On the rocks

The Church in Wales is foundering.

Having accepted that people are doing 'different things on a Sunday which means that they are not going to turn up at Church', the Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, told BBC Wales that he has brought in a PR company to help deliver its message.

He said it is "a way of engaging people's minds and hearts with what lies at the very centre of the Gospel and that's about bringing life and purpose and compassion and goodness into the communities where we live....Social media explaining that message, social media expressing something about the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel, I think is very, very worthwhile indeed."

The compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel has been perverted in the Church in Wales resulting in a message that seeks to give people what they want now rather than what they need for the promise of eternal life.

Will social media provide the answer? I doubt it. Many of the Twitter messages I see are self-promoting, ingratiating or simply promoting a secular cause.

Take this blatant feminist tweet from Llandaff diocese: "Worth mentioning again....@ChurchinWales  will now have gender parity on the Bench of Bishops...and we're extremely proud of this!"

That is an entirely secular view of equality of opportunity in the workplace, completely devoid of any spirituality.

A tweet from Archdeacon Sue: "Special day as our new Bishop @cherry_vann is Consecrated at Brecon Cathedral. Praying that God will bless Cherry, her partner Wendy and all the people of the @MonmouthDCO. May we be a faithful people praising God, proclaiming the Good News and serving with love @ChurchinWales.

The Church in Wales refused to comment on Cherry Vann being in a same sex partnered relationship when she was appointed bishop-elect of Monmouth. Now her same sex relationship has become a matter for celebration as though the office of bishop were some sort episcopal duo.

Not to be outdone an Area Dean in the diocese of Monmouth tweeted: "Definitely an occasion for white SCP stole today for consecration of  @cherry_vann. The prayers & love of the Llandaff & Monmouth Chapter of SCP are with Cherry & Wendy today. Look forward to spotting other SCP clergy #wearthebadge @scpeurope @MissionMonmouth @MonmouthDCO."

Having recently celebrated a same sex civil partnership anniversary of his own the Area Dean cocked a snook at the Church of England when the House of Bishops issued their pastoral statement on Civil Partnerships – for same sex and opposite sex couples.

He tweeted: "My response to CofE latest pastoral guidelines and my expression of solidarity on the day of Cherry’s consecration as a bishop in the Church of God!"

Source: Twitter

Is this "the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel" we can expect to be reading about on social media? It is nothing more than an extended ploy driven by self interested parties to push through same sex marriage in church.

After Bishop Pain retired, it was reported that clergy and laity had expressed hopes that his successor would be someone from outside of the Diocese of Monmouth. Not only did they get their wish but Cherry Vann just happened to be on site for the announcement of her appointment giving the impression that the appointment of the first lesbian bishop had been carefully choreographed in secret.

At her consecration Cherry Vann invited a friend, the Rev'd Robert Lawrence, a member of the Society of St Francis from the Diocese of Newcastle, to preach. 

"A bishop is a point of unity," he said, "(or so I was always told), except that in the church today we seem to find disunity when (say) the bishop is a woman in a church where not everyone accepts the leadership of women, or when the bishop is in a same sex civil partnership in a church where not everyone accepts gay relationships, and where the bishop is English in a Welsh diocese."

 In other words, you are on the wrong side if you disagree with the ordination of women, do not accept a bishop who is in a same sex civil partnership or, oddly, a bishop who is English in a Welsh diocese!

Many clergy will not have heard Mr Lawrence's admonishment. They have already left along with tens of thousands of Anglican laity leaving a compliant rump to do it their way.

Piloted by an incompetent bench of bishops it is no surprise that the Church in Wales is foundering.

Postscripts

[28.01.2020]

The Church in Wales is wasting no time in using social media to spread its message of the gospel according to LGBT. Tweeted this morning: "Watch out for this interview with the new Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, on @BBCWalesToday at lunchtime and 6.30pm today @cherry_vann."

Early morning viewers will have already seen the recently consecrated bishop of Monmouth explaining on BBC Wales News that she will not campaign for same-sex marriage in the Church in Wales and hoped her supporters would not be disappointed.

The former Archdeacon of Rochdale said she was “overwhelmed by the warm welcome her and her partner Wendy had been given and hoped to send a positive message to people who feel rejected by the church.”

She was not speaking of the thousands of Anglicans abandoned by their Church but for gay people who she claims feel rejected. Bishop Vann continued: "I hope that it is a sign of hope. There are a lot of gay people in our schools, in our colleges and universities, out there in society who think that the church is against them, that they don't have a place in the church.

"I hope that being here as a gay person, in a same-sex relationship, will give those people hope and help them to see that this is something that the church embraces and is able to celebrate along with any other faithful committed relationship."

The message is clear. Cherry Vann has no need to campaign. The bench has it in hand.

[31.01.2020]

In response to a charge by Peter Tatchell of  "SELFISH HYPOCRITE!" after the bishop of Monmouth  said she won't campaign for same-sex marriage in the church, the Church in Wales was quick to respond with "Bishop Vann said she was undecided about same-sex marriage, not that she opposed it."
Tatchell claimed that she [Vann] only got to be a priest & bishop thanks to equality struggles of other LGBT+ Christians. Now she says she opposes equal marriage within the church.

False start for Llandaff 2020 Year of Pilgrimage

Church in Wales primary school children's "insightful visit" to South Wales Islamic Centre "learning
 about  the mosque, the Islamic faith and how light is important to Muslims."  Source: Twitter

Click here to see Barnaby Bear gazing in awe at the 'beautiful stained glass' windows on display in the mosque, identifying ways light is important/displayed in the Islamic faith, ie, that for Muslims, Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

Re-tweeted by Llandaff Diocese: "A multi faith Pilgrimage! This is exactly what the Year of Pilgrimage is all about! Have a great day." Really!

Jesus also said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Does Jolly June and her sycophants not understand that Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the Cross in the greatest act of redemptive love? Clearly not.

Stained Glass in Wales lists numerous churches and cathedrals with stained glass windows illuminating the Christian pilgrimage so why take impressionable young children to a mosque rather than to a cathedral or a parish church? 

The Diocese of Llandaff launched its Year of Pilgrimage with a special service in Llandaff Cathedral on Sunday 12 January, 2020. It was claimed that 'Llandaff’s Year of Pilgrimage aims to celebrate Christian heritage and reinvigorate church life across South Wales'.

Christian pilgrimage is generally regarded as a journey to a Christian shrine or a sacred place to enrich one's faith so not the best start for the Llandaff 2020 Year of Pilgrimage, helping young school children to identify ways light is important in the Islamic faith.

No 'Bongs' for Brexit

The cost of interrupting essential maintenance work on Big Ben to 'Bong' for Brexit has been estimated at £500,000 based on bringing back the striking mechanism and installing a temporary floor - £120,000 - and the cost of delaying the conservation work - up to £400,000 (based on an estimate of £100,000 a week).

There is a greater cost. Brexit has been one of the most divisive issues this country has faced. Celebrating in the manner suggested conveys a message of triumphalism when we should be striving to heal divisions.

According to latest reports there is a revised plan to project a giant clock face onto Downing Street on evening of 31 January, 2020. 

Better still, those inclined could play the above video at no cost without the risk of offending others.

Fit for purpose?

Bishops of St Davids, Bangor, Swansea & Brecon (Archbishop), Monmouth, St Asaph and Llandaff.                                                              Source:Twitter

The bishop of Bangor, Andy John, must have thought himself most fortunate when, after 2,000 years of tradition and scholarship, it fell to him to find Biblical support for church gay marriages. A revelation that eluded doctors of the Church and biblical scholars for generations before him.

Of course the bishop could be mistaken but that would not occur to the episcopal pygmies who currently constitute the bench of bishops in the Church in Wales. For them the bishop of Bangor has provided evidence that the Church should conform to the world as they pursue their policy that 'It is pastorally unsustainable for the Church to make no formal provision for those in same-gender relationships'.

Why is there so much emphasis on same sex relationships in the Church in Wales? The bishops believe that the Church is out of step with society so the Church must change to conform with society. The crumbling edifice reveals the lie.

If the bishops taught the faith as they should, the Church would not be seen as irrelevant.

The bishop of Bangor writes:
 Those who experience same sex attraction or orientation will describe how, in a committed and loving relationship, they find not only love but grace and peace growing in their shared life with their partner. They experience the very fruit of the Spirit identified by St Paul as a mark of God’s presence and blessing (Gal 5:22-23). Jesus himself provided a kind of litmus test: it is ‘fruitfulness’ which reveals the authenticity (or not) of any claim to communion with God and grace (Matt 5:16-17). If the fruit of a relationship is growth in godly character, in what sense can such a relationship could be considered ‘against the will of God’?

From Gal 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." St Paul continues: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

In the preceding verses Paul writes: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh....So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Setting the tone of things to come in the Diocese of Monmouth following the appointment of the third woman bishop in the Church in Wales, the diocese has re-tweeted a Pride Cymru recruitment poster advertising a Volunteer Recruitment Day to be held on Saturday 25th January, the same day as that set apart for the consecration of Cherry Vann as the 11th bishop of Monmouth.

Such advertising goes way beyond sympathy for any perceived errors in the past. It is using the Church to further a Pride Cymru recruitment campaign, demonstrating the growing confidence of LGBT campaigners in the Church in Wales as they look forward to their next celebration in the so-called 'Faith' tent.

No doubt the new bishop of Monmouth and her fellow women bishops, LGBT campaigners Joanna Penberthy and June Osborne, see this as the road to salvation. It is not. It is the reverse.  

As chief shepherds, bishops should be leading their flocks to Christ not walking away from Him, thus putting the souls of the faithful in peril. By doing so they clearly demonstrate that they are not fit for purpose.

Postscript [21.01.2020]

Following the appointment of Cherry Vann as bishop-elect of Monmouth, the Church in Wales press office and the Diocese of Monmouth declined to comment on whether the cohabiting bishop-elect was in a partnered same-sex relationship.

There has been no such reticence following the meeting of the Sacred Synod. From a Provincial News update on the bishop's forthcoming consecration: "Bishop Vann lives with her civil partner Wendy and their two dogs, Macallan and Sadie", a point casually reported by BBC News as though it were a regular occurrence rather than a departure from established Church policy.

The bishops of the Church in Wales are clearly determined to create a sense of normality around same sex relationships despite the fact that their proposals were rejected in a consultation exercise and at Governing Body.

Victims

Neil Todd met the Bishop of Gloucester (pictured) in 1993 at 16 years old while acting as his trainee
and was the first victim to tell senior clergy about Ball's sex crimes. Source: MailOnline

Yet again, child sex abuse has been dominating the news headlines. Another harrowing report Commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham found that "A paedophile grooming gang was left to roam the streets of Manchester - and police knew who they were and exactly what they were doing:

- Social workers knew that one 15-year-old girl, Victoria Agoglia, was being forcibly injected with heroin, but failed to act. She died two months later.

- Abusers were allowed to freely pick up and have sex with Victoria and other children from city care homes, ‘in plain sight’ of officials.

- Greater Manchester Police dropped an operation that identified up to 97 potential suspects and at least 57 potential victims. Eight of the men went on to later assault or rape girls.

- As recently as August 2018, the Chief Constable refused to reopen the dropped operation.

Greater Manchester Police's Operation Augusta was set up to tackle "the sexual exploitation throughout a wide area of a significant number of children in the care system by predominantly Asian men".

From The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997 – 2013):
"By far the majority of perpetrators were described as 'Asian' by victims, yet throughout the entire
period, councillors did not engage directly with the Pakistani-heritage community to discuss how
best they could jointly address the issue. Some councillors seemed to think it was a one-off problem,
which they hoped would go away. Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the
ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction
from their managers not to do so."

Not so reticent was former home secretary Jack Straw who was accused of stereotyping Pakistani men in Britain after he accused some of them as regarding white girls as "easy meat" for sexual abuse. "We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."

Leading the attack against Jack Straw, Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee said it was wrong to "stereotype a whole community". Vaz was suspended from the Commons for six months after he was found to have "expressed willingness" to purchase cocaine for male prostitutes. He stood down before the General Election.

Many of the gangs' victims lived in child care homes, often miles away from their families but their plight was ignored for fear of being accused of racism.

Also ignored but in more comfortable surroundings were the victims of Anglican bishop Peter Ball and his accomplices. His friendship with Prince Charles made the paedophile bishop 'impregnable' while establishment figures rallied round to support.

There was a presumption of innocence, as there was in the case of Carl Beech who accused senior politicians, army and security chiefs of sadistic sexual abuse and claimed to have witnessed boys being murdered in the 1970s and 1980s. He was jailed for 18 years for perverting the course of justice, fraud and child sexual offences. The Metropolitan Police spent £2m looking into Beech's allegations, all of which proved to be false.

Bishop Peter Ball escaped such scrutiny. When charged with improper conduct towards Neil Todd a young novice monk he was given a caution and released after pressure from establishment figures. It was made clear that many bishops of the Church of England from the top down knew of the allegations. When Ball was cautioned other victims came forward, writing to Lambeth Palace detailing similar behaviour. The letters were not handed to the police.

 The story unfolds in the BBC documentary Exposed: The Church's Darkest Secret. Had it involved one apparently holy man manipulating victims and supporters alike, the deception would have been understandable. What is not is the blatant disregard for Ball's victims by bishops who knew of the abuse, withholding evidence, and the establishment campaign to discredit victims and avoid further investigation.

Another of Ball's victims, the Rev Graham Sawyer, had been introduced to him under a scheme Ball had started in 1980 called Give a Year to God, where teenagers and young men would go to live with him to 'learn the ways of a holy man'. After Sawyer rejected his advances, Ball said he would make sure he would never be ordained. He was true to his word. Sawyer was rejected for ordination. He moved to New Zealand where he was ordained three years later.

At The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), a solicitor for five survivors of abuse by Peter Ball told panel members:

"But what is now very clear is that in the Church of England, Peter Ball found the perfect cover for his offending. If a charlatan with an insatiable appetite for abuse wanted to secure a continuous supply of vulnerable young victims, there was no better way of achieving this than by founding a religious order not subject to any external supervision, and by making his victims' participation in the abuse a religious duty obligated by their oath of absolute obedience. Not for the first time, theology and religious ritual provided the ideal mask for abuse, with the evil of what Peter Ball did being compounded by his nauseating claim that the abuse was spiritually uplifting.

"Most of all, however, Peter Ball found in his fellow bishops in the Church of England the perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades, to collude in the lie that the abuse of Neil Todd was an uncharacteristic aberration, to cast doubt on Ball's guilt, to smear his victims, and to rehabilitate him.

"It is now clear that for many years before the 1992 investigation, there were many in the Church of England who knew of or must have suspected his offending, and decided to turn a blind eye to it, and later tried to evade their own culpability by claiming that Ball had never really offended at all. Eric Kemp, the Bishop of Chichester, was aware of serious concerns about Ball well before 1992, yet in 2006 he repeated the lie that Ball's resignation had been the 'work of mischief makers'."

One would have thought that such a damning indictment would have seen many heads roll but this is the Church of England. Instead they continue as they wish. So there are more cover ups, this time in the evangelical wing, again going right to the top. Video HERE.

In no way comparable to the suffering inflicted by abusers on innocent children and young men, those who have looked for guidance to bishops now shown to be guilty of duplicity may be classed as spiritual victims of bishops who have been shown to care only for themselves and the establishment, not for those supposedly in their care.

Postscript [16.01.2020]

From Church Times:

Belated apologies from bishops and church leaders, praising survivors of the serial abuser Peter Ball for their bravery, after their testimonies appeared in a new BBC documentary on the case, broadcast this week. The church leaders also condemned the “cover-up” of abuse by the Church. Full report HERE.

The Shape of Things to Come?

'Our faith'. The new, inclusive Church in Wales HERE.  

2020 vision!

By their fruits you will know them

Former Commons Speaker John Bercow with Commons Chaplain Rose Hudson-Wilkin in the 
royal box at Wimbledon in 2015. Source: Church Times/PA

A couple of stories published over the holiday period serve to illustrate the sorry state of the Church of England. Brainwashed clergy rejecting the Bible.

From MailOnline: Church of England gives staff 'unconscious bias training' to help ensure that half of its leaders are female by 2030

The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, "hopes the change will stop men hiring employees in their own image and create a 'different' kind of conversation in the Church." She told The Times: 'I certainly think that having women as priests enables different types of conversations that probably wouldn't happen if you're a man. My background as a nurse means people often talk to me in a different way.' - Pass the sick bowl?

The Church of England has appointed its first black female bishop, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. She came to prominence when the first Jewish Speaker, John Bercow, controversially appointed the first black female chaplain to the Commons against the wishes of the dean of Westminster.

Committed feminist Emma Percy, chairwoman of Women and the Church (WATCH) who likes to refer to God as a 'she', said: 'The Church of England needs to show that it is a church for all, where women are taken seriously, where women are good enough for leadership and, consequently, seen as good enough for God.' - As Percy sees it!

If the Church of England were a church for all, WATCH would not undermine traditionalists. But it is no longer a church for all. It is being turned into a feminist institution dedicated to overturning moral values and traditional family life.

If these women were secure in their beliefs they would seek to convert the majority of Anglicans who  profoundly disagree with them and Christians in the wider Church. Instead they look to society for support as if the Church existed to provide secular employment.

The Archbishop of York designate put his finger on the problem as the Church of England prepares to ignore biblical teaching in favour of street credibility among people who neither know nor care about the Church.

From CBN News: New Church of England Archbishop Says Bible Must Bend to Modern Sexual Morality

The politically correct Church of England is spiritually lost.

Its 'unconscious bias training' will keep it that way. Designed to expose unconscious bias and eliminate discriminatory behaviors, when difference of opinion is labelled bias and discrimination it will be seen only in one direction. Against males.

That there has been no outcry clearly illustrates where the Anglican Church is going.

Similarly in Wales the bench of bishops effectively waved two fingers at their membership at Holy Synod yesterday with confirmation of the appointment of a women bishop in a same sex relationship before the issue has been resolved by the Governing Body.

Cherry Vann confirmed in Sacred Synod as Bishop of Monmouth                                Source: Twitter

By their fruits you will know them.