Bogus bishops destroy Anglicanism

Parliamentlive.tvStephen Cottrell is a member of the House of Lords in his current role as Bishop of Chelmsford.                       Source@ Christian Today

It is rumoured that the next Bishop of London, the third most senior post in the Church of England after the Archbishops of Canterbury and York is to be the current bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell.

Christian Today reports that if the appointment of Bishop Cottrell goes ahead it could cause major tensions in the diverse diocese with a number of powerful conservative parishes opposed to both women's ordination and gay relationships:

"Cottrell called for thanksgiving services for gay couples earlier this year, warning the church was seen an 'immoral' because of its opposition to gay marriage. Some conservative parishes in his diocese called for him to 'repent' in protest and later declared 'no confidence' in both him and the Archbishop of Canterbury over the issue."

Bishop Cottrell's entry in Wikipedia shows that he is a member of the Society of Catholic Priests (SCP), and a member of Affirming Catholicism. In December 2014, he was selected as president of the movement, taking up the appointment at the start of 2015.

Affirming Catholicism it is not. It is a self affirming organisation "noted for holding that Anglo-Catholic belief and practice is compatible with the ordination of women. It also generally supports ordination into the threefold ministry (bishops, priests, deacons) regardless of gender or sexual orientation".

It had ties with Inclusive Church , "a Christian organisation with the aim of advocating for the full inclusion of all people in the Christian churches (especially the Church of England), including in the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons, regardless of ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. More broadly, it seeks 'to raise awareness about the ways that people feel excluded by the church'.

"In 2013, Inclusive Church started hosting an annual lecture related to the organisation's goals. The inaugural lecture was given by Martyn Percy, then principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and later Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and was entitled 'Beyond Inclusion: Whose Church is it anyway?'"

Percy is married to the Chair of Women and the Church (WATCH), another self-fulfilling organisation which ranks feminism above faith. In an article headlined Our Mother who art in heaven: Group of Church women want to refer to God as a 'She' to combat sexism in 2015, the Mail Online reported: "One of the supporters of the idea, the Rev Emma Percy, chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford, said the dominance of male language makes women feel that they are less holy. The chaplain, who is also a member of Watch (Women and the Church), the pressure group that helped win the argument for female bishops in the Church of England, said using the word ‘She’ for God would be more inclusive."

Faith matters little today as the Anglican Church in Great Britain treads the same path to ruin  followed by the US Episcopal church. Ideology matters. Feminism, gender issues dressed up as equality with demands for 'equal' marriage. The "mass hysteria" transgenderism banner is the latest to be waved in the name of equality.

Faith built on compromise is not faith it is an ideology as many ex-members of the Church in Wales can testify.

Postscript [18.12.2017]

Wrong again!

After the feting of Mo debacle at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards when the favourite to win came fourth, the Bookies again backed the wrong horse when they declared the bishop of Chelmsford 2/1 favourite to be appointed the next bishop of London.

Instead Downing Street has announced an ex-NHS Chief Nursing Officer, Dame Sarah Mullally, the bishop of Crediton, has been appointed the 133rd bishop of London in a move that "will delight campaigners for gender equality but dismay conservatives in the church" according to a Guardian report.

Another ideological triumph for the feminist movement and trendy progressives in the Church of England in their race to the bottom.

Odd one out

Mgr Keith Newton                Abp Barry Morgan              Abp Vincent Nichols

Two belong to the catholic church, the other just says that he does after securing agreement that women priests can be admitted to the episcopate in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in his Province.

Wikipedia: "Catholicism (from Greek καθολικισμός, catholikismos, "according to the whole") is a broad term for describing specific traditions in the Christian churches in theology and doctrine, liturgy, ethics and spirituality. For many the term usually refers to Christians and churches, western and eastern, in full communion with the Holy See, usually known as the Catholic Church or the Roman Catholic Church. However, many others use the term to refer to other churches with historical continuity from the first millennium.

In the sense of indicating historical continuity of faith and practice, the term "Catholicism" is at times employed to mark a contrast to Protestantism, which tends to look solely to the Bible as interpreted on the principles of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation as its ultimate standard. It was thus used by the Oxford Movement."

Some Anglican Provinces have moved away from Catholicism towards Protestantism while still claiming a catholic identity, perhaps because to look solely to the Bible causes them insoluble problems. Affirming Catholicism is a classic case of serving their own interests. Using the tag "Inspiration and hope in the Anglican Communion" another source explains: "The movement represents a liberal strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is particularly noted for holding that Anglo-Catholic belief and practice is compatible with the ordination of women. It also generally supports ordination into the threefold ministry (bishops, priests, deacons) regardless of gender or sexual orientation". [My emphasis-Ed.]

Similarly, the Society of Catholic Priests draws its membership from Anglican priests who pretend to be part of the Anglo-Catholic tradition while departing from it having seen which way the wind was blowing. They make excuses about their orders not being recognised as though two wrongs make a right and claim to have reconsidered their positions after seeing the pain women suffered by not being accepted for ordination but are incapable of seeing the pain being caused to other women and men who believe that their actions are contrary to the teaching and tradition of the catholic church.

They also conveniently forget what Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher said: “We have no doctrine of our own.  We only possess the Catholic doctrine of the Catholic Church enshrined in the Catholic Creeds, and these creeds we hold without addition or diminution.  We stand firm on that rock.”

Others do not. Abp Barry Morgan is the odd one out.

The disingenuity of the Welsh 'Mafia'

According to 'people in the know' across the border, the retirement of 'Napoleon' as Dean of Llandaff leaves only two of the so-called Welsh 'Mafia' in place; another has already gone to meet his Maker. Their aim? To change the nature of Anglicanism so that it reflects society rather than reinforcing the Christian tradition that has shaped our two nations. The move of the 'godfather' to Canterbury from Wales spread their influence considerably. Feeling secure that their goal of women in the episcopacy in England had been achieved bar the formality of a vote, the godfather has decided to vacate the mire created and return to academia, leaving his faithful lieutenant to sort out the mess he created for himself in Wales after taking the Governing Body for granted. Both badly misjudged the situation and both lost the vote. The House of Laity in England and the clergy in Wales had enough members who would not be bludgeoned into voting other than according to conviction that worshippers who now found themselves in a minority had been lied to as promises were rescinded. Sufficient confidence was shown prior to the recent Synod vote that members were actually told to vote according to conscience but the facade of tolerance quickly crumbled with the result giving rise to all manner of intemperate accusations.

The silence of the Archbishops in defence of those of their flock who they regard has having gone astray is deafening. Faithful Anglicans are allowed to be pilloried and condemned within the church and without. From mis-quoting the bible to scare stories, from buffoonery to an angry protest, all is sanctioned by their silence. The women bishops movement has followed greed with anger. It seems that nothing is barred in the campaign to discredit those who put Christ before political correctness - although one is forced to admit that the 'apron protest' is far more civilized than the dirty campaign they waged in favour of women priests.

Such is the arrogance of the ruling liberal wing of the church that Affirming Catholicism (AffCath), the society formed to further the liberal cause, brazenly uses the image of Christ on their web site as if to claim Christ's affirmation for their secular ambitions which focus more on gender issues  than on the unity of the Apostolic Church. It is no surprise therefore that AffCaff have stepped into the women bishops debate with a predictable statement which mimics that of Women and the Church (WATCH): "a new way forward must be found, which recognises from the beginning that acceptable provisions cannot mean structures for separate existence" [my emphasis - Ed.]

Speaking on the subject of 'Affirming Tradition' at the AffCaff inaugural meeting in 1990 the then Revd Professor Rowan Williams, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford had this to say: It's not much use fighting tribalism by inventing new tribes; and at present the Church of England is in an unusual tribal phase, when every group seems convinced that its vision of the truth is terminally at risk, and everyone but them is making the running. Part of the trouble with this, of course, is that it fosters the delusion that unless we strain every nerve to preserve our vision, God's promise to be with the Church becomes void; as if God could do nothing unless 'we got it right' and defeated the opposition. If today's title is serious, we are supposed to be hear to affirm something which means helping each other towards confidence and gratitude and away from anxiety [my emphasis - Ed].

Quoting from Michael Ramsey's book The Gospel and the Catholic Church, Rowan Williams continued: "We are a Catholic and a Reformed Church; we believe that the real continuity of the gospel is sometimes served by apparent rupture and discontinuity; and we know a bit about having to stand in worship alongside people of very different visions. We ought to be able to manage a 'theology of disagreement'. if I can so call it - understanding that our diversity is not primarily a mutual threat, but a mutual gift. We can afford to listen to each other, and to our cultural and intellectual milieu, not anxiously waiting to be offended but expecting to be taken somehow deeper into the life of the giving God. Our security is not to be in what we possess and hold tight, but in God's promise to hold us, the promise realised at every baptism and mass, when we are brought again to the one whose whole identity is the promise of faithfulness, the 'Yes' of God. 

As the original 'tribe', orthodox Anglicans have 'stood alongside people of very different visions. Two decades later the invaders want traditional Anglicans expelled: the 'opposition' must be defeated, if necessary by changing the rules. The 'Yes' of God has become subordinate to the Yes of Synod in a measure designed to silence orthodoxy for the sake of a politically correct view of society when society generally couldn't care less about the church other than in time of need.

Statements such as "acceptable provisions cannot mean structures for separate existence" are made in the full knowledge that only a separate existence would allow both the integrities to move forward equally in good conscience. So we are back to 'Go'. All the reasons for saying no rather than 'Yes' will be rehearsed to ensure that there is no existence rather than a separate existence. AffCath claim to be a movement of inspiration and hope in the Anglican Communion, seeking to bring together and strengthen lay and ordained people. As reformed and reforming Catholics, [they] seek to renew the universal Church by including those with different perspectives and bearing witness in the world to Christ’s healing and reconciling love. I see no evidence of their witness to Christ's healing and reconciling love. Having set themselves apart from the universal church they have convinced themselves that they 'got it right' even though they are part of a church within the Universal church. Is that not a separate existence?

Without doubt it will be claimed that the circumstances are different but that sums up the disingenuity of a clique that pretends to be working for the good of all while erecting every possible obstacle to ensure that others fail to flourish. Their ingenuity has been to use secular criteria of equality in the work place as a cause for dissatisfaction. Their disingenuity is in its application to faith and doctrine, impugning the integrity of others. They have pleaded their cause widely in society to the extent that if their supporters filled the pews we would have to increase the number of services rather than close churches for lack of attendance. So much for their integrity.

So successful has this ploy been that, with the rare exception, condemnation comes from all quarters despite the fact that the correct procedures were followed with a high expectation that a significant minority, many cradle Anglicans, were being asked to vote themselves out of existence. Contrary to reports, the vote did NOT 'tear up plans to ordain women as bishops despite overwhelming support in the parishes'. Rather it sought proper provision for doubters as previously promised. If those now reveling in the description, reformed and reforming Catholics seek to renew the universal Church by a process of submission, then the new Anglican church will have more in common with Islam than Catholicism. Talking about the unavoidable introduction of Sharia law in the UK in 2008 Dr Rowan Williams told the BBC that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system. - Rather like Synod and their legal system if they don't relate to the result!

An emasculate conception

 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." 

In 2005 a new version of the Gospels invited readers to believe that Jesus Christ was a woman known as Judith:

 "And Joseph went to Bethlehem, To be enrolled with Mary, his wife, who was then pregnant,  And she brought forth her firstborn child, And her name was chosen to be Judith.” Later, "She bearing her cross went forth, There they crucified Judith.... Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Judith who was crucified. She is not here; for She is risen.” 

In July this year role reversal and substitution in the guise of equality reached its climax in the Episcopal Church of the United States, the Mecca of religious liberalism. They voted overwhelmingly in favour of transgender ordination, the latest in a series of departures from the male priesthood of faith and tradition in the Apostolic Church. 

In 2008 the Presiding Bishop's arch disciple, the Archbishop of Wales, wrote for the Guardian that refusing to ordain women bishops was at odds with the gospel. Quoting St Paul he wrote: "At the heart of the Christian gospel are values of integrity, justice, wholeness and inclusion: In Christ there is no bond or free, male or female, Jew or Greek". Too often in this feminist inspired campaign, equality is preached out of context for the benefit of a secular audience while demeaning the views of those who share a different integrity. Yes, in Christ there is no "bond or free", no "Jew or Greek" but that does not mean that they are the same any more than "male and female" are the same; they are complementary. Interpreting the Bible in the context of social development becomes not a matter of faith but simply a question of geography using a false definition of equality contrary to Christ's vision of the church. The gospel values of integrity, justice, wholeness and inclusion are now being denied to opponents of the ordination of women on the absurd pretext that affording them the protection they need would make women bishops second class.

In 2002 the results of a survey carried out by Christian Research disclosed a decline in core beliefs and widespread scepticism among liberal clergy, particularly in organisations such as Affirming Catholicism and Modern Church (formerly the Modern Churchpeople's Union). The sample of women clergy in the survey showed that just over half said they believed in the bodily Resurrection. The figure fell to exactly a third when it came to the Virgin birth. This is a worrying development given the prediction: "It's obvious that over time the priesthood will become increasingly a female profession. As far as the church has a future it will include a predominant ministry of women and they will get to the top."- David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.

Women rightly have much higher expectations today, demanding equality of opportunity in society and in employment but the church is not a secular marketplace. The ordained ministry is a vocation which already shows itself to be incapable of achieving the objective of parity in employment as envisaged by Women and the Church (WATCH). The  church is being increasingly feminised with every indication that the end result will not be parity but female domination. As the testosterone deficit in congregations spreads through choir and chancel to the sanctuary, supporters of the ordination of women outdo one another in liberality with the predicted result of gender reversal in the priesthood leaving the church dominated by women as in pagan churches at the time of Christ when His Apostolic Church stood apart. 
  
Back in 2007 Clerical Whispers blogged: "For the first time, the Church of England reports that more women than men were ordained in 2006. Last year 244 women and 234 men were ordained in the Church of England. 
In June 2012 the Church of England published these statistics:
The number of women clergy, paid and unpaid, continues to rise. In 2011 there were 1,763 women in full-time paid parochial appointments compared with 1,140 in 2000, an increase of 50 per cent over the decade. Women make up over one in five (22 per cent) of paid parish clergy. Women in 2011 made up more than half of both those in self-supporting ministry (54 per cent) and of licensed readers (51 per cent).

Constantly capitulating, trendy liberals in the House of Bishops have demonstrated that they are ill-equipped to defend traditional teaching from attack, particularly by Women and the Church who campaign for equality but demand an ordained women's ministry solely on their terms, a ministry that in a period of reception has shown every indication that the result will be predominately (perhaps solely) a female ministry according to evidence already available. Synod can no longer in good conscience vote for a measure that will result in the inequality it strives to avoid. The proposals for the ordination of women to the episcopate must be rejected in order to reverse the process of gender substitution in the priesthood which will turn the Church of England into a feminised organisation no longer recognisable as part of Christ's Apostolic Church.