Is this to be the fate of the Church of England?

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock...But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  Matthew 7:24-26

    
From the American Anglican Council:
 "The leadership of the Episcopal Church is considering disciplinary action against 9 bishops. These nine bishops are: Bishops Edward Salmon, Peter Beckwith, Bruce MacPherson, Maurice Benitez, John Howe, Paul Lambert, James Stanton, Daniel Martins, and William Love. 

Essentially, The Episcopal Church is investigating them for providing testimony in lawsuits that supported the rights of dioceses to disaffiliate from the church. Find out more about this sad story here. Canon Phil Ashey analyzes the events in the video report here."   

[Apologies for the unexplained disappearance of the video which appeared here, now accessed via the above link - Ed]

    The uncompromising attitude of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is already in evidence in the Church of England where women demanding so called equality show no quarter to those who simply want to keep the faith. Complaining that concessions to traditionalists would make senior female clergy second class citizens they have threatened to vote against the measure to ordain women bishops - but purely as a temporary strategy of course. In their latest move, WATCH seek to intimidate those whom they regard as weak-kneed bishops with a petition signed by more than 4,000 'people' calling for the withdrawal of Clause 5(1)(c). It would be interesting to know the theological position of the 4,000+ signatories, many of whom I suspect take a purely secular position while some of the signatories already have their names in the frame to be the first woman bishop in the Church of England which could be seen as an exercise in self advancement. As recent figures show, female clergy now have considerable muscle and are not afraid to use it threatening strike action if their demands are not met. Let's hope the bishops of our church have more resolve than Adam!

A further worrying sign is the appointment of the Presiding Bishop's disciple Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, to the Crown Nominations Commission tasked with finding a replacement Archbishop of Canterbury following the departure of Archbishop Rowan Williams. Whereas ++Rowan has worked tirelessly to find a workable solution to our troubles, Dr Morgan is resolutely opposed to any concessions to traditionalists, so much so that he lost the vote to appoint women bishops in Wales because of his intransigence. He is now seeking a second bite of the apple to achieve his cherished ambition of appointing the first woman bishop in the land, ignoring 'the work of the Holy Spirit' which is claimed only if a favourable vote is achieved. He may yet succeed. I hear of persistent rumours rife in Wales following the retirement of his Dean suggesting that a sideways move could be made to clear the way for the appointment of the first woman assistant bishop if the Governing Body of the Church in Wales can be persuaded to give him the vote on the second time of asking. He has already taken over as Dean pro tem, apparently much to the chagrin of the Cathedral Chapter suggesting some truth in the rumour!

So the signs are plain to see. Manipulation, scheming, deception, anything and everything is offered to the false god of so-called 'equality' no matter what the cost. Is that what the church is? In response to my previous entry one of Dr Morgan's few admirers (but perhaps not for long!) took me to task with the comment: "Your phrase 'immature schoolgirls' is at best a tautology, at worst an example of the very misogyny you deny in the previous paragraph. Don't write off schoolgirls so cavalierly; after all, the mother of our Lord was one!" Ignoring the 'schoolgirl' suggestion Mary is quite rightly used as an example. She was humble and accepted the will of God. Some  of the women (and men) who strive for supposed 'equality' in the church as though it does not exist might well say that they too are "doing God's will" but Mary went about her work for God in a very quiet way. No shouting, no bullying, no self advancement, just simply and bravely doing what God asked of her. She let our Lord shine out, never wanting to be recognised as anything other than being His mother, even watching Him die on the cross. That is true service. Not shouting, manipulating, blaming others, wanting everything at any cost, disregarding the needs of others. The true sign of Mary which the Church has recognised for two millennia. Why the pressure to change?

Order out of chaos

"We live in a time when the leadership and structures of The Episcopal Church have abandoned the faith once delivered and substituted a "false gospel" which they are now threatening to spread - as a matter of manifest destiny - to the rest of the Anglican Communion." - AAC

The latest update from the American Anglican Council provides some encouragement for Anglicans who have not been swept along by a fashionable urge to fit the Gospel around current political obsessions. For the fortunate, order has been created out of the chaos resulting from the "false gospel" now spreading, as predicted, through the Church of England and beyond having already consumed the hierarchy of the Church in Wales whose Primate has been appointed to the Crown Nominations Commission and who will no doubt regard the opinions of The Right Reverend Dr Richard Chartres who should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury as completely irrelevant to the church today. 

As the feminist movements in the Church of England ponder over the Amendments to the women-bishops Draft Measure I was amused to read in the Church Times article that the Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod (GRAS) said that the Bishops had pushed the Draft Measure beyond an acceptable level of "generosity and compromise”. Where did generosity and compromise figure in their deliberations or those of Women and the Church (WATCH)? They have used every device to secure exactly what they want on their terms. Don't be mislead by claims that they may have to vote against the measure because it demeans women. They will do anything to gain power. Once they have it that will signal the end of the broad church that was the Church of England.

Crown Nominations Commission: Fair play?

Today I spotted this interesting observation from the American Anglican Council on the Archbishop of Canterbury selection procedure:

   "Finally, with regard to the larger Anglican Communion, we see the revisionist elite in the Church of England and the current politicians in Parliament working together to produce a desired outcome in the selection of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The fact that the Archbishop and Primate of Wales, Barry Morgan, will sit on the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) is absurd. Wales is a miniscule church, with fewer and fewer people attending church practically every week. Archbishop Rowan Williams was the previous Primate of Wales, and he did such a good job of shrinking the Welch Church that they made him Archbishop of Canterbury. Now Rowan's successor Barry Morgan, who has continued Dr. Williams' work of shrinking the church, is to sit on the commission that will nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Another person who has been chosen to sit on the CNC is the Rev. Kenneth Kearon, who as the head of the Anglican Communion Office helps to foist the revisionist agenda of the Anglican elite onto the rest of the Communion. What does Kearon bring to the Commission if not the desires of the liberal elite of the Church of England and the revisionist West?" Full text here.

Dr Morgan's appointment has already attracted criticism here with some choice comments here. While I cannot comment on the possible shrinkage of the Church in Wales when Rowan Williams was Archbishop, in the September 2011 edition of 'Highlights' the Church in Wales published some disastrous Membership and Finance details. They were hidden away on the back page of a document that trumpeted Equal Opportunities for all in the Church, all who matter that is - see this report from the Let nothing you dismay Blog.


I am told by those close to him that the Archbishop of Wales feels hurt when people are unkind to him, that is, whenever people disagree with him. If people hold to their creed they are not being unkind, rather they are defending the faith. If Dr Morgan and his modern liberal friends followed Christ's example rather than spending their time trying to force their own agendas onto the Anglican Church (here and here) we wouldn't be in the mess in which we now find ourselves with declining membership, shortage of funds and constant squabbling about secular issues which have nothing whatsoever to do with the faith of the wider Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. So the question has to be asked, do they believe what they recite in the Creed? If not, all becomes clear.