The naked truth

Tambourine clerics celebrating their success at the expense of the Church                    Source: BBC

Women priests in the Church in Wales have been celebrating the twentieth anniversary of ordinations of women to the priesthood.

Seen dancing on the left (above) is Methodist Superintendent Minister's wife, the Rev Canon Jenny Wigley. She danced down the aisle of Llandaff Cathedral with her Governing Body (GB) collaborator, the Ven Peggy Jackson (obscured by the Archbishop), whom Canon Wigley plucked from the congregation for a celebration jig as they rejoiced in their success at the expense of the Church. BBC TV coverage here. 

After preaching at their celebration service in Llandaff Cathedral Canon Wigley said in an interview for the BBC that she looked forward to the day when there were no more minds to be changed about the acceptance of women priests, revealing a lack of tolerance which has characterised her campaign.

That day should not be long coming since she and the Archdeacon of Llandaff have been doing everything in their power to obliterate opposition to their feminist objectives. They convinced the GB that there should be no separate provision, as provided in the Church of England, for theological conviction that the teaching of the Apostolic church carries more weight than provincial synods. 

Responsible for placing these women Archbishop Barry Morgan wallowed in a fool's paradise as he jubilantly tweeted ‏@ChurchinWales:

'It was a great day 20 years ago and has been a great day today - the Church has come an enormously long way'. He omitted to say, on the path to extinction under his watch.

The reality has been consistently glossed over. At GB meetings the Membership and Finance report is relegated to the bottom of the Agenda with a passive Motion: That the Governing Body do take note of this report.

So here is the naked truth.

Icing on the cake      Source: Twitter

"If the predictions are proved true, by 2050 Wales will be home to the smallest church-going population in Britain. Church attendance in Wales could decline to less than a quarter of its current level according to an analysis of the country’s religious trends.

New figures compiled after an analysis of membership of religious bodies have revealed the numbers attending church on a monthly basis could fall from 200,000 to fewer than 40,000 over the next four decades – that is less than the average attendance at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge football ground."

That was in 2008 when regular attendance was expected to sink to 40,000 by 2050. 

In 2015 the average Sunday attendance had already sunk to 29,019 and falling at a rate of 5% a year.

In 2015 the Church in Wales was predicted to be extinct by around 2040.

BBC Wales coverage of the women's celebration was extensive, both before and after the event. Coverage went like this. "Twenty years after women were permitted to become priests, how much has the Church really changed? One of the first women to be ordained and a man who still cannot fully accept women as priests. Women saw themselves as 'pioneers' ".

The whole issue is regarded by the media as one of equality of opportunity in the workplace and how women have succeeded in breaking barriers.

Bishops’ Adviser for Church and Society, Canon Carol Wardman, who preached at the service in Brecon Cathedral followed the lead of "bullshitting" Barry Morgan putting her own interpretation on Galatians 3:28 in an attempt to prove her point.

It was not surprising that the TV coverage was presented as a secular issue since that is the way the Church in Wales presents it. Priests and laity who are unable to accept the sacramental ministry of women are portrayed as old-fashioned misogynists unable to keep up with the times despite being in step with the vast majority of Christians worldwide.

The Church in Wales Review (Section 10) recognised the "dire seriousness of the situation" facing the Church in Wales in 2012:
"In addition to congregations declining, a high percentage of the clergy retiring and a shortage of ordinands, the number of young people with whom the church is in contact is miniscule", an observation easily verify by looking around most congregations if you still attend Church in Wales services.

To put the position into perspective, some figures from the 2016 Church in Wales Report from the 'Age Limits Working Group' (Para 16):

 the average age of ordination as deacon in the Church in Wales since 2005 (Appendix 5.1) is:

- 39 for stipendiaries (with averages for each diocese ranging from 36  to 44) and 

- 57 for NSMs (with diocesan averages ranging from 50 to 61);

 the current profile of stipendiary clergy in post (Appendix 5.2) shows that 50% are 55 or over;

 the average age of stipendiary clergy at retirement since 2005 (Appendix 5.3) has been 65 with 13% retiring after 67 and only 2% after 70. 

Pressured by this crisis having exhausted most possibilities for combining parishes, no time was lost by the Bench in covering the cracks by developing Ministry Areas to mask the collapse of our historic parish system. That has given rise to more discontent and is increasing as the faithful find that instead of seeing a priest in their hour of need, a lay person with a few hours training is substituted.

Talking to Premier, Canon Wardman trotted out the well worn claim, "aspiring women clergy sometimes still face resistance and negative attitudes when pursuing ordination in the Church in Wales" echoing the groundless claims of the bishop-elect of St Davids after the disgraceful election of a monoglot bishop in a bilingual diocese, flying in the face of a policy of encouraging the use of the Welsh language.

Despite all their talk of equality these women have no regard for faithful Anglicans. They are consistently marginalised and excluded. As the Ven Peggy Jackson candidly put it on a previous occasion, "individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can".

More reminiscent of party politics than Christianity, if these women were not so self-centred they would acknowledge the devastating decline of the church during 20 years of women priests rather than use the Sacrifice of the Mass for self-aggrandisement.