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| Bishop of Monmouth Richard Pain Source: Church in Wales |
From a Provincial press release: The Bishop of Monmouth, the Rt Revd Richard Pain, is to retire at the end of the month. He is retiring due to ill health.
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| Bishop of Monmouth Richard Pain Source: Church in Wales |
... meanwhile the pastoral care given to the clergy of Monmouth diocese during this debacle could have been handled rather better by a wet and slightly gone-off turnip. Even this announcement was just posted up on the website and the clergy have been left to stumble upon it.
ReplyDeleteSee these Christians, how they love one another.
Totally unacceptable. We received an email at 14.45 today from the diocesan office, all it contained was a link to yesterday's online article. Shameful
DeleteBob
O come on Bob.
DeleteDo you really think the arses on the bench give a damn about the pew sitters?
They don't give a damn about the pew sitters or those of us with collars on
DeleteBob
I call Bullshit again.
ReplyDeleteIf the poor man is in ill health I wonder if sister Lister and his cronies have sent +Richard a 'Get well soon' card?
The press release raises more questions than it answers.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, is Bishop Richard ill? Those who have seen him recently say not.
Has he been compensated to accept this outcome? And if so, why was it necessary to pay him off?
The Archbishop told the press, in January, that he was aware of problems with his senior team and was actively involved in a process of arbitration. If Bishop Richard was genuinely ill why would he have said this?
What happened to the arbitration process? Did the Deans and Archdeacons block any chance for Richard to return? If so, what price will they pay for this debacle?
And when will we get an electoral college to elect a new Bishop? The constitution stipulates that it should take place within 30 days? Will this happen or will the Archbishop find a way of delaying the process?
A few questions to ask?
Is any member of the GB prepared to ask them when they meet tomorrow?
Excellent questions TheRev. Here are two more:
Deletehas Bishop Richard signed a non disclosure agreement, so that he is forbidden from ever revealing what has been going on in the past nine months; and has 'Shirley' already got a replacement in mind, so that he can achieve the aim of 'balancing' the Bench at 3:3.
Cymraes yn Lloegr
If the Bishop-elect is an evangelical or traditional Anglo-Catholic there may be a glimmer of hope. If not I gravely fear for the future even more than I do already. I urge the electors to think outside the box and not be bullied by the top brass. Do not, under any circumstances, allow a situation where the decision reverts to the bench but choose a candidate that restores some measure of balance and orthodoxy.
ReplyDeleteBishop Jill Duff could slotted. Married to the head of St Padarn's, mildly evangelical, currently suffragen of Lancaster but lives in Wales, she'd give the equality-fascists a 50% women to crow about. She's already Associate Bishop of St Asaph
DeletePP Perhaps a season suffagan from across the border.
ReplyDeleteThere will be 2 Archdeacons in Monmouth who will fancy their chances.
ReplyDeleteI strongly imagine that the 3rd also fancies their chance. My old college contemporary was never shy in coming forward .. I remember being regaled with a story of having borrowed & worn a cappa magna whilst still an undergrad
DeleteNone of the three are worthy of it in my opinion. Wonder if Ms Pinnington will make a speedy recovery and return to work
DeleteBob
I feel so furious. The Dean is an unspeakable man. How many more people will he get rid of? How does he get away with it? So angry.
ReplyDeleteMartin
Here's hoping Dick Pain has used the last eight months to write his memoirs and autobiography so it's ready to go on sale on 1st May.
ReplyDeleteMight be a best seller!
Yet another victim of Church in Wales bullying in the post-Cyanide Sue era?
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The next Bishop must be from outwith Monmouth Diocese, and preferably outwith the Church in Wales: a proven mediator; and someone with far more theological grounding than the likes of Shirley, June, Joanna and Crap. If ANY of the current senior staff were to be elected, it would result in total meltdown. That much is obvious. But not to Shirley. So be afraid, People. Be very afraid.
PP. It's an absolute tragedy a great man of God brought down. I so hope he uses his final sermon/speech, to candidly, as he does, refer to these judases.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that the college will remove the archdeacon and dean from the list of those potential Bishop's.
Monmouth now needs a very strong pair of hands, perhaps a fresh stocking of the episcopal gene pool is way overdue. Someone from another part of the UK. But who?
The anger is palpable a great man brought down by this monkish behaviour.
No-one in their right mind will want to come anywhere near the toxic sect that is now the Church in Wales.
DeleteThe smart money is already on another one of the Darth --Insidious coven being shoe-horned in or imposed if the little people won't fall for it again.
One can't help wondering if the Holy Ghost will prompt Jeffrey John'd name to appear in the Sorting Hat for his 12th attempt at the purple, what excuses ++Shirley will be manufacturing this time to "fix" the Electoral College, whether the moron Masson is already sending out emails in his attempts to influence the outcome and if Jeffrey John has already preempted the whole thing by submitting an early Data Protection access request?
ReplyDeleteJeffrey John lost out to Richard Pain last time. https://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.com/2013/07/church-in-wales-more-of-same.html
DeleteThere was a feeling that Monmouth diocese would become the focus of attention for the wrong reasons because John was a high profile advocate of normalising homosexuality in the church. https://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.com/2018/04/just-one-more-time.html.
And what have the first women bishops Joanna and June brought to the Church? High profile advocacy of normalising homosexuality in the church.
Honestly, AB, I can't see Jeffrey John (and those closest to him) having much appetite to subject themselves to the Byzantine machinations of a Church in Wales Electoral College once again. Given the ironic outcome of the Joanna/June/Crap elections and appointments, and Shirley's complete lack of political street wisdom, I fear this could be the longest car crash in slow motion yet.
DeleteHopefully, the Diocese of Monmouth has seen enough of Andy Crap's ineptitude to rule out a translation. The only hope is to look outside the C in W (there are some high calibre people in Ireland, for example), and to absolutely resist the manoeuvres of Peggy the Pilate and her ilk, who are playing gender politics with the future cohesion of our Church.
What about the current Archdeacon of Surrey? Until recently Archdeacon of Bangor. Someone of integrity and principled courage, who was not prepared to be a stooge for Andy Crap and his sycophantic acolytes. Someone who will not collude with deceit and injustice. That would be a refreshing and welcome change. If not him, there is someone of equal calibre just over the English Channel with more learning, wisdom and experience in his little finger than the whole of the Bench put together. But why, despite being fluent Welsh speakers, would either of them give up a supportive and energising ministry to return to the hopeless hospice that is the Church in Wales?
Let Peggy, June and Joanna retire (they have enviable pensions), and replace them by heterosexual, orthodox-thinking men! It may not guarantee success, but it has to be an improvement.
ReplyDeleteRob
Is +Burnley too much to ask for after his wonderful keynote address at Anglican Essentials Wales? One can but hope, dream and pray. I real man of God cruelly and unjustly bullied out of the See of Sheffield. I say this as an evangelical.
ReplyDeleteIt needs an experienced, irenic pair of hands. Might Philip Ursel be persuaded to come out of retirement?
ReplyDeletePP. It is all for speculation, but the bench will probably have someone lined up. But we can only hope Bishop's, Burnley, Grantham, Buckingham or Archdeacon of Surrey, maybe Dean John. But whatever happens, others of course have equal merit. Whoever it is they need to be tough, missional, pastoral and with God's grace, a theologian. But, the bench will be looking 3+3 no doubt.
ReplyDeleteBuckingham??????????
Delete3+3? Temporarily perhaps, but the ultimate target is 6+0.
DeleteSome of you will already have heard the news that I was involved in a car accident yesterday on my journey down to Governing Body. I was caught up in a multiple car shunt on the A49. I avoided going into the car in front of me until the car behind me shunted me into it. Fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt, and I suffered – as the police put it – only “minor injuries”. I have decided not to attend Governing Body however, and to take a couple of days to recuperate.
ReplyDelete(Quote from +G's latest Ad Clerum)
On 'Comments' in this blog? Maybe this one - The words of Proverbs 15:3 - “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good!”
ReplyDelete+Burnley would be outstanding, no question. But Peggy would do what Cynaide Sue did at Bangor in 2008, resorting to lies and more lies, ranting and raging, claiming that it would cause more hurt than healing, in her attempts to stop someone who will not ordain women. This is the current myopic 'orthodoxy' crippling the Province.
ReplyDeleteBuckingham would catch the headlines, certainly; but would he be an effective diocesan that is prepared to engage with the minutiae of peoples' wounds and scars? He could not be a focus of unity, as the Evangelicals and Catholics would not trust him.
Dean John? Certainly a safe pair of hands; but hardly at the intellectual and strategic cutting edge.
+Grantham? Really? Apart from being in the same situation as Jeffrey John, he's carrying the can for safeguarding in Lincoln Diocese (watch last Monday's Panorama on BBC 1 about cover-ups over abuse) and would certainly attract the headline writers.
The truth is that there is no-one in Wales at the moment who cuts the mustard. The real talent fled across the border when they saw the writing on Barry Morgan's wall over the last decade. It would take someone of astonishing stamina and generosity to come back and risk being ground down by the ineptitude that is so painfully evident.
PP may be right. They'll bungle it and go for a woman in order to make a political statement - even though the rest of the world will yawn and say 'So bl**dy what'?
Or... they could hasten the inevitable demise of the Diocese and bring Bob the Builder down form Bangor. He's wanted to be a bishop since the age of six and three-quarters. He would also clear the place in ten minutes flat.
Talking of Bangor, they could save a few quid and have a part-time Bishop. Car Crash Kathy has vast experience of part-time ministry. Sorted.
There are several excellent men currently in the Province. But the episcopal electors have missed their chance with some, and shown by their recent appointments that integrity is a disqualifying characteristic.
DeleteAny heterosexual family man won't stand a chance (won't match the specified personality profile requirements).
DeleteAny anglocatholic traditionalist man won't stand a chance (won't match the specidied personality profile requirements).
Anyone who is excellent won't stand a chance (won't suit the current crop of incompetent lightweights to be embarrassed by anyone remotely popular or able).
But a transgender 'woke' social-worker?
The Holy Ghost has been seeking one of those for years.
Burnley! Burnley! Burnley! Who do we want - Burnley! When do we want him, now!
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, I resent the thought that the bench should, 'have someone lined up'. God forbid! The Electoral College should probably immediately reject anyone put forward by one of the Bishops as a matter of principle! We are governed by the GB and the constitution not by the Bench. Electors you have your conscience!
Lancaster, Lancaster, Lancaster . . .
DeletePlus it's just up the road from Burnley
Lancaster, Ed? Okay I know she ticks the party 'box' for you; but she is just another characterless 'on message' functionary of Welby's corporate Church of England. She would bore everyone to death. Look what happened the last time an Evangelical became a bishop in the C in W. Bangor is still suffering the consequences.
DeleteAnd before you say it, yes, I know she might be an improvement on June and Joanna; but we're not looking for people who only just a cut above the dross, are we?
PP. AB, have you read/or any of my esteemed commentators read this mornings Premier Christian News article about +Richard's retirement? It is stating the last 9 or so months were due to illness! Seems like someone is again, fabricating truth. Here is the link
ReplyDeletehttps://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Sickness-forces-much-loved-bishop-to-step-down?utm_source=Premier%20Christian%20Media&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10518787_daily%20news%202%20march&utm_content=5&dm_i=16DQ,69GCJ,K09LSV,OP5ZW,1
Perhaps someone needs to enlighten them to the truth.
When bishop Richard first absented himself PP I was assured that he was not ill. Over the last 9 months or so that has been repeated, including by people who have met him. It emerged that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated but assessors had decided that there was no case to answer. Instead of returning to duties the bishop remained absent. Perhaps he has become depressed.
DeleteThe glowing press reports should offer the bishop some comfort.
Depressed?
DeleteI hope the man is absolutely elated to be out of the toxic stinking swamp of corruption and deceit created by bully boy --Bazza and his sycophants and relishing every breath of the sweet fresh air of freedom.
PP. Totally agree AB. Such a man of God, so badly let down by his peers. Praying for him.
ReplyDeletePoor little bugger. This is to be expected when we fall in with bad company.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon AB. I have followed this blog with some interest over the past couple of months, having been led to it as I was seeking information regarding the continued absence of the Bishop of Monmouth. It is unfortunate that it has ended as it has, and I am still really none the wiser as to why it all started in the first place. If, as has been suggested it is because of unfounded accusations being made by members of the Bishop's senior team, then it really is a sad state of affairs. Certainly, if those allegations (whatever they were) have not been substantiated, then it is a sad and unfortunate end to the Bishop's ministry, and those who have initiated it should hang their heads in shame.
ReplyDeleteBelmont, Belmont, Belmont, shame is such an unattractive word in the uber-liberal Church in Wales. We don't do shame or sin anymore. It's a whole new world where you can do what you want. All things are possible now. You only need look at the vile Bill brought before Governing Body on Thursday by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson. If you are a member of the hierarchy, you can bring down untold misery on many; and you can be proud of it. In any other sphere of life, those who falsely accused the bishop would be facing disciplinary measures by now. As soon as Bishop Richard has packed the van and headed off into the sunset, his accusers will be free to get their claws into their next victim.
ReplyDeleteSeymour