Liberal drift to engulf Wales?

The Dean of Salisbury addresses Gay Pride marchers.       Source: Facebook

The above still from a gay pride video on Facebook last Summer shows the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne, encouraging participants to be strong in difference, standing against "prejudice and hatred" and to march with pride in Salisbury after she gives the parade her blessing.

Lobbyists interpret 'dislike' as 'hatred' and 'disagreement' as 'prejudice'. Allegations which stick whether or not they are based on factual evidence. Charges of homophobia are used as a matter of course to stymie any discussion on the legitimacy of accusations that LGBT+ people are treated unfairly. Say it often enough and people will believe it without checking the facts. Introduce something and people will get used to it. That is the strategy and it has worked, hence the liberal drift of the Church.

When a senior church person speaks, people are expected to take note. The fact that senior church persons increasingly speak not for the Gospel but for the advancement of liberal values in the Church makes the problem all the more serious.

Even though the implication is false, 'spread love not hatred' is a mantra that has become fully in tune with Anglicanism in the UK today as it drifts away from Christianity towards paganism. Love is all but the meaning of love has been twisted to mean acceptance of just about every desire. If you are not 'for' you are regarded as 'against'.

The image of the Dean of Salisbury at the gay pride march is considerably different from the image projected on the Church in Wales website where she is presented as a thoroughly competent woman who will take the Church forward. But forward to what? The irony of the 'homophobia' charges after Jeffrey John's rejection by the Electoral College will not be lost when the reality of another LGBT promoting appointment dawns on unsuspecting Anglicans in Wales. June Osborne previously lent her name to the suppressed Osborne Report on homosexuality which should have been published in 1989 and was finally published in 2012. Some think the Report damaged her chances of preferment in England.

The die has been firmly cast in Wales. Interviewed in Llandaff Cathedral on BBC TV News yesterday evening bishop John Davies candidly explained  that: "There is no truth whatsoever in the allegation that the bench of bishops or indeed the Electoral College of the Church in Wales is homophobic. I have said on countless occasions that homosexuality, participation in civil partnerships is no bar whatsoever to ordination in the Church in Wales whether that be to the order of deacons, priests or bishops."

The charge of homophobia was clearly absurd given the grovelling apology by the bench of bishops to the LGBT+ community for perceived errors. There followed the Changing Attitude, Iris in the Community propaganda film alleging homophobia while promoting the LGBT+ cause despite the  gay friendly stance of the bishop of St Asaph who not only has appointed a LGBT chaplain but has a transgender ordinand waiting in the wings. So at some stage there will be a 'she' at the Altar though she is he, preferring to be thought of as she.

All minorities are regarded as acceptable in the Church in Wales with the exception of orthodox Christians. After the stitch-up which saw the first woman bishop in Wales involved in MAE Cymru's 'Saints and Sparklers' event it appeared that things could not get much worse.

What has become known as the liberal drift in England is overwhelming the Church in Wales with seemingly no-one able to repel it. When the bishop designate said "I do want to be a bishop for absolutely everybody, [including] those who might have wished for another candidate", did she really mean everybody, including loyal, conscientious Anglicans who have found that their Church has left them without provision.

Para 346 of the Osborne Report will be of particular interest for traditionalists:
We believe that the bishops, as the focus of unity of the Church, need to affirm the catholicity of the inclusiveness of the Church. The bishops have an important role in helping the Church live with unresolved issues. The way to resolve the conflict and tensions between groups is not by exclusion of one or more minority groups.

Exclusion has been used as a weapon in the Church in Wales since the retirement in 2008 of the  Provincial Assistant Bishop. Every minority has been deemed worthy of inclusion except orthodox Anglicans. Are they not worthy of love?

This problem has become all the more pressing with the appointment of a second women bishop to the most Anglo Catholic and populous diocese in the Province. Many more Anglo Catholic clergy who have kept the faith find themselves with nowhere to turn. They deserve better.

I hope the new bishop of Llandaff along with the rest of bench will now consider the dire position of the orthodox minority in the Church in Wales. Many of these loyal Anglicans are now elderly, often lonely with little to sustain them other than their faith but after years of service they find that their church has left them.

The bishop designate claims that women can make a difference. To date that has been wholly negative resulting in a code of practice designed for exclusion. If women want to make a difference they can start by making arrangements to include all, not just all those caught up in the liberal drift.

The 72nd bishop of Llandaff

June Osborne, Dean at Salisbury Cathedral (getty) Source: Telegraph

Already displaying a taste for purple, the bishop designate of Llandaff is the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne. Announced on Twitter on the heels of a tweet by the Rev Peter Ould there will no doubt be considerable shock in Llandaff, still the most Anglo Catholic diocese in the Province despite the former Archbishop's attempts to eradicate it in favour of nonconformity.

Dean Osborne was tipped to become the first woman bishop in the Church of England. Instead she is the second woman bishop in the Church in Wales with possibly a third next year if +John Davies retires.

Ironically June Osborne is only three months younger than +John. She was involved in an 'unholy row' with a plan to move Salisbury Cathedral School from its home in the Bishop's Palace which created "divisions between parents and the church hierarchy" so Llandaff should feel like home from home. No doubt we shall be hearing more about the Osborne Report too, some solace for the gay community which was known to be desperate to avoid a woman bishop.

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A promising start

Senior bishop, the Rt Rev'd John Davies, Bishop of Swansea & Brecon.  CinW

A welcome change from many previous Presidential Addresses used to further the former Archbishop's political agenda, the Governing Body of the Church in Wales has been told to "put evangelism at heart of ministry".

Rather than 'take note' of the ever decreasing number of regular attenders at Sunday services, the bench of bishops now appear ready to confront the problem head on. Bishop John Davies echoed the feelings expressed on this blog when he said "Some GB members felt strongly and, I believe correctly, that the time was right for us to stop agreeing to simply ‘take note of’ the report.

"By means of an amended motion, GB was invited to take note but to do so ‘with a heavy heart’. Furthermore, GB was invited to ask the Standing Committee to take a careful look at the minority of parishes which were actually growing, and to identify good practice from which others might learn something, do something and, hopefully, begin to arrest the cycle of decline."

Amen to that.

A step too far

Laverne Cox, Jeffrey Tambor, Ellen DeGeneres, Asia Kate Dillon and Ben Whishaw.
The great LGBT TV revolution   Photograph: Guardian design

LGBT+  promotion is back in the news, this time with an attempt to indoctrinate school children .

On this blog I previously commented on the extraordinary LGBT campaign to get Jeffrey John made bishop of Llandaff. In response there have been unsubstantiated claims that this blogger peddles lies. No doubt I shall again be branded as homophobic for this entry. So be it. The issue is far too important to ignore.

From Saturday's Guardian applauding the high visibility of LGBT characters, ‘You didn’t win, we won’: the great LGBT TV revolution. If  viewers do not like what they see they can switch off.

The book by Andrew Brown and Linda Woodhead That was the Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People seeks to explain the disappearance of the Church of England from the centre of public life having lost half of its members and much of its influence since the Thatcher years. In a church in which you no longer appear to matter unless you are gay or a feminist you can  leave.

Toddlers and older school children do not have that choice. The National Union of Teachers have gone far too far in calling for the promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) issues to children, starting at nursery.

From Voice for Justice UK: We call on the National Union of Teachers to withdraw its motion promoting LGBT+ issues to toddlers. 

You can sign their petition here.

Mary Berry's Happy Easter

Mary Berry explores the wonderful foods that bring each different community together on Easter Sunday
- the most symbolic and meaningful feast in the Christian calendar. BBC

I am inclined towards gardening rather than to cooking which may explain why I missed Mary Berry's Easter Feast when it was first shown last year on 22 Mar 2016. This year, more by accident than by design, on Good Friday I watched the most overtly Christian programme I have seen for some considerable time. BBC schedules have become somewhat short of Christian content of late which made the theme all the more remarkable. Given the BBC's preference for promoting Islam since appointing Muslims to head up religious content, perhaps it slipped through because the main them was cookery.

From the BBC's Media Centre description - As well as sharing her own family favourites like mouth-watering roast lamb, she discovers how the Greek Orthodox community break the Lenten fast with Tsoureki bread; spends a day with the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, cooking up a storm in his kitchen; and discovers Filipino and Italian Easter specialities.

The first episode explored the origin of the Hot Cross Bun, claimed originally to be the Alban Bun. Apparently legend has it that it originated in St Albans Abbey where 14th century monk, Brother Thomas Rocliffe, developed it using an original - and still closely guarded - recipe and distributed it to the local poor on Good Friday from 1361.

So far I have resisted the temptation to eat Hot Cross Buns before Good Friday. I think Mary Berry's advice to eat them throughout Lent is excellent. I shall find it difficult advice to avoid in future.

Alban buns                            Credit: The Herts Advertizer

Easter 2017

The Resurrection by Andrea Mantegna  1457-1459

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Easter

Good Friday

The Crucifixion by Andrea Mantegna 1457–1459

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Luke 23:34

Islam denies it, many ignore it but for Christians this is why.

Spot the difference?

Sheikh Mohammad al Hilli, Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby, Chief Rabbi
Ephriam  Mirvis,  Sheikh Ezzat Khalifa, and Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster
(Photo: PA)

The above picture was published in the Mirror in the aftermath of the London terror attack on Westminster Bridge and at the Carriage Gates entrance to the House of Commons, killing and maiming innocent victims. Predictably faith leaders came together to express their horror. As is their custom, Muslim leaders washed their hands of the events as having nothing to do with Islam.

The hand wringing is different in Muslim majority countries such as Egypt where Muslims attacked Coptic Christians on Palm Sunday. That was because there are still some Christians left in 'their' Muslim country. In Muslim majority countries, non-Muslims are faced with the choice of convert, pay the jizya or die.

Security personnel investigate the scene of a bomb explosion inside Mar Girgis church in Tanta EPA

According to a Pew Research Centre report The Changing Global Religious Landscape, babies born to Muslims will begin to outnumber Christian births by 2035; people with no religion face a birth dearth. Perhaps by then Christians in Egypt will be no more. While Christians invite Muslims into their churches, Christians and other non-Musims in Islamic states are being systematically purged.

It is not as if we have not been warned but the way things are going the Church of England along with the Church in Wales will be as dead as Christians in the Middle East. There is no escape unless people recognise the threat posed by Islam. 

Those with no religion will not be exempt from choice of convert, pay the tax or die. The religion of peace will have reached its goal. Affirming Islam merely advances the day when Sharia rules. The only sensible solution is to challenge Islamic ideology but too many Christians are too busy challenging their own faith to be aware of the danger.

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Second best

The Dean of Liverpool Pete Wilcox to be Bishop of Sheffield   Source: Cranmer

As Wales awaits the name of the bishop-elect of Llandaff, news that the Dean of Liverpool is to be the next Bishop of Sheffield after Bishop Philip North withdrew following pressure from Women and the Church. In his blog Cranmer announced Sheffield gets its second best bishop – Pete Wilcox, Dean of Liverpool.

It was unfortunate that the former Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan chose to complement the new bishop of St Davids by referring to her as the best person to be a bishop. Llandaff therefore can also expect the second best, or worse, unless there is a translation.

Ironically the Guardian is carrying a exclusive article claiming that Jeffrey John has been "passed over seven times for promotion to bishop". Had St Davids not been a stitch-up presumably his name would have come up there. But it seems he was expected to get Llandaff.

What the powers to be fail to realise is that many people in the pews are fed up with cries of homophobia when the real issue is that it is same sex marriage in church that is not wanted.

NT Egg Hunt

Cadbury's new Egg Hunt logo, which does not mention Easter  CREDIT: CADBURY

The Church of England has accused the National Trust of "airbrushing faith" after it dropped the word "Easter" from its annual Easter egg hunt. - The Telegraph.

It is unlikely that the Church of England would understand today but I would have thought it only fitting since Cadbury dropped Easter when they went halal - see entry Will it be a Halal Easter?

Cadbury is reported as saying that it wanted to appeal to non-Christians: "We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats." 

The fact that Islam denies that Jesus died on the Cross so there could be no Resurrection so no "Easter" egg  for Muslims is neither here nor there where a fast buck is to be made.

Postscript

In response to accusations of “Muslim appeasement” Cadbury commented “None of our UK products are [sic] halal certified and we have never made any changes to our chocolate to specifically make them halal.”

In their UK Nutrition Definitions, under 'Halal' appears  "To ensure that you receive the most accurate possible information to determine whether our products are suitable for your dietary requirements, we recommend you visit www.foodguide.org.uk for the latest material regarding Halal suitability.

Following the links provided, under 'The Following are Halaal', readers will find Cadbury's list of halal chocolate products.

Time for a change

A rainbow of hoops under the Majestas in Llandaff Cathedral     Original source: Church in Wales

Is it just a coincidence that children are making a rainbow of coloured hoops in Llandaff Cathedral? 

Artist Gilbert Baker who created the LGBT rainbow flag died in New York on Thursday. There was nothing Christian in its design. Baker's original flag had eight colours, each representing a different aspect of humanity:

• Pink - sexuality
• Red - life
• Orange - healing
• Yellow- sunlight
• Green - nature
• Turquoise - art
• Indigo - harmony
• Violet - human spirit

California State Senator Scott Weiner said Baker's work had "helped define the modern LGBT movement". Eager not to be left behind in the secular stakes, the Church in Wales quickly became gay friendly which makes the recent challenge by the Dean of St Albans to his rejection on grounds of homophobia all the more ridiculous.

The orchestrated campaign in favour of Jeffrey John's mission to be made bishop of Llandaff has been extraordinary in its breadth. From Commons to Senedd, from Cathedral Chapters to Area Deans. The written complaints displayed a similarity in their conclusion suggesting an organised attack. 

Some members of the Electoral College decided that their oath of confidentiality was optional. Harry Farley of Christian Today was being briefed to present a one-sided case in favour of John. Why? The implication is that there is a group within the Church working to further their own aims similar to methods employed by feminists in Women and the Church. The results are plain for all to see.

The bench needs to heed the average pew-sitter who has had little to say but has supported a church which has become increasingly alien to them. Feminism and gay rights are not the primary mission of the Church.