Finding faith

In this video published on Nov 8, 2018 the Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, was the first to testify in a series of videos that describe how senior members of the St Davids diocesan clergy "came to discover the faith that sustains them."

When Penberthy was elected the former Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan said of the 'election', “This is an historic moment for the Church in Wales as it hasn’t been possible to elect a woman bishop until now. But what is really important to stress is that Joanna wasn’t elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop. She has considerable gifts – she is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy."

The election was widely regarded as a political fix.

In her December 2018 Ad Clerum bishop Penberthy wrote:

"We are not called to persuade people of the truth of our particular religious

opinions so as to feel better as we surround ourselves with those who agree with us. We

are called to be communities of flawed people, open to the healing love of God that we

might live that truthful open-eyed healing love admidst [sic] “the present form of this world

that is passing away.” (I Cor 7:31)."

The bishops have certainly surrounded themselves with people who agree with them - to the exclusion of faithful Anglicans who were promised an honoured place in the Church but abandoned after archbishop Morgan and his bench sitters achieved their objective of turning the Church in Wales into a club for liberal, like minded people.

Contrary to what bishop Penberthy claims, there is only one way to the Father, through Jesus Christ, not through other gods, paganism and witchcraft.

Jesus charged His disciples, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Today, Anglican bishops write their own version of the Gospel message.

Postscript [09/01/2019]

Church of England bishops out of touch with clergy:

Oxford diocese in meltdown as clergy reject bishops' view on sexuality

No male and female but yes to transgender!

Galatians 3:28 has for years been used and abused by progressives in the Church to justify their gender agenda. 

There may be no male and female in their book but officially there are trans-gendered.

Transgender people who were baptized into Christ and clothed themselves with Christ can now be re-clothed according to guidance issued by the Church of England.

New pastoral guidance encourages clergy to be “creative and sensitive” in using liturgy to enable people to mark a major transition in their lives. It formally commends the incorporation of the existing rite for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith into services which mark gender transition. It advises that the occasion should have a distinct “celebratory character”.

The guidance emphasises that "the Church of England welcomes and encourages the unconditional affirmation of trans people, equally with all people within the body of Christ, and rejoices in the diversity of that body into which all Christians have been baptized by one Spirit."

"All people" should be interpreted as some people. Those who the progressives favour, not orthodox Anglicans.

A joyous, solemn occasion

New priests for the Personal #Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, ordained yesterday at the Birmingham Oratory.          Source: Twitter @FrJamesBradley

Compare the above photograph of eight new priests ordained at the Birmingham Oratory yesterday with the selection of photographs of Church of England’s dabbing deacons and jumping bishops.

As a Guardian article put it prior to the Petertide ordinations, "the stern, decorous images that used to mark these occasions are being replaced by a trend for more frivolous action shots – with dabbing deacons showing up alongside priests leaping, baring their knees and even wearing L-plates. Their defenders see the new informality as a sign of holy joy. But hardcore traditionalists, along with casual curmudgeons, are less than elated.

"Their ire was recently roused by a shot of six readers being licensed at St Alban’s Cathedral, showing clear air under the heels of a jumping bishop of Hertford, the Rt Rev Michael Beasley."

Ministry reaches new heights in St Albans as 6 Readers are licensed.        Twitter@StAlbansAbbey

There is no dignity of office apparent in the St Albans photograph. The sacred ministry is made to appear comic. While the Anglican Church has become 'more relevant to society' it has lost its sense of 'otherness'.

Following a previous entry a commentator took exception to my reference to Messy Baptism which appears to be getting people out of church rather than in. When the Messy 'font' was revealed a child could be heard calling out, "That's our paddling pool!" Precisely. 

Fonts are often placed at or near the entrance to a church's nave to remind believers of their baptism as they enter the church to pray, since the rite of baptism served as their initiation into the Church (Wikipedia). In bygone days there was a link with the past when generations of the same family may have been baptised at the same font.

Surely it is more important to get people into church and Holy Baptism is one of the main opportunities for doing so along with marriages and funerals.

But that is no guarantee of success. People can be easily put off as was a mother who complained to a friend about a modernised confirmation service in which the bishop invited all the candidates to stand around him in a semi-circle. He awkwardly negotiated his way between the vicar and the candidates in an informal, happy-go-lucky manner rather than having the candidates kneel individually in front of him to hear those memorable words: "Confirm, Lord your servant with your heavenly grace, and anoint him/her with your Holy Spirit; empower him/her for your service and keep him/her in eternal life.  Amen." A moment I still recall as one of deep spiritual significance, probably enhanced by the austere bearing of the bishop.

The lack of 'otherness' was not helped by the fact that the bishop first baptised one of the confirmation candidates inserting a few wisecracks. If holiness is next to Godliness the Almighty was conspicuous by His absence.

Familiarity is killing Anglicanism. On BBC Breakfast TV yesterday, the Chief Constable of Durham police shared his supposedly impartial views on the consecration of woman bishops.

Consecration of woman bishop                                                                 Source: BBC Breakfast TV

Struggling to explain what was happening he reached a consensus with the presenters that the consecration of women bishops had become 'normal', creating a 'balance'.

It may be 'normal' for the Church of England as currently informed by society, mainly non-churchgoing bystanders who feel free to voice an opinion from a position of ignorance.

It is definitely not normal in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall....

The Church of England's House of Bishops voted Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy
to celebrate  gender transition but urged bishops to use the existing baptism rite as a way
 to mark the passage. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)/theblaze

...who’s the fairest of them all? - Neither Church nor State that's for sure. Both are engaging in absurd distortions of reality.

General Synod paper GS Misc 1178 provides an "update" on ‘Welcoming Transgender People’, as if they are not welcome already, using the now familiar propaganda techniques of exploiting the 'victim' status - see earlier entry - just as the LGBT lobby has done to secure a dedicated chaplaincy and "a safe, sacred space for our LGBTI+ friends to share their stories, explore their faith and enjoy time together with no fear of judgement" -  [click here and scroll down to "Open Table come as you are"].

In July 2017 the General Synod carried, "with strong support in all three Houses, a motion brought forward by the Blackburn Diocesan Synod, that this Synod, recognising the need for transgender people to be welcomed and affirmed in their parish church, call on the House of Bishops to consider whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to mark a person’s gender transition."

'Theblaze' summerises how the Church of England’s House of Bishops voted on Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy to celebrate gender transition. Bishops were urged instead to use the existing baptism rite as a way to mark the passage. Dodging the concept of second baptisms the Church of England has instead given the green light to using existing liturgies similar to the way gay unions are being blessed with all the outward appearances of church marriages.

The State, as in NHS England, is also pandering to fashion as if money were no object in offering biological males a smear test for cervical cancer if they identify as females, even though they do not have female organs, while women who could be at risk but identify as men are not being routinely offered potentially life saving NHS screening for breast and cervical cancer amid fears it might offend them.

If people want to ignore their biological sex they are free to do so but they should not expect others to engage in their fantasies. Cervical Cancer Prevention Week from 22-28 January.

Dodgy legal advice leads to Eucharistic free for all

Source: New Directions

Readers of the March 2017 edition of Forward in Faith's magazine New Directions (£) will have read the worrying conclusion by a leading law expert that the Pastoral Letter from the bishops of the Church in Wales authorising the reception of Holy Communion based on Baptism alone was based on dodgy legal advice.

This is the conclusion of the Rev'd Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin, a former Professor of Law at Cardiff and Bangor and former First Welsh Legislative Counsel to the Welsh Government. Between 1981 and 1998 he served as Legal Assistant to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.

Professor Watkin writes: "The interpretation placed upon the rubric  by the Legal Sub-Committee not only circumvents the Church's due processes for alteration to rites and discipline. In its consequences, it displays a scant respect for - or an inchoate understanding of - the rule of law in Church affairs."

Professor Watkin wrote at the beginning of the article: "In a letter to the Church Times on Friday, 27 January, His Honour Judge Andrew Keyser QC responded to my letter in the edition of 13 January concerning Confirmation and Admission to Holy Communion in Wales. In his lengthy and carefully-worded letter, he quoted the views of the Doctrinal Commission on the issues, but he revealed nothing of the reasoning behind the Legal Sub-Committee's conclusions. The two pieces of unanimous legal advice to which he refers, and the reasons why other interpretations were deemed "unpersuasive", remain firmly hidden from scrutiny,

In a February blog entry, Church in Crisis, a letter from Professor Watkin to the Church Times was reproduced. In it he wrote, "The Church in Wales Book of Common Prayer, enacted by various canons, declares that confirmation is a rite, and its rubrics provide that confirmation is generally necessary to receive holy communion. The Church's constitution provides that alterations to rites and discipline may be made only by canon.

"The Welsh Bishops wish to allow those who have been baptised to receive the sacrament without need of confirmation. They are attempting to do this by pastoral letter, without any authorisation by canon. The Archbishop has written in this paper (Letters, 25 November) that the change makes confirmation 'a service of response and commitment to God's grace given at baptism and at the Eucharist for those who want to make such a commitment'.

"...The Welsh Bishops state that they have legal advice assuring them that the 'step does not require any change in the present Canon Law or Constitution of the Church in Wales'. A polite request to make public that legal advice met with an equally polite refusal. That the alteration is controversial is clear from recent correspondence in these columns (Letters, 14 October and 23/30 December)."

The Article Riding Buckleshod over Canon Law in New Directions gives a fascinating insight into how the Church in Wales under Barry Morgan seemed able to receive the advice they wanted to hear to justify their actions. Professor Watkin is not alone in his concern. Some of the highlighted text from a previous article in New Directions by the Venerable Martin Williams, the former Archdeacon of Margam: The Civil Law was all that mattered; Canon Law is swept away; These are existential concerns about our identity; Not once in the documents is "Eucharist" used; and, It is hard to imagine what the bishops have in mind. The Archdeacon concludes, "The Church in Wales is in a very deep crisis indeed."

The Church in Wales claimed to be "re-adopting the practice of the early church on admission to Communion – the sharing of bread and wine – in an effort to strengthen ministry to children and young people in particular". Ministry to children and young people will not be strengthened by making Holy Communion commonplace. It is the mystery and awe that counts. Something deeply spiritual. The 'otherness'.

The Doctrinal Commission's seal of approval was used to authenticate the former Archbishop's divisive views on same sex marriage. Always careful to implicate the bench with 'collegiality', Barry Morgan's views have prevailed by one means or another. Sadly I hear that he can be seen still lingering around Llandaff Cathedral like a bad odour, no doubt trying to exert influence on his form minions.

Much discontent is apparent from comments received under previous entries. If ever there were a time for a fresh start this is it, starting with the new Bishop of Llandaff, not tainted by political intrigue but steeped in holiness and righteousness. Someone the bench will look up to, not kowtow to.

A Call to Persevere

The bishops of St Asaph, St Davids, Monmouth, Llandaff (Abp), Swansea & Brecon and Bangor.
 Credit: South Wales Argus

The Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Church in Wales to "all the faithful" concerning admission to Holy Communion of all the baptised "by virtue of their Baptism alone" has been published on the Diocese of St Davids web site. It can be read here. Its contents remained secret until it was introduced at the recent meeting of the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales raising some suspicion that another round of duplicity might be expected from the Bench of Bishops.

Fine details have yet to emerge but whatever one's views on the subject one thing is clear, the Bench of Bishops has been inconsistent. They hark back to history and tradition to support their case in this instance while scripture and tradition have been confined to the bin on just about every other matter under Archbishop Barry Morgan's guidance.

Dr Morgan's final GB Presidential Address provided an excellent opportunity to sum up the current state of the Church in Wales as he prepares for his retirement as the longest serving primate in the Anglican Communion. That, instead, he chose to bend Holy Scripture to support his views on the divisive issue of same sex marriage rather than address the decline in membership of the church under his leadership suggests that his political agenda always takes precedence over the spiritual well-being of his flock.

Rumour has it that Dr Morgan wants one more liberal feather in his hat before he retires in January, the appointment of the first woman bishop in Wales. The diocese of St Davids will become vacant when Bishop Wyn Evans retires in October. Originally a monastic community founded c. AD 589 by Saint David, the Patron saint of Wales, St Davids has been a centre of pilgrimage since the Cathedral was built the 12th century. The shrine was regarded as so important that it was decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome, three were equivalent to one to Jerusalem. St Davids remains an important centre of pilgrimage to this day.

When David died in the year 589 the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'.  St David's final words to his followers were: 'Be Joyful.  Keep the Faith.  Do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.'

If a political gesture is allowed to take precedence over faith in the appointment to the See of St Davids it will be the final nail in the coffin for the faithful.

A Call to Persevere

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

 From The Letter of Jude

Waters of life and death

Today is World Water Day. For Christians water will continue to be much in evidence this week in the Paschal Triduum liturgy of the foot washing and renewal of our baptismal vows.

Water is important in many faiths, be it plunging into the Ganges to wash away sins or Wudhu, the ritual washing performed by Muslims before prayer among them.

The images above compare the tranquility of the River Jordan, where John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Messiah while  baptizing, with the horror of seeing the blood of martyrs carried on the waves in the aftermath of the brutal beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Muslims because they would not convert to Islam, staying faithful to Christ unto life's end.

Writing for The Independent Aaqil Ahmed the BBC's head of religion has warned that Britain needs to address its “chronic lack of religious literacy” if it is to accommodate the rise through new immigration of “more assertive” forms of Christianity with “conflicting views” on same-sex marriage and other human rights issues. His comments were made in advance of  a BBC1 documentary, The Battle for Christianity, to be broadcast late this evening (22 March) in which significant changes in the Christian Church in Britain are examined.

The threat to Christianity from within is clearly identified in the documentary. Quoting discredited statistics the Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, claims that the Church’s resistance to same-sex marriage is "unacceptable to most young Anglican worshipers". Perhaps a little instruction would not come amiss, starting with trendy bishops.

The Independent article continues: "Linda Woodhead, a professor in politics, philosophy and religion at Lancaster University, claimed there was a "struggle now for the heart and soul of Christianity". She said: "For lots of young people, Christianity is now morally objectionable. They don’t want anything to do with churches that don’t believe in human rights and the equality of all human beings."

When it comes to human rights we would be better served if Ahmed concentrated more on the threat to Christianity posed by his religion, Islam. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remains the single most significant statement of the international community’s commitment to freedom of religion or belief, something that Christians in Great Britain take for granted. But not so in many Islamic states.

From "Article 18: an orphaned right - A report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom" (page 13):

 " Within some states the continued application of classical punishments for apostasy, including the death penalty, and the imposition of draconian criminal sanctions for blasphemy, makes the free exercise of the right to renounce Islam or to convert to another religion virtually impossible. While acknowledging the deep-rooted colonial legacies of many of the current blasphemy laws, it unfortunately remains the case that the threat posed by the presence of such draconian laws does not permit a rational religious or ideological debate that would allow for free informed choices to be made on converting to another religion."

Any problems within Christianity pale into insignificance compared with the threat posed by Islam. The Christian/Islamic Struggle has been endured for 1,400 years. While ISIS has been committing genocide abroad, little if anything was being reported in the media about mainly Pakistani heritage men in this country raping and abusing white children for years while hiding behind a screen of political correctness or silencing critics with absurd charges of Islamophobia.

Anyone who doubts the wisdom of accepting thousands of Muslim immigrants with open arms having previously repelled Islamic invasions is characterised by morally superior do-gooders as lacking Christian charity. Again little is reported in the media but reports of appalling immigrant behaviour in Germany and Sweden are truly frightening if people take the trouble to read them.

Death for apostasy, honour killings, child marriage, FGM, sexual abuse, etc, etc, await Muslims found to be in error as well as non-Muslims, the Kafir, a derogatory term used by Muslims to describe those who reject Islam

Water is used for purification but no matter how many times Islamists cleanse themselves, they cannot wash away their sins. Ablution is not conversion. That requires making disciples of all the nations (bishops please note), baptizing them with water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The difference between Christian service of free will and Islamic servitude. This is the challenge Christians are charged with in the Gospel.

That is the "chronic lack of religious literacy" the BBC's head of religion needs to address before it is too late for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Apologies

Who is a proper Christian?

My apologies to Archbishop Cranmer for thinking that this video was a spoof. 

I thought that I was made a Christian at my Baptism, "manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end".

Has something changed?

The baptism row

Distortion has become a feature of the Anglican Church under the influence of feminist ideology. God's kingdom is regarded as part of a new PC world where dissenters are branded misogynists, homophobes, bigots and the rest. Anything in fact to discredit opposition to liberal excesses.

Unlike the US where the feminist agenda is in control, women are not yet officially running the Church of England but with their feet now firmly on the threshold even some liberal clergy are beginning to question where feminist excesses masquerading as equality are taking the Church. The Pilling Report caused ripples but the proposal to ignore the devil and all his works has caused waves of dissent.

Feminism has used a 'stepping stone' strategy in its use of the Church to reach a political goal. Each step shows a relatively small change from the previous position but looking back the change is obvious especially for those finding themselves in an unintended position.

Small changes may not have appeared to be very important to those willing to be converted until they look back. The watered down baptism service provides a clear example of this. In the latest revision the vicar will simply ask: “Do you reject evil? And in all its many forms? And all its empty promises?” leaving the hearers to make what they will of the question, a far cry from the Book of Common Prayer which has:

"DOST thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them?"

There can be little doubt what the original BCP version means. In fact it neatly sums up the work of the devil and the covetous and carnal desires that are wrecking the Anglican Communion.

Hardly surprising the revisionists want rid of it!

Epiphany

The Adoration of the Magi (detail)                                                                                                                             Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427) 

"Church of England removes devil from christening service" (here) is the latest in a series of moves by the Church of England to make the Church more worldly rather than spiritual. An earlier report, Surplice to requirement? Church of England may cast off vicars’ robes (here), included the comment: Anglican vicars could soon be allowed to cast off their traditional robes and wear casual clothes at “café-style” communion services. 

To put this another way, "How the Faith was Lost in the Church of England" (here).

But the Faith has not been lost completely in the Church of England. Keeping the faith as it has been handed down is still of paramount importance to many Anglicans who continue to bring their gifts to the Church as the Magi brought their gifts to the Christ Child. They must not be refused.

Wot Christian Unity!

Today marks the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity although most attention has been focused abroad. 

Closer to home, instead of unity arguments rage on in the Anglican church. Particularly contentious is the setting up of an Ordinariate in England and Wales although in practice many in England will not, at least in the early stages, have a group near them while in Wales traditionalists find themselves in a desert. With no pastoral oversight, there is a leadership vacuum although there has been a tentative testing of the waters. Also slow off the ground is the much pilloried Mission Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda with much of the criticism coming, unfairly in my view, from Ordinariate enthusiasts apparently blind to the difficulties many face through personal circumstances and geography. Accordingly I am happy to provide links to both.


Humble pie remains off the menu but hope is not lost. As Christians we are united in the body of Christ through baptism but Eucharist separates us. In many Anglican churches people of good standing in their own faith are welcomed to the altar. If God finds them worthy should His servants find them any less?


There is little point in praying for Christian Unity and expecting a thunderbolt to achieve it - although many think Pope Benedict's offer comes close. Some people like elaborate worship using all the senses of sight, sound, smell and touch while others find God in utter simplicity. If only we could recognise that and attend any Christian church in humility we should make much more progress.

Church of England baptism!

From Mail Online: "The christening without much Christianity: Anglican church offers 'baptism lite' to attract non-worshippers". The story refers to "the motion from the Liverpool Diocesan Synod [which] asks for additional texts to be prepared as alternatives for passages in the Common Worship Baptism Services, which would be expressed in more culturally appropriate and accessible language than is perceived to be the case with the present services." 

Constant tinkering has already robbed the Anglican church of the beauty of its language, its tradition and now its meaning as it strives to be relevant to a politically correct society. The average person in the street presumes to instruct worshippers what they should believe without knowing the first thing about it, much like many of the modern religious correspondents who refer, eg, to such as Reverend Smith or Reverend Jones. The illustration in the Mail article in fact appears to be a Roman catholic baptism, not Anglican, but baptism nevertheless.

If the church continues to be driven by a desire to be relevant to society, how long before Christianity has any relevance whatsoever to the Church of England?