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| "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."
"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).
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.
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.
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.
From someone who is 50% Welsh (by a friend of my father) HAPPY ST. DAVID'S DAY to you all.
ReplyDeletewHAT about "Happy Sunday"? !!! Now Sunday isn't Sunday anymore - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-will-become-of-traditional-sundays-if-churches-no-longer-have-to-hold-services-ht9fg3ps6
ReplyDeleteGranted, you disagree profoundly with the direction towards which the Church in Wales has travelled in recent years, and fair enough. But surely Credo Cymru doesn't have proprietary rights over a phrase that's been in the public domain for several centuries?
ReplyDeleteIt is not use of the phrase joe but what lies behind it. The disingenuity of the bishop's message.
DeleteJoanna talks about keeping the faith. A faith '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' expressing 'the core of the Christian faith and is held in common by countless millions of Christians today'.
That is precisely what she and the bench of bishops have failed to do, unlike the 'countless millions of Christians' who strive to keep the faith - against the odds in Wales.
The bishops have gone their own way leaving the Church to suffer the consequences as evidenced by the liberalisation of TEC in the US and the Church of England as well as the Church in Wales.
According to the faith handed down to the first Bishop of St Davids there is no 129th Bishop of St Davids.
DeleteOne suspects that the first Bishop of St Davids would have had the first Bishopette of St Davids burned at the stake for heresy along with those who manufactured her appointment.
Glad to see that the advocates of this blog would wish to see burning at the stake re-introduced. What kind of faith wishes to see someone burnt surrounded by hot fagots?
ReplyDeleteNobody said they would LIKE to see such a thing GC. They merely pointed out that at one time those things which are acceptable to some today would have been punishable by the most awful methods.
Delete