Church closures

An abandoned church in Newington, Gloucestershire. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy                        Source: Guardian

Simon Jenkins writes in The Guardian: "The Church of England is panicking about declining congregations – here’s what it should do instead. Too many beautiful church buildings are going to ruin. Councils could run them better. Let them."

But could they? If uncut verges and weed infested streets are anything to go by, perhaps not. 

Church mainteneance, particulalry churchyard/burial ground mainteneance will become a serious problem as congregations decline and churches close.

Quoting the Bishop of Chelmsford, Jenkins writes: "The Church of England is in a state of “panic and fear”, of “deep anxiety”, and should stop being obsessed with numbers and face the reality of decline. So says one of its bishops, Guli Francis-Dehqani, of Chelmsford. It’s not hard to see why. Two years ago, as weekly worshippers re-emerged after Covid, church statisticians were desperate to see if they would return at least to their 2019 numbers, when about 854,000 people turned out to church. In 2023, that figure was just 685,000.

"Put another way, 169,000 weekly worshippers have vanished over a four-year period. Fewer people now go to their parish church than attend a local mosque or a Catholic mass. It is all very well for bishops to urge the church to stop worrying over “targets” and “growth” – to leave the planning to God and stick to praying. But the decline in attendance is relentless. At the turn of the century, 1 million people went to church each year; in 1980, the number was 1.3 million. Since cathedral worship is rising, something is clearly going wrong with parish churches, even under the present evangelical archbishop, Justin Welby. It cannot simply be that ever fewer Britons are professing the Christian faith, as is the case across Europe."

Church going can become a habit, hence Churchianity rather than Christianity. Covid broke that habit for many churchgoers while equality diversity and inclusion have replaced theology, scripture and tradition. Consequently minorities rule.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is the latest to succumb to secular relationship values commenting in a podcast "that all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship and whether it's straight or gay".

That is not to judge the sentiments expressed by the archbishop, that will be left to Another. Rather it is to uphold the principle of traditional Christian marriage.

Secular notions of equality have become paramount. Churches are closing. Welby is treading the same path as the Archbishop of Wales and the Primus of Scotland.

The Bishop of Chelmsford is one of the front runners to replace Just Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury which would tick all of today's important boxes

Church and state leaders appear impotent as the British landscape  changes before their eyes. 

While churches close mosques spring up blasting out prayers five times a day from 5 AM. 

With no churches to go to and an alien culture foisted upon them, Anglicans will be like foreigners in our own land.

Pain for the Ordinariate

Former bishops of Llandaff and of Monmouth in Grill the Bishops          Source :Church in Wales

 

 An announcement from CBCEW, one of many to cross my desk.

"The Right Revd Richard Pain, a former Bishop of Monmouth, will be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, on Sunday 2 July at St Basil & St Gwladys, Rogerstone Newport.  He will be received by The Rt Revd Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

"Monsignor Newton said: ’We are delighted that after much prayer Richard has asked to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.  He will be the first bishop from the Anglican Church in Wales to be received into the Ordinariate since its creation in 2011. Richard has a long and distinguished ministry in the Church in Wales.  He has many gifts which he will continue to use to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Wales."

It is difficult to reconcile Monsignor Newton's fulsome welcome with previous events in the diocese of Monmouth but it would be churlish not to wish Fr Pain well as he abandons the ship he helped to sink.

One of the most bizarre of such cases involved the feminist campaigner and prominent activist in the movement for the ordination of women, Dr Una Kroll who died in 2017. 

She had been described as 'an inspirational woman famed for her humanitarian work'. She had been a doctor and nun who became a priest' but was to shock admirers and friends by publicly leaving the priesthood she had so long campaigned to be part of to become a Roman Catholic.

As I wrote at the time, "Many faithful Anglicans who showed charity in accommodating the desires of these women have since discovered to their cost, that their church has left them. This is particularly so in Wales where women were successful in ensuring that there will be no provision for alternative oversight. I have seen no evidence of a campaign for equality on behalf of the excluded."

As a bishop of the Church in Wales Richard Pain ordained women. Now he is being admitted to an organisation set up to accommodate those who were unable on grounds of conscience to receive the sacramental ministry of women, 

He leaves behind many abandoned Anglicans without any sacramental or pastoral ministry.

Postscript [22.06.2023]

Informative article from Martin Shipton, Associate Editor Nation Cymru:
Former Church in Wales Bishop to become a Catholic

CofExit

Rev Dr Ian Paul, pictured at Manchester Cathedral.     Source: Christian Today

From Christian Today: "Ian Paul on why he won't leave the Church of England despite its support for gay blessings"

Anglican theologian and blogger, the Rev Dr Ian Paul recently spoke to Christian Today about the significance of the Church of England General Synod's decision to back same-sex blessings, his plea to the bishops, and why he has no plans to leave the Church of England. 

This is a continuing dilemma for many Anglicans in the Church of England, the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church, particularly so for Anglicans conscious of Jesus' prayer that 'all of them may be one'.

Innovation after innovation are driving Anglicans ever further from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and most Anglicans.

From the ordination of women to their admission to the episcopacy. From same sex blessings to the goal of same sex weddings in church. Each in turn has been claimed to be the last straw. Some Anglicans have been able to make accommodations to allow them to continue while for others it has been the end of communal worship.

Previously the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches warned of the consequences for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of which Anglicans claim membership if Anglicans unilaterally decided to ordain women to the priesthood and admit them to the episcopacy. See Metropolitan Hilarion on Renouncing the Faith.

Similar pleas were made at Synod over same sex blessings by ecumenical representative Archbishop Angaelos of the UK Coptic Orthodox Church and Archbishop Sami of the Anglican Province of Alexandria. Both pleaded "not to go down this route because it would only damage relationships in the Communion, and ecumenical relationships with other Churches." Their pleas were ignored by the archbishops of Canterbury and York.

The irony is, of course, Dr Paul is right. The bishops are wrong. It is they who should exit from the Church.

Postscript [21.02.2023]

Global Anglican church leaders oust Archbishop over same sex blessing reform

Congregational Catholics

Cardinal Reinhard Marx and fellow bishops from Germany meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2022 | Vatican Media. Source: CNA

At the Collation & Installation of the new Dean of Llandaff, the Rev Canon Richard Peers, the retiring bishop, June Osbourne, repeated the claim that "the Church in Wales is part of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", a claim rejected by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches following the unilateral action of some Anglicans to ordain women to the priesthood.

 The bishop invited the Dean-designate to make the following declaration:

"I do solemnly declare my belief in the Faith which is revealed in Holy Scripture and set forth in 
the Catholic Creeds and to which the historic formularies, namely the Thirty-nine Articles of 
Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons as
published in 1662, bear witness; and in public prayer and the administration of the Sacraments,

I will use only those forms of service which are allowed by lawful authority, and none other. And
I hereby undertake to be bound by the Constitution of the Church in Wales, and to accept,
submit to, and carry out any sentence or judgement which may at any time be passed upon me
by the Archbishop, a Diocesan Bishop or any Court or the Tribunal of the Church in Wales."

Somewhat removed from the faith of one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Dean of Llandaff is in a same sex relationship living openly with his partner. The campaigning bishop of Monmouth is also living openly with her partner in a same sex relationship while the Archbishop of Wales is a re-married divorcee.

How can this be? 

Anglican beliefs allow local discretion under The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral :

1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God.

2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.

3. The two Sacraments,–Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,–ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.

4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.

'Locally adapted' opens a can of worms. The liberal agenda took hold in the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA, now TEC). In 2003 Anglican provinces declare 'impaired' or 'broken' relationship with ECUSA following the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Within a generation liberal revisionists have taken control of many Anglican provinces. The Church in Wales has become a joke among orthodox Anglicans and the wider Christian fellowship. The Church of England teeters on the edge of disaster as bishops push their latest deception, Living in Love and Faith.

Liberal provinces face extinction while Anglicanism elsewhere thrives. In the USA, Alarm Bells as Episcopal Church Decline Accelerates but nothing deters the revisionists. If at first they don't succeed they try, try and try again until they have their own way.

For those Anglicans who swam the Tiber the same ominous signs are appearing as German bishops meet with Pope Francis amid concern over Synodal Way

The president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said he will not deny blessings for same-sex couples.

The Synodal Way "is a controversial discussion process underway in Germany with the declared aim of addressing the Church’s clerical sexual abuse crisis by debating and passing resolutions on whether, or how, Catholicism needs to change (“develop”) its teaching – and the Catholic Church therefore change its approach – to questions of sexuality and the exercise of power, including doctrine and the sacraments."

The Church of England Synod voted to ordain women to the priesthood and to the episcopate. The Governing Body of the Church in Wales followed suit. The Church of England is seeking to emulate the Church in Wales, blessing same sex partnerships as a precursor to same sex marriage in Church. Disaster looms closer.

Faith by committee is not the faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Ultimately it has led to Jesus being depicted as a "rosy-cheeked Christ with breasts, beard and make-up jumping in front of a rainbow".

As Tony Barber wrote in the Financial Times yesterday, "The American priest and author Andrew Greeley once said: “The opposite of Catholic is not Protestant. The opposite of Catholic is sectarian.” But just as secular politics in western countries is a battleground between mutually suspicious conservatives and liberals, so Greeley’s appeal to respect differences of religious opinion is drowning in a doctrinal struggle for control of the Roman Catholic Church."

Postscript [04.12.2022]

Greek City Times The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church: Revealing The Truth

Beyond belief

Church in Wales bishops, from left: Bishop John Lomas, Bishop June Osborne, Bishop Gregory Cameron, Archbishop Andrew John, Bishop Joanna Penberthy,
 Bishop Cherry Vann and Bishop Mary Stallard. Source: Church in Wales

The apparently not-at-all-busy archbishop of Wales who needs an assistant to help him do next to nothing has surfaced to make what he regards is an important announcement along with other like-minded Anglicans who are promoting same sex marriage. 

Marching off to Lambeth, not with the cross of Jesus, but with the LGBT banner going on before, the most reverend Andrew John, bishop of Bangor and archbishop of Wales proclaims: "The draft Lambeth Call on human dignity “undermines and subverts" LGBT+ people...the bishops pledge to work to amend the passage “to reflect more adequately our understanding of their equal place in the Church".

 That is a distortion of the facts.

LGBT+ people already have more than an equal place in the Church. Gay bishops, LGBT chaplains, same-sex blessings, pride eucharists. All are welcomed and affirmed.

By contrast, Anglicans who, in conscience, are unable to accept the new order, the ordained ministry of women and the liberal agenda that has come with it are cast aside without a thought. There is no longer even a pretence of any place for them in the Church. That evaporated as soon as the movement for the ordination of women achieved their goal.

The female dominated bench of bishops shows no desire to provide an equal place for Anglicans who have not swallowed their propaganda.

That is a battle lost but the baggage that has come with it continues. For many Anglicans the institution of marriage is sacred. As the official policy of the Church in Wales states:

"Drawing on the teaching of the Bible, and of the Church down through the centuries, the Church in Wales Marriage Service talks about marriage as a gift of God. Marriage is described as the lifelong, faithful union between a man and a woman, and married love is compared with the love Jesus has for his people – a love expressed in his willing sacrifice of himself on the cross."

To uphold this officially stated view is being characterised as homophobic while the bishops openly campaign to allow same sex marriage in Church, the archbishop of Wales' first expressed wish after his enthronement. 

For the women's movement, first they demanded equality based on secular standards, then parity, already surpassed but the female dominated bench shows no desire to provide an equal place for Anglicans who have not succumbed to their falsehoods.

The bishops of the Church in Wales have become a joke outside their own province. Why should anyone at Lambeth listen to them when their message is anathema to the vast majority of Anglicans and other Christians around the world.

Ironically the lead author in the Lambeth Conference drafting process for The Lambeth Call on Christian Unity is bishop Gregory Cameron - see pages 5 and 44 of the link to LAMBETH CALLS: GUIDANCE AND STUDY DOCUMENTS. The section begins:

"We are committed to the work of unity. We confess we are not united and for Christians that is a scandal and a cause of shame. We urge all our sisters and brothers to commit to work for unity and we call especially on our ecumenical partners to help us, work with us and enable us to move closer to one another."

Yes, it is a scandal. Trendy Anglican bishops are renouncing the faith and dragging down others with them instead of saving their souls. 

Postscripts 

[27/07/2022] Motion of no confidence threat for Justin Welby over the Lambeth Calls surrender

[28/07/2022] From Christian Today: "Bishops who deny the Gospel 'should be removed from their positions'."

[29.07.2022] ORTHODOX bishops at the Lambeth Conference - representing 75% of the Anglican Communion - announced today (29JUL) that they will be tabling their own ‘Lambeth Resolution (Call)’.

[02.08.2022] Orthodox bishops reveal text of resolution reaffirming ‘Lambeth 1.10’ as the Anglican Communion teaching on marriage and sexuality

Mutual flourishing

Former archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan in his empty cathedral

The Church of England is taking steps to safeguard 'mutual flourishing', a concept dropped by the  bench of bishops of the Church in Wales at the earliest opportunity after securing the vote to allow women bishops.  

From the Church Times - Twelve Church of England people of "varying backgrounds" have been appointed members of the Standing Commission on the House of Bishops’ Declaration and the Five Guiding Principles:

"The setting up of the Commission was recommended by the Implementation and Dialogue Group (IDG), established in 2018 in response to the Independent Reviewer’s report of matters surrounding the nomination — and subsequent withdrawal — of the Rt Revd Philip North as Bishop of Sheffield (News, 9 February 2018). It was tasked with reviewing how the House of Bishops’ Declaration and the Five Guiding Principles — part of the settlement that made possible the admission of women to the episcopate — are understood, implemented, and received in the Church.

"Last year, the General Synod took note of a report from the IDG on whether the Five Guiding Principles, established in 2014 to enable those unable to receive the ministry of female bishops or priests to flourish within the Church’s life and structures, were still “fit for purpose” (News, 16 July 2021).

"The Church House statement says: “Members have been chosen by the House of Bishops, in consultation with the Prolocutors of the House of Clergy and the Chair and Vice Chair of the House of Laity, because of their experience and varying backgrounds.

"The membership has been carefully balanced to ensure there is fair representation of theological viewpoints and a commitment from all to the Five Guiding Principles and mutual flourishing."

While becoming increasingly secularised, as has the Church in Wales, to their credit the Church of England has remained true to its promise to enable those unable to receive the ministry of female bishops or priests to flourish within the Church’s life and structures.

The Church in Wales has not despite implied promises. 

From their Code of Practice: "Since the Church in Wales continues to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, including other Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops, the Bench of Bishops acknowledges that this decision on ministry and gender is set within a broader process of discernment and reception within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God.

"Within the Church in Wales, those who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales."

The Code implied provision for mutual flourishing but it soon became clear that the bishops had no intention of honouring their commitment, frustrating mutual flourishing at every turn.

Sir William Fittall the Independent Reviewer wrote of the situation in England, "To expect someone whose theological conviction does not enable him to receive the sacramental ministry of women routinely to turn up to a celebration of Holy Communion when he cannot discover in advance whether he will be able to receive Holy Communion seems to me to be asking too much."

That is exactly what archbishop Barry Morgan did. From a previous entry  Welsh Primate abandons twin integrity:
"In his newly created role of Acting Dean of his own Cathedral, the dictatorial Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff, Dr Barry Morgan, has decreed that the Cathedral Office is not to publish the names of officiants at each of the Cathedral services. The intention is to put a further barrier in the way of those who, for theological reasons, are uncomfortable with a woman presiding at the altar. Rather than being able to plan ahead to avoid unfortunate pastoral situations, it would appear that the only way of knowing who is celebrating the Eucharist at Llandaff is to see who appears at the entrance procession."

The Church in Wales prides itself on being inclusive - but on their own terms. It does not extend to making provision for faithful Anglicans whose only desire is to keep the faith with appropriate sacramental and pastoral provision.

Rather than expand The Kingdom the bench chose secularism for the Church in Wales, as the emptying pews testify.

The writing on the wall

Writing on the wall - with apologies to Rembrandt

                             

                                    MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

                                    TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

                                    PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Interviewed on the TV programme The Hour in April 2018 the first woman to be made bishop in Wales, Joanna Penberthy, branded anyone who disagrees with her as prejudiced. No debate. No theology. Just unsubstantiated accusations of prejudice.

There is much to question. For a start, on the validity of her orders Joanna Penberthy simply dismisses the question. She remarked, such 'prejudice' is 'water off a duck's back to her', probably because the Church in Wales has no defence for going their own way in defiance of the overwhelming majority of Christians in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

The ordination of women is a political tool used by feminists to further their own selfish interests. They are not interested in the welfare of the church. They care even less for the many cradle Anglicans who have found themselves excluded. Pleas not to go their separate ways were water off a ducks back to them.

They base their case on false notions of equality, distorting the meaning of Christ's redeeming love while appealing for secular support to undermine the faith of the Church. So successful has this strategy been in the Anglican Communion that feminists are now using similar tactics to attack the Roman Catholic Church.

Feminists used to claim that the Anglican Church should set an example to the secular world by breaking the stained glass ceiling as if there was no difference between the sacred and the secular. That argument is now being reversed in the Roman Catholic Church: There are female presidents and CEOs. Why are we still asking if women can lead in the church? 

Our children and grandchildren are having to cope with the fallout of the new order. There are fewer male role models for boys to identify with. Women dominate primary education. Three quarters of secondary school teachers are women. The GP and the dentist are likely to be female along with the parish priest. 

Girls and boys are forced to ignore their birth assigned sexual identity and cope with unnecessary problems of self identifying genders coupled with imposing the use of preferred pronouns. Then there is distress that can be caused following the imposition of unisex toilets and the presence of intending but not yet transgendered pupils in girls changing rooms, all of which defies logic and panders to wokery .

Anglican experience has shown that feminists are not to be trusted. They have inched their way forward with false promises to achieve their objective before undermining any agreements as they seek to get rid of any opposition.

The Church in Wales is a typical example. It prides itself as being a leader in diversity. Not in spreading the Gospel but falsely using the Gospel to achieve its ends by interpreting scripture to suit themselves. 

The bishop of Monmouth uses her patronage, enthusiastically supported by the rest of the bench, in promoting LGBT minorities, while the 'first transgender priest' wasted no time in using the Church in Wales to spread transgender propaganda, an utter distortion of the Great Commission.

The bishop of St Davids has been busy spreading party political propaganda with her motto, “Never, never, never trust a Tory”. As Dominic Lawson commented in the Mail Online "With Tory-hating political bishops like this, the church hasn't got a prayer".

This is not the first time the bishop of St Davids has brought her office into disrepute. Her Dear John letter caused great offence to elderly clergy, raising suspicions that it was her way of getting rid of faithful traditionalist clergy. She busily backpedalled after adverse publicity

According to commentators responding to a previous entry That was the Church that was, it's over, let it go?, undeterred, Joanna has been meeting clergy and lay people to explain her position. 

There is nothing more to explain. Joanna's extended absence looks increasingly like a cooling off device, hoping that her flock would forget so that she could return to duty as if nothing had happened. 

Others viewed her behaviour differently.

Angela Tilby wrote in the Church Times, Bishops have to sacrifice privacy: "The public nature of episcopal office has been understood from antiquity. Bishops are meant to be visible, to be seen and known, to be a focus of unity in the Church, and a point of mediation between Christian communities and civic authority. “He must be well-thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace. . .” (1 Timothy 3.7).

 

The writing was on the wall from the start. Penberthy's was a political appointment engineered by archbishop Barry Morgan. Others have followed. 

The rot deepens but the writing was on the wall from the start.

That was the Church that was, it's over, let it go?

A new order? The bishop of Monmouth at Sacred Synod in 2020 with her civil partner                                            Source:Twitter

 Older readers may recall the 1960s BBC TV satirical programme That Was the Week That Was which opened with Millicent Martin singing "That was the week that was, It's over, let it go ..."

Similar feelings have been expressed for the Church in Wales. It's over, let it go. But it is hard to do so while watching self-serving groups use the Church to advance their own particular agendas at the expense of loyal Anglicans who have been shut out.

Revd Stella Bailey, the new Archdeacon of the Gwent
Valleys and Director of Mission.          Source: C in W

Monmouth news has a message from the newly appointed Archdeacon of the Gwent Valleys and Diocesan Director of Mission, the Revd Stella Bailey: "I am passionate about shaping the church to enable it to preach the gospel afresh for this generation...I keep up to date with emerging social needs and seek ways that I can creatively respond. Sometimes this involves giving a voice to those who are voiceless, acting as an advocate or using my platform to highlight the issue and help bring about change. I teach about the issues of injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias so that the church can be more Christ like in its appearance."

Stella will be moving to the diocese of Monmouth from England with her partner Karen and their two dogs, Lyra and Stewie.

It cannot be a coincidence that the new archdeacon's bishop is also a lesbian living in a civil partnership with her same sex partner. The bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, is Patron of the campaigning Open Table Network (OTN). Along with her sister bishops in Llandaff and St Davids, they preach the gospel 'afresh' to promote secular causes.

An unpublished comment put it this way: "Not sure I fully agree with this, the incoming archdeacon of the valleys has no prior knowledge of the area, the people, the problems let alone the machinations of CiW. But she has one common factor with +newport they both have female partners. A case of like picks like rather than the best suited person. With such people running the church it deserves to be terminated." 

There is nothing 'Christ like' about complaining of alleged "injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias" to advance the LGBTQIA+ cause at the expense of other Anglicans who follow traditional Christian teaching in common with the vast majority of Anglicans and other Christians.

Sadly such tactics are not only accepted but are championed by the bench of bishops who are pushing forward their same sex relationship policies whether pew sitters agree or not.

According to a recent Church Times article Ten years on, Harries review has changed the Church in Wales, the Review found "warm, friendly and welcoming communities", not the injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias alleged. But it also found that the Church in Wales was in crisis which led to replacing the universally recognised parish system with unpopular ministry areas. 

That policy has been pursued by Church in Wales bishops with gusto while ignoring the recommended reduction in the number of diocesan bishops and restructuring of diocesan administrative areas. 

Instead senior staff levels have increased with an un-elected assistant bishop who will, reportedly, join the diocesan bishops on the bench, some of whom are also unelected to this self perpetuating coterie. 

It is over but hard to let go.

[Commentators are reminded that anonymous comments submitted for publication must include a pseudonym.]

CofE same sex marriage: fake news

Archbishops’ Appointments Secretary  Mr Stephen Knott and Major General
Alastair Bruce  outside St John’s Church  Edinburgh. 
Source: The Edinburgh Reporter

Quoting from The Independent, Church of England gay activist Jayne Ozanne claims that the majority of Anglicans believe same-sex marriage is right. Allegedly a survey commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation found that the level of overall support has risen in the past decade, from 38% believing in 2013 to 55% in 2022:

"The majority of Anglicans living in England support same-sex marriage, according to a survey. Some 55% of people said they believe in same-sex marriage, the poll found, while almost three quarters (72%) of those under 50 indicated their support. The level of overall support has risen in the past decade, from 38% believing it was right in 2013 to 48% in 2020 and 55% this year."

Not so says consultant statistician, the Rev Peter Ould. Writing in Premier Christianity he says: "The Ozanne Foundation has published a new piece of research, conducted by YouGov, that claims that support for same-sex marriage is increasing among Anglicans. But what does that actually mean, and are the Anglicans surveyed in any sense connected to the people actually worshipping in the pews of the Church of England?

"The survey claims that 55 per cent of Anglicans believe that same-sex marriage is “right” and The Times has a headline that the 'Majority of Church of England worshippers back gay marriage’. If you dig just a bit into the data however, you realise that the survey says nothing of the sort...

"This survey doesn’t tell us anything more than that non-Church attenders believe the same things as other non-Church attenders who are simply more honest about not believing what Christianity believes. The Church of England should be led by the Bible and God, not an opinion poll." 

Read Peter Ould's analysis here.

Nevertheless Pink News claims that a majority of English Anglicans now back same-sex marriage, despite the Church of England’s refusal to perform or bless them while the Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury and chairman of the [Ozanne] foundation, said the results show the church is “manifestly out of step with what the majority” of people think.

 Fake news, misrepresentation, half truths and appeals to public opinion form no basis for changing what the Church believes and has taught through the ages. That has wrecked much of Anglicanism and if left unchecked will bedevil the Catholic Church in the same way.

Queering the Church in Wales

"Celebrating Faith, Hope & Love - An Open Table celebration of communion
with OTN Patron Bishop Cherry Vann "  Source: Twitter            

In a tweet from the Diocese of St Asaph applicants are invited to join the bishops of St Asaph & Monmouth for a special 'Open Table' event in November hosted by the LGBTQIA+ Chaplaincy in the Church In Wales Diocese of St Asaph.

In the illustration above the holy sacrifice of the Mass is merged into LGBT rainbow colours as if to emphasis the bishops' recent victory at Governing Body which approved the blessing of same sex unions.

Open Table issues its invitation to 'come as you are' to a 'Communion service led by Right Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph', a 'Reflection by Right Revd Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, Patron of Open Table Network' which will  be 'Followed by a simple lunch, conversation and a chance to meet the Bishops'.

Bishop Cameron proposed the motion at Governing Body to allow blessings of same sex unions. In doing so he led Anglicans astray using unorthodox, poor theology which speaks volumes of the unanimous vote of the bishops and two thirds majority of clergy who voted in favour of the motion. 

The event is 'Supported by the Open Table Network, a growing partnership of Christian worship communities which welcome and affirm people who are: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, & Asexual (LGBTQIA) + our families, friends and all our allies'.

Other Church in Wales worshippers are left out in the cold. 

If you keep the faith as a traditional Anglican or, more recently, as an evangelical you have to "find accommodation as best they can" as the Ven Peggy Jackson put it with all the charity she could muster.

What is the driving force behind queering the Church in Wales? It has become the Great Commission in reverse, driving out the many to welcome the few who interpret the bible as they please to achieve their own ends. 

One clue may be in the same-sex extracurricular activities in the St Michael's class of 1984 from which three students were to go on to comprise 50% of the bench of bishops. A bench that would later go on to appoint two LBGTQIA+ campaigning women as bishops followed by a partnered lesbian who is to share a reflection at the Open Table event. 

That is not to point the finger at anyone, rather it is to query whether such non-biblical practices became accepted as normal behaviour at theological college.

Whatever the reason, the current position is beyond parody when LGBTQIA+ people and their supporters are courted as the faithful. 

CinW bishops have lost all credibility. 

Their hypocrisy!

Source: Church in Wales

"There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other." - Church in Wales bench of bishops.

The hypocrisy of it. 

Highlighted in Provincial News, top of the Agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales from  September 6-8 is a Bill to authorise a service of blessing for same-sex partnerships. 

"Same-sex couples will be able to have their civil partnership or marriage blessed in Church in Wales churches for the first time if new legislation is passed next month (September)."

No doubt seeking their usual secular support an article has already appeared in BBC News. 

The bishops have issued a set of ‘Pastoral Principles’ intended to 'guide people towards thoughtful and considerate discussions'.

Introducing them they say: “There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other. Our union in Christ is at the heart of our life and the bonds and character of our baptism hold us together; sharing a commitment to each other as together we seek the Kingdom of God. We hope these materials will stimulate this quality of engagement.”

But that is precisely what they have done to faithful Anglicans who have not been swayed by secular desires. Undermined for years they have been ignored by the bench and left with no hope.

Clearly regarded as less worthy than same-sex couples desiring a blessing of their union, the bishops have walked away from traditionalist Anglicans who hold sincerely held views with no thought for their spiritual welfare.

One has to wonder if the bishops of the Church in Wales really do believe in the Kingdom of God.

Foot in the door

'Sailing Nun' to help steer Church course with key Vatican job

 (Photos source: Twitter)

Translated from Vida Nueva: "Nathalie Becquart: the woman with a voice and (for the first time) with a vote at the Synod" - and a foot in the door!

"A female undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops. Make no mistake about what it means. It is not an administrative responsibility anymore. The French nun Nathalie Becquart will be in charge, along with the Spanish Augustinian Luis Marín, named after her on February 6, to take care of the proper functioning of this Roman department that is in a prominent place on Pope Francis' reform agenda. And they will do so under the guidance of Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod since last year.

Marie-Lucile Kubaki, Vatican correspondent for the French Catholic weekly La Vie, observed, "With her arrival at the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Pope deepens his logic of appointing more women to positions of responsibility in the Vatican, as he did with Francesca di Giovanni, undersecretary in the Section for relations with States in 2020, for example.

"Small but firm steps. That seems to be Jorge Mario Bergoglio's strategy. It is clear that Nathalie's voice and vote will not change things on their own. But for the first time, the opinion of one of the 660,000 religious women on the planet counts. Will others follow?"

'Small but firm steps' will sound familiar to Anglicans. Step by step women who, allegedly, only wanted to be deacons used every trick in the book to be ordained priest  and to be admitted to the episcopacy.

Remember when it was said that if women were allowed to be accepted as deacons, it didn't follow that they would then be allowed to become priests? When deacons wanted to be ordained priests, it didn't mean that they would be allowed to become bishops?

Jolly June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff, admitted recently in a podcast that "once you've made women priests there isn't a theological reason at all why they shouldn't enter the episcopacy."

June along with her colleague Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids, both complain that anyone taking a different theological position to them is prejudiced.

In a television interview in April 2018, bishop Joanna asserted, "if you can be prejudiced in the soft institution of the church, what does that say about your attitude to women?"

The 'soft institution of the church' to use Penberthy's words has been used by feminists to advance their own cause at the expense of the Church, trampling on the faithful in the process as Women and the Church (WATCH) have demonstrated when they have reneged on the agreement that gave them what they wanted, feminist power.

A foot in the door is just the beginning.

Barry Morgan rides again

Barry Morgan's retirement villa on the outskirts of Cardiff

Iran News Update reports that "The Rt Revd Dr. Barry Morgan, a former Archbishop of Wales, has praised the Iranian Resistance, specifically the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), for their commitment to the religious freedoms of Iranian Christians so persecuted by the Iranian regime.

"In an open letter, he cited evidence that Iran is one of the least hospitable countries in the world for Christians under the mullahs’ regime, even though it is supposedly tolerated by the regime. In fact, conversion from Islam to Christianity carries the death penalty."

While supporting Christians in Iran is laudable, such support is a bit rich coming from the person who probably more than anyone is responsible for wrecking the Church in Wales.

It is a pity that Morgan's new commitment to religious freedoms did not extend to Orthodox Anglicans in Wales who were quickly shown the door for not supporting his programme of secularising the Church in Wales.

Succeeding Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Wales in 2003 Barry Morgan committed himself to the ordination of women to the priesthood and the admission of women to the episcopate. He said practising homosexuals should not be barred from becoming bishops and declared: “I would ordain Britain’s first gay Bishop.”

Archbishop Morgan retired, aged 70, in 2017 having consecrated Wales' first female bishop. All three bishops in South Wales are now female. One is a cohabiting lesbian, the others being fervent LGBT supporters.

He continued to press his radical, secular agenda up to his retirement. He used his final address to the Church in Wales’ governing body to argue that Christians can change their stance on homosexuality without abandoning their commitment to the Bible, offending many while pandering to the few.

His views were widely condemned by biblical scholars.

Morgan's policy of refusing to provide episcopal oversight for orthodox Anglicans who refused to accept the 'going along to get on' approach to their faith has been continued by the bench of bishops.

Society bishops are banned from celebrating in Wales. Consequently regular church attendance has plummeted faster than it may otherwise have done.

When Barry Morgan retired he pledged that he would not interfere. He said, "I take the view that once you're gone, you're gone... you've had your period in office," he added.

Such a divisive figure should have stuck to his word.

Woke Welby and his 'white Jesus'

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby                                 Source: Rebel Priest

From The Jerusalem Post: The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Anglican Church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a white man.

It is not clear for whom he was speaking when he expressed his belief that Anglicans thought of the Son of God as a white man. The archbishop and most of his trendy episcopal colleagues long since abandoned the faith as orthodox Anglicans along with the Church in Wales and the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC), both of which have become irrelevant as Churches for the faithful.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Justin Welby said that in light of the Black Lives Matter protests, the West needed to question whether the traditional portrayal of Jesus as a white man by Western churches was the correct approach to take.

The archbishop added, “Jesus is portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings."  He did not think that "throwing out everything we’ve got in the past is the way to do it" but thought "that’s not the Jesus who exists, that’s not who we worship. It is a reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human.”

Commenting on the Black Lives Matter campaign to remove statues to figures deemed controversial, he said that people should forgive the 'trespasses' of those who were being commemorated, rather than remove statues, but added that the church would be reviewing the monuments it holds.

When asked if people should forgive the trespasses of those immortalised in the form of statues, rather than tearing them down, Welby said: "Some will have to come down. We can only do that if we've got justice, which means the statue needs to be put in context.

"Some names will have to change. The church, goodness me you know, you just go around Canterbury Cathedral, there are monuments everywhere or Westminster Abbey, and we're looking at all that, and some will have to come down."

Described as the Woke Archbishop the Archbishop of Canterbury, Welby is “ashamed of our history” and of his supposed advantages as a straight white male.

He has become leader of the self loathing brigade, apologising for anything and everything in the past that is questioned in the woke culture.

He preaches the gospel of woke and slanders his own flock. With no supporting evidence he asserted "There is no doubt," that "when we look at our own Church we are still deeply institutionally racist."

Bending the knee to the latest trend is not leadership. It is capitulation.

Source: BBC/LORNA MAY WADSWORTH

It encourages gestures such as that in St Albans Cathedral where a copy of a picture of the Last Supper showing a black Jesus was placed at an altar "in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement" presumably without knowing what the BLM movement stands for.

According to BBC News the artist used a Jamaican-born model for the basis of her interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's 15th Century work because she wanted "to make people question the Western myth that [Jesus Christ] had fair hair and blue eyes".

Jacob Epstein's 'Christ in Majesty'

 One aspect lost in the controversy about the suitability of artwork is the effort put into producing the work and possible motivations behind it. It may represent an interpretation by the artist or sponsor or result from a specific commission.

If someone in a free society objects to a work they are at liberty to criticise it. Once gone the opportunity for criticism is lost, along with the hard won freedoms which allow extremist pressure groups to behave as they do.

The example of ISIS destroying artefacts they disliked should be a warning of the destructive power now being unleashed, something religious leaders should be speaking against, not for.

Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew born in Bethlehem of Judea. He would have been neither black nor white but somewhere in between - see So what colour was Jesus?

 As the Religious News Service (RNS) aptly put it: We can’t cancel ‘white Jesus,’ but we can keep telling our church’s story.

Diocese of Portsmouth plants in Llandaff

Church in Wales parish church of SS Andrew and Teilo, Woodville Road, Cathays, Cardiff.                                                                              Source: Wikipedia

Not much has been coming out of the Church in Wales during the Covid-19 lock down but there is news of the diocese of Portsmouth moving in.

I have seen nothing about the event in Llandaff News flashes but there is confirmation that Portsmouth's largest church is 'looking West to plant a new church in Cardiff'.

Inspire Magazine reported on 1 June: a "team will be commissioned for its new role at a digital service on Sunday (Sun 24 May). The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, has recorded a video message to be played as part of the service, expressing his joy at the move."

There is no mention of the bishop of Llandaff.

In March last year I reported that the bishop of Llandaff had sacrificed parishioners in the university church of St Teilo, Cathays, Cardiff in an initiative "to give their church away to an evangelical church called Holy Trinity Brompton. The decision was made with no consultation with the clergy or members of the congregation and wider community and she says the decision is final."

The Living Church commented at the time that plans for a church-planting partnership between the Church in Wales and London’s Holy Trinity Brompton had drawn resistance...The project will receive funding from the new Church in Wales Evangelism Fund, which has £10 million available for six dioceses and is similar to the Church of England’s Strategic Development Grants fund.

According to a statement from the diocese of Portsmouth, their Harbour Church began in September 2016 with just 20 people, and now welcomes 700 worshippers every Sunday to three different locations. It now plans to send a team of 40 people to Cardiff to set up a brand new church there from September.

"It will be called Citizen Church and will be based at St Teilo’s Church in the Cathays area of Cardiff. The 40-strong team includes 10 worshippers who already live there, a family moving from Brazil, some moving from London, and 17 worshippers who will relocate from Harbour Church in Portsmouth. It will be led by the Rev Ryan Forey, currently curate at Harbour Church."

When the project was unveiled in 2019 the Church in Wales suggested that the project would “seek to attract young people who are currently outside the church, eventually planting more church communities in the diocese", displacing existing congregations in the process.

Displacing regular worshippers has a familiar ring for traditionalist Anglicans who were forced out because they sought to keep the Apostolic faith against a tide of secularism.

Time to dump the Lords Spiritual?

Source: Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group on Religion or Belief in Parliament

The recent Report of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group on Religion and Belief includes some interesting recommendations. In addition to dumping the Lords Spiritual there are recommendations on The Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Prayers in Parliament and Parliament's Role in Governing the Church of England.

In their Forward to the report the Group observe that:

"The UK is more diverse than ever before. In 1983 some 40 percent of British adults said they were Anglicans, 24 percent other Christians, 4 percent other religions, and 31 percent belonging to no religion. Nowadays 13 percent say they are Anglicans, 25 percent other Christians, 10 percent other religions, and 53 percent of no religion. These trends look set to continue – today just one percent of British adults aged 18-24 are Anglicans.

"...Parliament remains a Christian institution. 26 bishops of the Church of England receive automatic  places in the House of Lords. The speaker of the House of Commons has to appoint a Church of England chaplain. The Church of England opens proceedings each day by leading prayers. Parliament governs the Church – through its approval of Church measures, through the ecclesiastical committee, and through questions in the House of Commons."

Anglican Bishops and Archbishops sit in the House of Lords by virtue of the Bishoprics Act 1878. But bishops are not what they were. Mainly trendy lefties, the typical Anglican bishop today is wedded to the spirit of the age, conforming to the pattern of the world. As members of the House of Lords they are able to use a privileged position to lead even more people astray.

The situation has become more absurd following the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 which allows  accelerating the appointment of women bishops to the House of Lords for no reason other than they are female bishops.

Assorted Lords Spiritual at the State Opening of Parliament  October 2019                Source: Twitter

What an insult to such formidable peers as Baroness Trumpington, Baroness Seear and Baroness (Shirley) Williams of Crosby to give just a few examples. 

Lightweight bishops sitting as Lords Spiritual is even more of a nonsense when the majority of Anglican bishops give the impression of having nothing spiritual about them.

They have become an anachronism and deserve to be dumped so long as the baby is not thrown out with the bathwater. 

Prince Charles has been quoted in the past as saying that on ascending the throne he would become Defender of the Faiths rather than the Faith. Even if he were not to inherit the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England that would still turn his coronation into a charade. He has since denied the claim but still harbours Islamic leanings.

The Parliamentary Humanist Group drew attention to another charde, the appointment of the Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. By custom the Speaker appoints a Church of England chaplain. In what was regarded as an act of political correctness, the then Speaker, John Bercow, of Jewish heritage but not religious, set aside convention and appointed his own choice, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

Hudson-Wilkin now bishop of Dover! 

State opening of Parliament, May 8, 2013.                Source: The Church of England in Parliament

The Bishop of Monmouth and partner

Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann .  Source: Twitter

The Church in Wales tweeted an invitation to find out more about the new Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, in an interview on BBC Woman's Hour broadcast on February 20th.

Out of curiosity I tuned in on catch up. There was nothing spiritual, just sex

There was a nervous quiver in the bishop's voice as though her participation was part of  an organised campaign that had thrust her into the limelight. Her part of the deal was speaking frankly about her situation, thus enhancing the LGBT+ credentials of the bench of bishops.

Straight in, the interviewer explained that Cherry Vann's appointment had coincided with the statement issued by the Church of England suggesting sex should take place only within heterosexual marriage but bishop Vann is 'the first openly gay female bishop and the first to be in a civil partnership in the UK'.

 Vann explains how she hid her sexuality out of fear: "Like a lot of other gay and lesbian people it is not an easy place to be in the Church and fear means it is easier to keep silent rather than the risk of being rejected, or losing your job or losing friends."

Has she not noticed that the only people rejected in the Church in Wales are orthodox Anglicans!

Bishop Vann said that she and her partner decided to make their civil partnership public when Vann was first invited to have her name put forward for the post of bishop. They decided that this was the time to be more open and honest.

However, The cover-up was maintained until after the Sacred Synod confirmed her appointment.

It is all out in the open now. Vann says the Church in Wales is "more accepting as an institution of gay and lesbian people". The Church in Wales is a "different Church".

She claims that the Church as a whole is on a journey with 'stiffened' resolve to work 'positively and creatively' until we get to a place where "everyone is accepted and welcomed irrespective of their sexuality".

Vann continues, the Church in Wales is more open with the courage to take a positive lead enabling bishop Vann and people like her to be honest and open about who they are - unlike the Church in Wales which has pursued its agenda by stealth. - Vann is sure that same sex marriage in church will come in time.

The reason she was appointed is made clear in her interview. It is to further the gay agenda of the bench of bishops leading to same sex marriage

There is no mention of the Gospel or of salvation, only that we are all sexual human beings.

The clearest message yet from the bench.

Postscript [26.02.2020]

More self justification with some dangerous views from Cherry Vann in an 'acast' interview recorded with Martin Shipton, Chief Reporter for Wales Online https://play.acast.com/s/9b06ea45-4ded-49de-9368-7590ce8c831f/038a13f8-b566-4c13-9d73-d37731ea2f03 .

On religion she talks about the 'multiplicity of faiths' [@ position 11] . At their best she thought there was an awful lot of congruence between the different faiths and particularly between the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism Christianity and Islam: "There is a lot in common, a lot about respect for one another. A lot about mutual tolerance. A lot about living in harmony and I think that is what I would urge us all to aspire to. The very best."

Her views do not sit comfortably with the Quran: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Q 9:29)

Presumably the bishop failed to listen to Anglican Unscripted edition 570
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=679&v=Q5x_ZO-6GKw&feature=emb_logo