the church has to be ashamed of, particularly its abuse of power, taking advantage of vulnerable people who had little but faith to sustain them. But while that power has waned, detractors have taken every opportunity to condemn the church and its pastors. In doing so they ignore the fact that for all of us, Christ died in agony on the Cross testifying that there is a better way, that we love our neighbour as ourselves. But this is not a rule to be followed blindly. His message was to look at the rules and to apply them sensibly. If we fail to do this and to remain faithful to our Christian culture a far greater oppression awaits us. Meanwhile the Established Church is obsessed with women's issues, gay rights and anything else that is prominent on the secular agenda!

The Pride of Wales

Wales Rugby World Cup  Squad 2011 - Picture WalesOnline

Well done boys. You have brought pride back to your Nation. A pleasure to watch and an example to the world. Winning by whatever means is not everything; the game is all as exemplified by Bill McLaren.

Church in Wales set to abandon the faithful!

Hot on the heels of my previous blog, rumours circulating in Wales suggest that already five out of the six dioceses - yes there really are six dioceses with six Diocesan Bishops and an Ass Bishop 'serving' just 1% of the 3million population - will no longer accept for ordination anyone who has objections of conscience to the ordination of women. 

I am told that at the last meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, a woman vicar was listened to with incredulity by some when she proposed that candidates for ordination must be refused if they did not support women's ordination but clearly she had the mind of the Bench, particularly of the Archbishop whose heart was hardened when the  measure to admit women to the Episcopate was rejected. Had the vote gone his way it would have been the 'work of the Holy Spirit'! These double standards have become standard in the crusade for women power.


For those in the Church of England considering the admission of women to the Episcopate who insist that it couldn't happen here, the writing is already on the wall. The Presiding Bishop's Welsh admirer has indicated that he is of one mind as he preaches feminism rather than the historic faith despite reports showing that Dr Jefferts Schori "has deposed more bishops than any other Presiding bishop in American ecclesiastical history and has spent more money (upwards of $22 million) on lawyers to litigate for properties that she and her bishops will ultimately be forced to sell than any other Presiding Bishop in history."


England, be warned.

The shape of things to come, God help us.

Curtains for the Anglican Church?

Having discerned the will of God, the WATCH glee club has now discerned the will of the 'ordinary person' in the Church according to a BBC report. If they they prove to be correct, the end of the Anglican Church will come a step closer looking at the experience [do read the comments - Ed] of the US Episcopal Church and the record of their women bishops.

The measure of their concern for those who do not share their politically correct view of what God should do for them is summed up by their persistent accusations of misogyny against (extraordinary?) men and women whose faith is guided by Christ's example rather than theirs and, that if they do not have everything their own way, they would be 'second-class bishops'.

The US experience is horrendous and is guiding what happens here judging by the attitude of the new church militant. God help us if this is what is in store for us.

Political correctness gone mad.

"Happy Hollyday!"

"Happy Christmas Holiday Thomas!" This is the latest effort of those who prefer to call persons chairs and make everyone feel thoroughly guilty if they don't conform to their overbearingly harsh regime of political correctness.

I missed an earlier report in the Telegraph which broke the news that the television company which is recording new adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine is re-branding Christmas as "the holidays" to comply with “politically correct” thinking.

The fact that the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine was a priest who said that he was a clergyman first and a children's author second would have little effect on persons who regard political correctness as all. This comes on the top of a bizarre decision by the BBC to drop BC and AD in favour of the non-Christian, BCE and CE – Before Common Era and Common Era.


Irritating as these stories are, for pure crassness the pulpit storming, Peter Tatchell takes the biscuit. In a piece for the Guardian he writes: 

"How would you feel if the government banned black people from getting married and made them register their relationships through a separate system called civil partnerships? Most of us would condemn it as racist to have different laws for black and white people. Well, black couples are not banned from marriage but lesbian and gay couples are. We are fobbed off with civil partnerships." 

Also, "Don't get me wrong, civil partnerships are an important advance. But they are not equality. Separate laws are not equal laws. Civil partnerships are a legal form of sexual apartheid. They create a two-tier system of partnership recognition: one law for heterosexuals (civil marriage) and another for same-sex couples (civil partnership)."

I guess this all started because our way of life irritated feminists, then Islamists, now LGTB and so on. If I were an Islamist, feminist, lesbian I may be happy but being none of them, like many others I am becoming more and more irritated by these PC persons. I regard civil partnerships as a sensible levelling for those in stable relationships outside marriage and to condemn them as the sexual apartheid of racists is a new low in political correctness but they want it only their way, never mind the rest of us, including children used to looking forward to their Christmas stories.

Tragedy

Spare a thought for the Wales rugby team and their passionate 3million compatriots out of the 53million people who together make up our nation of 'England and Wales'. In the semi-final of the World Cup they went down fighting, 8 - 9 to France after playing three quarters of the game with only 14 men following the sending off of their young captain Sam Warburton. Already recognised as a role model he was controversially shown the red-card after an alleged illegal tackle. England's failed bid for glory was to have been redeemed by the boys in red but despite playing their hearts out in today's game they lost their place in the final after a hasty decision by the referee.

The conduct of the young Welsh team won them many admirers and with expectations running so high that many English commentators had started saying "We are all Welsh now." How sad, then, when technology has been introduced to ensure a better sense of fair play the Referee didn't bother to use it. If he had, he would have avoided ruining the game for millions of people around the world. From my perspective Warburton's forward momentum was such that he was unable to do other than release the player after the tackle to avoid falling on top of him resulting in a far greater impact. I am sure there will be many replays over the weekend so we shall see. After that, if Australia beat New Zealand in the other semi-final, the battle for third place will be something to look forward to.

There have been many genuine tragedies in Wales from long term unemployment to the appalling losses suffered in the Aberfan disaster and the more recent loss of life in the Gleision Colliery disaster. Of course this latest disaster is nothing like on the same scale but what a shame that it was an avoidable tragedy that blighted the game when spirits in England and Wales so badly need a lift.

Binned

Where have all the white kids gone?

In our ethnically diverse, politically correct country we respect every culture but should this be to the detriment of our own? I was interested to see that the National Society of Church Schools celebrate their bicentenary with a service at Westminster Abbey today. On taking a look at their web site I was surprised to see that the only white face visible is that of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

This mirrors something I have puzzled over for some time. I regularly watch BBC News bulletins so it can't be simply chance that in reports about schools a white face is rarely seen. Why? In archive footage the position is reversed. Have we reached the stage where it is no longer acceptable to show indigenous white children for fear of being branded racist?

"It's not rocket science."

Regulator calls for better care for the elderly

Fifteen years after Ministers admitted that hospitals were failing the elderly, the Care Quality Commission has found that half of all hospitals that it looked at failed in standards of care for the elderly. The BBC website has documented stories.

From my own experience going back over 15 years I do not think anything would surprise me. Having witnessed the indignity of friends and relatives in soiled clothing, left exposed, unwashed, prescription drugs left on lockers, dry mouths - the list is endless - and the feeling of helplessness, wary of complaining for fear of making matters worse for the patient and leaving a lasting sense of guilt.

It is clear that there is a fundamental problem and as one of the new matrons said in a television interview, "It's not rocket science". The Health Secretary suggested nurses should blow the whistle on poor quality care but that raises the question of whether thy would understand when to blow it.

Another 15 years of excuses is unacceptable. I was accused in a comment on my previous entry of not coming up with constructive ideas. While that is not my primary purpose in blogging on this occasion I am happy to oblige. 

Apprenticeships are back in vogue. In nursing, learning on the job used to be the key to patient care but that changed when nursing degrees were introduced. I know many ex-senior nurses, none of whom thinks that the change has resulted in an improvement in the standard of nursing, quite the reverse. The faults highlighted in the CQC commission should be obvious to anyone with or without qualifications and that is the fundamental problem. What was a vocation has become just another career opportunity in which some care but many just don't. In this instance the old days certainly were better.

More disappointment!

The Prime Minister continues to be "disappointed" after publication of the latest unemployment figures but not half as disappointed as those who see private sector employment declining when they were promised that the private sector would soak up redundancies in the public sector. 

If only jobs materialised from government communication skills!

Moral bankruptcy

To ensure that we in Britain did not starve during WW2, thousands of Merchant Seamen braved the cruel seas of the North Atlantic while Hitler's U-boats stalked their convoys. Merchant ships were  not allowed to pick up any survivors spotted in the icy waters. Some of the lucky ones who did not go down with their ships were picked up by Royal Navy escort vessels. One of the survivors tells his story here.

Those who lost their lives are remembered in the Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill in London where a memorial garden is dedicated to those who have no known grave.

Churchill said The Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for Britain's very survival but now this hallowed space is to be trampled by greedy bankers while boozing their bonuses over Christmas and dancing on the 'graves' of the brave sailors who gave their lives in two world wars to save Britain. Tower Hamlets Council see no merit in objections but then they wouldn't would they? We have been here before but while we have become accustomed to Islamists showing contempt for British values it is a bit much when bankers, who have done more than anyone else to bring our country to its knees, show such disrespect for merchant seamen who gave their lives for the freedom these bankers enjoy. 

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!

Postscript
Thanks to a story in the Observer and to campaigners, permission to hold this event has been withdrawn.

Gay "marriage" (3)

"One of you may now kiss the bride!"

Marriage is a partnership but a partnership is not a marriage whatever politicians think or say. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Photo: PA/EPA

This weekend the Archbishop of Canterbury hopes to meet President Robert Mugabe to discuss the ugly situation in Zambia. The difficulties Archbishop Rowan face were highlighted in a Telegraph article on 30 September. 

The former Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga has his own way of doing things in the name of the lord, not Our Lord, but Robert Mugabe, a Roman Catholic! Pope Benedict XVI rightly remarked "the church is a net of the Lord which pulls in good fish and bad fish". Apparently dying of prostate cancer Mr Mugabe shows no sign of softening his stance before he meets his maker.

Nice try Rowan but be prepared for yet another disappointment unless the president is called much earlier than his prognosis suggests.

Head in the clouds?

As the Telegraph rightly reported, the 'last-minute' conference speech change on "households paying off their credit card debt" was an embarrassment" but not the only embarrassment for the Prime Minister as he appeared for his keynote speech at their Party conference in a cross-wire against a backdrop showing him with his head in the clouds.

When the average food bill for couple is £60 a week and the PM's wife turns up wearing an outfit in which just the trousers cost £89, is it surprising that someone with no concept of living within his means could come up with the idea of slowing the economy even further by people spending even less - if they could!

In her Telegraph piece Janet Daley appeared to muddle her headline: "David Cameron shows his leadership – with just a hint of the PR man showing through". For me it wasn't 'just a hint of the PR man showing through' it was the complete PR man showing through and with the conference slogan "Leadership for a better future" it looks more like "No leadership, no future!". The image of a man trying to sell me a time-share in Spain was inescapable and that's not just my opinion. Here is the verdict of four top writers.

The Three Wise Persons

After a brief interlude, back to the story of the Three Wise Persons travelling from the East to the land of His Darkness to find a re-birth solution to the mess created in the Church in Wales now that religion has given way to gender politics and relitivism. First, apologies to the last member of the panel appointed, Professor Patricia Peattie, former Chair of the Episcopal Church in Scotland’s Standing Committee. Try as I may I can't find a picture of her - unlike the Chairman, the Rt Rev Lord Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford of whom, unsurprisingly, there are numerous pictures. What the other panel member, Professor Charles Handy, former professor at the London Business School, will make of the overblown management of the now tiny Church in Wales is anyone's guess but as they set out on their journey, "Bazzer" is sure to have let it be known that he doesn't like to hear anything unkind said about him, ie, views opposed to his own. Given "Bazzer's" feminist outlook and need for parity it is strange that female representation is in a minority unless that is something he wishes to emphasise.


Had I not been delayed in putting together this post by Archbishop Rowan Williams' briefing on 'humanising of the ordained ministry' I would have missed an interesting point. Yesterday the Blog Let Nothing You Dismay carried an item about the conversion to Roman Catholicism three years ago (in 2008) of an Anglican priest, Una Kroll. Other ancients who have suffered the whole painful crusade of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) may remember her cry ‘we asked you for bread and you gave us a stone’. Looking through the Church in Wales web site there is a link where people can find out more about the Anglican Communion Covenant. Among the contributions is this intriguing entry:

 "Una Kroll - 07/04/2011
I am a priest in the Church of Wales. Ordained in 1997. I do not want to see the Covenant come into force as it is not Anglican to punish peopple for holding to their conscience. The Instruments of Communion already in existence offer us all a chance of freely accepting Communion with those who dissent from our own preferential opinions and is a profound expression of Anglicanism. Una Krol."


Unless the Catholic Herald story referred to on LNYD is a complete hoax how can this be explained? Only last year an article appeared in the Guardian in which Kroll referred to "the Act of Synod [which] introduced structural discrimination against women", the same distorted cry we hear from her feminist friends in WATCH and GRAS. 


In open meetings in each diocese the Panel will be asking five questions, the first of which is, "What aspect of your diocese and the Church in Wales, do you feel most positive about?" For many in Wales, particularly those not finding favour with their Archbishop the answer has to be 'nothing'. I would be interested to know if Una Kroll turns up to offer them anything from her wide experience but if they are really wise, the Panel will make an excuse and leave by another route.

May day!

Whether or not Theresa May tripped up over the tale of the cat is irrelevant. For far too long we have been giving shelter to undesirables, often at our own expense. Read here, here, and  most certainly here.

Sorry Your Grace

My next Blog entry was to have been a tale of the 'Three Wise Persons' travelling from the East to the land of His Darkness to sort out the troubles that Ab Rowan's sidekick has created there but that will have to wait, although in reality the stories are not unrelated. It's all about women in the Anglican church today or, as my wife prefers, 'some' women.

Ab Rowan ruined my dinner this evening. My wife seethed throughout after reading the Telegraph article 'Women bishops would humanise priesthood'. As Pope Benedict remarked recently there are good fish and bad fish but it hadn't occurred to either of us that the priesthood was 'inhuman'. Such talk encourages false accusations of misogyny when in fact many women are against women's ordination. 

A great admirer of Rowan's spirituality her final comment as I went to wash the dishes was, "Rowan has lost me. I have been unhappy for a while but this is the end; he should return to academia." A noted disciple of Dostoevsky, The Observer Review section carried this comment in Ab Rowan's review of Philip Pullman's The good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. "Alluding to Dostoevsky's point that 'Jesus was too radical for ordinary human consumption, and for his memory to survive at all, you have to lie about him". I am not suggesting that His Grace lies about Jesus but is he following the Jesus of 'ordinary humans'  or some academic person moulded to fit current fashion ?

Islamic countries cleansed of Christians

From the Voice of the Copts (see Blog list) yet another report of a Christian church attacked in Egypt. Here is disturbing account of the plight of Christians abroad, of which a few details: 

 "In Bethlehem ... the Christian population has dropped from a majority to less than 20%; .... the number of Christians in Turkey declined from two million to 85,000; in Syria, from half the population they have been reduced to 4%; in Jordan, from 18% to 2%; nearly two-thirds of the 500,000 Christians in Baghdad have fled or been killed; in Lebanon, Christians have dwindled to a sectarian rump, menaced by surging Shiite and Sunni populations, and in Saudi Arabia Christians have been beaten or tortured by religious police."

No doubt the latter account will be dismissed merely as Israeli propaganda; indeed the Vatican is not portrayed in a particularly friendly manner highlighting the problem of a meaningful dialogue with Muslims. But the message that Christians continue to be persecuted is clear. There are also dangers for Muslims rejoicing in the Arab Spring. They, as well as Christians, would do well to heed the stark warning in this video of one tyrannical regime being replaced by another.

Anwar al-Awlaki: legitimate target?

Terrorists who kill innocent people are evil. Home grown terrorists are worse but the fact that Anwar al-Awlaki was a US citizen has caused some people anxiety insisting that the rule of law should have prevailed and he should have been brought to justice. But Islamist terrorists do not respect our laws, only those of Allah.


As I mentioned in response to the NewStatesman article linked above, as an Islamist, Anwar al-Awlaki would not recognise US courts anyway, so why should victims of his hate concern themselves? Martyrdom through a touch of his own medicine would surely be his preference. Unlike the Kafir he despised so much he was mistaken in his beliefs so he will have his just reward, but not 70 virgins he might be expecting!


Now another headline as emerged, "Awlaki death unlikely to concern Arab world", emphasising how complicated these issues can be. If the Arab world will not miss him, why should we? He was a legitimate target whose poison was best neutralised.