A tweet from Governing Body:
#govbody agreed that the right to appoint to the see of Monmouth will not pass to the bench of bishops until 31st October to give time for Monmouth diocese to have time to prepare properly for the Electoral College.
Time for reflection!
No doubt there will be the usual calls for gender parity by adding a third woman bishop to the bench.
The consequence of such a move would result in three women bishops in perpetuity in southern Wales, assuming that whenever a female bishop retires she would be replaced by another female bishop to maintain gender balance.
To break this undesirable cycle and provide a better balance for the future, a male bishop is preferable after two female appointments using subsequent appointments to provide a more even balance throughout the Province.
Given the Governing Body's resounding rejection of Archdeacon Peggy Jackson's motion which would have put an end to mutual flourishing, this is an opportune time to take note of the Archbishop's Presidential Address in which he urged members to be ready and willing to listen, "even to things you don’t want to hear...Take upon ourselves that yoke and to take up that cross", to "listen more particularly, listening to the voice of the Father; listening to the voice of the Teacher; listening to the voice of the Spirit; and listening to each other’s voices too."
The appointment of an orthodox bishop would help heal the divisions that have been created unnecessarily. Orthodox opinions need to be heard and balanced against current trends rather than dismissed as irrelevant as defined by the Jackson coterie.
That was the implication of the consultations held to discuss the appointment of women bishops in the Church of Wales. Diocesan meetings called to discuss the Code of Practice consistently called on the Bench of Bishops to provide a traditionalist bishop to minister to Anglicans who wished to retain the original Apostolic integrity of the Province.
Archbishop Barry Morgan and his bench sitters ignored pleas of the faithful and embarked on a strategy which resulted in Jackson's final assault on orthodoxy at Governing Body.
Taking over the reins after his new Dean of Llandaff, Janet Henderson, spectacularly resigned two months into post, Morgan decreed that the Cathedral Office was not to publish the names of officiants at each of the Cathedral services. His purpose was clear.
Twin integrities were anathema to Barry Morgan as was the appointment of the Provincial Assistant Bishop to provide sacramental assurance and pastoral care for those who in conscience could not receive the sacramental ministry of women in common with the majority of the world's 85 million Anglicans.
Bishop David Thomas died broken hearted and much of the Church in Wales died with him.
Belatedly there is an opportunity to move forward in hope that the years of decline can be turned around.
It is too good an opportunity to miss and certainly not one to be bungled.
Anyone with experience of conflict resolution and conciliation will tell you that it is a basic mistake to put a time limit on the outcome. October 31st does not allow enough time (this date assumes that an Electoral College will have been held prior to the deadline) given that everything shuts down over the summer. December 31st might at least give space for all the people that want to be heard to be heard.
ReplyDeleteFrom where I am sitting (just outside Usk), the gaping wound that has opened-up in the life of the Diocese is going to need a long time to heal. Before a new bishop is elected, people need a forum to express their hurt, dismay and anger; otherwise any new bishop will be sticking plasters over festering sores for decades, and no-one will be able to move on.
So there is no doubt, I think Bishop Richard is a kind and decent man who has been given a wholly undeserved kick in the teeth. Like the vast majority of people, I know absolutely nothing of the allegations made against him - except that it was judged he had no case to answer. And like other commentators, I believe we desperately need a clean break and a new start. No internal candidates for this vacancy, please (and by that I mean Wales - not just Monmouth diocese).
"Jackson's final assault on orthodoxy" should read "Jackson's recent assault on orthodoxy" or "Jackson's latest assault on orthodoxy". Does anyone think it will be her FINAL attempt to kill off orthodoxy in the church?
ReplyDeletePoint taken Ed. To clarify I was attempting to draw attention to the planned final assault implicit, with hindsight, in Para 5 of the Code of Practice:
Delete5. 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.
No doubt Peggy Jackson will be back if she gets half a chance as the movement for the ordination of women did until they achieved their objectives.
It would be better for all concerned if the archdeacon stayed in the US after her planned Sabbatical in the USA.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/parishes/wp-content/uploads/sites/143/2019/04/01183700/St-F-newsletter-April-2019.pdf
Given that the motion was seconded by Bangor's training and discernment officer, and +Andy voted in favour, the motion may have been officially defeated, but has already been unofficially applied for several years in Bangor diocese
DeleteNever mind Monmouth.
ReplyDeleteHere's the real headline today.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48146305
The persecution of Christians in parts of the world is at near "genocide" levels, according to a report ordered by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The review, led by the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen, estimated that one in three people suffer from religious persecution.
Christians were the most persecuted religious group, it found.
Mr Hunt said he felt that "political correctness" had played a part in the issue not being confronted.
No sh*t, Sherlock!
Quite so StWP. One quote from the Interim Report:
DeleteIn 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls from Chibok, a mainly Christian village. A video released later purported to show the girls wearing Muslim dress and chanting Islamic verses, amid reports that a number of them had been “indoctrinated” into Islam. In the video Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau warns of retribution for those who refuse to convert, adding: ’we will treat them… the way the prophet treated the infidels he seized.’
Report frequently refer to "Muslim extremists", "extremist groups" and "Islamists" but rarely is there any mention of the political ideology used to validate the choices offered to victims: “We offer [Christians and others] three choices, the Dhimmi contract [involving payment of the jizya tax]. If they refuse this, there is nothing but the sword." [Note 31 in the Report]. To do so is likely to attract accusations of Islamophobia.
"The road to hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path." John Chrysostom.
ReplyDeleteNot many of the Bench know that.
Terrence the Tortoise
It appears that the Archbishop has released a letter about Bishop Richard to be read in all churches in Monmouth tomorrow. Watch this space but don’t expect too much.
ReplyDeleteIn his letter the Archbishop states that he is a long-standing friend of Richard. But he has given no support to a Richard in the last 9 months and forced him to be isolated from his colleagues and his real friends in the Diocese for much of this time. Is that the behaviour of a friend?
ReplyDeleteAnd the Archbishop has conveniently forgotten about his press statement in January in which he implied that the reason for Richard’s absence was due to complaints from members of his senior team and the Archbishop himself was managing a mediation process with the complainants. If Bishop Richard was genuinely ill then why would he have been asked to go through a mediation process?
The letter appears disingenuous.
Disingenuous indeed! But we know the true story.
ReplyDeleteBishop Richard is much-loved in our Diocese (unlike those who complained about him).
Could we start a campaign to get him reinstated or maybe nominated at the electrical college?
The letter went down like a lead balloon today and given what has been in the press it was not believed, so all it achieved is to alienate us pewsters more. I ponder, how many priests are now contemplating their future in the diocese because Monmouth obviously is a place where bullies rule and pewsters and priests are betrayed. Given what has happened and the track record of the bench of Bishops dealing with this fiasco, I doubt there will be little or no protection for any of the priests who stuck up for Bishop Richard. Perhaps the campaign should now be for the senior team to be suspended to facilitate new beginnings, or even better, they should resign.
ReplyDeleteNo purpose is being served by favoured supporters of the bishop and their press campaign to blacken the character(s) of clergy who exercised their duty under rules established for airing grievances.
DeleteUnsubstantiated charges of bullying without resort to the same procedures will bring the diocese into disrepute when charity and healing are need.
Wise words Early Bird because everyone has been hurt. Accompanying charity and healing is the need for truth, and may this be heard so Monmouth may find peace and reconciliation. Monmouth needs to move on and the next few months will be critical under the guidance of the Archbishop.. If a gentle peace starts to emerge and is seen to emerge in words and actions, perhaps this may not only stem the flow to Llandaff that Just Me is referring to in blog post below, but it will also placate us in the pews at the same time who were considering withholding our parish share. Let this call for Christ's peace be at the heart of our prayers
DeleteEarly Bird is right to say that clerics should have the right to air grievances. However the criticism of Tonge, Williams and Mason is that, having raised their grievances, they did not accept the outcome of the independent investigation and they refused to enter into a process of reconciliation. Yes, we do need to move forward in Monmouth, but is this possible with senior clerics who do not operate with a spirit of reconciliation?
DeleteThe problem for many JH is the so-called 'independent' investigation. In the Church in Wales 'independent' has come to mean separate from the Bench but doing their bidding in the Barry Morgan style. In an earlier entry I wrote about Dodgy legal advice leading to Eucharistic free for all. https://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.com/2017/03/dodgy-legal-advice-leads-to-eucharistic.html
DeleteThe eminent Rev'd Professor Thomas Watkin, a former Professor of Law at Cardiff and Bangor, former First Welsh Legislative Counsel to the Welsh Government and, between 1981 and 1998, Legal Assistant to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales wrote "The interpretation placed upon the rubric by the Legal Sub-Committee not only circumvents the Church's due processes for alteration to rites and discipline. In its consequences, it displays a scant respect for - or an inchoate understanding of - the rule of law in Church affairs." The Doctrinal Commission's seal of approval was also used to authenticate divisive views on same sex marriage.
In their GB Update on Same Sex Relationships the Bench wrote: "We will ask the Standing Doctrinal Commission to produce a theological statement which helps us reflect on same sex unions within a Christian understanding of marriage." For most Christians marriage is the union between one man and one woman for life. No ifs or buts.
There are other examples of consultations, the results of which have been ignored unless favourable to the thinking of the Bench.
Also JH you commented under my entry 'Rogue report?': "There have been more repercussions at Callaghan Square. The Head of HR and the HR Business Partner, who were both involved in the investigations about Bishop Richard, have left in mysterious circumstances in recent weeks." Mysterious indeed.
Added to the fact that the Archbishop was in St Michael's Theological College with his 'good friend' the bishop of Monmouth and the bishop of St Asaph it is hardly surprising that 'independent' is taken with a pinch of salt.
I wonder why so many appear to be leaving Monmouth and being appointed in Llandaff?
ReplyDeleteMerely jumping from a stinking cesspit to the neighbouring stinking swamp.
DeleteThe letter was not well received yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWe know that Bishop Richard wanted to return but was prevented from doing so.
Many more clerics will now be looking to leave, whether to Llandaff or further afield. Anywhere to get away from the bullying culture in Monmouth.
When Rowan Williams was Bishop of Monmouth, one of his characteristically outstanding letters in the Diocesan monthly, during the Blair government’s cover-ups over Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, talked about how official statements (that are odds with what ordinary people believe and practice) cause social and moral cohesion to fragment. ‘It can often mark the point at which the public's understanding of reality definitively parts company with that of government...The really significant thing is when a government loses control of the narrative and can no longer tell the story of what is happening in words of its own choice, because events have ... undercut its version'.
ReplyDeleteWhat is true of government and society in general, is true of churches and their hierarchies in particular. I hope Shirley, and the three senior clergy who are incapable of entering a process of reconciliation, will ‘read, mark, and inwardly digest.’ The wisdom of the past has been very quickly forgotten. As a retired Bishop recently remarked, ‘religious professionals are not always the impressive people we imagine them to be.’
They've known this in Llandaff and Bangor for some years, now. Tragic that it should come to this in Monmouth.
And another piece of trenchant wisdom from +Rowan...
Delete"Institutions develop because people put a lot of trust in them, they meet real needs, they represent important aspirations, whether it's monasteries, media, or banks, people begin by trusting these institutions, and gradually the suspicion develops that actually they're working for themselves, not for the community."
And this is supposed to be The Church :(
ReplyDeletePP. The seriousness of the situation is beyond words. A true humble man of God, brought down in such a harsh, unchristian manner. He must be lifted in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteFor the 3 imegos, is it not time to do the decent thing and go. Letting a once beautiful diocese heal.
What of the previous diocesan Bishop's, would it not be more appropriate for one of them to return for as long as necessary and manage the interregnum, which would be a healing process. There are also former diocesan in our midst who could equally rise to the task too
As for the wider church, leadership is totally based on personal agendas, no cohesion, spend while Rome burns, ruling with an iron fist, blaming others for one's own failures.
We saw a glimmer of hope in the defeat of the recent sexist motion against traditionalists - I hope this was in all sincerity, a trickle of some hope, as the laity and clergy storm the forts, of this secularist agenda
Would anyone be able to supply the text of the Archbishop's letter please? I didn't make it to church yesterday
ReplyDeleteMrs Doyle
Whilst deploring the situation in which Richard Pain finds himself and absolutely deploring the behaviour of the 'The Senior Team', should we now bring to mind the Church in Wales 'Review'? Is it not ironic that proposals such as Mission Areas have been implemented but the proposal that the dioceses be reduced from six to five, or even four has not! What an ideal time for Llandaff to absorb Monmouth back into its original diocese. In 1921, the diocese of Llandaff had one bishop, one Cathedral, one Dean, an Archdeacon of Llandaff and an Archdeacon of Monmouth and one administrative body and over eighty thousand Easter communicants. Look at the top heavy, self perpetuating hirearchy we have today between Llandaff and Monmouth Two bishops, two cathedrals, two Dean's and I am ashamed to say, SIX Archdeacons, (none of whom would be missed if they were made redundant). Two sets of administrarors with Diocesan Secretaries on salaries of which most of our pew sitters (funders) could only dream. We have numerous Diocesan appointments being made with very attractive salaries and now we have THREE Residentiary - full time- canons at Llandaff, a scheme I understand that is going to be rolled out to the other five Cathedrals, and all to serve a fraction of the Eighty Thousqnd Easter communicants of 1921. Come on bishops! Enough is enough. Implement ALL of the proposals in the review and try to regain some measure of respect and credibility.
ReplyDeleteFar from it. The review has brought only harm
ReplyDeleteBob
I quite agree with you Bob . The point I was trying to make but, obviously failed, is that their Lordships and their Ladyships will implement everything in the review that is obviously harmful and not working but will not implement the one proposal of the review that threatens the Bench.
ReplyDeleteI have held off commenting on this for a few days because, it seems to me, this tragic situation is symptomatic of a deeper malaise across the Church in Wales. Weak leadership is creating a vacuum for conspicuous and self-regarding individuals to promote their own needs over the cohesion and well-being of the whole Body. And all this at a time when the Church is haemorrhaging. That this should have become the subject of media speculation - largely as a consequence of entirely avoidable archiepiscopal inertia - is scandalous (as in 'cause for offence').
ReplyDeleteThe proposal about Llandaff and Monmouth being merged makes considerable sense on paper, especially if it means a reduction in the hierarchically top-heavy structure (it is interesting that the only real difference Barry Morgan ever made to the Diocese of Llandaff was to create an additional archdeacon!). In practice, I cannot see June coping with the additional and unexpected demands of bringing healing to a divided diocese (it simply is not her bag). That would compound the disaffection and deepen the malaise. The personalities involved are too volatile for a start.
Here is my ten-penny-worth, for what it's worth. Elect (or being realistic, because there will probably be a divided Electoral College, appoint) a new Bishop of Monmouth who will serve for a relatively short period (say, five to seven years): a person of depth and experience, who will forget about superficial mission initiatives and growth targets, and place the emphasis firmly on a commitment to truth and reconciliation. That alone should make the Church infinitely more attractive, and provide a welcome antidote to the spin and bullying that has surrounded the desperation underpinning the creation of Mission Areas. It needs to be someone who has a proven track-record as a conciliator, who is theologically generous to the wide spectrum of Anglican obedience, but who will be willing and able to grasp nettles, enabling justice to be done (and seen to be done) for those who have been wounded; and to enable the Diocese to move forward more trustfully. Clearly, this person has to be an outsider, with few (if any) connections to the Diocese or the key protagonists in this conflict.
When this person retires after this relatively short period, having laid far more solid foundations for the future, then a new united diocese (as they call them in Ireland) could be a realistic proposal - especially so if Llandaff agrees not to elect when June goes, and there is an election for a new bishop for a new diocese. In fact, this is what the neighbouring Dioceses of Limerick and Tuam have agreed to do in Ireland in order to become one unit.
The question is, can the Church in Wales as a whole, and its bishops in particular, step back from the self-referential bubble and see the situation with the kind of clarity that seems obvious from the margins?
In the meantime, prayer for Bishop Richard and those who are devastated by this horrible turn of events.
Athelstan, the more sensible the proposal the less likely it is to occur.
DeleteCaiaphas has brought nothing to Llandaff except more division and upset. No-one familiar with her modus operandi would wish her on anyone else.
The Bishops and Archdeacons have mistaken strong leadership with their attempts to bully Clergy and Laity.
ReplyDeleteQuite, Fr David. Bullying by bishops, deans and archdeacons, wherever it happens, is a classic sign of weak leadership and deeply rooted insecurity.
DeletePP. I see the Bishop's farewell Eucharist is in July, at St Mary's Priory Abergavenny, a ticket only event. How sad it is not at Newport Cathedral.
ReplyDelete