Wind of change

Interview with a Witch                                                                                     Source: Church in Wales

The diocese of Swansea and Brecon, the current Archiepiscopal see of the Church in Wales, has a web page devoted to Interfaith. On it can be found information about Witchcraft, Atheism, Peace Mala, Hare Krishna, Sufi, Islam, Yungdrung Bön, Judaism and Druids.

Adherents of those faiths are happy to push their own particular message, unlike the  Bishop’s Officer for Interfaith Dialogue who writes, "Interfaith dialogue is not about telling everyone how great our angle on faith is and trying to convert them to it. It is about respect and openness."

Does the Church in Wales believe that there is only one way to the Father or not?

Respect and openness includes the usual message of how the 'religion of peace' gets a bad press as if all the Islamic attacks on the innocent over the last 1400 years were fake news.

There is an interview with Brother Titus, a Cistercian Trappist monk living with another nine monks. They have taken themselves out of the world to live a reclusive life on Caldy Island. What of those of us who are in the world and not of other faiths? There is no dialogue with traditional, orthodox Anglicans. Anyone who conscientiously follows scripture and tradition is excluded.

The central message has been lost. Each diocese does its own thing. St Asaph has been busy promoting the gospel according to LGBT while Bangor is mired in tales of impropriety according to commentators.

In the South of the Province the long-running battle continues to rage in Llandaff between those who think everything is hunky-dory in their cathedral while others insist that the cathedral is mired in discontent as illustrated by the many comments under previous entries about alleged irregularities.

Those who expected the appointment to Llandaff of the second woman bishop in the Church in Wales to cause a whirlwind will be disappointed. The wind has blown one way, in the same direction emitting from the bishop of St Davids.

In St Davids the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales has lost no time in appointing as many women as she can. The first woman Dean arrives in May, months after her appointment. In the meantime the deanery has been gutted and completely refurbished. At what cost when parishes ministry areas are struggling to make ends meet?

That leaves Monmouth. Many clergy have. The CEO's solution there is to appoint a third archdeacon to prop up a failing re-organisation into ministry areas.

There has been a flurry of senior appointments and bishops' advisers. There is no shortage of money for those at the top while the begging bowl is out lower down the chain.

When the new archbishop took office he promised there would be 'more of the same - but faster'. It is a pity he didn't see which way the wind was blowing - or perhaps he did!

Postscript [03.05.2018]

As if to emphasis that there is no shortage of money at the top in the Church in Wales, the bishop of St Davids has announced an addition to her senior management team, a new 'Archdeaconry for New Christian Communities'.

There were Christian communities throughout the diocese and throughout the Province before Barry supported by his bench sitters hatched his innovative plan to copy the disastrous policies of the US Episcopal Church (TEC).

They were called Parishes.

More from St Davids [03.05.2018]

One wonders how any 'new Christian communities' will be properly cared for given: "the strain imposed on stipendiary, NSM and NSM(L) clergy and Readers when service rotas within LMAs include services that, even when all the licensed clergy and Readers were working, need retired clergy to take them.

"Retired clergy could of course be asked to take any service within the designated number but not be used to extend the rota to something that the licensed ministry team couldn’t cover healthily alone.

"The willingness of retired clergy to give their time, effort and energy, should not be used to prolong a way of being church that is no longer sustainable."

Just one more time?

The Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans                                                            Source: Premier

It has been announced that the Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans and high profile advocate of normalising homosexuality in the church is one of two gay priests to be shortlisted to become bishops in the Scottish Episcopal Church. 

Pundits speculated that Llandaff was Jeffrey John's last hope of preferment. He is 65. He lost out to June Osborne who was appointed by the bench of bishops, may God forgive them. 

The Church in Wales now has two female bishops committed to so-called gender equality and normalising homosexuality which is designed to make the many homosexual clergy appear acceptable regardless of scripture and tradition.

Jeffrey John is an amiable fellow in a celibate civil partnership but his views on homosexuality and faith have caused much distress, not least with his Out 4 Marriage video. He also came in for some well deserved criticism over his claim that Jesus healed the Centurion's "gay lover", refuted here.

The Scottish Episcopal Church has followed the lead of the US Episcopal Church on gay marriage with the appointment of Canon Anne Dyer, the first female bishop in the SEC. Canon Dyer is "strongly in favour" of gay marriage.

With two gay priests on shortlists to become bishops the slide continues.

Update [04.06.2018]

The Very Rev Andrew Swift has been elected as the new bishop of Brechin. 

Lowlights April 2018

Highlights, the report of this month's meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales is available via a Press Release web link. 

The provincial press release provides a fair summary:

From the Church’s role in the public square to a report from our delegate at a UN summit on women – a full round-up of the news from April’s meeting of the Governing Body can be read in Highlights.

If you don't get enough politics elsewhere and you are obsessed with gender equality regardless of ability you are likely to find Highlights a good read.

If you still regard the Church in Wales as a spiritual organisation don't bother.

One empowered woman's comment received in advance: A complete waste of time, effort and money. Debating non-issues just to look as if they are doing something. I truly believe the church is terminally ill.

Mission

Source: Twitter @BishopJuno

Bishop of Llandaff takes her mission to a pie shop.

From church militant to church deviant

US Episcopal Diocese of  Washington  Votes to Avoid Using ‘Gendered Pronouns’ for God in Book of Common Prayer                          Source: Christian News

From a Sunday Times report (£): "The Church of England has warned its American sister church that it could be kicked out of the global Anglican family if it forces priests to use a gay-friendly marriage ceremony that relegates the importance of bearing children.

"In a strongly worded eight-page letter, William Nye, the Church of England’s secretary-general, told the Episcopal Church that it could face “stringent consequences” if it replaced the marriage rites in its Book of Common Prayer with a gender-neutral ceremony that removed all reference to procreation."

In February this year Christian News reported:"The Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. voted on Saturday to stop using 'gendered pronouns' for God in future revisions of its Book of Common Prayer and to “remove all obstacles” for “transgender” participation in church life by making all gender-specific facilities and activities accessible to those who identify as the opposite sex.

"It was passed by a show of hands during the 123rd Convention of the Washington Diocese with only a few opposed, according to Strategic Communications Director Richard Wosson Weinberg."

This morning on the BBC's Breakfast TV show the 'Prada priestess', the Rev Sally Hitchiner, founder of Diverse Church, took the opportunity not only to publicise her LGBT credentials but to highlight gender dysphoria, a condition which is thought to affect 0.07% of the population. To put this into perspective please watch this short (6 min) video.

Anglican clergy should be aware that the media feeds on sensationalism. Consequently the church militant is obscured by the church deviant as bishops and priests constantly trot out their propaganda, making the Church appear little more than a refuge for those who are allegedly mistreated.

It is right that the church shows concerned for vulnerable minorities but what of the far greater cloud of witnesses abandoned by their church? Without them them Anglicanism will die.

Faith by balloting like-minded activists is not the historic catholic faith received from the Apostles. The consequences are very much in evidence.

Postscript [24.04.2018]

The LGBT pressure group OneBodyOneFaith has sent a strongly-worded letter to William Nye "after the emergence late last week of a letter he wrote last October to The Episcopal Church, on behalf of the Archbishops' Council". It disassociates the group from the letter which, they claim, "has been met with anger, frustration and disappointment by many across the Church of England, on whose behalf you presume to speak.  We wish to add the voices of our members to those calling for a more courageous, just and Christ-like response to what has become – we wish it were not so – the issue on which many will judge our church, and find it sorely wanting."

What the group believes can be read here. One of the groups objects is "to advance the education of the public on the needs and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Christians, and promote acceptance of diversity, so that they may be able to live without fear of rejection or recrimination and be fully included in the life and ministry of the Church".

It is a mystery how so many LGBT people flourish at senior levels in the church if what the group claims were true.

A more balanced approach is reported in CRUX: The bishops of England and Wales have raised concerns over the rise of gender ideology, saying it is creating confusion among people about the truth of human nature. In a statement issued at the end of their April 16-19 bi-annual plenary meeting in Leeds, the bishops acknowledged some people did not “accept their biological sex” but said they, as pastors, were “committed to their pastoral care.”

The bishops said the notion that gender was a social construct rather than a biological fact ran counter to the intuition of most people. “The idea that the individual is free to define himself or herself dominates discourse about gender. Yet our human instinct is otherwise,” they said in the statement. [Full report here]

What a gay couple of days!

Bishop of Llandaff is surrounded by senior staff                                                      Source: Twitter

A nice little jolly for senior staff in the diocese of Llandaff has been highlighted on Twitter: "The Llandaff Senior Staff are enjoying the hospitality of Mill House Retreat Centre for a couple of days of team building including our new Archdeacon! Down to work!" 

No dingy church hall for them. Compare the lifestyle at the top with Ministry Areas struggling to make ends meet and it is clear where priorities lie in the Church in Wales. 

Archbishop John Davies was right in his presidential address to members at the recent meeting of the Governing Body when he acknowledged that the church was facing ‘confusing and challenging times’. He urged members to follow the example of people in the Bible by putting their faith in God and acting confidently to make change happen. 

There has been a flurry of archdeacon appointments lately. The appointment of the Archdeacon of Margam follows the appointment of an additional Archdeacon in Monmouth to jolly along the switch to Ministry Areas with more advertised in the expectation that they will improve a dire situation.

From 'Ministry Share: A Guide' issued by the diocese of St Davids: "Put simply, it is the financial cost of spreading the Gospel and maintaining ministry in our diocese, shared among all the parishes of St Davids. It is a commitment of our faith, rather than a tax or imposition, which finds its beginnings in the earliest days of the church and a very similar financial pool of funds is described in Acts.

It is more about spreading the load than spreading the Gospel. The widows' mites funding life at the top.

The current position is unsustainable. The guide explains that the funds required for the pool are calculated each year in the diocesan budget. The Bishop and senior staff have to calculate the number of clergy required and this is the biggest single item in the budget.

A commentator pointed out under a previous thread, Taking stock,  "Meanwhile....Cwmbran has gone from 5 full time clergy to a ministry area with no paid clergy since August....a roaring success hey? 5 churches and a CiW school.......but the parish share has remained at over £120K per year.......But at least the governing body will be debating politics soon, that will really help this crisis and grow the Church!

Not all change is for the better it seems.

Postscript [24.04.2018]

Emergency food bank supplies increase in Wales

The number of emergency food bank supplies given to families in crisis in Wales increased by 3% in the past year, figures show. The Trussell Trust food bank network said 98,350 three-day food bags were given out from April 2017 to March 2018 - 35,403 of which were to children.  BBC News report here.

'The Hour' has come

‘The Hour’ previewed here was broadcast last night on 16 April, not 14 April as stated in the diocesan Press Release.

Joanna Penberthy’s contribution was worse than I feared, aligning the church with a political movement rather than the Kingdom of God. She was unbalanced, dishonest in her claims and blatantly sexist. I doubt that she brought anyone to Christ.

No wonder Barry Morgan thought she was the best person to be a bishop in the Church in Wales.

There was no mention of the genuine theological problems experienced by the majority of Christians, including women, who are unable to accept the validity of the ordination of women. Just a one-sided bleat about perceived injustice.

Not recognising the validity of her orders may be "water off a duck's back" for the bishop but it is a deluge that has ruined the spiritual lives of the male priests she referred to as unable to accept her sacramental ministry and many more lay people who are unable to accept a minority innovation that benefits the few at the expense of many.

Readers who are able to access the BBC’s iPlayer can watch the programme. It was about women – “A hundred years since some of us got the vote, are women still discriminated against in today’s Wales or has Feminism gone too far?”

After discussing politics the presenter moved to “an even older institution, the church” (position 25.50). There was a short film designed to illustrate the so-called prejudice experienced  by the woman who 'will go down in history as Wales’ first ever women bishop. “It’s not about being a victim”, Penberthy asserted, "if you can be prejudiced in the soft institution of the church, what does that say about your attitude to women?”

That is why, she said, in the first interview after her consecration she was talking about the fact that two women a week are killed by their partners. Until that stops "we have a job on our hands". It was not clear if that comes before or after her campaign to welcome LGBT+ people despite their disproportionate presence in the church.

The former Ass Bishop of Llandaff claimed that ‘the ordination of women would rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones’. The Church in Wales now has women priests and bishops but the claims continue with the same false accusations of  homophobia and misogyny.

Penberthy emphasised the point that she chose to pursue the brutalisation of women theme in her first interview after her enthronement rather than the core Christian message, the proclamation of the coming of the kingdom of God.

Later in the  discussion the presenter returned  to the bishop to ask about the future. What could be changed for the better? “Women need to be valued” was the bishop’s response as though women are not valued already. She was also given the last word on 'the most important thing' she had heard in the debate. Once again it was that two women a week are killed by their partners. Until "we get passed that and women are safe in their own homes then we haven’t really made any progress", she said.

The 'soft institution of the church' to use Penberthy's words has been used by feminists to advance their own cause at the expense of the church, trampling on the faithful in the process. An unsigned (therefore unpublished) comment on another thread suggested the we misogynists should "look beyond your own ecclesiastical communities and see how women continue to be exploited and mistreated".

How mistreating and exploiting the church for political ends is supposed to make a difference is not explained. It would help if the infiltrators did something at the sharp end rather than seek a comfortable living while destroying the church which had enriched the lives of many more women then those who claim to be discriminated against.

The hour has come. Bishops have responsibilities as bridge builders but their attitude is take it or leave. Many have left the church enabling Penberthy to claim that only a few do not accept her sacramental role.

Feminism has gone too far. Often the most vehement opposition to the ordination of women comes from women but that is not mentioned. There is discrimination in the church. It is most obvious at the top. It must stop.

Another bite of the apple?

Pope Francis has repeatedly pushed for greater roles for women in the church, but maintains that
 priesthood is for men only.  (ANDREW MEDICHINI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO)

There have been a number of reports recently about the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. From The Star, for example: "The Vatican’s commission of Latin American church leaders is demanding greater decision-making opportunities for women in the church and proposing that Pope Francis call a special meeting of the world’s bishops to discuss women."

"The Pontifical Commission for Latin America said after its recent plenary that the church needs a radical “change of mentality” in the way it views and treats half of humanity. It was published in Thursday’s Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

"The commission members — 22 Latin American cardinals and bishops, plus 15 women who joined the panel for the meeting — said it was both possible and “urgent” to increase opportunities for women at the parish, diocesan and Vatican level.

" 'This opening isn’t a concession to cultural or media pressure, but the result of a realization that the lack of women in decision-making roles is a defect, an ecclesiological gap and the negative effect of a clerical and macho conception,' the communique said.

"They warned that if the church doesn’t fix the problem soon, women will simply leave." Full text here.

Also, from Life Site: "Recent comments from Viennese prelate Christoph Cdl. Schönborn, apparently supportive of ordaining women, are opposed, I suggest, to at least three fundamental ecclesiological values but they have occasioned, as far I have seen, no correction whatsoever from Church leadership, and thus seem to be a chilling illustration of the erosion of order in the Church." Read the response here.

What many Anglicans liked about the Anglican Church was that it was both catholic and reformed, retaining the creeds and threefold ministry of the deacon, priest and bishop. But further reforming has plagued the Anglican Communion. In adapting to local circumstances, provinces in the US and here in the UK have allowed political activism to over-rule scripture and tradition.

In Wales a political fix saw the first woman bishop appointed to the diocese of St Davids followed by a second appointment by the bench of bishops to the diocese of Llandaff. The consequence has been a shift to gender politics. Sexuality has replaced spirituality while gender equality is the new mission.

None of this need have happened. Generally, the sort of women who agitated to become deacons saw the move as a stepping-stone. After their objective was achieved it was claimed to be unfair that women deacons were not allowed to be priests. After they were admitted to the priesthood it was the stained glass ceiling. Allowing them to be elected as bishops was now the "only logical step" said arch-schemer Barry Morgan. The stained glass was shattered along with Anglicanism. The results are clear for all to see. 

To claim that 'if the church doesn’t fix the problem soon, women will simply leave' is absurd. Many women have left the Anglican Church because of the changes, not because they are sexist but because the church has become secularised.

It's hard!

Source: Twitter

From a St Davids Diocesan press release: The Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, is to take part in a BBC Wales TV debate on gender equality.

Previewed on Twitter the bishop kicks off with a great deal of satisfaction in that she is the 129th successor to St David and 128 of them have been men. That in itself should tell her something but note the hash tags: #equality and #gender equality. Theology has no place in the Church in Wales today. Hence the declining numbers.

The bishop could also reflect on Acts 6. The Apostles said: Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

The faith of the Church is not something to be tampered with. If the bishop of St Davids finds it hard, it is of her own choosing. Obedience to the faith is about theology, not secular notions of gender equality.

Two faces of the Church in Wales

The people in this video explain what life would be like without their church to sustain them. 

Consider, then, what life is like for former members of the Church in Wales whose consciences have not allowed them to take the easy option by simply accepting that which the Church as a whole rejects.

If Christ had succumbed to the devil on the mountain there would be no church. 

Captions again please

Spotted on Twitter.  

Archbishop sees the light in the naughty room after his Resurrection blunder?

As before, printable captions will be published under Comments.

Conform not to the world!

Here we go again. From Christian Today 'Bishop and senior clergyman join calls for Church of England to lose equalities exemptions':

"The Church of England should lose its protections under the Equalities Act that allow it to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality, a bishop and senior clergyman have said today. Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, and David Ison, the dean of St Paul's Cathedral, both backed Jeremy Pemberton, a gay priest who was blocked from being a hospital chaplain after marrying his partner. They are supporting the Ozanne Foundation, a charity launched on Monday campaigning against discrimination within religious institutions."

The episcopal rot which is leading to the demise of the US Episcopal Church spread rapidly to our shores as liberal clerics and laypersons saw an opportunity to use the church to legitimise their behaviour.

It has been reported that the 'Episcopal Church Prepares to Tighten Screws on Traditional Marriage Proponents', quoting Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ law: “Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed.”

In supporting the Ozanne Foundation senior clergymen are simply conforming to the world without discernment. The Foundation slogan is 'We Believe in Just Love For All!' as if others do not. Failure to conform results in accusations of homophobia and more.

What people do in private is between them and God. It is not for others to judge but we have a right to stand firm in defence of holy matrimony which is between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others and for life.

Ozanne herself came out as gay to her friends and family. She then entered into a long term relationship with another woman, although they separated after five years together. Fidelity, it appears, is not included in 'Just Love For All'.

Who cares? Business manager bishops and senior clergy don't, leading others astray when they should be transformed. 

David Ison, dean of St Paul's Cathedral told Christian Today: 'We've got to come to terms with the reality of the world we're in and we're not doing that. That is why we're becoming disconnected from society. The church is becoming disconnected from society because it has nothing different to offer.

Bishop Bayes told Christian Today, "I hope for a future whereby people like Jeremy [Pemberton] can feel that their ministry can be exercised and that they can love the person they love freely".  Pemberton is a divorced father of five.

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has decided to permit same-sex marriage. The Church in Wales bench of bishops can hardly contain their eagerness despite the absence of a mandate.

Gone are the days when Anglican bishops acted like bishops.

The Joy of Easter

The Easter message is the same whether celebrated in the simplicity of an Ethiopian Orthodox tent (above), the magnificence of a Russian Orthodox cathedral, the shared experience of the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem or in an Anglican church. 

But there is a difference in sharing that message. It is summed up by Bishop Gavin Ashenden in 'The Joy of Easter – Heaven not hell, Life not death. – A homily on the Resurrection 2018'.

For many of us in the Anglican Communion the mystery, the 'otherness', is something lost. Mystery has given way to the politics of inclusivity, engaging in the politics of public life rather than spreading the message

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Wishing all Orthodox readers a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Taking stock

Archbishop of Wales John Davies                                                                       Source: Mail Online

The two great Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter provide an opportunity to re-connect with people who have given up on going to church and with newcomers. As Christ commanded: 'Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'. It is an opportunity too often missed. Hence full marks to the bishop Bangor for his Easter message.

Numbers regularly attending church continue to fall but the bishops keep digging.  See previous entry Digging their own grave

Opportunities to draw in people through the rites of Holy baptism, marriage and at funerals become less as faith is watered down. Much is trivialized as the church attempts to cash in on secular hatch, match and dispatch celebrations.

Before Christmas 2017 the newly elected archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev John Davies, bishop of Swansea and Brecon, featured in an article in the media magazine Christian Today, a global media ministry which "provides thoughtful, biblical perspectives on theology, church, ministry, and culture".

The 64-year-old former lawyer called for the Church in Wales to 'pause and draw breath' after his appointment. 'The coming into post of a new archbishop is an opportunity for me to say to the very good and very many people that we have as part of our church, that we need to take stock', the BBC reported Davies to have said.

"I want to try and refresh the vision of the church as that institution to support and nourish the lives of wider society" he said, as ever neglecting the many true believers who have not compromised their faith to remain in the church of their baptism.

Before Easter 2018 the archbishop was again interviewed for Christian Today. As usual politics reared its head - Archbishop of Wales interview: I am not 'left-wing' for backing justice, equity and compassion.

It was another damp squib. Previous intellectual positions were alluded to with unforeseen repercussions.

Moving on to talk about his forthcoming Easter sermon Davies said that his sermon would discuss the origins of the faith he used the headline grabbing suggestion – "and the initial belief that the resurrection story was 'fake news'."

Following the lead he had provided the archbishop was asked about  " 'the practical reality of the resurrection' and the empty tomb, a difficult concept for the modern mind to grasp".

"Davies is thoughtful. 'I don't think any of us actually knows, quite frankly. What I believe is that something radical happened that changed the lives of the people who were there at the time.'

He cites the late bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, who said the resurrection was 'not just a conjuring trick with bones'.

And Davies says: 'It is about something far more than a dead body coming back to life – it is the complete renewal of the being of Christ."

A simpler response would have been, "if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain." 1 Corinthians 15:14. Instead he circled around what the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Williams of Oystermouth had to say about the meaning of the empty tomb and came a cropper, as Rowan has done in the past leading some to speculate that he needed a minder to protect him from media traps.

Ironically Davies was caught out by the very people he and the liberal elite have used to advance their agenda, appealing to secularists with no concept of the spiritual implications for support. The Mail Online headline was

Unbelievable! Archbishop of Wales chooses EASTER to cast doubt on the Resurrection after saying 'I don't think any of us actually knows' when quizzed over Christ's biblical return

It was reported in 2002 that "a third of Church of England clergy doubt or disbelieve in the physical Resurrection and only half are convinced of the truth of the Virgin birth."

Trendy clergy are even more in evidence following the ordination of women and the sexual freedom they demand of the church. As one commentator put it when responding to my 'Easter Message' entry, "Many remain entombed in the dark ages with their misogynistic and homophobic rants against this that and the other; wake up and discover the resurrection life at work in those around out. Come out!"

Rowan Williams said in his lecture I referred to above, "Believing in the resurrection is believing that the new age has been inaugurated, the new world has begun. And that new world is, as you might put it, the final phase of the history of God's relation with his people. So to say 'Jesus is risen', is to say that we have now entered on the last days, on the final decisive phase of God's interaction with Israel and through Israel, with the whole world.

Too many people in the church interpret 'new age' as do as you please, taking the Christian understanding of love out of context. Instead of 'Love the Lord thy God...'  and 'Love thy neighbour...' we are bidden to 'discover' the meaning of love, anything goes under the umbrella of love. There is no hell as the Pope may or may not have said.

Archbishop Davies was right when he told the BBC that we need to take stock. I have heard on a number of occasions that the Church in Wales is finished. Save for the rare occasion the bench have nothing to offer but political posturing. Forget 20/20 Vision. There isn't any apart from setting up Local Ministry Areas which are designed to keep the liberal elite employed until they can draw their pensions.

The only hope for the Church in Wales is to  be re-absorbed into the Church of England which despite its many faults has a longer life expectancy.