 |
| Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Source: aleteia.org |
Reminder to all clergy and laity of the Diocese of Llandaff
Priests from more than 100 churches in Llandaff will be travelling to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain for their Clergy School which takes place from Monday, 13 May to Friday, 17th May, 2019. It will take the form of a pilgrimage
Much of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is closed due to renovation work as will be parishes in the diocese of Llandaff.
Clergy may wish to take a few extra Euros to purchase a guide book as a memento of what they have missed. Alternatively a free virtual tour of the pilgrimage Cathedral is available here, courtesy of turismo.gal.
The clergy school will provide a welcome break for exhausted clergy who have been unable to take time off after Easter.
Accommodation at Hospederia de San Martin de Pinario and charter flights are provided at diocesan expense but clergy are responsible for their own domestic arrangements.
During Lent the faithful should have been making Pipe-Cleaner Persons from 12 inch pipe cleaners as temporary cover for clergy pilgrims.
Some other points to consider:
Arrange for an idle parishioner to care for the vicarage cat(s).
Cancel the milk and any newspapers.
Check medication supplies; sick notes are to be avoided.
Currency for G&Ts and other clergy essentials.
Funerals should be deferred.
Priestly care for the poor, the sick, the needy and those in trouble must wait.
This jolly is so ill conceived and so crassy executed that it beggars belief. It demonstrates an ego wanting to make its mark and not a decision that has the best interests of the diocese at heart.
ReplyDeleteSorry ma'am Bishop but you've got this very wrong. We can only hope it goes as well as possible and I'm sure it will be spun that way but immediate lessons need to be learnt.
I'd love to read the evaluation sheets post-event!
The absurdity of this 'pilgrimage' plumbs new depths. I'd like to hear her justification of it, but of course no-one ever will and there isn't one. Arrogant, thoughtless and hare-brained.
ReplyDeleteStoppit
Not to mention profligacy, hubris, vanity, futile.....
DeleteWhere is Martin Shipton when we need him?
ReplyDeleteI would have thought this was an open invitation to every opportunistic burglar this side of the Severn Bridge to visit every empty vicarage in the Diocese. Where do they start first? The Deanery at Llandaff full of dodgy antiques? Llys Esgob full of incriminating files and doctored accounts? Michaelston super Ely full of skeletons in the cupboard? The opportunities are endless.
ReplyDeleteMost of the old lags in Knox Road know that their chaplain will be away with every other vicar in Llandaff. I dare say the word has got out. Easy pickings given the strain on police resources. Job done.
PP. Perhaps June has some charismatic draw. But the senior team all 3 need to go.
ReplyDeletePP. The last comment was for the earlier Monmouth listing.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the chances of the media being at the airport to see the spectacle and wish them all farewell? May be even get an 'off the record' comment about how committed (not) the clergy are to this trip? And discover at first hand what levels of coercion and bullying have been used to get them there? Who knows, Peggy may be at the controls, and they'll end up in Clacton instead of Compostela! Whatever the outcome, we're all agreed on one thing: this is an iniquitous misuse of the Church's money.
ReplyDeleteNot all of us agree Captain.
DeleteCaiaphas thinks it is damn fine splendid.
And I don't think it's such a bad idea - except it seems return tickets were purchased!
Seems heads are being kept down - no mention of the outing yet on the Diocesan website. With foodbanks, relative poverty, children in Africa starving, etc, free flights and accommodation in Spain for a large number of clergy is a very bad image. Shame on the Church.
ReplyDeleteLostwithiel
I couldn't agree more.
DeleteOne wonders how many mugs took up the offer of the spare seats "going for a song" on the Caiaphas Charabanc of shame?
DeleteAnd not forgetting that it will be Christian Aid Week when pew sitters back home will be expected to do their bit Lostwithiel.
ReplyDeleteThe Diocesan website does have a new announcement. The high profile appointment of a new Director of Communications and Engagement who started his career in communication and engagement at Stonewall Cymru. Right up Jolly June's street!
It's just BLATANT isn't it? I was talking to a gentleman last week who echoes my opinion on the "Bishop of Monmouth Retires Due to Ill-Health" press release... That is, we both think the most shameful thing about this is that the press department lies even though they know, that WE ALL KNOW, they ARE lying. The Church-in-Wales, it seems, is beyond shame, beyond embarrassment and beyond caring WHAT anyone thinks about it. Kyrie, eleison!
DeleteIt's called employing a spin doctor.
ReplyDeleteRob
At a time of giving to the poor through Christian Aid next week, clergy will instead be in Spain having spent thousands of pounds of pewsitters cash on a charter plane and accommodation. Heads must roll.
ReplyDeleteStoppit
'Vicar, what are we doing for Christian Aid week?’ Answer, ‘Well, um, ooo, actually nothing. The church will be closed for the week whilst I’m away with the bishop to learn how to be a better clergyman.’ Closed, abandoned church = No Christian Aid. Nice one Jolly June!!
ReplyDelete1549.
The word on the Green is that one of the retired clergy in the diocese of Llandaff who declined the Director of Ministry and Discipleship's invitation to subsidise the cost of the jolly on a non-participation basis is former Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan.
ReplyDeleteHis Darkness has been asked by Jolly June to look after her Cathedral while she is in Spain with the rest of the clergy. Can she be unaware of his track record or is she hoping that Llandaff Cathedral will have shut by the time she gets back enabling her to escape permanently to Spain?