Church in Wales in crisis

Archbishop of Wales Andrew John said while this had been "a sobering time, it also offers us opportunity for change" Source:  BBC

From the BBC: Multiple serious referrals made about cathedral

Among the complaints was a "culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred."

The Archbishop of Wales responded: "...while this had been 'a sobering time, it also offers us opportunity for change'."

Indeed. Concern was expressed in 2024 over the archbishop's judgement. He could set an example, take his own advice and go.

But if he were to go it would be out of the frying pan into the fire as the bench pushes its gay marriage agenda strongly favoured by the next in line, the bishop of St Asaph 

The archbishop could hardly have made a stronger statement of intent than his appointment of the assistant bishop of Bangor, the so called bishop of Bardsey who is engaged to another man.

The Church in Wales already has an openly lesbian bishop, the bishop of Monmouth.

The direction is clear.

There can be little if any hope for the Church in Wales with such secular bishops. The archbishop should be a man of God not the zeitgeist.

Postscripts

Church in Wales confirms financial irregularities relating to Archbishop’s protégé

Explained: The Bangor Cathedral scandal -Premier Christianity

Mass resignations leave churches in shock as Diocese of St Asaph issues statement

Faith 5%

The six Church in Wales diocesan bishops with the newly appointed 'youngest ever bishop' (left)   Source: Church in Wales

An  extract from a 'Faith' News Alert from the Church in Wales:

"Some people say 'the Church is always after your money' and that money shouldn’t be discussed in church. We believe that with over 2,350 verses in the Bible relating to money and possessions, the subject cannot be ignored. Indeed, the Church in Wales recommends that its members should give 5% of their take-home pay to the Church. We believe that the way we deal with our money speaks volumes about our discipleship. Giving money is part of giving the whole of yourself to God."

In many churches money is necessarily discussed regularly as they try to make ends meet while struggling to pay their diocesan 'share'.

Using some rounded numbers, in Wales 5% of average monthly take home pay of £2,000 amounts to £100 (around £25 per week) which is earmarked for the Church before more deserving causes.

One may ask, What could be more deserving than the Church? There are many deserving causes. The poor. The hungry. The dispossessed. Many relying on charity. The list is endless.

Instead of being a place for worship the Church has become increasingly politicised providing a platform for secular causes, a situation many resent supporting with predictable consequences.

The Church in Wales has long since ceased to be an example of good stewardship, maintaining a bloated structure reminiscent its former thriving self. 

In 2012 the Harris Review recommended structural changes including reducing to three administrative centres (Recommendation XXII) followed by Recommendation XXV: "The recommendations XXII, XXIII and XXIV should be reviewed after three years and a judgement made about whether the Church in Wales is best served by six dioceses with three administrative centres or whether it would be more effective to reduce to three dioceses, together with four area bishops."

Instead the bench of bishops have extend their empire, adding assistant bishops, advisors and administrative staff while turning the Church into a home for factional groups seeking to  'legitimise' their secular activities at the expense of the faithful.

The Church in Wales says, "We believe that the way we deal with our money speaks volumes about our discipleship." - Exactly!

With dwindling membership a once thriving Church has become largely irrelevant to former worshipers.

Fortunately the good shepherd knows His sheep and His sheep know Him.

From Divinity to Deviancy

Mary Stallard the new bishop of Llandaff follows Delyth Liddell, Methodist University Chaplain

and LGBTQI+ Gathering church leader at the Pride Cymru parade.    Source: Twitter

Celebrating diversity at Pride Cymru, the new bishop of Llandaff lost no time in identifying with her LGBTQ+ promoting sister bishops, the former bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, the retiring bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, and the bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, patron of Open Table. 

Diversity has become a euphemism for deviancy.

As the time approaches for appointing the next bishop of St Davids the Church in Wales needs to rethink its priorities.

From St Davids Diocese: 

"An Extraordinary Diocesan Conference is to be held on Saturday July 22nd., following the announcement that Bishop Joanna Penberthy is to retire on health grounds. The half-day conference will be chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, and will take place at Newcastle Emlyn Rugby Club when conference representatives will have the opportunity to discuss the future of the diocese and what they would like from their new bishop when he/she is elected in October."

Much has changed in the sixty + years since Church in Wales bishops held Oxford Firsts in Theology.

A return from deviancy to divinity is essential to restore any credibility to the Church in Wales if it wants to avoid being characterised as the queer church. 

Announcing the retirement of the bishop of St Davids, the Archbishop of Wales said "I want to thank Bishop Joanna for her ministry in the diocese and province. She has contributed significantly to areas of church life in particular on environmental matters and with our Social Responsibility network." Quite! 

Environmental matters and social responsibility are important but faith and worship still matter.

The Church needs bishops who win souls in a spirit of true equality and diversity.

BBC Sounds recently broadcast on the All Things Considered series  a programme titled 'Gender and Identity'. University chaplain Delyth Liddell was joined by bishop Mary Stallard and Sarah Jones, a transgender Anglican priest and vicar of St. John's in central Cardiff.

From the programme notes:
"... Pride is not just a celebration, it's also about protest, designed to get people thinking about acceptance, equality and deeper matters about identity. Today, we turn our attention to that very matter, considering gender. What does it mean on its most fundamental level? What did God intend? How does it make us who we are to ourselves and each other? And what of the interplay between biology, psychology and faith? Big topics and ones which can stir confusion, concern, and generate challenging questions."

Personally I have never encountered non-acceptance or unequal treatment in race, colour or sexuality in decades of church life. Quite the reverse, yet comments are often received from protestors. But that is all they do, protest and abuse others. There is no supporting evidence. No engagement or acknowledgement of other commentators' desire to protect the sacrament of holy matrimony. Difference of opinion is simply dismissed as phobia to silence any opposition.  

After 2,000 years of scholarship and witness Anglicans are expected to believe that interpreting scripture to please oneself is the way to salvation. I think not.

This is the result: "I believe in a non-binary God whose pronouns are plural."

Next stop polyamory!

Postscripts 

[29.06.2023]

From the US:

The Queering of the Episcopal Church by David W. Virtue DD

Why is America tolerating indecent exposure at Pride events? by Family Policy Institute of Washington

[30.06.2023]

From C4M: PRIDE: THE ANTI-MARRIAGE PLATFORM

[11.07.2023]

Lesbian Methodist Minister and chaplain at Cardiff University, Delyth Liddell, says that "visible gay role models are key to changing attitudes about the LGBT+ community in churches".
On 'All Things Considered' the bishop of St Asaph, Gregory Cameron, is to share his thoughts with the chaplain on his vision for an "inclusive Church".

That is selective inclusion of course because the bishops have decided that there is no place in the Church in Wales for Anglicans who keep the faith.

Users

Six openly partnered/married gay and lesbian bishops at Lambeth 2022.                  Source: Twitter

There have been a number of postings on Twitter of this group of gay and lesbian bishops at Lambeth thumbing their noses at orthodoxy, this one by @TransEpiscopal, a group of "transgender Episcopalians and allies dedicated to making the Episcopal Church a welcoming place for all"!

The US Episcopalian Church along with other western Anglican provinces do not need transgender, gay and lesbian priests and bishops to make people welcome. If the Church had not been welcoming there would be no openly gay and lesbian priests or bishops in the Church.

They protest that God loves them and that they are made in His image. So they are. So are adulterers.

God loves the sinner, not the sin, so these entrists busy themselves changing definitions to suit themselves, even re-defining marriage which is between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others and for life. Were it not so there would be no children and civilisation would cease.

The LGBTQ+ community is using the Church for their own ends. They are a vocal minority who do not represent the majority of Anglicans and fellow Christians.

The same sex partnered bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, (pictured 3rd from right) is a patron of Open Table, an organisation whose mission is to "warmly welcome and affirm people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA), + our family and friends, and anyone who wants to belong in an accepting, loving worship community."

Very well organised, a vocal minority is using Lambeth to manipulate public opinion for their own ends. 

The Global South stands for Bible based orthodoxy. They have set out four priorities for ‘Orthodox delegates’ including re-affirmation of Resolution 1.10. 

They must not be silenced by a vocal minority intent on serving their own interests above all others.

Postscript [01.08.2022] 

The house of the Lord! - Look at the setting for this circus. What have we become?

Attitude! - The decline of the Church in Wales

Transgender award recipient, Rev Sarah Jones    Source:Twitter

Tweets from the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales have become notorious, causing the Archbishop of Canterbury to be ‘deeply embarrassed’.

The first transgender priest in the Church in Wales has also been tweeting, puffed up with pride after receiving an award from Attitude magazine.

The Rev Sarah Jones was 'ecstatic'. She said, "I'm honoured to be in such company. The LGBTQIA+ community are wonderful and glorious. You add immeasurably to the beauty of this world."

Sarah Jones speaks about the award here, proclaiming the message "God loves me".

And me. And me. And me.... The assertion is constant in endless self promoting tweets. 

Do as you please because God loves you for being who you are. 

No more struggles with temptation as Christ was tempted in the wilderness. How wonderful!

Christ came into the world to save sinners but He is not needed in the Church in Wales because sin has been banished. There are no sinners, just loved ones.

 

There is a certain irony in this. There has been much criticism of the bishop of Monmouth for living in a lesbian relationship but spiritually, for me, she is head and shoulders above most of her fellow bench sitters, not that it justifies her ordination! 

Then there is the bishop of Bangor who, again, for me, has an evangelical zeal superior to others on the bench but is the husband of a second wife following divorce.

Church in Wales bishops have become adept at interpreting the Bible to suit their cause.

The consequence is that the Church in Wales is regarded as a joke in the Anglican world, providing sinecures for 'bishops' who spend disproportionate amounts of time promoting political and LGBTQA+ causes rather than the need for repentance.

Decline is inevitable.

Postscript

June Osborne @BishopJuno has tweeted:

"Such a well deserved award. So proud to have Sarah as a colleague and grateful for the inspiration she brings to Llandaff."

Another Church in Wales 'bishop' shows where her priorities lie.

Somewhere over the rainbow

A consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has seen the rainbow, the sign of God's covenant with every living creature on earth, rescued from LGBT propagandists.

Instead of being used as innocent flag-waving partakers in LGBT propaganda children have been using their own instincts to make rainbow drawings in support of NHS and care workers.

But the brass neck of it! The Christian Institute reports that LGBT activists are complaining that the rainbow is being appropriated by others to be used as a sign of support for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They claim that the LGBT community is being “belittled by the meaning of the rainbow being changed in the current climate” presumably unaware that it is a sign of God's covenant with all His people.

It is heartening to see that even the LGBT/same sex marriage obsessed Church in Wales has adopted the NHS rainbow in an apparent return to faith.

"Somewhere over the rainbow

Bluebirds fly

And the dreams that you dream of

Dreams really do come true" 

Do you want local churches to flourish?

Ven Cherry Vann, bishop elect of Monmouth               Source: Church in Wales

 From a Diocese of Monmouth job advert appearing in the Church Times:

"Do you want local churches to flourish?

"Monmouth Ministry Area is looking for 2 Ministry Area Leaders to share Ministry Area Leadership for the whole area and each to be incumbent of a group of parishes within it. One incumbency has a more urban base.

"The whole area has18 churches (6 looked after by House for Duty priests) A team of 13 active retired priests and a Reader Focal Ministers in most churches."

There are some sad average Sunday attendance figures in the Monmouth Ministry Area Profile which no doubt account for the advert headline. Granted they serve many small rural communities but with ageing congregations it is difficult to see how these churches are to flourish.

The average Sunday attendance figures are:

The Monmouth Town Group: Mitchel Troy 18, Monmouth Priory Church 51, Overmonnow 46, Rockfield 8, Wonastow 6.

 The Monmouth Rural Group: Cwmcarvan 3, Dingestow 9, Llanfihangel Ystern-Llewen 12, Llangattock-Vibon-Abel 12, Penyclawdd 10, Tregaer 8.

The Llanishen Group: Llanfihangel Tor-y-mynydd 15, Llanishen 5, Llansoy 7, Trelleck Grange 5.

The Llandogo and Tintern Group: Llandogo with Whitebrook 42, Tintern 7 (Estimated)

The problem extends beyond the Church in  Wales. The Mail Online reports that a typical Anglican congregation in England numbered just 27 worshippers last year. "Over a decade congregations fell by 15 per cent, church marriages by a third, and fewer than one in ten babies were baptised."

Churchgoing is becoming increasingly unpopular. Why?

Responding (@18.27) to a LBC questioner in my previous entry Justin Welby said he was "deeply, deeply sorry" that "the Church has historically been deeply intolerant, with society as a whole, but the Church has no excuse. Jesus said to someone caught, someone dragged up in front of Him, 'those without sin cast the first stone' and we shouldn't be throwing stones" as if to imply that Jesus condoned sin.

The Christian message would have been much clearer if Welby had quoted Jesus when asked by the woman caught in adultery: "Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”

Biblical teaching has become so selective that for many people sin has been abolished so there is no need for redemption.

Welby also said: "People have to realise the reality of people's lives. The reason he is a Christian is because God came into the middle of the complexity, he didn't simplify it, he embraced it. It's what we need to do".

Hate the sin but love the sinner has become love the sinner so never mind the sin implying that Christ died on the Cross in vain.

Churches cannot be expected to flourish by surrendering the faith of Christ crucified to a 'do-as-you-please' society.

Epiphany

Perhaps alluding to Brexit, in her latest reflection the bishop of St Davids, Barry Morgan's idea of the "best person to be a bishop", tells her listeners that "the God who kept His people Israel safe, even through the holocaust and beyond, who kept His Church safe through the centuries will keep us safe. And we are called simply, not to wave magic wands to make things better but to open the ordinary things of our lives that the Holy Spirit may rush in through the gaps and in us Christ's glory may be seen by our love for one another and our service of the community."

What Church is Joanna Penberthy talking about? Not the Church in Wales which, thanks to her and her colleagues on the Bench, is crumbling around them. A Church that has become totally irrelevant outside Wales.  The Washed Up World of the Anglican Church of Wales is no longer considered when the state of Anglicanism is discussed. See Hey! Nobody Cares.

As for 'our love for one another', the excluded will take that with a pinch of salt. Traditionalist Anglicans in Wales have been deprived of  sacramental or pastoral care since the late Bishop David Thomas retired in 2008. Provincial episcopal visitors (PEVs or flying bishops) have been banned from Welsh dioceses in a determined effort to stamp out traditional Anglicanism in Wales showing a distinct lack of love for one another from the bench of bishops .

Yes, 'His Church', the body of Christ, is safe in the hearts and minds of conviction Christians. But they have been left out in the cold. They no longer count in the Church in Wales, just like the Church in Wales no longer counts in the wider Church.

That is the realization of Archbishop Barry Morgan's vision for the Church in Wales.

Some Epiphany!

Mother god

The dream,

 Speaking at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on Monday evening Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury said that God is not a father in the same way that a human would be – and that descriptions of God are always “to some degree metaphorical”.

The trap was sprung. The media pounced. Mail Online put it thus:

 'God is not male… OR female’: Archbishop of Canterbury says ‘the Father’ cannot be defined by human gender.

Newsnight kicked off [@28.20] in the context of gender fluidity with 'When the Archbishop of Canterbury suggests that God is not male, what should we think?'

The Rev Dr Margaret Joachim suggested that we should not pray to Our Father because the simple word father has an appalling connotation for people who have had unfortunate relationships with their fathers!

          

the reality

Are there no unfortunate relationships with mothers in Dr Joachim's book?

It is an odd notion that it is sexist to pray to the father but not if we pray Our Mother as women bishops are suggesting. 

Unlike pagan fertility godesses and Mother Earth Christianity is not about fertility, sex and gender.

The simple truth is that when asked how we should pray Christ said to pray 'Father, hallowed be your name'.

Metaphorical images of a female God in the Bible speak of motherhood. A mother's selfless care and nurture of her children, something feminists in the church fail to recognise.

They have marginalised many devout mothers of conscience who for millennia have been happy to pray Our Father as Christ taught us. I know who I would rather listen to.

Bishops' legacy

"Brilliant MAECymru net-working lunch hosted by +Joanna & St David’s Diocese group on Saturday."
Source: Twitter @StaryMallard

This Tweet well illustrates the driving ambition of bishops in the Church in Wales today.

The fruits of a drive by theologically inept bishops to follow fashionable trends in society, putting their own spin in scripture and tradition. .

High on their list of priorities is their campaign for same sex marriage.

Do not be deceived.

They do not represent the remaining devout women and men in the pews.

Over the centuries faithful women have kept their heads down, praying to the Father as His Son taught us to pray.

They are appalled by the 'babies by baster' culture supported by  feminist organisations which regard children as an entitlement, denying them a normal family life, nurtured by a father and a mother as God intended.

When feminists demand that God be referred to as 'she', they mean a woman in their own image.

God help us!

The faithless face of feminism in the Anglican Church

Bishop Rachel Treweek has said the Church of England should not call God 'he'
Source: Express/GettyImages

Christianity is about Christ. For feminists Christianity is about using Christ to promote their own agenda which distorts the nature of love and equality to accommodate their self promoting views on faith and religion.

The Express reports: 'God is NOT a man: First female bishop says calling God “He” is a growing problem'.

It may be a growing problem for bishop Treweek and her trendy feminist supporters but not for the majority of Christians or for Christ Himself who taught His disciples to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...

Hallowed means nothing to these Entryists who lacked the integrity to form their own church. Instead they have politicised Western Anglicanism. They have mercilessly used the Anglican Church as a playing field on which only they can win.

So deep has the rot become that they have the support of limp bishops who have sacrificed spirituality on the altar of secularism.

In 2015 the BBC News Magazine published an article Why is God not female? The question keeps coming back. As with the ordination of woman and same sex marriage in church, the arguments are constantly regurgitated, pressing people outside the church who have no understanding of the theological implications of their actions to force change  inside the church.

Is it any surprise that people get fed up, leaving the Church in crisis as only 2% of young adults identify as C of E.

The Church in Wales too has become a leaking bucket, rusted by feminists. Their duplicity in getting the Governing Body to agree a Code of Practice which furthered the feminist cause while shutting out many faithful, cradle Anglicans can be judged by its fruits. The two women bishops appointed have proved to be a complete waste of spiritual space as they constantly drive forward their feminist agenda.

The ugly face of feminism in the church owes much of its success to Women and the Church (WATCH).

From my entry Women in the Church:

"Women bishops would humanise the priesthood" said the then Archbishop of Canterbury in 2011. Dr Rowan Williams warned the Church hierarchy to prepare for the “culture change” that would come with the “full inclusion” of women. Not the full inclusion the Archbishop would have expected. Instead it is inclusion to the exclusion of anyone with views not in accord with Women and the Church (WATCH) and their fellow travellers as highlighted by the "Sheffield controversy".

A culture change indeed. and not for the better so far as mother Church is concerned.

Wimmin not listening

ReutersAntje Jackelen, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden, at Uppsala Cathedral                                                                                    Source: Christian Today

The Church of Sweden is opting for gender-neutral language when referring to God, with designators like 'he' and 'Lord' being omitted....'Theologically, for instance, we know that God is beyond our gender determinations, God is not human,' said Archbishop Antje Jackelén, who leads the Church of Sweden. She said the change had been in conversation for decades, as early as 1986. Full report here.

In response Christer Pahlmblad, associate theology professor at Sweden's Lund University, criticsed the move. He told Denmark's Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper that the change undermined 'the doctrine of the Trinity and the community with the other Christian churches'.

Antje Jackelén is not the first female archbishop to ignore the wider church and please herself. The  heretical mentor of the former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, liked to put her own spin on the Gospel. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori used 'violent images' for God. She described the Son of God as a Hell's Angel "Gang Leader" and "Party Animal".

Less extreme but also obsessed by secularist feminism in the church, Australia's first female Anglican archbishop, Kay Goldsworthy, would like to see more women in church leadership roles, a constant theme of women bishops in England and Wales.

More women than men are going forward for training for ordination for the first time in more than 15 years according to a recent report, strengthening the view that church ministry is going the same way as primary school teaching where there are few male role models, and primary medicine with Health Centres often staffed by part-time female GPs, a problem which is also affecting hospital care with many female consultants working part-time.

But still the clamour for more women continues regardless of the consequences. As the Guardian headline put it, Amid fight for equality, new bishop of London unlikely to be a woman. The feminist pressure group Women and the Church puts it succinctly as they move towards their true goal after the Church of England was beaten into submission and accepted the ordination of women priests and bishops: Just getting started - working actively for gender justice, equality and inclusion in the Church of England - as if there were no justice, equality or inclusion. Ironically that is just what these feminists are creating leading some to speculate that the Church of England is about to split over theological liberalism.

After her appointment, the second woman bishop in Wales boasted in a BBC interview that Wales was the province in the Anglican Communion with the highest percentage of female bishops before going on with the familiar feminist theme about gender parity, equating equality with sameness.

As if Wales were an example. Their own theological college has closed. Out of the ashes, St Padarn’s Institute, the 'training arm of the Church in Wales' is inviting  all licensed minsters to share what makes them [my emphasis Ed.] flourish and what they struggle with in a series of ‘listening days’ taking place across Wales.

Recent history shows that wimmin issues, not listening, has become the driving force in the Church in Wales. Consultations that have not worked out as the bench of bishop desired were simply ignored. Traditional Anglicanism has been virtually extinguished.

Those churches that are not on the redundant list should not have long to wait as congregations become increasingly elderly. Similarly in England, "Women clergy become the death of the Church of England" as attendance continues to slide.

All are equal in death!

Postscript [27.11.2017]

"Reforming" Church of Sweden looks to Islam:

"It would be foolish to assume that Jackelén's ecclesiastical revolution will end with this victory. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that her success at Thursday's synod will inspire her to redouble her efforts to transform the Church of Sweden into a more Islam-friendly institution – one that ultimately, at the very least, puts Muhammed on an equal plane with Jesus Christ. No, we cannot know what is really in this woman's heart; but one thing we can be sure of is that when Islam does eventually take over Sweden, her remarkable history of appeasement will not save either her or her Church from a brutal reckoning." Full report here.

"What is marriage?"

My thanks to Anglican Curmudgeon for posting this excellent homily on his blog under the title Is It Man over God, or God over Man?

The blog author, A S Haley writes: This is an outstanding homily on last Sunday's Gospel reading recounting Jesus' skill in handling the Pharisees and the Herodians who tried to entrap him on the payment of taxes to the government (Mt 22:15-22). The Very Rev. John Lankeit, dean of the Cathedral of Ss. Simon and Jude in Phoenix, Arizona, shows Christians how to use Jesus' logic to refute the trick assumption behind the question: "Do you believe in gay marriage?"

Superb.

Free will...

The gift of free will brings with it responsibility to fellow men and women. 

God's will cannot be enforced with the sword, bombs and bullets while supposedly earning sexual favours in paradise as a reward. Sex is a human requirement for furthering the species, not a heavenly prize for slaughtering the innocent on Earth. Why would God want an army to destroy what He created anyway?

This is what He intended based on centuries of evidence, not just on what one man told others he had heard:

  

Lords debate: Situation of Christians in the Middle East

An interesting debate took place in the House of Lords yesterday. Opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, he drew this tribute from Lord Mackay of Clashfern: "My Lords, I would like very warmly to thank the most reverend Primate for the opportunity of having this debate in your Lordships' House, and for the scholarly and profound speech with which the debate has been opened." Well deserved praise echoed by subsequent speakers, often in short supply outside the House.

Speaking in the debate (at 12.23) Lord Sacks' contribution was also praised by many speakers. He felt as a Jew in Christian Britain that he could not be silent. He quoted Martin Luther King saying, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends". Lord Touhig quoted his late old friend Leo Abse who, on his retirement as an MP, gave only one piece of advice to his successor. He said, "Tolerate everyone, tolerate everything but never tolerate the intolerant". 

Replying, Lord Howell of Guildford said, "This has been a hugely enlightening debate, unlocking the vast stores of wisdom that are to be found in your Lordships' House on the issues that we are addressing, on the history behind them-the hinterland of knowledge-and on the prospects for the present and the future in a very turbulent world. We have had some excellent speeches." The speeches clear up many misunderstandings about Christians in the Middle East and are well worth the time reading or listening to them. I particularly liked this aside from the Archbishop of Canterbury: "A Palestinian Christian friend of mine was wont to say when asked by westerners, 'When did your family become Christians?'  'About 2,000 years ago' was the reply." 

In his contribution to the debate, Lord Ahmed of Wimbledon quoted his mother saying: "The Abrahamic faiths are that Judaism lays the foundations, Christianity builds the walls and Islam is the roof. We all have the same origin and the same destination. Together we build a single house of worship". The reality is different. Mosques are demanded while other places of worship are destroyed. The plight of Coptic Christians is well documented. One of their priests gives a clear insight into their problems here. Translating their situation to Great Britain, the "silence of our friends" is contributing to the demise of Christianity while Islam is in the ascendency. The suggestion that Islam is the roof is used to claim that Muhammad was the last in a line of Jewish prophets of which Jesus was just another, raising the prophet above the Son of God. That is unacceptable to Christians. Leo Abse's advice "never tolerate the intolerant" is particularly apt.

There is a video link to the debate here. Highly recommended.

Jesus was a good bloke

The Good Shepherd

Being both God and man, there is no doubt that Jesus must have been 'a good bloke' but more than that, Jesus the Son of God is here now, a fact that the Church of England too often keeps quiet about giving the impression that only the Muslim Allah has to be respected leaving Anglicans to please themselves, bringing Him out for Christmas festivities and in time of need. 

Leading up to Christmas lapsed Anglicans in the Church of England can enter their post code on a new C of E site to find 'carol services, Christingles and other special Christmas services' within a 15 miles radius. People with iPhones can search 'myCofE' at the App Store. This initiative is being fronted by Jo Brand so in the spirit of Christmas I entered the post code of her birth place, SW18, and was greeted with a list of 130 results within just 5 miles (there is an option of 1 to 15 miles) showing a full range of services and events for adults and children. 

If this initiative gets back to church those who simply profess to be Christians it will be hailed as a success but it will be an abject failure if people come away just thinking: Yes, Jesus was a good bloke.

Godless Guides?

The Queen and Princess Margaret.
 Picture: Associated Newspapers / Daily Mail /Rex Features

"I promise that I will do my best, to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law."

A story in the Telegraph just about sums up the absurdity of life in Britain today especially for Christians. Because a girl "felt unable to take part in her Brownies enrolment in north Somerset due to the religious content of the Promise" the Girl Guides Association is reported to be considering reviewing the wording of its affirmation for new members, to remove religious references. What next? Immigrants and secularists objecting to Her Majesty the Queen being "Defender of the Faith"? 


Baden-Powell must be turning in his grave. The Guide Promise has already been amended from 'To do my duty to God' to 'To love my God', in order to accommodate different faiths leaving secularists free to have a stab at changing the foundation of Guiding again but oddly, not Scouting which retains the original Promise. Give them time! The Scouts are now a mix of boy scouts and girl scouts although the Girl Guides remain exclusively sexist reflecting what has happened in the rest of society. Thanks to that enemy of democracy, political correctness, we no longer have the heroine, actress, headmaster or chairman but curiously we still have the Baroness.

For many in today's eunuch led liberal church, belief in the one true God has become an optional extra but belief in one God means just that. As Christians we should be above the political correctness that implies the legitimacy of other faiths. People may believe what they want in a free country but tolerance has been perverted to allow our Christian heritage to be eroded by do-gooders who have nothing to offer other than a suffocating desire to impose their bland sterility on Christians. Much of this is a consequence of  the feminist campaign for the ordination of women which has resulted in the spiritual decline of the Episcopal Church in America and continues to emasculate the Church of England as WATCH and GRAS demand their own way here.

"On my honour, I promise that I will do my best

To do my duty to God and to the Queen,

To help other people

And to keep the Scout Law"

Scouts of my generation felt 'honour' bound to keep their 'promise', two words that the new breed of Anglicans in the churches of England and Wales have consigned to the PC dustbin only to be replaced by deception. 

Awarded For Lower Class Service

Dave's latest big idea is to re-introduce the British Empire Medal scrapped by his predecessor John Major as divisive.

"The medal will be handed out in recognition of the dedication and hard work so many provide to their communities", says the Prime Minister. No matter that there is no Empire or that God is irrelevant to most of the population, 'Meritorious Service' by the lower orders (people without rank) will be recognised as such in gratitude for their unpaid work.  

Why perpetuate a 'them and us' mentality? Surely it is not too difficult to come up with a new award such as the Queen Elizabeth Medal for service without all the class baggage.

Women in dog collars

Photo: Jane Mingay

How sad that this is what the Anglican church has come to. Dominated by women in dog collars desperate for purple shirts as though they have a God given right to be bishops. Such is the force of their feminist movement in the Anglican church they now dominate debate in England and Wales bringing with it all the equal rights baggage of parity, same sex partnerships and their pension rights.

The latest news from the BBC will give women clergy even more courage to oust all those who oppose their feminist strategies, faithful Anglicans or not, putting all their trust in synodical governance over the faith and tradition of the Universal church using their preposterous claim that their manipulations are the work of the Holy Spirit.

In our Creed we still claim to be members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church but unilateral decisions of Synod have separated us from the wider church of East and West at a time when great strides are being made towards unity. Putting religious differences aside, this dialogue from "Light of the World" [ISBN 978-1-86082-709-9] on 'Overdue Reforms?' sums-up the position of women's ordination in the Universal Church:

"The impossibility of women's ordination in the Catholic Church has been clearly decided by a "non possumus" of the supreme Magisterium. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith laid this down under Paul VI in the 1976 document Inter insigniores, and John Paul II reinforced it in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis. In this document, speaking in virtue of his office about the "divine constitution of the Church", he writes —and these are his exact words—"that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful". Critics see this as a form of discrimination. The only reason Jesus did not call women to be priestesses, it is said, is that this would have been unthinkable two thousand years ago." - Peter Seewald.

"That is nonsense, since the world was full of priestesses at the time. All religions had their priestesses, and the astonishing thing was actually that they were absent from the community of Jesus Christ, a fact that in turn is a point of continuity with the faith of Israel. John Paul II's formulation is very important: The Church has "no authority" to ordain women. The point is not that we are saying that we don't want to, but that we can't. The Lord gave the Church a form with the Twelve and, as their successors, with the bishops and the presbyters, the priests. This form of the Church is not something we ourselves have produced. It is how he constituted the Church. Following this is an act of obedience. This obedience may be arduous in today's situation. But it is important precisely for the Church to show that we are not a regime based on arbitrary rule. We cannot do what we want. Rather, the Lord has a will for us, a will to which we adhere, even though doing so is arduous and difficult in this culture and civilization. Incidentally, women have so many great and meaningful functions in the Church that there can be no question of discrimination. That would be the case if the priesthood were a sort of dominion, whereas it is actually intended to be pure service. If you look at the history of the Church, women—from Mary to Monica and all the way down to Mother Teresa—have so eminent a significance that in many respects they shape the image of the Church more than men do. Just think of major Catholic feast days such as Corpus Christi or Mercy Sunday, which originated with women. In Rome, for example, there is even a Church where not a single man can be seen in any of the altarpieces." - Pope Benedict XVI

That we all may be one.

As Pope Benedict's visit to his German homeland draws to a close, this screen grab of Mass being celebrated in the Olympic Stadium illustrates how insignificant we appear from above. Despite that, the intensity of debate continues as we strive for unity. Lutherans in particular had been hoping for a gesture to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The Pope acknowledged that there had been talk that his visit would produce an 'ecumenical gift' but said that it was a 'political misreading of faith and of ecumenism.'  Emphasising the point he said, "A self-made faith is worthless.  Faith is not something we work out intellectually and negotiate between us.  It is the foundation for our lives."


Compare that statement with the report of his meeting with Orthodox Christians when Pope Benedict said, "the Orthodox are theologically closest to us; Catholics and Orthodox both have the same basic structure inherited from the ancient Church. So we may hope that the day is not too far away when we may once again celebrate the Eucharist together".


So where does the Anglican church stand? The position is neatly summed-up in this Blog but undeterred, the Anglican church has chosen relativism over unity. Depressing though it is, all is not lost. Closing his homily for electing the Supreme Pontiff, the then Cardinal Ratziger said, "At this time, however, let us above all pray insistently to the Lord that after his great gift of Pope John Paul II, he will once again give us a Pastor according to his own heart, a Pastor who will guide us to knowledge of Christ, to his love and to true joy. Amen." Unbeknown to him, that prayer was to be answered in Benedict XVI himself and in answer to Christ's prayer for unity the Ordinariate will be his legacy for Anglicans, hopefully to be followed by communion with the Orthodox church, God willing.