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Katharine Jefferts Schori, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church (TEC) acting as mentor
to bishop June and bishop Joanna. Source: Twitter |
How did (s)he get to be a bishop is a question that has been in many people's minds lately.
The answer may be found in the death at age 90 of bishop John Shelby Spong, a 'maverick author' and key leader on the left of The Episcopal Church (TEC) which has moved in a 'liberal/progressive direction'.
Anglican Ink reports that Spong led his followers to embrace emerging social movements and not to trust the Bible: "He never could quite grasp that Christians could believe the Bible. According to Spong the gospels were fabricated."
That will be familiar to the mainly former members of Church in Wales which has moved in the same direction.
In their latest move to bless same-sex civil partnerships and marriages the bishops have now alienated evangelicals. As
Christian Today put it, "This is good news for liberals and progressives who dominate the Church in Wales, but not good news for evangelicals and others who continue to represent the majority Christian position found among most Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and others."
Even clerics who have gone along with change in the hope of getting on have seen their hopes dashed as the bench prefers to look to England for like minded liberal progressives to fill vacancies as if there were no talent in Wales.
Archbishop Barry Morgan bears much responsibility for the sorry state of the Church in Wales. He lauded TEC's presiding bishop
Katharine Jefferts Schori despite her dreadful
unchristian record. She was subsequently to mentor June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff and Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids, neither of whom has brought any credit to the Church - see
Dysfunctional Church.
The fallout from treading Spong's path is also strongly in evidence in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) which has already leapt ahead of Wales in the same-sex marriage stakes.
In appointing Canon Anne Dyer to the post of bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Scottish House of bishops ignored the conservative profile of the diocese and appointed another of their own thinking, a female gay marriage supporter who focused on fighting for social justice and sexual equality. Sounds familiar!
The bishops have become badly unstuck with allegations of bullying leading to a review by Prof Ian Torrance, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland. He found that the bishop's management style led to a culture of "systemic dysfunction".
Concluding his Report Prof Torrance posed the question: "Does the bishop have the personal capacity to bring about healing and reconciliation in the diocese?"
He said it was 'a matter of trust and confidence' in recommending that, for the good of the diocese, the bishop be granted a period of sabbatical leave and step back permanently from the diocese.
One commentator responded, "If this woman had any sense of the office that she bears, she would have stepped aside for the good of the Church."
Another parallel with the Church in Wales.
Postscript [18.09.2021]
'Heartbroken' Welsh evangelicals reach out to Gafcon - Christian Today
Is DodoJo also planning to take off the whole of October on full pay?
ReplyDeleteThere's no honour among thieves.
Here's hoping the unholy Trinity are all about to go forth and multiply.
DeleteIf only just one of them had a moral compass pointing in the right direction.
DeletePP. It's the Monmouth saga again being played out for all to see. Save this time the very involvement of Canterbury and York speaks volumes. The CiW, is at one end of a self imposed cul-de-sac yet again!
ReplyDeleteFor the layperson,the offended, can only watch on as the Church does it own thing!
I think it's especially telling that Professor Torrance - a presumably impartial Church of Scotland Presbyterian brought in, and from a pretty liberal Christian tradition too which appears to have no noticeable problems around women in ordained ministry - should have come to the conclusion that he has. Surely no one can impute that his judgement in the Aberdeen & Orkney business has been coloured by hostile partisan sentiments!
ReplyDeleteBullies and poor managers can be female or male, liberal or conservative.
ReplyDeleteor divorced and re-married self-proclaimed evangelicals!
DeleteI recall, back in the 1960s, that someone conjured up witty nicknames for all the Welsh Anglican dioceses, and that the nickname for Llandaff was 'The Cruel See' - apparently because of bishop Glyn Simon's reputedly autocratic treatment of his clergy. Though I've no idea how far, if at all, that depiction was actually merited.
DeleteIt was well done deserved, trust me.
DeleteOh,to have Glyn Simon back! Every sermon was worth listening to and pondering over; plenty of theology too. Who among the present bench is capable of writing a biblical commentary? (In Glyn's case 1 Corinthians).
DeleteRob
Bangor - the North Sea
DeleteMonmouth — the English Channel
Llandaff — the Cruel Sea (John Morgan rather than Glyn Simon)
Swansea and Brecon — the Quiet Sea (Idle Jack)
St Davids — the Persian Gulf (John RIchard Richards had been Archdeacon of Iran)
St Asaph — the Sea of Tranquility (Danny Bartlett; not much happened)
@ Pegasus:
DeleteYour memory's more intact than mine is! Though I do recall the appellation 'Idle Jack' - but in my previous post I let my finer feelings prevail, and so didn't mention it! In the '60s his ordinands routinely referred to him by that nickname.
I recall one assistant priest who moved into the diocese of S & B who waited well over a year before he received his stipendiary assistant curate's licence - the bishop just hadn't got round to it.
Bishop JJA also had the odd custom, when he wanted to meet up with a priest from his Gower archdeaconty, of inviting the said priest to join him in the front seat of his car in the grounds of St James's church in Walter Road, Swansea. The meeting was normally cordial enough, in a slightly dispassionate way, but a rather cramped environment.
@ Rob:
DeleteI missed out on Glyn Simon, because I never lived in Llandaff diocese
during his era. My only residual memory is of him celebrating a weekday Eucharist in his cathedral in his later days, when his Parkinson's Disease caused a tremor which rattled the microphone on the lectern and considerably obscured what he sought to say.
Infirmity, of one sort or another, generally nets us all in the end.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis is bringing out the worst in some contributors.
DeleteRob
@ Subversive Canon:
ReplyDeleteThe only other of the nicknames that I still recall from all those years ago was Swansea and Brecon, which was styled 'The Dead See' in view of the fact that under the somewhat anodyne rule of Bishop JJA Thomas not much of any particular note ever happened there.
I might be completely wrong, but I have a feeling that several years ago I read a comment from Bp Spong that in God allowing (forcing?) His Son to die on the cross He was committing 'cosmic child abuse'. There really is nothing I can say in response to that, as my mind cannot grasp that any 'Christian' cleric could say such a thing
ReplyDeleteNo - that was Steve Chalk
DeleteGareth
Spong - and his 'modernist' theologizing - first came to note over here after his appointment and consecration as bishop of Newark, New Jersey, in 1979. He remained there until his retirement in 1970.
DeleteHe attibuted the beginnings of his pilgrimage away from traditional Christological orthodoxy to the influence of John Robinson, suffragan bishop of Woolwich, and his book 'Honest to God' which caused so much controversy when it first came out in England in the early 1960s. 'South Bank religion' jpurneying across the pond to 'East Coast USA'.
In point of fact - just like Geoffrey Jenkins with his comments about Easter as a "conjuring trick with bones" - said precisely the opposite of what people think he said. The 'offending' line is: "‘The cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse – a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed… If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies…".
DeleteBut still denies penal substitution:- https://banneroftruth.org/uk/resources/articles/2004/a-scandalous-attack-on-the-cross/
DeleteGareth
Yes; but, as I'm sure you know, this is only one model of "what Christ achieved on the Cross", even among Evangelicals. What is undoubtedly true is that his book caused a right rumpus within evangelicalism (although I bet some of those who criticised him had never read it - as I have not!)
DeleteApologies: until his retirement in 2000! He could hardly have retired befor he was consecrated ...
DeleteBaptist Trainfan - I guess from your response that you are not a Particular Baptist….. Whilst you may consider there to be a ‘number of models of what Christ achieved on the Cross,’ most other the Penal Substitution arise from a refusal to accept not the Authority of Scripture and the Perspicuity of Scripture. Downgrade amongst baptists again…..
DeleteGareth
@ Gareth:
DeleteWhen ot comes to the penal theory of the atonement, I've never been able to get beyond the following simile:
My children have plotted and carried out a peculiarly vile course of action which has caused enormous pain and damage to a number of people. That they deserve a commensurate punishment is beyond doubt.
But I love them too much to inflict a commensurate punishment. But, since in justice someone has to be punished, I get the family dog euthsnized.
John Ellis - not unlike the Old Testament sacrifices (except for the choice of animal)
DeleteGareth
Indeed. But in the first, or at the most the second, generation od the Church, the author of the 'Letter to the Hebrews' recognizes the inadequacy of that.
Delete'For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.If it could, would not the offerings have ceased?' And ...
'Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.'
John - until a perfect sacrifice is offered.
DeleteGareth
@ Gareth:
DeleteQuite. But that doesn't presuppose the penal theory of the atonement as the sole rationale of what the late Alec Vidler termed, in his book in 1963, as as 'Christ's Strange Work'.
Full, perfect, sufficient, once for all. The complexities arise once the question 'how?' is asked.
DeleteHmm, the Lesbian, "Married", "Bishop" of Monmouth, please don't choke, intends having a Celebration of the Century of the Church in Wales in Monmouth Cathedral later this year. Gawd elp us
ReplyDeletePP. @ Quill Pen. The Bishop of Monmouth is not "married" to her partner, she is in a "civil partnership" and has on a number of occasions stated that they have no desire to seek the registration to a "marriage". Notably, being stated in media interviews.
ReplyDeleteThe intended centennial celebration was deferred and is simply a return to those plans, as the Diocese moves forward.
"Marriage", "Civil Partnership", whatever.
DeleteYou say potato, I say tomato.
It's the words Bishop and Lesbian that are incompatible.
PP. This would also obviously work for Gay men in holy orders too. Would that cause any human resource problems, I guess it would.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the outcome of the EFCW meeting yesterday? I hope it wasn't a case of lets all wring our hands and tell ourselves how awful everything is, and then we'll carry on as usual and have a cup of tea. It needs to be decisive and kick the CiW where it hurts. After all, did the GB give a damn how their decision would affect the rest of the Church. The Guardians of faith and morals and the Foci for unity proved to be no guardians and made it abundantly clear that Church unity was the last thing on their minds - quelle surprise! Since the plank sitters cannot be relied on for clear direction of a Christian nature, it is time for someone else to step in. So come on, EFCW, lead the way, and let the CiW die a death, which is now guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteSeymour
The reference to EFCW is extraordinary. I have some photographs which I took at a residential EFCW week in the early 1980s. The majority of the attenders were late teens/early 20s from Monmouth Diocese. One of those in the pics is a young man, Gregory Cameron. I wonder what became of him?!
DeleteCymraes yn Lloegr
I hear he took up eating trees.
DeleteA serious question: EFCW: why are you still in the CIW? At which point will you find another fellowship?
DeletePP. The current edition of the Evangelical Times, which popped through my letter box this morning, surprised me we a front-page article on the CiW same sex blessings decision - a huge picture of +Gregory (not flattering).
ReplyDeleteThe article is scathingly to the point and more. But, the editorial/comments on page 10, really hits the decision and the Wales Gov decision to outlaw conversion therapy guided by you've guessed it CiW and others. Mind you much of the article is ultra right evangelical as one would expect, but, one might ask: If this is the view if one caucus of the wider Church, what are the others thinking/saying?
I heard that a cleric praying for a husband who was experiencing sexual attraction to a male friend, who had asked that cleric to pray with him that he would rather be attracted to his wife would be guilty of conversion therapy.
ReplyDeleteMadness, sheer madness.
Whamab.
That has made my weekend, thank you.
DeleteHaving read the O/P and the thread, it springs to mind that the Church in Wales is heading at Full Steam, against the Teachings of The Bible. We, the Church, through the Guidance of The Bench appear to have accepted their guidance is the new Normal. That is, Homosexuality in both genders is now normal, and we, the Congregation must accept this, according to The Bench, and perhaps the Central Body in Cardiff. Is this correct? Surely we the Congregation can challenge such an acceptance. We do not accept that Homosexuality is the "Norm" and we must ignore the guaidance of the O.T. Perhaps it is time that the Bench of Bishops realised those of us who practice that which is written in The Bible do not accpet that which is being pushed as acceptable by The Bench. Dare I say a certain Bishopette in Monmouth take note.
ReplyDelete