True colours

WATCH gathering                                                                                                                    Source: WATCH/Church Times

From the Church Times: "A CAMPAIGN to end the provisions that accompanied the women-bishops legislation of 2014, put in place to provide for those unable to accept women’s ministry (News, 28 July 2014), was launched by Women and the Church (WATCH) on Saturday.

"The campaign group hopes to see a motion brought to the General Synod, asking members to consider “whether it is right for the 2014 House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests to continue in perpetuity and, if not, to set a date for it to come to an end”. The plans were discussed at the “Not Yet Equal Conference” at St John’s, Waterloo, in London. WATCH aims to roll out roadshows across dioceses in the coming months, in the hope of getting the motion carried by diocesan synods. An alternative approach would be a private member’s motion.

"WATCH is also encouraging women clergy to log experiences of “harassment”, with a view to bringing a case under the Equality Act (2010)." Full report here.

The bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemary Mallet (pictured above), said "The Principles 'help to reinforce' the 'unequal and iniquitous gendered culture of the current Church of England', Dr Mallett said on Saturday. The foundations of this culture lay in the 1993 settlement, which established Provincial Episcopal Visitors (PEV) and 'allowed . . . churches to limit women’s roles on grounds of theological conviction'."

Dr Mallet lays bare the guiding principles of WATCH, feminist equality in a secularised Church. Theology has no place in the minds of these deceitful women. 

She went on: "With hindsight, we never really thought through how this agreement would build on those foundations, cementing in both official and unofficial practices in churches a perpetuation of women’s unequal treatment and the continued discrimination against women."

The deceit is mind blowing. Using the Church to further their feminist ideals, these women have reached their goal of women bishops by stealth, regardless of the hurt they have caused for those who on theological grounds are unable to accept their secular agenda.

Step by step WATCH have argued that it did not mean that women would become priests if they were allowed to become deacons. When they were made deacons they argued that being a deacon was preparation for the priesthood. When women were admitted to the priesthood they claimed that the Church was dicriminating against women if they were not allowed to become bishops in a three-fold ministry.

'Mutual flourishing' enabled these feminists to achieve their goal. Now they want to end the provisions that accompanied the women-bishops legislation. 

Sadly the people to whom WATCH appeal have the same secular outlook. They are unable to see through the lies because many attending Church have become secularised.

WATCH's Not Equal Yet Campaign claims that "Our national Church is getting away with discriminating against women, limiting female leadership, at every level of the organisation."

It shows them in their true colours. They want those of us who do not agree with them to be left with nothing.

It is appropriate that the article is dated 1st April. WATCH have made fools of the Church.           

New Year's resolution

King Charles delivering his Christmas Day speech   Source: Christian Today

I did not have the same enthusiasm for the King's Christmas message as I did for his mother's messages. 

As head of the Church of England, HM Queen Elizabeth II could always be relied on to uphold the Christian faith.

In a 2022 entry I wrote Christianity on the wane in England and Wales commenting on Charles' wish be 'Defender of Faith', rather than 'Defender of the Faith', as though all faiths are the same when they clearly are not. 

The speech, broadcast from an ex-hospital chapel which is available to all faiths as if to emphasise the point, was watched by 6.8 million out of a UK population off around 69 million people. For comparison Gavin and Stacey: The Finale was warched by 12.32 million and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl by 9.38 million.

In his 2024 message Charles said, "But, on this Christmas Day, we cannot help but think of those for whom the devastating effects of conflict – in the Middle East, in Central Europe, in Africa and elsewhere – pose a daily threat to so many people's lives and livelihoods."

King Charles went on to say "Diversity of culture, ethnicity and faith provides strength not weakness" but as commented on in Christian Today 'That is not self-evidently true'.

There is one faith/ideology that frequently appears in the news as the main source of conflict. Less frequent is the reporting of the deaths, kidnappings and other atrocities regularly perpetrated in Africa and elsewhere around the globe. According to Open Doors, three fifths of the countries listed suffer persecution as a result of this one ideology.

While the hand of friendship is extended to its adherants in the United Kingdom, blind eyes are turned to world events. Thousands of people who do not share our values continue to enter the UK seeking to replace our culture with theirs. 

As demonstrations in the UK are becoming more devisive it has become risky to comment on such matters for fear of attracting accusations of a hate crime. Free speech in Britain is at risk.

Christianity is being diluted in the name of diversity. Recently I read a report “Woke” MoD Bosses to Strip Cross From Military Cap Badge  as part of efforts to make the British Army chaplains department more diverse and multicultural. I wonder what Queen Elizabeth would have had to say about that.

The situation is becoming dire. We have a woke government and a woke church.

For full assessment by former Queen's Chaplain Gavin Ashenden watch King Charles Christmas Speech - A Declaration of Civil War. 

 A good New Year's resolution would be to pray for our increasingly dis-United Kingdom.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Postscript 03.01.2025

PRAYER ALERT: One-year-old killed as Nigerian Christians targeted at Christmas

Christmas Greetings 2024

The Light of the World, François Boucher 1750                                                                                           Source: Wikipedia

With Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas

 and

 Peaceful New Year

 

Caption corner 23 December, 2024

Source: BBC

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A man of integrity

Warren Gatland has been head coach of Wales for 149 matches                                                                             Source: BBC/Photo Huw Evans Picture Agency

 On Friday 31st January 2025 France starts The Six Nations 2025 season kicking off against Wales. In the meantime Wales' head coach Warren Gatland awaits news of his fate with his customary humility.

Questioned after a record 11th successive Test match defeat he said he agreed "whatever the best decision is for Welsh rugby". 

Wales has had a disappointing run of results as have other teams over the years but let us put it into proprtion.

Country populations published for the 2023 World Cup showed Wales with a population of only 3 million compared with England's 57 million, Ireland's 7.2 million and Scotland's 5.5 million. Italy was 61 million, France 68.5 million and Japan a whopping 123.7 million.

When it comes to most registerd players France leads with over half a million compared with Wales'  83,120 registered rugby players. South Africa has the second highest number with 405,438 while England is third with 382,154 registrations. New Zealand comes 4th after Australia. Ireland is tenth and Scotland 15th.

Wales have punched well above their weight over the years and, like Scotland and Ireland, will do again.

Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) bosses have been reviewing the outcome of the autumn series and will determine if Warren Gatland will be in charge for next year's Six Nations season. 

The Review should be completed before Christmas. Hopefully it will be a happy one for a coach who has given so much to Welsh rugby.

Postscript 20.12.2024

Warren Gatland will remain as Wales' head coach for the 2025 Six Nations

Restoring the Value of Parishes

All Saints Bakewell, a parish church in Derbyshire                                               Source: Wikipedia. Photo: Bert Camenbert 

From CIVITAS

Restoring the Value of Parishes: The foundations of welfare, community, and spiritual belonging in England

Esme Partridge, November 2024

The parish church has been a foundational part of cultural life in England for hundreds of years. England’s 12,500 parish churches are ‘treasure houses’ of national history, containing the memories of our ancestors as well as the rich architectural and musical heritage of Anglicanism. Parishes also bring together local communities, providing charitable services – including food banks, childcare and counselling – worth billions of pounds per year.

Yet parish churches across the country are now in crisis. Crumbling buildings, declining attendance, and sharp reductions in clergy all pose a considerable threat to their survival. In the past 50 years, over 2,000 churches have been made redundant, with some 300 of these closing between 2016 and 2021 alone. Congregations have been shrinking in size since the 1960s, but fell by a further 19 per cent following the pandemic. Meanwhile, the number of stipendiary clergy in the Church of England has almost halved since 1959, leaving many churches without a priest dedicated to the parish.

Though this decline can to some extent be attributed to lower levels of religiosity and community attachment in today’s Britain, this report argues that management decisions made by the Church of England itself have also played a major role. These include moves to cut funding to local churches and ministers – in some cases merging up to 23 parishes into one ‘mega-parish’ served by a single team of clergy – and instead directing resources towards central bureaucracy: on average, the Church now employs one administrator for every three and a half priests. Hundreds of millions of pounds have also been funnelled into ‘strategic development funding’, intended to experiment with radical new ways of attracting people to the Church. These have mixed results and, according to some critics, often represent a departure from Anglican traditions and belief.

Restoring the Value of Parishes diagnoses what has gone wrong with the Church of England in recent years, and makes the case for returning to what works: supporting local clergy to continue serving their communities via parish churches. This will require Church management to restore its confidence in the parish as an institution that is uniquely placed to provide a refuge from the challenges of modernity. At a time when the public sector is diminished and invisible in many communities, the parish can be an ideal starting point for the renewal of civic life. If the Church wants to be more ‘relevant’, the author argues, it should stop trying to reinvent itself and instead embrace its unique position as a source of tradition, sanctity, and community solidarity in an uncertain world.

...

Saving the Parish… now and for the future

Caption corner 6 December 2024

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