Bishop steals clothes

"Be joyful and keep the faith!"                                                                                                                                                                       Source: Credo Cymru

                             

Credo Cymru (Forward in Faith Wales) provides a voice for traditional believers in the Church in Wales:

"Founded in July 1993 following the creation of a Bill by the Governing Body of the Church in Wales to allow women to become ordained as priests in that Anglican Province, Credo Cymru aims to uphold: the faith handed down from Christ by the apostles : the faith of Saint David and all the saints of Wales : the faith of the historic mainstream of Anglican Christians." 

                      Their motto:

                              "Be joyful and keep the faith!"

which comes from last words traditionally spoken by Saint David to his monks: "Be joyful and keep the faith. Do those little things you have seen and heard from me."

It was astonishing, therefore, to hear the bishop of St Davids open her sermon in advance of St David's Day with those words when she preached on 'The last words of St David' in a service broadcast live by BBC Radio 4 from St Davids Cathedral on Sunday last.

St David was a 6th century Welsh bishop who lived a monastic life far removed from the life of the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales.

The Monastic Rule of David prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals, must drink only water and eat only bread with salt and herbs, and spend the evenings in prayer, reading and writing. No personal possessions were allowed: even to say "my book" was considered an offence. He lived a simple life and practised asceticism, teaching his followers to refrain from eating meat and drinking beer (Wiki).

It is possible, though improbable, that Joanna had no idea that she was stealing the clothes of Credo Cymru when she launched into her sermon: "Lords, brothers and sisters, rejoice and keep your faith and the Creed and do the little things you have heard and seen of me."

In ignorance of Credo Cymru's position or not, there is no excuse for masquerading as a guardian of the traditional faith of the Church when she and similar thinkers have diluted it to accommodate secular moods and ideas.

Anyone in Wales who, against all the odds, has struggled to keep the faith spoken of by St David has been ignored or weeded out of the Church in Wales along with orthodox Anglicans in other provinces that have unilaterally decided that after 2,000 years they know better than the Apostles and their successors, casting aside scripture and tradition in favour of self advancement and self satisfaction.

That bishop Joanna should choose the last words of St David to enhance her own position as one who follows in the footsteps of St David is beyond farce. It is a slap in the face for all faithful Anglicans who have rejected the revisionism engaged in by the 129th Bishop of St Davids and the rest of the bench of bishops.

It is an insult to those who have kept the faith after the bench of bishops deprived them of the sacramental assurance and pastoral oversight promised when the Church in Wales unilaterally ordained women in defiance of the wishes of the majority of Christians, including most of the 85 million members of the worldwide Anglican Communion .

By comparison the tiny Church in Wales has 44,000 members on its Electoral Roll, only 27,000 of whom regularly attend Sunday worship yet their bishops continue to claim that the Church in Wales is part of the Apostolic Church because the Nicene Creed forms the basis of Anglicanism, ignoring the fact that they have departed from the agreed common beliefs expressed in the Creed.

 Listening to Joanna's sermon with no knowledge of her background, one would have thought she was preaching to the faithful at a Credo Cymru service:

"Keep your faith, keep the faith. The faith Dewi Sant tells the community to hold onto is not a faith of their own imagining. It is the faith of the Christian community, taught first by those who had met the risen Jesus.

A faith then handed down on through the early Christian centuries and summed up in the Nicene Creed. The faith statement put together by the Church in the fourth century.

The Creed expresses the core of the Christian faith and is held in common by countless millions of Christians today."

The problem for Joanna Penberthy is that the faith held in common by countless millions of Christians today is not the diluted faith of the Church in Wales, the Church of England and other provinces which have adopted a faith dominated by feminism and sexual freedom under a banner of love which is more akin to early paganism and its priestesses.

The Christian faith as expressed in the Nicene Creed has been adapted unilaterally to allow women bishops: "The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church."

The faith expounded by the bishop of St Davids would not be recognised by St David. To imply otherwise is an insult to those who strive faithfully to "do those little things you have seen and heard" from St David.

Spot the difference?

Before her success in Strictly Come Dancing, Stacey Dooley was already a successful television presenter and journalist.

In this video filmed in her home town of Luton she questioned why non-Muslims, according to the street preacher and his followers, are "destined to go to hell" along with the UK and British police.

By contrast a Christian street preacher was arrested at Southgate station London N14 for preaching about Jesus, saving people from hell.

The police told him he was breaching the peace because he was being "islamophobic".

Spot the difference?

Postscript [01.03.2019]

From Christian Concern

Ask the Home Secretary to protect street preachers petition

Caption corner 24 February 2019

The new Independent Group of MPs take their seats on the Commons back benches                                                                                      Source: Church Times

As usual captions will appear under Comments.

Brainwashing children

‘The whole principle of Educate & Celebrate has influenced everything in our school life, we have changed our vision statement to reflect it, there are rainbow
 touches throughout the school!’.  Source: educateandcelebrate.org

Poor girl! Shamima Begum was only a "child" when she travelled to Syria with two other schoolgirls in 2015 to breed more jihadis to punish the innocent in furtherance of  a supremacist ideology that has resulted in 1400 years of conflict.

"She was groomed, she was brainwashed", claimed "leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani British journalist and author" Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Groomed, brainwashed or whatever, the girls were convinced that the horrendous deeds carried out by supporters of the ISIS caliphate were justified by their ideological determination to further the cause of Islam by whatever means, cultural jihad or violent jihad. For them the end justifies the means, lying to defeat the enemy when necessary.

Shamima Begum expressed no regrets for subscribing to a political ideology which abhors democracy until she realised that her life was going to be less comfortable in a refugee camp now that her ISIS caliphate dream is over.

If she was too young to understand the implications of her actions, what of five year old primary school children?

These young minds have become the focus of attention for trendy revisionists in their gender inclusion program.

In their Guidance for Schools they have come up with a plan to convince children as young as 5 that it is fine to be queer if they enjoy same sex friendships.

Recently I heard about a primary school girl who decided that she must be a lesbian because her best friend was a girl. When they parted company she decided that she must be bisexual.

School friendships are being sexualised in a process akin to grooming: "PRIDE in Early Years Education is a range of picture books, activities and lesson plans to help make children’s centres and nursery schools LGBT+ Friendly."

In yesteryear it was normal to have friends of the same sex. Childhood 'crushes' were common but that did not define a child's sexuality.

HM Government has committed £4.5m to carry out a plan to ensure that LGBT people have a future brighter than the past.

The green light for LGBT promotion in schools?

All schools should encourage respect and LGBT acceptance according to 56 members or leaders of religion and belief groups, educationists, campaigners and school leaders. They have warned the Department for Education against any dilution of LGBT advice in the independent school standards.

The list of signatories includes the usual names associated with the promotion of the LGBT cause.

Small wonder that some commentators fear that the next liberal cause will be paedophilia as activists plead that God made them as they are and need to be loved equally.

“Education, not indoctrination” is a sentiment being expressed by an increasing number of British parents according to a report in the Telegraph.

Protesters claimed that the assistant head who started the lessons and is gay has been "promoting personal beliefs and convictions about universal acceptability of homosexuality as being normal and morally correct".

The response from Ofsted says that schools should teach pupils about same-sex couples because it was important that children knew "there are families that have two mummies or two daddies".

That has become a fact of life. What started as a campaign to decriminalise homosexuality has developed into a celebration of lifestyle through gay pride events and inclusion projects.

There have been sensational cases of men giving birth after transitioning from female. By comparison  a womb transplant birth seems relatively normal:

"By making pregnancy potentially available to trans women and even to cis men (with hormone treatments), uterus transplants could challenge social norms and preconceptions, just as IVF has done by creating new family structures."

"Any idea, even a good idea, if taken to an extreme can become a bad idea."

That is something that could be added to Guidance for Schools explaining that family life traditionally has been a heterosexual couple rearing children, something that appears to have been overlooked.

Updates [22.02.2019]

Ex-Stonewall and Ofsted exec put in charge of free school group

Pied Pipers of “polymorphous perversity” penetrate schools luring kids like rats

Bendable figures to replace Compostela 'pilgrims'

This photo of Hospederia San Martin Pinario is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Church in Wales Lent course has details on page 13 on how to make a Pipe-Cleaner Person from a 12 inch pipe cleaner. Clear instructions are available at How to Make Bendable Figures Using Pipe Cleaners.

The course booklet suggests that if one Pipe-Cleaner Person is made each week through Lent, it can become a ‘symbol’ of "how we would like to become a more generous people, how we would like to become more generous stewards of God’s creation, and how we seek to welcome others into our churches with a generosity of heart and spirit."

A generous welcome is constantly extended to allegedly 'marginalised' people, especially lesbian, bisexual, gay and transexual (LGBT) people which is somewhat of a puzzle since they have been happily worshipping with the rest of us for as long as I can recall.

By comparison any whiff of orthodoxy has become as welcome in many churches as something stepped in before entering.

The Bible teaches that Marriage is sacred. If same sex marriage is permitted contrary to the official teaching of the Church in Wales as has been suggested by the Bishop of Bangor, a significant hurdle for LGBT people will be overcome leaving only a few inconvenient verses of Scripture to be revised or ignored as has become the custom of those who matter in the Church in Wales.

I have heard it suggested that generous stewards sitting in the pews who follow the Lent course could make pipe cleaner priests to substitute for their own clergy when they are away on June’s Santiago de Compostela jolly.

The bishop of Llandaff's generosity has been the focus of much attention in her desire to "train and equip priests to teach and lead pilgrimage in their own communities", something that could easily be achieved at minimal expense in the diocese of Llandaff drawing on the experience of clergy already well versed in leading pilgrimages.

Chartering an aircraft to fly all Llandaff's clergy to Santiago de Compostela is even more surprising since it is been reported that the Cathedral, the destination for Camino pilgrims, has been undergoing extensive renovations resulting in limited access and the suspension of the pilgrims' mass which may have been one of the few attractions of this compulsory jolly.

With no Camino walk and the main attraction in Santiago de Compostela closed for renovation, a few slides in a more accessible local venue should suffice instead of transporting all the diocesan clergy to Hospederia de San Martin de Pinario but that would lack the grandeur of a clergy school befitting the new breed of managers masquerading as bishops in the Church in Wales.

Might one suggest that a suitable posture for Lent bendable figures would be kneeling in prayer that the Church in Wales returns to orthodoxy before she fades into a distant memory of former glory.

Caption corner 11 February 2019

Joanna Penberthy the Church in Wales' first woman bishop with Archbishop Barry Morgan and his successor Bishop John Davies                         Source: BBC

As usual publishable captions will appear under Comments.

Generosity, inheritance and openness

New Archbishop of Wales John Davies after his election in 2017                                                                                                                Source: Church in Wales

The maxim Actions speak louder than words is not one that can be readily associated with the Church in Wales when observing the actions of its bench of bishops.

A recent Provincial press release advised readers: Archbishop endorses new Lent course, Generosity and the inheritance of Lent.

The course is designed to encourage participants to share their stories and thoughts on generosity and inheritance in relation to a number of different topics including the environment, the economy, justice and peace, openness to others and neighbourhood. [My emphasis - Ed.]

There was no openness about the bishop of Monmouth's absence from duty until his absence was picked up by the media. Seven months later the bishop of Bangor is rumoured to be overseeing events in Monmouth but there has been no official statement other than that mediation is taking place.

In the real world that is mushroom management: keep in the dark and shovel in manure when necessary.

Contempt for the faithful runs deep. The Bench uses loaded questions and farcical consultations to get their way while claiming democratic decision making by the Governing Body. No generosity has been shown to orthodox Anglicans dismayed that faith handed down from the Apostles has been set aside to satisfy secular whims. 

Although Governing Body rejected same sex marriage proposals favoured by the Bench the bishop of Bangor has issued an Episcopal Letter, presumably with the blessing of his colleagues, which again comes out in favour of same sex marriage even after admitting it would be contrary to scripture.

Bishop Andy's proposals have been firmly rejected by Dr Martin Davie, a leading Anglican theologian who served until recently as theological adviser to the Church of England’s House of Bishops.

As for inheritance, scripture and tradition have been rejected in favour of  moving with the times. The bishop of Bangor ends his letter with: "This debate cannot be ignored but neither can it take place without wisdom, generosity and grace."

There is no wisdom in extending generosity to other faiths and none when Christianity is under threat. A member of the House of Lords has expressed fears that telling other people about the Christian faith could soon become a crime. Also, it is beyond reason when the traditional family comes under threat not only for our children but for the continuity of church life.

Speaking after his enthronement archbishop Davies said that he wanted to "refresh" the Church in Wales. "It is not business as usual", he said. 'Refresh' has been "more of the same - but speedier".

On the heels of so-called gender equality promotion came the LGBTQIA+ chaplaincy in St Asaph followed by the first transgender priest. Meanwhile the Bench have renewed their push for same sex marriage.

First impressions given by the newly appointed women bishops in the Church in Wales were that the main thrust of their ministries was the advancement of the LGBT aganda - see Barry's gay legacy. We have since had ageism and misandry in St Davids and profligacy in Llandaff.

In Monmouth there has been rumour and speculation. The latest twist is the rumour that the bishop of Bangor has been given oversight of Monmouth. Interestingly the Rev Caroline John has been employed as a hospital chaplain by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board in jolly June's diocese.

If the bishop of Bangor were to be translated to Monmouth it would leave open the way to amalgamate Bangor with St Asaph, one of the few recommendations of the Harries Review [Section 15] which has yet to receive attention.

As the next senior bishop to the Archbishop and ten years younger, if Buggins turn comes around bishop Andy would be well placed to become the 14th Archbishop of Wales.

Church in Wales: Gay marriage bishop's letter

Bishop of Bangor, The Right Rev Andy John                                               Source: NorthWalesLive

Addressing challenges facing the church which was at a “low ebb” following a number of resignations in the Diocese of Bangor in 2015 the Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, said that the church needs to 'move with the times'.

That is what lies behind his Episcopal Letter in which he comes out firmly in favour of same sex marriage. 

Bishop Andy writes, "This is not the teaching of the Church at this moment but I believe it is fully in keeping with our faith and orthodoxy. I believe it will strengthen our witness to a world which longs to see justice and fairness for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and cannot understand how the Church is still wrestling with an issue that most people have accepted long ago.

"Any change to official Church teaching will require the consent of the Church in Wales through its Governing Body. I realize that not everyone will take the position outlined above - and there are good arguments for developing the Church’s teaching in other ways, for example by introducing a service of life vows or revisiting the question of blessing same sex unions. This debate cannot be ignored but neither can it take place without wisdom, generosity and grace. I pray that it will engage you in a new way this year and that you will pray and reflect on how we can be faithful to God and strengthen out witness to Christ’s redeeming love."

How very predictable. 

The bishop writes of the principle of developing our understanding of what constitutes "God’s will" as we consider issues where Church teaching has changed over time: "For example, no-one would argue today that God is anything other than implacably opposed to slavery and all forms of exploitation."

The bench of bishops are slaves. Slaves to the Zeitgeist, seeking loopholes to justify their perverse desires. They should return to orthodoxy and stop exploiting people who are supposedly in their care. 

Postscript [07.02.2019]

Response to the Bishop of Bangor regarding his letter concerning Same Sex Marriage

From The Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales (Thanks to SM for this link)

I don't care says Archbishop

Archbishop Justin Welby                                    Source: The Spectator

It is a sad time for orthodox Anglicans when archbishops don't care, adopting a mix and match approach to faith, driving Western Anglicanism into the mud as it becomes bogged down by secularism. And it is not just Canterbury. The Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church are in the same rut.

The US Episcopal Church (TEC) was allowed to become terminally infected by the spirit of the age before if wafted over the pond to infect the Church of England (CofE) and beyond, welcomed by impatient liberals as if it were the Holy Spirit rather than the Zeitgeist.

Interviewed for The Spectator the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, responded to claims that "one in ten Catholic priests is a former Anglican vicar by saying, "Who cares? I don’t mind about all that. Particularly if people go to Rome, which is such a source of inspiration."

Such an inspiration that after talking since the 1970s about possible reunion the CofE ignored pleas by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and admitted female priests, blocking the road to unity.

Archbishops may not care but orthodox Anglicans do care. While Anglican priests cross the Tiber going to Rome, Catholic priests are travelling in the opposite direction. The numbers are likely to increase after Pope Francis told gay priests to "be celibate or leave the priesthood", thus further diluting Anglican orthodoxy as the CofE embraces homosexuality and same sex marriage.

Rev Dr Tina Beardsley: "Positive development"

 Next on the Anglican agenda is the CofE's welcoming of transgender people with calls for an Affirmation of Baptism service adapted to allow transgender Christians to celebrate their new sexual identity.

A step too far? The Church of England is facing opposition from more than 2,000 of its own clergy and office holders over new guidance on celebrating transgender ‘transitions’.

It comes as no surprise that according to an analysis of CofE churchgoing in 2017 less than 50 people attend Sunday services at a typical English parish church and just one in ten babies is baptised into the Church of England.

Archbishop Welby accepts that the numbers are "challenging". From the Spectator article, "vocations are rising but weekday and Sunday services decreasing and the number of marriages and baptisms declining sharply. Perhaps the most startling statistic is that just 2 per cent of under-25s regard themselves as Anglican. ‘If you’re over 70, you’re eight times more likely to go to church than if you’re under 30,’ he says. ‘And I think that’s a huge challenge.’ I ask if he thinks rising secularism is also a challenge: that young people who go to church are seen not just as weird but as potential bigots and homophobes. It’s not a story he recognises."

No doubt the archbishop will welcome liberal minded Roman Catholic priests into his un-orthodox Anglican Church leaving orthodox Anglicans even more isolated. As conviction Anglicans they are unlikely to become Roman Catholics. Many have already left. Those who refuse to contemplate leaving 'their church' will be further compromised by sustaining an organisation that no longer shares the faith of the vast majority of Christians in the Anglican Communion

For those who are tempted to become Roman Catholics the writing is on the wall in the headline Papal advisers on female deacons hopeful for positive answer.

Rome has only to look to Canterbury for the dangers in that. As deacons in the Anglican Church justice demanded that they be allowed to become priests, then bishops, then cohabiting priests, then married priests, then married bishops. They call it progress but it is not Biblical.

Epiphany

Perhaps alluding to Brexit, in her latest reflection the bishop of St Davids, Barry Morgan's idea of the "best person to be a bishop", tells her listeners that "the God who kept His people Israel safe, even through the holocaust and beyond, who kept His Church safe through the centuries will keep us safe. And we are called simply, not to wave magic wands to make things better but to open the ordinary things of our lives that the Holy Spirit may rush in through the gaps and in us Christ's glory may be seen by our love for one another and our service of the community."

What Church is Joanna Penberthy talking about? Not the Church in Wales which, thanks to her and her colleagues on the Bench, is crumbling around them. A Church that has become totally irrelevant outside Wales.  The Washed Up World of the Anglican Church of Wales is no longer considered when the state of Anglicanism is discussed. See Hey! Nobody Cares.

As for 'our love for one another', the excluded will take that with a pinch of salt. Traditionalist Anglicans in Wales have been deprived of  sacramental or pastoral care since the late Bishop David Thomas retired in 2008. Provincial episcopal visitors (PEVs or flying bishops) have been banned from Welsh dioceses in a determined effort to stamp out traditional Anglicanism in Wales showing a distinct lack of love for one another from the bench of bishops .

Yes, 'His Church', the body of Christ, is safe in the hearts and minds of conviction Christians. But they have been left out in the cold. They no longer count in the Church in Wales, just like the Church in Wales no longer counts in the wider Church.

That is the realization of Archbishop Barry Morgan's vision for the Church in Wales.

Some Epiphany!