Church in Wales bench of bishops in renewed push for same sex marriage

FiF National Assembly 2013

Bishop of St Davids celebrating in the Pride Cymru faith tent

Forward in Faith (left)




       Backward in belief (right)









In biblical times priestesses were associated with pagan temples and fertility rites.

They and their sympathizers are now calling the tune in many churches, especially in Western Anglicanism.

Joining the homosexual obsessed bench of bishops which is hell bent on reflecting society rather than preaching the Gospel, the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales lost no time in identifying with LGBT campaigners. She was quickly followed by the second woman bishop who likewise flaunted her LGBT sympathies.

When the next vacancy arises the clamour will not  be for deeply spiritual man capable of steering the bench back on course but for parity resulting a half-and-half bench of women and men united in their desire to secularise the church.

The LGBT campaigning by the new women bishops made it clear where their main sympathies lay which explains their otherwise apparent lack of suitability for the office they hold, particularly so in the conservative Welsh speaking diocese of St Davids.

The same traits are evident in the Church of England and in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC). Appointments have become managerial rather than spiritual. Consequently same sex marriage has become a recurrent theme in the Anglican Church as a new breed of bishops reflect rather than inform society about Christian beliefs and values.

The former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, failed to force through gay marriage but his successor ('more of the same— but faster') is hell bent on forcing through this secular policy which is alien to Christian belief and out of step with Anglican teaching.

So desperate is the bench to ram through their secular policy that the Primus of the SEC, Mark Strange, has been invited to speak at the next meeting of the Governing Body to be held 12-13 Sept 2018.  He made headlines by calling for gay marriage in church in 2015 resulting in the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, threatening to ban the SEC.

Bishop Strange said: “The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to change its canon on marriage. This decision was ours to take as a self-governing province of the Anglican Communion."

Strange indeed that the will of the Anglican Communion to remain faithful to the teaching of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church can be pushed to one side by manipulating a synod which is often dominated by activists and sycophants resulting in decisions contrary to the will of the membership.

In Wales the bench has developed a strategy of using 'advisory' consultations to supplement the heavily loaded 'advice' received from the Doctrinal Commission of the Church in Wales. This works only in the bishops' favour. It rubber stamps their decision if favourable to them but ignores results which they regard as unfavourable.

This procedure, contrary to the wishes of the majority, led to the silencing of many faithful Anglicans who felt bound by their faith rather than by GB decisions which merely reflect the whims of society.

Little surprise, then, that the latest (2017) Church in Wales regular attendance figures show a further fall of 3% to 27,359 representing only 0.8% of the population of Wales. Confirmations are down a massive 36% reflecting the ill-thought through policy of  'Confirmation no longer required for Holy Communion thrust on the church by the bench'.

Planned giving has also fallen for the seventh consecutive year, despite individual members continuing to "give sacrificially". The average giving per Sunday attender in 2017 was £9.65 per week.

Agendum 9 to be discussed at the next meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales is
Same Gender Relationships (continued)
Question and answer session with the Most Reverend Mark Strange, Primus of Scotland followed by discussion. Background paper, together with a procedural note (Word doc).

The introduction to the background paper is a pathetic attempt to justify pushing LGBT politics to the fore. The archbishop concludes his preamble with "Among the challenging issues currently facing the Church and its Bishops is that of the pastoral care of those, both lay and ordained, who are in same-gender relationships or who have same-gender sexual orientation."

In other words, pandering to a minority which is over-represented in the church in comparison with the total population of the UK.

At this point it is worth remembering that the bench could not care less for loyal, often cradle, Anglicans who have striven through all the problems put in front of them to uphold the faith of the Church handed down through the ages.

They are regarded as a dispensable minority. The former archbishop, Barry Morgan, signalled his intention to sideline worshippers who did not accept his plan to turn the Church in Wales into a sex-obsessed shadow of its former self in his outright refusal to appoint a replacement Provincial Assistant Bishop after the highly respected bishop David Thomas retired. He died a broken man after the way he was treated by the bench.

Continuing his duplicitous statement the current archbishop writes:
"As for the ways in which the Church should care for them there is clear division about the leadership which the Bishops can or should properly offer. There are those who call upon us to give a lead and make a change.  There are others for whom any such change would be seen as anathema.  But both groups are valued parts of our Church family which the Bishops are called both to lead and care for pastorally. And those whose lives, faith and loves are at the centre of this particular matter are to be found in our congregations, they are members of our Christian family and some are certainly serving members of the Governing Body.  They are not, in other words, people on the outside, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and in faith."

Having cast aside  the 'lives, faith and loves' of traditionalists, Davies is able to claim that "those whose lives, faith and loves are at the centre of this particular matter are to be found in our congregations, they are members of our Christian family and some are certainly serving members of the Governing Body."

That is despite the constant complaints that LGBT people are excluded!

In a one-sided statement of intent, the Primus of the SEC has been invited to address Governing Body. He has already revealed that he had been in love with a man - presumably the reason for his invitation to speak.

The SEC Primate represents a church in which the first woman bishop to be enthroned made it clear that she is not interested in restricting herself to "prayers, pews and parochial parish life". She is focused on "fighting for social justice, sexual equality". Like the bishop of Llandaff  she was also appointed by bishops keen to get their secular message across.

There is no mention in the archbishop's note of the major row which erupted with half the paid clergy in one region of SEC rebelling over the appointment of their new bishop.

Neither is it mentioned that one of the largest churches in Edinburgh has voted to split from the Scottish Episcopal Church amid tensions over its decision to become the first Anglican body in the UK to endorse gay marriage.

If anything, the Scottish example is one of schism brought about by same sex marriage and appointments being made to increase the clamour for it.

By contrast there is no representative from the Church of Ireland Bishops who said there is "little appetite" across the entire island to redefine marriage.

In that regard, one priest has had the courage to stick his head over the parapet and put down the question:
"Are the Bench of Bishops able to explain why a Primate whose province upholds (and has reaffirmed) the doctrine of marriage as currently outlined in our prayer book, such as the Church of Ireland, has not been invited to speak on their processes for welcoming the LGBT community in the Church whilst not permitting same sex marriages, in order to complement the invitation of the Rt. Rev. Mark Strange and add to these important discussions?"

Bravo! But a lone voice crying in the wilderness.

Many people are drawing the conclusion that despite outward appearances the majority of Western Anglican bishops must be gay or have gay tendencies but that does not explain the urge to allow same sex marriage in church. Same sex partnerships have equal rights so why marriage, particularly marriage in church?

The Commandment 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' includes sex outside marriage. By permitting same sex marriage in church, mission accomplished having already re-written scripture to justify homosexuality.

Bishops may have no regard for their own souls but that is no excuse for putting the souls of their flock in jeopardy.

They have no business changing church doctrine on the basis that "the decision was ours to take as a self-governing province of the Anglican Communion". That attitude serves only to destroy the Communion that binds Anglicans together.

The church needs to clear out these impostors before all is lost.

Postscript [03.09.2018]

From a Church in Wales Provincial press release: Governing Body meeting – September 12-13 2018

"Examples of how churches across Wales are reaching out and taking the Christian message to those around them will be seen in a film at the meeting of the Church’s Governing Body which takes places on September 12-13 at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

"The film features six evangelism projects, one from each of the Church’s dioceses, and will form part of a report on evangelism and church growth."

This is the contribution form the Diocese of Monmouth in a film that clearly scratches around for ideas but more importantly for the bench of bishops provides further propaganda designed to sway Governing Body members into voting in favour of their same sex marriage in church policy:
Inclusive church – promoting an open and welcoming church at Rumney, Cardiff

Bishop Andy John

"The film will be introduced by the Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, on Thursday morning (September 13). He says, 'We want to show the amazing work which churches all over the country are doing to take Christ’s message of love out to the communities around them. They are not stories we hear about in the news and neither are they reflected in our membership statistics. But they speak powerfully of lively and enthusiastic people, inspired by the love of God and a ‘can do’ approach that is making a difference and changing lives'.”

Actually Andy, when it comes to the church we hear about little else. Inclusive church, bonds with other faiths, regardless of their beliefs, but nothing about the thousands of faithful Anglicans the bench has displaced.