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| "Transgender Anglican priest" the Rev Sarah Jones Source: Twitter @SarahJonestoo |
Her appointment as vicar of the City Parish of St John the Baptist, Cardiff, in the heart of Wales' capital city sends a clear message regarding the priorities of the bench of bishops despite the rejection of their policies by the Governing Body.
Imported by the bishop of Llandaff as if there were no suitable candidates in the Church in Wales for this high-profile, civic church position, her message is clear. LGBT LGBT LGBT with transgender as the latest buzz.
Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
The reverse is happening.
Advocates of the ordination of women who claimed that there was no biblical objection to women presbyters now ignore clear warnings about morality, cherry picking verses that appear to support their case and ignoring others.
It has gone further. Men can now choose to be regarded as women and vice versa with a special welcome for transgender people in the Church of England while traditionalist Anglicans continue to be marginalised. Transgender people are actively encouraged to become Church of England priests on the pretext that "the church's reputation as being unwelcoming towards gay and transgender people is causing young people to stay away."
Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
The reverse is happening.
Advocates of the ordination of women who claimed that there was no biblical objection to women presbyters now ignore clear warnings about morality, cherry picking verses that appear to support their case and ignoring others.
It has gone further. Men can now choose to be regarded as women and vice versa with a special welcome for transgender people in the Church of England while traditionalist Anglicans continue to be marginalised. Transgender people are actively encouraged to become Church of England priests on the pretext that "the church's reputation as being unwelcoming towards gay and transgender people is causing young people to stay away."
On the same wavelength as the four Church of England bishops in the diocese of Oxford currently in the news, the Welsh bench of bishops continue aping bishops in the collapsing US Episcopal Church despite many obvious signs of failure.
They need to be disciplined but there is no discipline. A law unto themselves, they do as they please. Hence the slide into obscurity.
The archbishop continues the disastrous policies of his predecessor, but faster. Bangor carries on regardless of endless criticism. Having lit the rainbow touchpaper the 'tree-eating' bishop of St Asaph sits back and contemplates the next copse. St Davids and Llandaff dwell on misandry and the promotion of transgenderism while Monmouth fades away without explanation or comment.
They need to be disciplined but there is no discipline. A law unto themselves, they do as they please. Hence the slide into obscurity.
The archbishop continues the disastrous policies of his predecessor, but faster. Bangor carries on regardless of endless criticism. Having lit the rainbow touchpaper the 'tree-eating' bishop of St Asaph sits back and contemplates the next copse. St Davids and Llandaff dwell on misandry and the promotion of transgenderism while Monmouth fades away without explanation or comment.
There is no recourse. They continue taking the money and look forward to unearned pensions on the backs of pew sitters who are expected to dig ever deeper to support the unsupportable.
It could only happen in the Church.
At least he's a man. (Assuming I have understood correctly.)
ReplyDeleteIs this the easiest way for men to get preferment, these days?
Ha ha, you wag! But in answer to your question... you betcha!
Delete'Come out' implies a brave decision to nail your colours to the mast and in doing so risking ridicule and discrimination. LGBT activists can't claim this anymore because in one sense they have won, they have become the prevailing view and part of the illiberal-liberal zeitgeist we have to endure now.
ReplyDeleteNo, the only people who can use the phrase 'come out' are those who, like Christ's Apostles, believe in the traditional view of family life.
For it is they now who run the gauntlet of dispreferment and ridicule for simply believing in the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Maybe one day I'll summon up the courage to 'come out'.
For normal straight traditional Anglo-Catholics, "Come out!" holds an entirely different meaning.
ReplyDeleteI "came out" of the Church in Wales years ago and am not sorry to have left that bugger's muddle well and truly behind me.
Interesting aside from the Archdeacon of France, giving the annual lecture to the St Willibrord Society, at Eglwys Dewi Sant, Cardiff on Saturday. Talking about the deceptive nature of repeating popular slogans when difficult questions are being raised, he alighted on 'radical inclusivity' and asked, if our way of achieving it has excluded, divided and diminished those whose language is not being spoken or whose voice is not being heard, and whose cultural perspective has been diminished, whether our claims of inclusion become suspect and empty.
ReplyDeleteQuite so, Mr Archdeaon. Quite so. No wonder the Golfer was determined to keep such free thinking away from the Bench at all costs.
Sarah's 'me,me,me' expression seems to be inviting sympathy and understanding for all the hurt she and other transgenders have so grievously suffered.
ReplyDeleteWhen did the Church become an LGBT pressure group and does she even begin recognise that the Church is not about satisfying her personal inclinations?
Lostwithiel
"Normal straight traditional Anglo-Catholics"? Exodus must be a complete one-off.
ReplyDeleteChange your sex?
ReplyDeleteWhy not change your age too while you're at it???
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46133262
Dutchman, 69, brings lawsuit to lower his age 20 years
'Bangor carries on regardless of endless criticism.' You're not kidding, AB.
ReplyDeleteTake a trip out to Holyhead and witness for yourself the desperate (and I mean desperate) attempts of the new Archdeacon-cum-Rector of Holyhead as he travels around Holy Island with his guitar and portable plasma screen, strumming his meaningless syncopation for the benefit of elderly congregations in single figures. This is a real initiative to renew the church isn't it?
Meanwhile, hardworking clergy, like the one with an earned PhD, who was so unsupported by the Crap that she walked out of Llanberis (previous incumbent one R. Townsend, aka Honorary Diocesan Teaboy); but was very quickly snapped-up by St Asaph to be Rector of Bala. That must bring the exodus of gifted and able clergy from Bangor to well over a third of the cohort that existed a decade ago.
And let's not forget the Cathedral, where Tremendous Tracey is chasing around like the proverbial blue ar**d fly, doing all the pastoral work, while Car Crash Cathy sits on her decanal posterior doing SFA, and spending quite a bit of time beyond the parochial boundaries. You might almost excuse her if there was evidence of an imaginative strategy. But, alas, the place is as tired and insipid as it was under Cyanide Sue and the grotesquely grand (and monumentally lazy) Dame Hawkins.
Last month, the Lord Bishop of Bangor celebrated ten years since the rigged election that brought him to high office. I doubt he looked back and humbly acknowledged that he inherited a diocese with gifted clergy, a sense of purpose, and a readiness to move forward. In the intervening time, Crap has drained the very lifeblood out of the place, making common cause with the wrong people (who, predictably, stabbed him in the back) and fuelling the worst ecclesiastical malaise I have ever seen. Anywhere.
Never mind, Shirley has given him £10m of pocket money - OUR money - to squander however he wishes.
Isn't the "new Archdeacon-cum-Rector of Holyhead" the first straight male to be appointed to a senior position in Bangor Diocese for several years?
DeleteYou couldn't make it up. We truly live in a dystopian world.
ReplyDelete