Monday, 28 April 2014

Lowlights


Source: BBC video here
Have you ever felt ashamed to be an Anglican? Those of us in the UK who feared that the influence of the US Episcopal Church would have dire consequences for Anglicanism have been proved correct but perhaps few realised the depths to which newcomers would sink to achieve their liberal objectives.

A report of the recent meeting of the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales now appears in 'Highlights' here under the headline Moral, Doctrinal and Ecumenical. What a laugh!

The piece on Women Bishops is a real eye-opener on the levels of deceit the bishops and their minions are prepared to sink to achieve the objectives of His Darkness. Here is an extract:

"The Bishops were present at the open forum, but did not participate. Members of GB were encouraged to share their views about what provision should be made in the Code of Practice, but not to return to general principles about women bishops that were made during the original debate last September. [my emphasis - Ed.]

The Venerable Peggy Jackson (Llandaff) reminded GB that it made a very important decision last September that there should be no ongoing discrimination in law on the grounds of gender, and that should be built into the process by which women should be made bishops. “From that date, we have all been members of a Church that no longer discriminates on grounds of gender. So the Church changed on that day.” “The Bishops should draw up a code such that all may have security in their accepted and valued place in the Church in Wales. It should not be interpreted as meeting the needs of a minority.” “Women must fully grow into their place of equality alongside men within the Church—that is a reassurance that the code should reflect.”

Archdeacon Peggy applied three principles: that the provisions of the code should apply equally to male or female bishops; that the code should honour the authority of the diocesan bishop in her or his diocese; that all the bishops should be willing as necessary and as needed to assist one another in meeting pastoral or sacramental needs in each others’ dioceses. “This means that the concept of a Provincial Assistant Bishop should be resisted, as this role would set up a two-tier episcope.”"


That the bishops would not participate was fair as was the guidance "not to return to general principles about women bishops". The bishops had no need to speak; their mouthpiece was allowed free rein. But why was the Archdeacon of Llandaff allowed to speak putting an entirely different slant on her original proposals? Effectively it was her motion that was carried at the previous GB, a motion which promised fair play but on a voluntary basis. That 'voluntary' was going to have any force can now be seen as a complete delusion bar a miracle that the Bench will do the honourable thing and disregard the latest contribution of the Venerable Peggy Jackson, a woman who does not understand the meaning of discrimination other than as a propaganda tool. They have good reason for doing so since she, like some of her fellow-travellers who tried to derail the process at the diocesan meetings by returning to general principles, is clearly determined not to let traditionalists have the sacramental and pastoral oversight they have pleaded for to maintain a link with the Holy Catholic Church which the Church in Wales is so busy cutting after reading Highlights.

17 comments:

  1. In the course of the decline of the Episcopal church, the progressives consistantly out maneuvered traditionalists by means of behind the scenes politics, false promises, open defiance, and finally intimidation, deposition, and litigation. There must be a universal principle at work as the parallels are striking.

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  2. It's a sad fact that in many areas of public life liberal inclusiveness will not tolerate any form of opposition automatically demonising anyone who disagrees.

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  3. It seems that all the trends and arguments push inexorably toward the effective expulsion of Catholics. Why not leave before being pushed?

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    1. It is very clear that both the Church in Wales and the Church of England are pursuing a plan to ensure that any church member with traditional understanding of the Christian Faith is made to feel very uncomfortable,to say the least. Traditional Anglo- Catholics are being made to question their understanding of the Sacraments and even accepted Christian morality .
      The hymn "The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ The Lord" should be our cry.
      I shall not write out all the verses here because I am sure we all are familiar. This hymn is so pertinent to our current condition.
      The new' Church Uniting in Wales',which is planned to follow on from 'The Gathering' has its foundation in a megalomaniac control freak.
      There are areas of thinking within the Governing Body which are not part of divine providence and are nothing short of heretical .
      The ship's navigation system is faulty and we are sailing away from holy land : sometimes passengers have to think about their own preservation and maybe jump ship.

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    2. That takes me back Simple Soul:
      http://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/one-church-one-faith-one-lord.html
      One of the links appears to be broken so here is another:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmxi5bo1YbM
      Thank you for your valued contributions. Much appreciated.

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  4. I've just wasted half an hour of my life reading the "Highlights" document produced by Philip Morris.
    http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Highlights-April-2014.pdf
    What verbiage. Have these people really got nothing better to do with their time?

    The joke of the day award must surely have gone to the Barry & Peter show.
    "Canon Dr Peter Sedgwick, the Principal of St Michael’s College, retires at the end of
    this academic year after ten years at the College. Archbishop Barry paid warm tribute
    to Canon Sedgwick, praising his theological and pastoral gifts, and the way in which he
    has led the College forward; “he leaves the College with distinction.”

    This must surely deserve an article in Private Eye.

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    1. Apparently at his retirement party Segwick will be signing DVD copies of the award winning BBC Wales production ‘Vicar Factory – How to Kill a Theological College in Three Episodes.’

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    2. "Well-deserved" may not be the appropriate word for his retirement, but it's too much to hope for that Mrs. Sedgwick may feel that she should join him in retirement?

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    3. Llandaff Pewster1 May 2014 at 10:16

      Far too much to hope for Lost Sheep.

      http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2014/01/principal-of-theological-college-retires/
      Dr Sedgwick will not be leaving the Church in Wales completely – he will continue to chair the Church’s Doctrine Commission and when he returns from Durham plans to assist with parishes in the Diocese of Llandaff. He will also remain a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III).
      The Archbishop said, “I want to thank Peter for the tremendous contribution he has made to St Michael’s and to the life of the Church in Wales in general. I am grateful to him for all he has done. I am very glad that he has agreed to continue as chairman of the Doctrinal Commission and to serve ARCIC since his scholarly and incisive mind has much to contribute to both bodies. I am delighted that Durham has honoured him in this way and I look forward to his ministry in a different capacity in the diocese of Llandaff.”

      When he gets back he'll probably end up chairing the Diocesan Finance Committee in recognition of the help he's given to Darth Insidious blowing over £3 million of other people's money and Mrs Sedgwick will be a Canon at the Cathedral..
      Never mind The Vicar of Dibley, the TV company should have made The Bishop of Llandaft.

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  5. Mrs. Jackson is rather like a cuckoo, bent (along with the other sisters who eagerly carry out His Darkness' bidding,) on driving the cradle Anglicans from their nest.
    For those cradle Anglicans, will there be much to choose between women bishops and the nonconformist bishops in the new Church Uniting in Wales?

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  6. Peter Sedgwick's wife is Jan Gould present vicar of Glan Ely?

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    1. And, as I understand it, the husband of one of the Archbishop's confidants, the Rev Canon Jan Wigley, joint proposer of the women bishops amendment with the Venerable Peggy Jackson, is the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church, part of "the Church Uniting in Wales" programme designed to ensure the future of the bishops of the Church in Wales. Small world!

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    2. There you go then! Now we know where the Governing Body actually meets! That would be at the dining table of Dr and Mrs Stephen Wigley, n'est -ce pas?

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    3. If His Darkness has his way, would Dr Wigley be eligible to be a bishop in ++B's Church Uniting and if his wife's motive in seconding the Cuckoo's motion wasn't an entirely selfless and disinterested solicititude for her sisters such as Mrs Sedgwick, could that mean the possible prospect of Bishop and Bishop Wigley?!

      "Good Lord deliver us"

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    4. Hole in one I guess Lost sheep, but I couldn't possibly comment!

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  7. Perhaps Ancient Briton might consider changing the name of this particular entry and the last one from Lowlights to Lowlifes?

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    1. Perhaps not but I understand your sentiments 1662.

      Consider the Archdeacon's intervention at Governing Body compared with the language used to get the women bishops legislation through:
      " Our amendment seeks explicitly to restore the relationship of Trust between the body of the Church in Wales and the Bench of Bishops, and to reassert the desire for this trust to lie at the heart of the bishops’ ministry and their role as a focus for unity.
      Our amendment would bring Church in Wales legislation more closely into line with other churches in the Anglican Communion who have passed legislation to enable the consecration of women bishops - in particular the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Ireland. In none other of the churches of the Anglican Communion so far has provision been made for conscientious dissent in legislation, but only in Codes of Practice. We do not believe that Wales should be the one to set a new precedent on this matter."
      See 27 November 2013 entry
      http://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/church-in-wales-code-of-practice.html

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