Laid bare

Ancient stone carving with apple

 ‘We asked for bread but you gave us stones‘ became a familiar cry from the movement for the ordination of women.

What has been revealed since they achieved their objectives is that they have hearts of stone.

Provisions made for orthodox 'traditionalist' Anglicans to ensure the successful passage of their 'equality' legislation have been gradually eroded.

Alternative episcopal oversight was cruelly withdrawn by archbishop Barry Morgan after bishop David Thomas retired.

The axe is hovering again, waiting to strike the final blow against orthodoxy. A blow by Morgan's hatchet woman that will change the Church in Wales forever, turning it into a feminist sect on the outer fringes of Anglicanism.

Following the Canon to enable the Ordination of Women as Bishops a Code of Practice in relation to the Ministry of Bishops was added.

There was a nod towards the Code of Practice adopted by the Church of England but it was twisted by the Jackson/Wigley amendment to ensure that there would be no similar structure to provide alternative episcopal oversight in Wales:

[4.] "Within the Church in Wales, those who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales."

Another paragraph was added:

[5.] " Since the Code of Practice needs to be both strong and flexible enough to respond to a changing situation in the future, and since the Governing Body has entrusted the Bench of Bishops with the task of agreeing a Code which commits the Bench to making provisions for all the members of the Church in Wales, the Bench reserves the right to amend the provisions of this Code as may be necessary in the future."

The sting was in the tail. Jackson's strategy is laid bare. Unless it is voted down the final blow will be delivered at the next meeting of the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales.

An alleged "changing situation" private member Motion submitted by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson reveals her original intent. 

It seeks to remove any provision for conscience in the Church in Wales:

"the Bishops should not in future allow conscience provisions to be extended towards anyone who seeks ordination from this point on; nor should they be prepared to consider for ordination in the Church in Wales anyone, who intends from the very outset of their ministry, to restrict the exercise of that ministry, by their reliance upon conscience provisions."

Archdeacon Peggy Jackson's Motion:

"That this Governing Body rejoices that the Church in Wales has now received the consecration of two Bishops who are women, and: 

1. requests that all Bishops, consonant with previous undertakings, agree not to hold in future separate ordination services for any candidates, on the grounds of the candidates’ views on gender. 

2. calls on the Bench of Bishops to resile from paragraph 5 of the Explanatory Note to their 2014 Code of Practice, and cease to ordain those who, refusing the sacramental ministry of women, expect to rely upon the conscience clauses of the Code."

Code of Practice procedures which were designed to allow those who 'on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests' to continue have been gradually eroded. 

In her final blow Jackson seeks to renege on a Church in Wales commitment designed to enable all its members to flourish within its life and structures.

In her explanatory note Jackson writes: 

"The purpose [of the Code of Practice] was to  recognise and honour the long allegiance and service many such people had given to the Church in Wales, and to mitigate as far as possible any feelings of rejection that they might otherwise experience, by the enactment of this doctrinal change. The provisions were never intended to maintain within the Church in Wales a parallel, or alternative, doctrinal tradition to that which had been decided by Governing Body; nor were they intended to uphold, or sustain on behalf of others, different doctrinal traditions belonging to other provinces of the Anglican Communion, with whom the Church in Wales has chosen to disagree."

Her duplicity is clear. Jackson portrays women as victims deserving sympathy despite having no sympathy whatsoever for the many women and men she has successfully shut out from her 'inclusive' Church:

"The Code of Practice set out, as a priority, its intention to promote as far as possible the mutual flourishing of all within the Church in Wales, and made provisions accordingly.  The cost of these provisions has been borne, at times painfully, by many people across the Church in Wales, but most specifically, and constantly, by women who serve the church: women ordinands who have been obliged to train alongside other ordinands who, with impunity, have been allowed to question and deny the validity of their vocations; women clergy who have been made to feel, in the context of some clergy gatherings where shared communion is impaired, that they are the ‘problem’, or who have been asked to tolerate the public  rejection of their ministry by fellow clergy, in the name of ‘tradition’ or ‘conscience’;  women exploring their vocations, who have had to overcome additional hurdles in discernment, over and above their male counterparts, because of a prevailing attitude among some influential people, that their vocations were somehow questionable.  A survey undertaken in 2017 indicated that, four years after the passing of the legislation on women bishops, women were still disproportionately being subject to these experiences."

It is difficult to see why anyone would believe the archdeacon after the lies, distortion and duplicity used by the women's movement when mere differences of opinion are deliberately exaggerated and represented as prejudice.

The women who are suffering are not those exploring their vocations but those with conscientious beliefs who have been shut out of their own Church. 

Conscience is not something to be turned off like a tap however Jackson wraps it up.

When she was a member of the Church of England Jackson is on record as saying that anyone who could not accept the new order would have to make their own arrangements. It is as if she was talking about changing social clubs:

"New individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can – just as many already have to do over a host of other current issues, some very uncomfortable, where people find themselves representative of a view which is not that sanctioned by the ‘church’ as a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament." - Canon Jackson in a GRAS Newsletter.

On the contrary, it is Jackson's view that is "not that sanctioned by the ‘church’ as a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament."

  

The Church in Wales is not a world leader in Anglicanism. It is a tiny Province which, thanks to Barry Morgan and Peggy Jackson, chooses to disagree with orthodox doctrinal traditions in the Anglican Communion and beyond. But it still represents the Anglican Communion in Wales. 

Faithful Anglicans who have had unorthodox doctrines imposed on them have no choice but to leave or be accused of hypocrisy. That there is nowhere else to go within the Communion is of no concern to Jackson and those sharing her views. 

Many have left, hence the dramatic fall in attendance leaving mainly elderly people with something to do on a Sunday as the Archbishop of Wales succinctly commented in an ITV interview.  

Average Sunday attendance in 2017 was 27,359 representing 0.8% of the population of Wales. A dismal figure which would cause many to stop and think but not those determined to pursue their own agenda at any cost.

Few elderly people are involved in Church politics. Under their noses the Church in Wales is being changed into a feminist cult using the hash tag #lovewins. It does not. More accurately #sex triumphs, now with the aid of the two women bishop activists glorified by Jackson in her Motion.

This callous disregard of faithful Anglicans by feminist entryists is un-Christian. It lacks even the slightest semblance of fair play. 

The faith held by the overwhelming majority of Christians has served the Church for two thousand years. A late convert, Peggy Jackson's approach to Anglicanism is warped in favour of her personal preferences as if she knows better than the Apostles and even Christ Himself.

She does not represent the majority of Christian women, only a certain type of woman. One standing naked in the garden tempting others with an apple. 

If the bench associate themselves with Jackson's motion they will deserve their share of odium that should be deservedly heaped on the archdeacon for dishonouring the Church with her blatant misandry.

Her Motion has to be rejected if the Church in Wales is to retain any shred of credibility.