This 'Twitter' photograph shows + Dick, Head of Monmouth Diocese illustrating the dignity of office as a modern bishop in the Church of Wales. As usual publishable captions will appear as comments.
In his Petertide 2018 message the Archbishop of Wales uses the current obsession with soccer and hysteria surrounding the World Cup tournament to spice up his appeal for people to become involved in lay ministry. He says he is certain that there are "thousands of faithful people in our churches around Wales" who could do a huge amount to strengthen and build-up our ministry. He goes on to plug the 'Theology for life' course.
Ummm, thousands of faithful people? At the last count there were only around 28,000 mainly elderly regular attenders in the Church in Wales representing less than 1% of the population. There were 5,963 regular attenders under the age of 18 which, remarkably, is against the trend of continual decline but probably the result of parents seeking a place for their offspring in a church school before disappearing again.
In a province numerically smaller than many dioceses in the Church of England, Oxford has 65,000 worshippers, Chichester 47,000, most congregations are dominated by the elderly, some exclusively. In London with 89,000 worshippers, Pastoral Assistants are typically in their early to mid-twenties and considering a vocation to ordained ministry in the Church of England.
In Wales, dream on! In my experience and that of others, many volunteers who felt called to a lay ministry would have been the last people I would have wanted calling in times of distress. Some were totally unsuited to the ministry to which they believed they were called but it was difficult to convince them.
Given the Church in Wales' apparent policy of accepting anything that moves if they show the slightest inclination towards ministry, lay ministry could do more harm than good.
As for the 'Theology for life' course, the Church in Wales does not do theology. It does what it refers to as equality. That is not 'equality' in the normal sense. It is a feminist euphemism for parity which applies a quota system instead of offering equality of opportunity based on ability and suitability. It is pure sexism.
What, then, is the Church in Wales teaching having abandoned the faithful, many of whom used to carry out the numerous tasks claimed by the archbishop as being left to the clergy. It teaches that the church must be relevant to society, adopting secular values.
As the number of women clergy increases cultural relativism expands. Our common heritage with the majority of Anglicans fades as spirituality gives way to sexuality. Far from saving the Anglican Church, feminists are destroying it, starting in the US and now rampant throughout the West.
In an article headed 'Could feminists save the Anglican Church?' the "brilliant theologian of the feminist movement", Rosemary Radford Ruether, is quoted as claiming that "Christianity has always absorbed cultural change to match people’s real lives – thankfully. Yet Christian doctrine seems to be continually out of step with social progress". The article goes on:
"Feminism has produced some startling and radical theologies over the years, making it possible for women to claim their place in the Anglican Church hierarchy as priests and bishops. "Christian feminists are working to subvert the patriarchal dogma of Christianity from within, dealing with some awkward, misogynist biblical passages and some awkward traditionalists. Read Mary Daly or Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and it becomes possible to imagine Christian symbols in ways that are not oppressive. "Feminist theology attempts to re-frame Christianity to allow oppressed groups access to God, who, it turns out, does not privilege the male, white, middle class and heterosexual humans after all. Queer theology, like feminist theology, operates at the boundaries of the Church, though there is much more hope, acceptance and optimism at the grassroots. "Feminism started a theological ball rolling....feminists worked tirelessly to talk the church out of its most blatant sexist dogma. The same process is happening for the LGBTQ Christian community. Of course, sexual identity is much more than being able to be married in church, but it would be an outward sign of theological transformation."
If anything the archbishop's appeal indicates how desperate the Church in Wales has become in its terminal decline, diluting priestly ministry as it identifies more with nonconformists and a United Church for Wales than the Holy Catholic Church of which it claims membership:
"Since the Church in Wales continues to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, including other Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops, the Bench of Bishops acknowledges that this decision on ministry and gender is set within a broader process of discernment and reception within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God." (Code of Practice)
Within the Anglican Communion, many provinces have gone their own way in the Global Anglican crack up. They have little in common beyond their historical links with the Church of England.
The majority of Anglicans look to GAFCON to Celebrate Gospel of God. Meeting in Jerusalem at the largest international gathering of Anglicans in 50 years, the GAFCON chairman, Nigerian Primate Nicholas Okoh, said that the West is now among the most secular nations on the planet, which sadly includes the Church of England, to which the Anglican Communion owes its origins and for which, he said, we still have a deep affection.
"The essence of the Gospel has virtually been lost in the nations of the West, and if it is to recover its spiritual identity, it must once again embrace that same Gospel or face irrelevancy, decline and finally obliteration.
"The mostly western churches have compromised on sexuality issues and that is viewed here, by these evangelical Anglicans, as a road down which they will not go for fear they jeopardize both the true nature of marriage that is exclusively between a man and a woman, and worse, damaging to their very souls.
"It is not without its significance that of the 11 active Primates here, five are from Africa, two are from the Argentine and Brazil, one is from Australia and Southeast Asia (Myanmar) with just one from the U.S. That the U.S. role which was for years so prominent, and now so reduced, indicates the shift in global Anglicanism from the Global North to the Global South."
OUR GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE
To proclaim the gospel, we must first defend the gospel against threats from without and within. We testify to the extraordinary blessings on this Conference, which leads us to call upon God even more, that the Anglican Communion may become a mighty instrument in the hand of God for the salvation of the world. We invite all faithful Anglicans to join us in this great enterprise of proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations.
When the Archbishops of Wales and of Canterbury hold minority views which are contrary to the beliefs of the majority of Anglicans and the wider Church, further decline is inevitable.
Explaining how the deception works, Dr Ashenden explains how "a 3rd wave feminism extended parity into the area of social and sexual engineering. It involved the re-imagining of gender. Making gender flexible and fluid according to the preferences of the imagination.
"The strategy was first feminism and the introduction of the virus of equality , then gay marriage , based on the same artificial notion of equality, then the eradication of gender in the mind with transgenderism. And then paedophilia."
Referring to the latest Canadian propaganda videos "which show the increasing sexualisation of children as they are educated to become ‘allies’ of the LGBTQI++ , the bishop provided a reference to this sample video
"Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man"!
This goes way beyond tolerance and understanding. How did we allow ourselves to get here?
Pope Francis will not ordain women to priesthood. L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo Via AP
The Catholic News Agency reports that in an interview with Reuters, Pope Francis said more space has to be created for women to take on leading roles in the Roman Curia, but that priestly ordination is not an option.
“We cannot functionalize women,” he said, explaining that while the Church is referred to as a woman, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is out of the question “because dogmatically it doesn't work.”
“John Paul II was clear and closed the door, and I will not go back on this. It was something serious, not something capricious,” he said, adding, “it cannot be done.”
That will be welcome news for many but unwelcome news for some Catholics who are fighting for the ordination of women. They allege that the refusal to ordain women "is not God’s intent, and neither scripturally justified nor the original practice of the church".
The Anglican Church has been down that route, the route to disaster. The implied growth as a result of ordaining women has not materialised, quite the reverse. The church has simply been used by feminists to extend their influence regardless of the consequences.
Lies and deception were used to gain power, not for the church but for themselves. They have reneged on agreements which put them where they are and sidelined anyone who does not agree with them. They have advanced LGBT rights as though that were the Gospel message while promoting same sex marriage.
The ordination of women has been an utter disaster and we are living with the consequences. Western Anglicanism is in terminal decline depriving many more women of their spiritual home. Sadly the destruction has been aided by progressive bishops and priests.
Messy Baptism is the latest feminist first in Wales. Messing up Holy Baptism. What a mess!
Within the Church in Wales, those who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales. (Principles. Women Bishops Code of Practice)
It appears that the newly appointed women bishops in the Church in Wales are happy to defy their Governing Body in an act which can only be described as a visible sign of disunity, showing no regard for the procedure which enabled them to be appointed bishops.
At ordinations presided over by the first female bishop of Llandaff, as a mere gesture towards the agreed Code of Practice, arrangements have been made for a male bishop to step forward for the laying on of hands if the ordinand, on grounds of conscience, is unable to receive the sacramental ministry of a woman diocesan bishop.
I understand that similar arrangements have been made for ordinations carried out by the bishop of St Davids. The gesture is clear.
The rules were changed unilaterally by the Church in Wales to grant the wish of women who claimed to be 'called to ministry', even though the Church in Wales claimed to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, 'including other Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops'.
No provision was made for those, who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience, are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests. Instead the Governing Body voted for a Code of Practice.
Under the Code, "Individual members of the Church in Wales who, on grounds of conscience, are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of a woman diocesan bishop, shall not be required to do so against their conscience, and alternative provision shall be made".
For the Code of Practice to have any meaning it must be seen to satisfy the consciences of those for whom it was intended but I understand that the new female bishops are making their own arrangements, thus placing orthodox ordinands in an impossible position.
The procedure has become so far removed from when the Provincial Assistant Bishop presided at ordinations that it lacks any integrity whatsoever.
The minister in the Sacrament of Ordination is the Bishop. The celebrant presides over the whole service – the interrogation of the candidates, the laying-on-of-hands (assisted by other priests who are symbolically receiving the new priests into the presbyterium) and the celebration of the Eucharist. Importing another bishop (solely because he is male) to step in and lay hands on any candidates who have conscientious objections to the sacramental ministry of women, far from being a gesture of accommodation, turns the whole business into a charade of misogyny.
The curious arrangements proposed in Llandaff and St Davids do nothing to solve the basic problem of conscience either, since it is a requirement in the ordination service that those being ordained receive Holy Communion from the bishop who is the celebrant.
It has been said over and again that we do not have a problem with women; our problem remains the unilateral departure from the practice of the undivided church and by far the greater part of Christendom whose orders we have always claimed to have shared.
Traditionalist Anglicans in Wales are not alone in their struggle to survive. In the Church of England specific provision was made for men and women who in conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests but there has been a constant chipping away at the agreement. For the latest developments see the Forward in Faith document Nomination to the See of Sheffield: Lessons Learned.
When it comes to women's ordained ministry there seems to be far more of the old Eve than the new.
In February 2013, David Cameron wrote to a constituent who was concerned about the redefinition of marriage:
“You raise particular concerns about the role of teachers. Teachers will continue to have the clear right to express their own beliefs, or that of their faith, in a professional way. This includes the belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
No teacher will be required to promote or endorse views which go against their beliefs.”
But now, David Cameron’s assurance is being flatly contradicted by draft Government guidance for England.
An independent school is to be failed if its curriculum “suggests that same-sex marriages or civil partnerships should not be recognised as being lawful unions under civil law”.
If schools have that threat hanging over them, it’s inevitable that teachers who believe in traditional marriage will be prevented from expressing their beliefs. The same goes for pupils. Debate will be shut down.
Many of those who voted in favour of same-sex marriage weren’t expecting disagreement to be forbidden. They weren’t voting for traditional marriage supporters to be gagged. They took promises about free speech – including David Cameron’s – at face value.
But it seems the Department for Education has forgotten those assurances.
We need to remind the Government to keep its promises.
Do you see the archbishop chatting-up the ex-minister? He hasn't a clue what he has started. Llandaff next! Photo source: Wales Online
Love is the thing. Presiding bishop Michael Curry drawled it out at the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle:
The liberal infiltrators who have targeted Anglicanism continually talk of love, rolling all forms of love into one. It embraces every desire.
The liberal propaganda machine is spread widely, so much so that when discussing gender fluidity with a group of secondary school pupils they confidently predicted that pansexuality would become the norm. [See Postscript: Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids]
Schools, television, newspapers, church, in fact everywhere, 'education' has become the means of encouraging almost anything and everything except traditional marriage resulting in a massive increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
'Love' without qualification is all. We should not be surprised, then, when impressionable teenagers interpret the message as 'do as you please'.
The zeitgeist has been promoted shamelessly by people, including clergy, as a means of advancing their own preference. 'Get used to it', is their response. 'People will think nothing of it in time' as if that were justification for not defending traditional marriage, the foundation of family life.
If these people are right, why are church pews emptying?
In a recent twist, the Right Rev Rachel Treweek reportedly argued that only God can provide unconditional love. Previously she has argued that the Church of England should stop using male pronouns when referring to God in order to counter the erroneous belief that the Almighty has a gender.
From The Times (£). You can’t have love without faith, says woman bishop
"The first woman to become a senior Anglican bishop has questioned whether people can really have love or hope if they do not believe in God. The Right Rev Rachel Treweek shattered the so-called “stained-glass ceiling” when she was made Bishop of Gloucester in 2015, less than a year after the Church of England had voted to allow women to join its House of Bishops. At the time, she said that she would encourage British Christians to “speak out with confidence about their faith” after years of reticence over mounting robust public defences of Anglican belief."
She seemed to be implying that people in extraordinary loving relationships, with whoever/whatever must have a greater belief in God.
Following a tweet from Humanists UK which said how "deeply, profoundly offensive it was to the 53% of people in the UK that have no religion" the bishop has since denied that she said anything of the sort.
In an anxious video response the bishop wondered aloud "if without faith we can really know deep hope and love", which appeared to take her back to what she said she did not say.
Unable to stop digging a deeper hole for herself she mentioned love sixteen times referring to her 'own brokenness', the 'bomb attack in Manchester' and 'bishop Michael Curry's Royal wedding sermon'.
Persecution has reared its head in another controversy. Church of England evangelicals are claiming that they being "forced out" for being gay.
"Jayne Ozanne, 'an influential Church of England evangelical who is gay', has promised to raise the issue at the General Synod next month and ask whether churches are breaching the official guidelines of the House of Bishops. Speaking to The Sunday Times, she had "learnt of dozens of cases recently" and said she expected a #MeToo" moment for the Church to be stirred up."
The Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas, had criticised a letter extending welcome to same-sex couples last month by Lichfield diocese. Bishop Thomas, who chaired the conservative Evangelical pressure group Reform until 2015, was responding to recent guidelines issued by the Bishops in the diocese of Lichfield to all clergy and lay ministers which seek to end “intrusive questioning” on sexual practices.
The Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd David Ison, expressed concern about the Bishop of Maidstone’s comments on the Lichfield diocesan letter seeking to define “radical Christian inclusion”. In a blog contribution, he also criticises the Church of England bishops more generally for “institutional dishonesty” about clergy in same-sex relationships, which, he says, is damaging to mental health as well as corrupting of the institution.
With so much talk of love and inclusion you might have thought that a place at the table could be found for traditionalist Anglicans but not a bit of it.
The only chance of a welcome is to become a Muslim or ignore one's conscience and fall in behind those who already have.
The Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) reports that a Welsh television drama advisor is to become Director of Formation for Licensed Ministry for St Padarn’s Institute, the dumbed-down training arm of the Church in Wales.
The Revd Canon Dr Manon Ceridwen James worked as adviser on S4C’s drama Parch "a popular television drama about a female vicar in rural Wales", as if the Vicar of Dibley hasn't already done enough damage. She has been appointed to oversee the training of all licensed ministers in the country.
Canon James is the author of Women, Identity and Religion in Wales, abook on Welsh feminist theology which must be music to the ears of the bench sitters.
She described her new role as “an exceptional opportunity for me to play a part in growing lay and ordained ministers who will equip our churches to serve our communities and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.”
What feminism has to do with the good news of Jesus Christ is unlikely to be discussed. Just taken as a given.
Transgender people are to be encouraged to become priests in a new diversity drive launched by bishops.
In a move likely to drive more Anglicans from the Church, the notion of a biological man who self-identifies as a woman standing at the altar is topped only by a biological woman standing there self identifying as a man in the person of Christ.
It cannot get any worse when bishops turn tragedy into mockery. No wonder Anglicanism is in crisis.
Bishops of Llandaff and St Davids with their mentor Katharine Jefferts Schori Source: Twitter
There is news on the grapevine that June's jollies are more extensive than previously recorded, most recently accompanying the bishop of St Davids to the US.
Presumably they met up with their mentor, the former 'heretical mentor' to Barry Morgan, Katharine Jefferts Schori. She preceded Michael Curry as presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church (TEC) which has taken the lead in secularising Anglicanism. That explained her popularity with Barry and his bench sitters in Wales and the deference shown by the current Archbishop of Canterbury to Michael Curry.
Throwing away the best opportunity ever presented for taking forward the Great Commission, Justin Welby proposed presiding bishop Curry to preach at the Royal wedding, offering one of the foremost advocates of same sex marriage a platform to speak to around 2 billion people around the world in the knowledge that he favoured policies contrary to those of the Church of England. *
Readers may wonder why reputedly able women need mentoring after Barry Morgan confidently proclaimed without qualification that Joanna Penberthy was the best person to be a bishop. Presumably June was at least second best.
The purpose of the US visit is not entirely clear but I would be surprised if Joanna and June were not entertained by their episcopal, feminist counterparts. TEC has been in the lead in promoting same sex marriage and penalising anyone who is unable in conscience to accept TEC's liberal policies.
Consider just one example of many. A letter written to a local newspaper by a disillusioned correspondent in 2013. He was "saddened and appalled" by the "vindictive and mean-spirited language" Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori used in her "ugly" sermon:
"Alluding to Bishop Mark Lawrence as a 'tyrant' and comparing him to 'citizens' militias deciding to patrol ... the Mexican border for unwelcome visitors' was unconscionable. And to say, 'It's not terribly far from the state of mind evidenced in school shootings, or in those who want to arm school children, or the terrorism that takes oil workers hostage,' was despicable. That any Christian, much less a presiding bishop, would use such invective and incendiary words says more about the speaker than the person she is attempting to vilify.
"However, she is the same person who has spent over $22 million [currently estimated to be around $50 million - Ed.] to sue churches over their property, who refused to sell a church back to its congregation and instead sold it to a Muslim organization, and who sued beloved, retired bishops because they challenged her authority. It is not surprising that the fruits of Bishop Jefferts Schori's leadership of TEC are a significant decline in members, controversy and confrontation with the majority of the Anglican Communion, and financial problems resulting in the need to sell prized land in Manhattan."
Although the reason for the latest jolly is unclear, the similarities between TEC policies and those favoured by the bench are plain to see raising the suspicion that 'More of the same - but faster' promised by the new archbishop of Wales will see the jolly feminist pair taking the lead on further liberalisation given their secular credentials.
That will be more women clergy in the drive for parity regardless of suitability and more LGBTQI+ initiatives leading eventually to same sex marriage given the enthusiasm of the bench for the change.
What a catastrophe for the Church in Wales these politically motivated appointments have been.
Meghan and Harry's preacher Bishop Michael Curry destined for Britain's Got Talent final after THAT impassioned royal wedding sermon.
The American bishop will deliver a special message for the remaining contestants as they prepare for the performance of their lives.
The "most watched show on TV" provides yet another platform for the presiding bishop of TEC, thanks to Archbishop Justin Welby. Curry sounds good but he has a distorted, permissive view of God's "almighty hands of love" that allows people to pick and choose what to believe leading them astray, as did his predecessor.
The Church in Wales money tree continues to grow, or so it appears, providing for ever increasing numbers of senior staff required to keep the bench in the manner to which they must think they are entitled.
According to a Provincial press release the new Education Director will advise the bishops on education policy and support the team of diocesan directors of education in their work with local authorities.
She joins a growing band of additional archdeacons and advisers, freeing the bench to devote even more time to spending other peoples money with the odd jolly thrown in.
Mrs Thomas is currently Head of Bassaleg School, Newport where archbishop John Davies spent his formative years but that can't be held against her. She arrived as Deputy Head in 2004.
Perhaps she could make a start by educating the bench.
