Grapevine

The above figures taken from the Diocesan Conference 2018 Edition of 'Monmouth Grapevine' illustrate the shift from the traditional parish priest to lay ministry. Rounding up the '.5' to 48 Stipends plus 20 House for Duty priests produces a figure of 68 priests for 175 churches averaging two or three churches per priest aided by 31 NSMs.

Consequently the laity are taking on more responsibility but not for the better. Anglican priestly ministry is being diluted in Wales.

Communion by Extension, "that is, where the sacrament is taken to a church from another church within the benefice, where the Holy Eucharist has previously been celebrated" is becoming commonplace. The sick and the housebound are more likely to be visited by a lay person than by a priest and funerals are conducted by LMEs (Readers).

In a postscript to a previous entry, Local Mission Areas mask decline of 24 October 2017 I wrote:

"The bishop of  Monmouth has proclaimed that 'A third archdeaconry is to be created in Monmouth Diocese following overwhelming support for the move at this year’s Diocesan Conference (21 October)'. He said, 'As Bishop I am charged with the leadership of this Diocese. Faced with such a challenge I could ignore it and almost certainly let the Anglican presence in the Valleys fade away. Or I could do – what any organisation would do – let alone the church – invest in the area and try and turn it around'."

Since her arrival the third archdeacon has been over the diocese like a rash, unlike the bishop. The 'Anglican presence in the Valleys' he referred to has not faded away but the bishop who is 'charged with the leadership of his Diocese' has. His prolonged unexplained absence has left his clergy in the dark and the diocese in limbo.

Peppered throughout the 2017 Conference Edition of Grapevine there is no mention of the bishop in the 2018 edition or elsewhere giving rise to rumours ranging from nervous exhaustion to all manner of other possibilities.

That is not to suggest anything irregular or to add to his difficulties but the current situation reveals a weakness in the governance of the Church in Wales when paralysis can exist with no apparent remedy.

In the event of an Archbishop’s incapacity or absence from the British Isles "the senior Diocesan Bishop willing to act and capable of acting and not then absent from the British Isles, as long as the Archbishop remains incapacitated or absent from the British Isles, shall be the guardian of the spiritualities of any vacant see, and shall have and exercise all the other rights of the Archbishop".

What of the spiritualities of a non-vacant see when the system breaks down?

On the broader front, under its Disciplinary Policy and Procedure of The Clergy provisions, disciplinary proceedings may be instituted on the grounds of "teaching, preaching, publishing or professing, doctrine or belief incompatible with that of the Church in Wales" (3)(b)(a) but while the bishops are of one  mind on matters incompatible with the official position of the Church in Wales, as on Holy Matrimony, they will not hold themselves to account.

There is a spiritual vacuum in the Church in Wales because the bench lacks godly men to teach the faith as received. The decline continues.

Eucharist homily

Source: archbishopcranmer.com

True Anglicans in Great Britain must sometimes wonder why they have bishops given the example of the bishop of Buckingham.

In his blog 'Archbishop Cranmer' gives a reasoned explanation of why an Imam should not be preaching the sermon at a Eucharist service. The reaction of the bishop of Buckingham was simply to say that objections to the Imam's sermon were “ridiculous”. In Islamic terms the bishop, along with other non-Muslims, is of course a mere infidel.

Imam Monawar Hussain MBE is Muslim tutor at Eton College and the founder of the Oxford Foundation which promotes religious and racial harmony. His response was that there are many different voices in all our traditions. Some Muslims might not be happy at my presence at the church so I’m not surprised at the objections but there are so many more Christian friends who are pleased I’ll be there. We need to be building trust and working together.

Building trust and working together amounts to little more than making Islam acceptable to the population of Britain. The authorities have become paralysed as race relations and political correctness have been deemed more important than safeguarding children. Any references to problems with religious ideological differences are met with accusations of Islamophobia.

The twenty men who have recently been found guilty of being part of a grooming gang that raped and abused girls as young as 11 in Huddersfield are described as "British Asians mainly of Pakistani heritage".

Seven of the gang are named Mohammed which may have led "Anti-Muslim activist" Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League, to assume that they were Muslim. It has been claimed that "far-right figures have used the crimes to argue that 'Muslim grooming gangs' pose a particular threat to Britain".

Not all British Asians of mainly Pakistani heritage are Muslim. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is probably the best Archbishop of Canterbury we never had. In this lecture bishop Michael explains how Islam became dominant in the Arab world and how Christianity became almost extinct in the Middle East:

In his blog Archbishop Cranmer explains that Imam Monawar Hussain, "being a Muslim of orthodox belief, does not believe in the divinity of Jesus: Isa, as the Lord is called in the Qur’an, is not the Son of God, nor was he crucified at Calvary. But Isa is not the Lord, for the Jesus of the Qur’an did not die on a cross, and neither was he resurrected. Yes, he was born to the virgin Mary; yes, he worked miracles; yes, he preached in Judæa and had disciples. But the Jesus in whom Imam Monawar Hussain believes is not the Jesus of the Bible, for he believes the al-Injīl (the Gospel) to have been corrupted. In Islam, Jesus is a nabī (prophet) and rasūl (messenger) of God. He is abd-Allāh (a servant of God), wadjih (worthy of esteem), and mubārak (blessed). But for Imam Monawar Hussain, Jesus did not die on a cross, he did not lie in a grave, and was not resurrected on the third day. Imam Monawar Hussain believes in another Jesus (2Cor 11:4). Preaching the University Sermon on Sunday, Imam Monawar Hussain will deny by his presence in the pulpit the very body and blood of Christ commemorated by the Eucharist; he will refute by his mere being: 'God from God, Light from Light, of one very substance with the Father…'. "

Bishop of Buckingham take note.

May Day!

Source: Twitter @stpetercarms

It is fitting that the Eucharist service advertised on the left is to be held on 1st May given the intention and pagan origins of May Day.

Victimisation is implicit in praying for equality while celebrating diversity. There are others far less equal who are never mentioned apart from being told to find somewhere else to worship.

The bishop of St Davids again identifies her ministry most closely with advancing homosexuality in the church while pursuing her policy of gender parity.

The bishops of Llandaff and St Asaph have similar agendas so at least half the bench is closely allied with the aspirations of Changing Attitudes. 

The former Archbishop Barry Morgan liked to remind anyone who had to listen to him that the bench spoke with one voice so the Church in Wales is off course travelling in the wrong direction.

May Day!

Decision time

The bishops of St Davids, St Asaph, Llandaff, Swansea & Brecon, Bangor and Monmouth                                                                   Source: Church in Wales

The 2012 Church in Wales Review kicked off with two recommendations:

Recommendation I

1) The Governing Body and bishops should make it clear, if

necessary by Constitutional amendment, that motions can come

from parishes, and deaneries (or whatever body might replace

them), to Diocesan Conferences, and from Diocesan Conferences

to the Governing Body, and that such motions would be

welcome.

Recommendation II

Candidates for election to the Governing Body should provide a

short manifesto which would be sent out to all electors by each

diocesan office. All elections in the Church should be conducted

in such a way as to ensure that electors know what the

candidates stand for on the issues of the day. 

Looking at the Agenda for the next Governing Body meeting little has changed. However, the spirit of Recommendation I is apparent in the Reverend Harri Williams' Private Members Motion on ‘Admission to Communion’. 

From the explanatory note: "Following the publication of the ‘Documents about Admission to Communion’ in September 2016, considerable discussion was held within the Deanery of Roose about the proposed changes. Whilst acknowledging that matters of faith and order are the preserve of the Bench of Bishops, it was recognised that these changes presented significant practical and pastoral considerations, for both clergy and laity, which it was felt had not been fully considered. These discussions voiced concerns which were shared on a wider basis throughout the Diocese."

The background can be read in a March entry, 'Dodgy legal advice leads to Eucharistic free for all'. That was the conclusion of the Rev'd Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin, a former Professor of Law at Cardiff and Bangor and former Legal Assistant to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.

Professor Watkin wrote: "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."

It will be interesting to see how the bishops respond to genuine concerns expressed in the pews about an enforced alteration to rites and discipline. The bishops were forced to backtrack on their desire to adopt same sex marriage in Church after the pew sitters expressed their concerns illustrating that their liberal agenda is not necessarily shared by members paying the Parish Share which is reflected by a continual fall in regular attendance, down to 28,291 and a reduction in planned giving from £11.4m in 2015 to £11.1m in 2016 - see Membership and Finances 2016 here.

Recommendation II implies openness but that could be used to vet candidates for election to the Governing Body to ensure even more like-mindedness to drive through proposals which do not necessarily reflect the views of the pew sitters. Of the farcical consultations carried out by the Church in Wales the most damaging was the refusal of the bench of bishops to entertain any sort of alternative Episcopal oversight for members who in conscience cannot accept the sacramental ministry of a woman priest. This has become a far greater problem with the appointment of two women bishops.

The bishops of St Davids and Llandaff have clearly stated their liberal agendas with more emphasis on inclusion and parity but with Barry Morgan in retirement, what are the real thoughts of the more senior bishops? Some potted histories are available here but what of their future plans if elected? In the process as described the meeting of the Electoral College will "begin with a discussion on the needs of the Province and a period of prayer and reflection".

They will need to pray about past mistakes and reflect on taking the Morgan line that there would be alternative episcopal oversight over his dead body. Many clergy and lay people have been forced to decide whether they can, in conscience, continue their membership of a church which values only their financial contributions. For many there is no alternative but to stay away. If that sits easily with the collective consciences of the bishops of the Church in Wales they will be seen as wolves rather than shepherds.

The decision must be for a good shepherd who cares for all his sheep.

Updates [06.09.2017]

1. It has been announced that he new Archbishop of Wales is the Rt Rev John Davies, the bishop of Swansea and Brecon. Our prayers must be for the restoration of the Church in Wales, undoing the damage of his predecessor, to ensure that all are welcome with acceptable sacramental and pastoral provision for all those souls neglected for so long.

2. Church in Wales report here.

The cost of success

This image from Twitter (H/T Anglican Mainstream) shows the celebration of a lesbian civil partnership at Southwark Cathedral with "Eucharist, Dinner and Dancing". 

It was joyfully attended by the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy Dean of Christ Church Oxford, who pressed Philip North either to renounce his membership of The Society or to decline his nomination as bishop of Sheffield, and his wife Emma Percy, Chair of WATCH who likes to refer to God as a 'She'. 

Taken with the errors committed at the recent General Synod in York, this is another example of how far Anglicanism in Great Britain has become a do as you please religion.

In another recent post on Anglican Mainstream the question was posed, Why is the Episcopal Church near collapse? A note of caution was added: Ed:  The author of this article is not mentioned, nor is it dated.  We believe it to be several years old, but we consider it suitable for posting as the situation has not improved and the article clearly shows the effect of revisionism.

The rot started in the US. If ever there was a cautionary tale to heed one would have thought that the brakes would have been applied but instead progressives in this country have held up TEC as an exemplar.

After all she has done to bring down the Episcopal Church in the United States, their former Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, was invited to proclaim the Gospel at the consecration of the new bishop of Llandaff, ignoring the Church in Wales' own Basic Guidance concerning the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist:   "[17.] The Gospel is normally proclaimed by a deacon, where available...and, from the Appendix, It is the duty of the deacon to proclaim the Gospel."

The Gospel stunt was a distraction which focused on the advancement of women in the Church rather than giving glory to God with the central focus of the liturgy being Christ himself (General Guidelines).

Another posing opportunity for women bishops       Source:Salisbury Journal

Back at the parish ministry area level, this comment was received following my previous entry which confirms worrying reports about Ministry Areas:

".... you mention 'inspiring our poor worn out hard working priests'
I agree with you but the management push to force ministry areas everywhere, is doing the opposite. Team leaders here in Monmouth are hard to come by as no one wants to run 3-4 parishes with less and less team members. Cwmbran, became a ministry area and went from 4 full time clergy, to two, the curate recently was moved to Malpas Ministry Area as no one would apply for it, so the remaining ministry team leader has resigned and is off to Llandaff as a team vicar. So soon no full time clergy......but hey plenty of lay readers who have been ordained...........(is it me or is that bad theology?)
I gather Llandaff has a chap going round full time, telling PCC's how wonderful ministry areas are......."

In the wider sphere, an observation from Pope Benedict XVI who sent a "sobering" message at the funeral of Cardinal Joachim Meisner saying he was moved at the dubia cardinal's ability to "live out of a deep conviction that the Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.

What liberals claim as progress is the cost of their success. At the official level Anglicanism is all but finished in the US with Great Britain not far behind while blind progressives still insist that it is they who are right!

But all is not lost. Please read this hopeful message: To the Anglicans of Great Britain.

Postscript [28.07.2017]

Read a review of material from Southwark Cathedral to mark civil parterships  here.

Church in Crisis

(The relevant section of this report is reproduced below)

 Interviewed for the Church Times about changes during his years of ministry, the retiring Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan said that the 'Welsh Church' is now a ‘more welcoming place’. Perhaps he was referring to the Uniting Church in Wales which he has been cultivating.

"In 2004, after the first year of his archiepiscopate, 41,000 adults attended an Anglican church service on an average Sunday in Wales. The most recent statistics, for 2015, show that figure has dropped to 29,000, a fall of nearly 30 per cent in 11 years."

Dr Morgan's welcome has not been extended to all. He has shunned many in his own church for not embracing his liberal views while welcoming feminists and other campaigners such as LGBT activists who have used the Church as a means of extending their influence.

Mirroring Women and the Church (WATCH) is a Welsh sister organisation, MAE Cymru "to promote gender equality in the Church in Wales". The report (left) of their first AGM on 5 November 2016 appears in the Forward in Faith journal New Directions.

With glasses of Prosecco raised they celebrated the election of a woman to be the 129th bishop of St Davids. Clearly they were in no mood to echo Dr Morgan's claim that the appointment had nothing to do with Canon Penberthy being a woman.

Mrs Briton had picked up New Directions first. I heard an anguished exclamation. "Good God, have you seen this?" She read aloud the last section which referred to a liturgical dance led by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson. Peggy 'the pilot' Jackson is Archdeacon of Llandaff. With little or no prospects of advancement in England, she was one of Dr Morgan's recruits to aid him in his obsession with the ordination of women. Unlike the first female Dean of Llandaff who lasted only a few weeks, Peggy the pilot has made it her business to pilot through legislation to ensure that there can be no equality in the Church in Wales other than on her terms. The following paragraph describes her 'act of worship, a style much favoured by her legislating companion:

"At the end of the afternoon, we held an act of worship - 'Saints and Sparklers'. We stood in a circle around an artificial bonfire of brightly coloured tissue paper, and with gingerbread-scented candles representing the saints we heard readings and prayers which referenced Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Jael, Deborah. Judith, Tamar, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Led by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson, we carefully executed a liturgical dance which made the shape of a crown - the crown of the Queen of Heaven. - Once the dance had moved outside, we lit sparklers and spoke aloud the names of the people who had inspired us on our journey. 'Shine as lights in the world, to the glory of God.' After the final blessing, we were free to make our way home, truly encouraged and inspired." - No men allowed.

This is Barry Morgan's 'welcoming' church, just another branch of non-conformity. The Sacraments of the Church becoming devoid of the inward and invisible grace bestowed by the outward and visible sign.

Supported by his bench sitters one of Dr Morgan's final acts was to write a Pastoral Letter 'to all the faithful' concerning admission to Holy Communion of all the baptised "by virtue of their Baptism alone". The pastoral letter may be read here. Some will have been convinced but many have not.

Writing in New Directions the former Archdeacon of Margam, the Venerable Martin Williams, has much to say about the issue. Some of the highlighted text: 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."

Here is a response to the Pastoral Letter by a former legal adviser to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, in a letter to the Church Times.

From the Rev'd Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin:
Sir, - 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".

Baptism, as both he and the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon (Letters, 6 January) state, is to be the full rite of Christian initiation. Confirmation is to become an optional extra. Is not this an alteration to the rite and to the existing discipline?

When the Church of England relaxed its rules on admission to holy communion, it did so by Measure and canon. 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 procedure for enacting canons exists precisely to ensure that potentially controversial changes are subjected to scrutiny, deliberation, and debate by all orders within the Church. Regardless of one's views regarding Christian initiation, respect is due to the inclusiveness of such decision-making.

The Bishop of Swansea & Brecon wrote of baptism as "birth into a family wherein all are welcome to be nourished by the sacramental family meal at the family table". The Bishops' actions make it plain that, once at the table, unless they are in episcopal orders, God's children are to be seen but not heard.

Seen but not heard is the preferred status of 'traditionalist' Anglicans. The news that the Rt Rev Philip North, "from the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic wing of the C of E, is being 'promoted' from his position as bishop of Burnley" has been met with shrieks of disapproval from WATCH.

Similarly the aim of MAE Cymru, part of a 'welcoming' organisation which purports to seek 'equality', has been to outlaw the very people who have sustained the Church over the centuries.

Accused of being “swayed by the liberal culture of our age” and ignoring Holy Scripture, Barry and his bench sitters have led the charge for change. Campaigns for so-called equality have bent what Jesus said and did to suit the prevailing secular mood. This has had devastating effects on the Anglican Church in Wales, in England and the United States.

Early in his archiepiscopate Dr Morgan delivered a lecture in memory of Canon Norman Autton. Dr Morgan claimed then that "In the New Testament the teaching of Jesus as a whole is about caring for the outcast as a test of righteousness and in his own ministry he dealt with those on the margins." He has repeated similar sentiments up until his retirement to justify advancing secular causes. In a word, all hell has broken loose.

In Westcott House Theological College recently, student priests organising Evensong talked about Jesus welcoming the outcast to justify an attempt to 'queer evening prayer': “Today we might follow in the footsteps of his daring, boldly and outrageously welcoming the Queer (both human and divine) in a way never before attempted.” A prayer referred to the “Fantabulosa fairy” and ended: “Praise ye the Duchess. The Duchess’s name be praised.” Psalm 19 was reworded to refer to “O Duchess, my butchness”.

WATCH is on record as wanting to change the Lords prayer to "Our Mother who art in heaven". The new Church in Wales is unrecognisable from only a generation ago.

When the bishops' aim of same sex marriage in church is achieved, their task of secularising the Church in Wales will be complete.

As they dance their way into oblivion taking the church with them, MAE Cymru will have to seek another gullible, affirming host to destroy.

Catholic tales

Pope Benedict XVI leads the New Year solemn mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Photo: EPA

A headline from The Telegraph in January 2011:

"First Anglicans are received into the Roman Catholic Church in historic service. The first Anglicans have been received into the Roman Catholic Church under a scheme set up by Pope Benedict XVI." 

After five years I am pleased for those Anglicans who have made the journey and have found contentment but there are still many Anglicans who are unable or unwilling to make the same journey for a variety of reasons even though their own church has left them.

I greatly admire Pope Benedict XVI. He showed great courage in setting up the Ordinariate. I am pleased that his vision has been a success but I feel less affection for a church which has caused so much misery to so many in the name of Christ.

Families built on 'mixed' marriages over many generations will have experienced refusal to recognise marriages, rejection of children and cruelty meted out by nuns, Christian Brothers and the like. Not having been directly on the receiving end, it is easy for me to say it is the message not the messenger but that has not prevented those who have suffered refusing to return, often leaving a gap in their lives. I find that so sad.

What amazes me is the ignorance of many cradle Catholics, not just the laity but priests too, who appear to regard non-Catholics (separated brethren) as though they are barely Christian and doomed to purgatory. Ironically many Anglo Catholics are probably more 'Roman' in their worship than many cradle RCs so I was particularly disappointed to read a well respected blogger penning  Eucharistic Miracles and Protestants? Perhaps it is simply the zeal of a Pauline convert or the perception of a former Evangelical but I do not recognise my fellow worshippers in this description as they genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament:

"Protestants deny the truth of transubstantiation... Nevertheless, when Protestants get upset that they are not admitted to communion in a Catholic Church, Eucharistic miracles remind us that Catholic do actually believe that something different is going on at Mass. Sure, we share baptism and faith in Jesus Christ with non Catholic Christians, but they themselves deny transubstantiation so I always wonder why they get upset when we affirm their denial and say they shouldn’t come to communion."

This was the Conclusion of the 1971 ARCIC declaration on Eucharistic Doctrine:

[12.] We believe that we have reached substantial agreement on the doctrine of the eucharist. Although we are all conditioned by the traditional ways in which we have expressed and practised our eucharistic faith, we are convinced that if there are any remaining points of disagreement they can be resolved on the principles here established. We acknowledge a variety of theological approaches within both our communions. But we have seen it as our task to find a way of advancing together beyond the doctrinal disagreements of the past. It is our hope that, in view of the agreement which we have reached on eucharistic faith, this doctrine will no longer constitute an obstacle to the unity we seek.

There has been more dissent born out of ignorance reported in the blogsphere. From Fr Hunwicke in Tales from the Ordinariate (2) and Twisting a Tale of the Ordinariate from Antique Richborough which thankfully offers more hope.

Amidst this squabbling it was another piece which caught my eye in the 'Catholicism Pure & Simple' blog, The Biggest News Story Never Told. - "What’s the biggest news story of our time? What has been the biggest story for the last decade and one-half? Answer: the resurgence of Islam, and, in particular, the rapid spread of Islamic jihad. But, with a few exceptions, you would never know it from reading the Catholic press."..."Catholic bloggers and journalists are still fighting yesterday’s battles without seeming to realize that we are in the midst of a new battle." [My emphasis - Ed.]

Christianity is being wiped out in the Middle East. It is frequently mocked in the West as secularism replaces faith. It does not help if people of faith opt for blind obedience out of fear. Fear God, yes, but worshippers should not be frightened into submission. That is Islam. God gave us free will. We should use it to unite in hope, not divide. 

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.