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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

From the archives


Sacred Synod July, 2017                                                                                                                       Source: Church in Wales

Spot the problem(s).     

Postscript 

33 comments:

  1. Laughing Gas 🤣16 June 2026 at 08:31

    I've lost count already.

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  2. Spot the Problem??? They're all looking happy and clapping! What is there to be happy about!!!

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    Replies
    1. A fat salary for doing bugger all, a non-contributory pension to collect when you've finished doing bugger all and unaudited discretionary petty cash to spend how you like until that day arrives.
      What's not to like?

      Delete
  3. Caiaphas: "No tongues, John"

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  4. Lux et Veritas16 June 2026 at 13:01

    Less than nine years have elapsed but five of the six have left in disgrace as Fatboy Slim clings on by his finger nails.
    Never never never trust (Church in Wales) bishops.

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    Replies
    1. My fear is Lux et etc., that if the Llandudno 'joyous' talking shop gets the election of Bangor wrong (again), then its not the future of the existing bishops which need bother us .... but the desertion of more decent Diocese of Bangor parish priests to other diocese (and indeed out of Wales) which will be the downfall. Too many of them simply quit under Andy John. Even more if Manon James succeeds to the See. She's apparently not popular. Nor - for those with memories of Townsend's brown-nosing +John is the other local contender.

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    2. Fr Duddleswell16 June 2026 at 19:00

      Don’t forget old Mystic Meg from Llangollen…

      Delete
    3. Menai Straight16 June 2026 at 22:32

      You think some decent priests are left?😱😱
      I can scarce believe it!

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    4. Some of us are prayerful, diligent, and preach the gospel with faithfulness

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    5. Not really good enough 'Y Parch'. Most church-attending congregants are 'prayerful' and follow the gospels 'with faithfulness'. What we expect of Parish Priests and those elevated to higher office is significantly more than that. Far, far more and not just sitting in clergy conferences, attending retreats and navel-gazing waiting for the Spirit of the Lord to descend as a dove to sort it all out. God, I am sure, would prefer action to repetitions of Prayers.

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    6. you believe all I do is sit in conferences, attend retreats and navel gaze, and pronounce judgement without knowing me or my colleagues throughout the diocese.

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    7. Leadership and courage are what are most desperately needed.
      Bugger the Bishops.
      Bewildered

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    8. Given the personal habits of so many of your colleagues it's a relief to see you didn't include Naval gazing, Y Parch.🤣

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  5. Is this a case of "things were better in my day"?

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    Replies
    1. Why don't you tell us?

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    2. @ Celt.
      In my case (above), the answer is yes. The not-so-distant days when there'd be decent congregations, when Vicars engaged in 'pastoral care', visitations of the sick, etc. There'd be vibrant Sunday Schools, Mothers' Unions, the priest would be seen in the local pub, Vicarages were 'open-door', churches would be the attractive place for Saturday weddings; infant Baptisms at the font were common place, crematoriums were there simply for that purpose ... not as more secular option of avoiding the local church and parish priests studied post graduate Theology or Divinity, not social services or nail-clipping, Churches across Wales Wales focussed on contributing to the world communion such as CMS, Mission to Seamen, Barnados, SPCK and not in wasteful funding on cosmetics, the employment of more and more non-back-office 'advisors' , administrators, chief Execs; IT and PR executives, Aga Ovens, cathedral pews, LGBTQ flags, offsite conferences in Rome and America, huge pay-offs to clergy threatening employment tribunal action against their diocese etc. More particularly, the days when Vicars could actually deliver a 10-12 minute sermon which might have some scriptual or Biblical meaning rather than a 'stand-up' waffle of banal nonsenses - some even verging on political - delivered today.

      Yes. Things were better in my day. Churches were filled. Parishioners were happy. Clergy didn't stab each other in the back. I think 'my day' came to its end when the affects of Barry Morgan's style of leadership creeped in into the parishes of Wales and the priesthood itself (apart from the Wimmin Lobby and later the LGBTQ cabal) simply threw their towels in.

      Delete
  6. Ah, the good old days. It sounds idyllic! If only it could be like that now. You don't know how lucky you were.

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  7. So it's the Dean for Bangor. What a surprise!


    Periglor

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  8. Well it’s Manon… Good luck Bangor

    Fed Up

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  9. It is Manon. The End.

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  10. No surprise there.

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  11. It could have been so much worse.

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  12. Fr Duddleswell17 June 2026 at 18:24

    I know that some posters are opposed to the ordained ministry of women. I do not share their view. I am, however, totally opposed to the preferment of incompetents and/or people who damage others. This appointment drives me to despair.

    Having dispatched one Bishop renowned for incompetence, mishandling of situations, and alleged to have bullied many, the electors have promptly replaced him with one of similar ilk. A Dean who promised much and delivered nothing, made an appalling situation even worse, by all accounts, and carries with her allegations of bullying from at least one previous role.

    The people and good frontline clergy of the Diocese have been extremely badly served by the electors, and badly let down by the denomination. They deserved far better. I fear it is now the end for the Diocese of Bangor, not because the new Bishop is a woman, but because all signs point to her episcopacy being a case of more of the same.

    As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, until it all ends.

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    Replies
    1. Shan't waste my breath saying: 'let's see how it pans out'. I know the outcome. Total failure. Who to blame? ++Vann for (a) appointing her as Dean of Bangor post SRE debacle and (b) not accounting her for her failings whilst in post. That's me done with Bangor and the C-in-W.

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  13. St Asaph regular

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  14. Menai Straight17 June 2026 at 19:39

    And there it is in a nutcase!
    The chocolate 🍫 teapot has been replaced with a chocolate teapotette.
    Quelle bloody surprise🤦
    The dash to oblivion increases speed.

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    Replies
    1. And it’s not even April the first!!!

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  15. When i was a curate. I was at lunch with Manon as my IME officer and had to sit through her and another female colleague discuss the quality of male clergy bottoms in the diocese. Stuart Ash won the contest from what i remember.

    At a later date. She disclosed highly personal information about me to a family member. Information she gained from a professional capacity. She raised it with him believing he already knew and wanted a gossip about it. The latter was within the last 12 months.

    The new bishop of bangor ladies and gentlemen.

    CinW leaver.

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  16. St Asaph Regular17 June 2026 at 21:16

    The Church in Wales has become so intoxicated by its own sense of importance that it appears genuinely to believe nobody can see through its games. It operates with the complacency of an institution convinced that accountability is for other people and that the wider public will simply accept whatever absurdity is presented as wisdom. Yet people can see perfectly well what is happening. They can see appointments that defy credibility, decisions that mock common sense, and a culture that too often appears more interested in protecting reputations than pursuing truth.

    What is most astonishing is not the conduct itself but the apparent belief that nobody will notice. The Church behaves like a medieval court surrounded by loyal courtiers applauding every misjudgement while the rest of the world looks on in disbelief. It speaks endlessly of justice, integrity, and discernment, yet too often appears incapable of applying those principles to itself. Every perverse decision, every act of institutional self-preservation, and every display of breathtaking arrogance chips away at what little moral authority remains.

    The real scandal is not that these things occur. The real scandal is that those responsible seem genuinely convinced that everyone else is too foolish to recognise them.

    The little tryst’s on the sea front of Llandudno governing body between cherry and mannon, the side comments of things will be changing in a direction of a Welsh speaking female Bishop by ++ Gregory at the last GB etc etc makes the whole process a complete mockery……if ever there was a reason to believe in the day of reckoning……it is today, you will be held to account for what you have done to our church.

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    Replies
    1. Are you all sure her name is Manon?
      By the sound of it, Manon would be nearer the mark.
      Is she another lesbian too?

      Delete
    2. Apologies readers, autocorrect defeated me.
      Manon and Mamon were originally typed.

      Delete
  17. Reminder: Anonymous comments intended for publication must include a pseudonym.

    ReplyDelete