Church in Wales 'loses Holy Spirit'

 

The newly enthroned Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John        Source: Church Times

'There are good and kind and faithful priests in the Church in Wales but the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from its leadership'. 

That is the conclusion of the Rev George Conger, journalist and parish priest, speaking on Anglican Unscripted [Edition 730 starting at position 30.25]. 

George Conger has has been described by the Daily Telegraph 'the most knowledgeable reporter covering the Anglican world today'.

He said: "The trajectory downwards of the Church in Wales has been a long time coming, starting with 'political operator', Barry Morgan, who 'put buddies into positions of influence and authority, including bishops. Barry Morgan said we are going to have women bishops, we are going to have gay bishops, and sure enough they appointed women bishops and a lesbian bishop."

Attendance continues to decline, he says, with a collection of bishops who are 'just appalling' in their 'lack of pastoral sensitivity' and their 'lack of practical theology' while parish priests are left to care for up to seven or eight parishes.  

The sad records of the bishops of St Davids and of Llandaff do not escape Conger's attention but his main condemnation was reserved for the new primate, Andy John, who claims that the Church in Wales in five years is going to have gay marriage and the bishops are pushing the Church in that direction. It is a case of the bishops pushing until the rest of the Church  in the form of the Governing Body 'comes along side', he says. 

It was the 'road to perdition'.

The Church in Wales' main message according to its new archbishop as picked up in the media is 'Same-sex Church in Wales marriage hope within five years' as reported here, here, here, here, here, here and here. 

"I am with you till the end of time"

Path to extinction

Source: Church Growth Modelling 8 July 2015

"The Bishop of Monmouth-elect, the Ven. Cherry Vann, said that it would be a 'sad day if all the focus on growth was just about numbers', but that 'we can’t ignore the fact that church congregations, generally speaking, are either stable or declining'." - Twitter @ChurchTimes

Cherry Van is right on course to discover far more about decline when she takes her notion of stability to Wales.

The Church in Wales is heading for extinction in around 20 years time along with the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the US Episcopal Church. Fortunately for her and her liberal colleagues she will have retired before the collapse leaving others to sort out the mess the 'progressives' have created.

Decline continues as traditional roles are overturned. Over the last couple of decades, women have been leaving mainstream Christian churches at about twice the rate of men while more women than men are entering clergy training in the Church of England.

Promised benefits of the ordination of women have not just failed to materialise, they have been reversed.

In 1993 when Michael Alison (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners) moved, That the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure, passed by the General Synod of the Church of England, be presented to Her Majesty for her Royal Assent, he said:

"For those millions of people, the Church of England, with its formal state link, is a kind of valuable stalking horse by which they can bring pressure to bear on the powers that be to promote or to maintain Christian standards in education, complex moral and ethical issues, and so on."

Instead we have bishops who advocate same-sex marriage in Church and appear oblivious to the dangers of confusing children by spreading LGBT propaganda in primary schools in the guise of sex education.

In 2015 the Church Growth Modelling blog forecast that attendance figures for the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC), indicated extinction dates around 2040. The Church of England was "on the margins of extinction with some calibrations say yes, just; some say no, just."

The liberal leaning Canadian Episcopal Church must be added to the list.

Regular attendance figures from Canada show that the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) is in serious trouble, "running out of members in little more than two decades if the church continues to decline at its current rate". Statistics for 2017 indicate that average Sunday attendance has dropped to 97,421. The rate of decline is increasing suggesting an extinction date also of 2040 based on 'five different methodologies'. Figures for baptism, confirmation, marriage and funerals show an even faster rate of decline.

There is a common factor. Churches that have adopted liberal programs are in decline while conservative Protestant churches which take a more literal view of the Bible continue to thrive.

On his retirement the Archbishop of Wales reflected that he had supported numerous secular causes, including gay marriage. He has also backed women clergy during his 'leadership'. Commenting on the consecration of the Church in Wales' first female bishop he said: "I think that was pretty important as a matter of justice, as a matter of equality and as a matter of doing what was right".

No theology; pure secularism.

On gay marriage, Dr Morgan had previously called for the church's view on same-sex marriage to change with popular opinion adding "That's quite something, I think, in a church that hasn't always been known for its liberalism."

The Anglican Church is now soaked in liberalism and heading for disaster. Liberals have what they want at the price of extinction.

In Wales, Membership and Finance figures for 2018 show "continued decline in most measures of participation in parish life." Regular Sunday attendance has sunk to 26,110 or 0.8% of the population. The political appointment of Ms Vann to the position of bishop of Monmouth has been welcomed by liberals who no longer see the traditional teaching of the Church as relevant.

In the Church of Ireland clergy have objected to the appointment of a conservative bishop because of his membership of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). These clergy believe that GAFCON’s policies "are 'antithetical' to the principles a Church of Ireland bishop must commit to in the rite of consecration. These include 'fostering unity, care for the oppressed, and building up the people of God in all their spiritual and sexual diversity'" showing how far many Anglicans have strayed like lost sheep.

This from Church Times illustrates how absurd the liberal position has become in undermining traditional beliefs: The Dean of Waterford, the Very Revd Maria Jansson, told The Irish Times that "the Bishops’ attendance at GAFCON had undermined unity within the Church. 'How can Bishops Harold Miller and Ferran Glenfield reconcile the vows they made at their consecrations as bishops ‘to maintain and further the unity of the Church’ with their support of GAFCON, which stridently endeavours to undermine that very unity?', she asked."

More to the point, how can liberally progressive bishops reconcile their vows to maintaining the unity of the Church when they represent a small and shrinking percentage of the 87 million Anglicans worldwide?

The Church is in crisis. Only 2% of young adults identify as C of E. 

Interlopers have changed the Anglican Church to satisfy their own desires, driving forward an agenda to validate a lifestyle incompatible with the Gospel.

From Virtue Online: "Progressive Pansexualist 'Christians' have declared war on orthodox believers. Their goal is not mere acceptance, but to overthrow the moral order and destroy conservative churches who hold the line on faith and morals."

What we are left with is not Christianity but Churchianity and it is spreading.

Anglicans often described themselves as “Episcopally led and Synodically governed.” That is fine so long as bishops remain guardians of the faith but many are in the forefront of aggressive change, putting 'progressive' provinces at odds with mainstream Anglicanism.

Now Pope Francis is calling for a 'synodal' Church giving progressive Catholic bishops a similar platform to Anglican bishops for driving forward change with claims of being moved by the Holy Spirit.

Is there no end to this madness?

Jill Duff to be new bishop of Monmouth?

In response to a previous post about the election of the new Bishop of Monmouth a commentator wrote, "Its an open secret that this will be Jill Duff."

If Jill joins Joanna and June it will be reminiscent of the appointment of the first woman bishop in Wales after it had been widely rumoured that Canon Joanna Penberthy would be the next bishop of St Davids following the retirement of the Rt Rev Wyn Evans.

Initially the rumour seemed absurd, designed to wind up orthodox Anglicans until the grubby manipulation of the electoral process for political purposes became obvious.

Archbishop Barry Morgan stage managed his announcement of the 'election' by lining up nine adults on the bank overlooking the Afon Alun outside St Davids Cathedral as if parading before a firing squad. On the archbishop's command they were to applaud the announcement but eager to please their master, some jumped the gun like nervous squaddies.

The archbishop went on to justify Penberthy's appointment saying that it was "really important" to stress 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."

I doubt that recipients of her Dear John letter would agree with that description but, then, Morgan always was opinionated if nothing else.

By contrast fellow feminists will be delighted with Joanna's policy of parity although overkill would be a better description when in comes to St Davids Cathedral which is being turned into a feminist paradise with a token male priest to do most of the work.

There is more than enough evidence of the dismal failure of the first two women bishops to turn things around. There has also been experimentation and there has been profligacy. Evidence enough that the bench needs the inclusion of a man of God inspired by the Holy Spirit not by the spirit of the age.

Postscript [11.06.2019]

The Electoral College will meet on 17 September 2019 with the chance of electing the 11th, and possibly the last, bishop of Monmouth. Assuming Dr Duff has not already been chosen in the manner of the bishop of St Davids, given the divisions caused by a few disgruntled clergy favoured by the retiring bishop, the decision may have to pass to the bench to impose their own nominee. The flavour of the bench indicates that would be another disaster waiting to happen.

I don't care says Archbishop

Archbishop Justin Welby                                    Source: The Spectator

It is a sad time for orthodox Anglicans when archbishops don't care, adopting a mix and match approach to faith, driving Western Anglicanism into the mud as it becomes bogged down by secularism. And it is not just Canterbury. The Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church are in the same rut.

The US Episcopal Church (TEC) was allowed to become terminally infected by the spirit of the age before if wafted over the pond to infect the Church of England (CofE) and beyond, welcomed by impatient liberals as if it were the Holy Spirit rather than the Zeitgeist.

Interviewed for The Spectator the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, responded to claims that "one in ten Catholic priests is a former Anglican vicar by saying, "Who cares? I don’t mind about all that. Particularly if people go to Rome, which is such a source of inspiration."

Such an inspiration that after talking since the 1970s about possible reunion the CofE ignored pleas by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and admitted female priests, blocking the road to unity.

Archbishops may not care but orthodox Anglicans do care. While Anglican priests cross the Tiber going to Rome, Catholic priests are travelling in the opposite direction. The numbers are likely to increase after Pope Francis told gay priests to "be celibate or leave the priesthood", thus further diluting Anglican orthodoxy as the CofE embraces homosexuality and same sex marriage.

Rev Dr Tina Beardsley: "Positive development"

 Next on the Anglican agenda is the CofE's welcoming of transgender people with calls for an Affirmation of Baptism service adapted to allow transgender Christians to celebrate their new sexual identity.

A step too far? The Church of England is facing opposition from more than 2,000 of its own clergy and office holders over new guidance on celebrating transgender ‘transitions’.

It comes as no surprise that according to an analysis of CofE churchgoing in 2017 less than 50 people attend Sunday services at a typical English parish church and just one in ten babies is baptised into the Church of England.

Archbishop Welby accepts that the numbers are "challenging". From the Spectator article, "vocations are rising but weekday and Sunday services decreasing and the number of marriages and baptisms declining sharply. Perhaps the most startling statistic is that just 2 per cent of under-25s regard themselves as Anglican. ‘If you’re over 70, you’re eight times more likely to go to church than if you’re under 30,’ he says. ‘And I think that’s a huge challenge.’ I ask if he thinks rising secularism is also a challenge: that young people who go to church are seen not just as weird but as potential bigots and homophobes. It’s not a story he recognises."

No doubt the archbishop will welcome liberal minded Roman Catholic priests into his un-orthodox Anglican Church leaving orthodox Anglicans even more isolated. As conviction Anglicans they are unlikely to become Roman Catholics. Many have already left. Those who refuse to contemplate leaving 'their church' will be further compromised by sustaining an organisation that no longer shares the faith of the vast majority of Christians in the Anglican Communion

For those who are tempted to become Roman Catholics the writing is on the wall in the headline Papal advisers on female deacons hopeful for positive answer.

Rome has only to look to Canterbury for the dangers in that. As deacons in the Anglican Church justice demanded that they be allowed to become priests, then bishops, then cohabiting priests, then married priests, then married bishops. They call it progress but it is not Biblical.

Faull of Bristol

Source: Twitter @ChristianToday/Diocese of Bristol

We have to expect women to be appointed to the episcopate after General Synod voted in favour of the innovation but the Church of England has not voted in favour of same sex blessings - yet.

That is no impediment to Vivienne Faull, the current Dean of York, who is to be the new bishop of Bristol.

Christian Today reports Faull had said she would have no problem theologically with blessing a gay relationship and condemned the Church for 'driving people away' with its stance on sexuality. She  had 'found ways' of celebrating civil partnerships without flouting the Church of England's legislation.

In the typically duplicitous manner used by feminists she said, "I look forward to leading a church that shows the love of Christ to everyone, whoever they are" as though the church lacks love if same sex marriage is not accepted.

There is little love shown to traditionalists but that doesn't bother them at all. The feminist lobby and their liberal supporters chip away  at the agreement which made it possible for women to be appointed bishops. In Wales of course devout Anglican women and men have been left with nothing with no concern whatsoever for the unchurched.

Also reported in Christian Today: "LGBT people should be encouraged into church leadership, clergy told". In a letter praising 'the great contribution that LGBT+ Christians are making', four bishops in Lichfield are urging clergy to take a different approach to welcoming gay people.

There is no shortage of gay people in the church and plenty of gay clergy. There is no problem welcoming gay people. It is all part of the strategy to move towards the acceptance of same sex marriage in church.

As if to make a plug for same sex blessings, a strong supporter of gay marriage, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the US Episcopal Church has been invited to preach at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding on Saturday.

As with the ordination of women, same sex marriage will be pursued at all levels in the Church of England until it is accepted. Supporters will again claim that victory is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Pull the other one.

The irony of it

Metropolitan Bishoy and Bishop Gregory Cameron sign the Agreed Statement on the Procession and Work of the Holy Spirit during a special evensong
service in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.  Christian Today / Lynn Glanville / Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough 

Taking timeout from the advancement of all matters  LBGTI+ in the Church in Wales, the Bishop of St Asaph has been involved in matters spiritual, a hangover from his years in the Church of England.

Appointed Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office in 2003, he became Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion in 2004. He was elected as the 76th Bishop of St Asaph in 2009.

Unsurprisingly the report 'Anglicans and Oriental Orthodox agree on doctrine of Holy Spirit' appears not on the Church in Wales website but in Christian Today .

The controversy dates back to the 7th century, when Eastern theologians objected to the statement the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father 'and the Son' ('filioque'). Anglicans inherited this reading from the Roman Catholic Church. Agreed Statement here.

 One might have thought that resolving this impediment to Christian unity would have merited at least a mention but the Church in Wales abandoned matters spiritual in favour of politics long ago under their previous archbishop

Many of the faithful who would have appreciated this agreement have also been abandoned by the Church in Wales which may explain why Church in Wales reports are dominated by the advancement of feminism, homosexuality and same sex marriage.

This report shows what might have been before the bench of bishops and, indeed, the house of bishops in the Church of England opted for deviancy over unity.

Barry's gay legacy

Provincial news: Pride Cymru                                                                                                                Source: Church in Wales

 After 14 years in office as Archbishop of Wales, this is his legacy. A gay pride event fronted by the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales, highlighted as Provincial news on the Church in Wales web site under the headline "Bishop celebrates at Pride Cymru". 

Supported by predominantly women clergy, the bishop of St Davids will "take part in a discussion about faith and sexuality" before "leading Pride’s first ever Communion service". Penarth assistant curate, the Revd Rosemary Hill, will be talking about "bi-sexual Christianity" and later Newport assistant curate, the Revd James Henley, will discuss "belonging in a disconnected world". On Sunday, the Revd Rhian Linecar, Cardiff assistant curate, will lead Taize sung prayer and meditation, no doubt on an 'inclusive' theme.

FaithTent coordinator, the Revd Delyth Liddell, said, “We are delighted to be welcoming our first ever Bishop to the #FaithTent this year, Bishop Joanna". 

In one small step towards the bishop of Llandaff's goal of parity, the omnipresent cleric at 'inclusion' events, Canon Aled Edwards, chief executive of Cytun, Churches Together, will talk about “Open Inclusive Nation” before leading the closing thanksgiving service.

Deemed by Archbishop Morgan to be the 'best person to be a bishop', Joanna Penberthy was reported to have been elected in a 'stitch up'. Could her LGBT credentials have been why?  The news of her election was welcomed by one gay priest on Thinking Anglicans as "Wonderful news - for Wales and for the LGBT Community in the Church".

Given that her name had been circulating months before her election it should have come as no surprise but it did for those who believed that the work of the Holy Spirit could not be manipulated. One former Archbishop actually described the loss of the vote for woman priests as the work of the Devil.

If twenty years of women priests culminating in a bishop favouring the gay community over cradle Anglicans whose only desire has been to worship as the Holy Spirit moves them, the Archbishop could have been right but on the wrong occasion.  

Presumably, then, the task of a bishop in the Church in Wales today in Barry Morgan's book is to advance Queer Theology. Joanna Penberthy has been most conspicuous by her presence at all things gay but little else from Church in Wales news reports.

Looking back, bishop Penberthy was to the fore in Victims last December and in Church in Crisis in February this year. More recently she preached at the Welsh National Eisteddfod on 'diversity', reported more accurately elsewhere as LGBTQIA+.

The first woman bishop is no longer alone. The new bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne has a similar LGBT agenda.

The bishop of St Davids participation in Pride Cymru's Gay Weekend in Cardiff brings more LGBT 'good news' from one who has become a peripatetic ambassador for the LGBTQIA+ agenda, moving from diocese to diocese to welcome those who claim to be unwelcome despite all the evidence to the contrary. It is a ploy. Their aim is same sex marriage in church.

So this is Barry Morgan's legacy. A queered church motivated by illiberal 'liberal' clergy with a bishop in St Asaph taking on the mantle of Self inflicted pain while leaving traditional Anglicans with nothing but memories to support their faith. 

Barry Morgan's successor as Archbishop must break his secularist mould and return the Church to spirituality.

Update [27.08.2017]

"Bishop's Pride Cymru involvement 'fantastic'" - Rev Delyth Liddell faith tent coordinator.

The faith tent coordinator is a Methodist minister and University Chaplain. In a BBC video interview she highlighted the leadership of the bishop of St Davids.  Liddell claimed that LGBT people "would not be allowed to receive Communion" and "would not be welcome in church" which is what made the bishop's Eucharistic celebration so "fantastic".

As a Methodist minister Liddell may be ale to back up her claim but not in the Church in Wales. In reality I suspect it is just another 'persecution' claim built on fantasy as was bishop Penberthy's claim of discrimination which on examination turned out to be nothing more than someone taking an opposing view to hers.

First woman bishop in the British Isles imposed by House of Bishops

Bishop elect, the Rev Pat Storey                                                             Photo: PA

From a report in the Telegraph, the Rev Pat Storey, rector of St Augustine's in Derry, has been 'elected' by the Church of Ireland as the new Bishop of Meath and Kildare. The appointment was 'passed by the House of Bishops after the Episcopal Electoral College failed to elect a successor in May'.

Picking up the story, Hayley Dixon the Telegraph reporter emphasises the pressure on the Church of England: The Church of England is now increasingly isolated the only Anglican church in the British Isles to remain opposed to the idea, and Mrs Storey's appointment is likely to intensify pressure for the church to resolve its crisis over the issue. 

I am not sufficiently familiar with the politics of the Church of Ireland, or in Scotland for that matter, but in England and Wales, despite assurances to the contrary, very rarely is anyone appointed to the episcopate unless they subscribe to the current fad for advancing the cause of women's ordination. I have lost count of the number of clergy who changed sides when it became a bread and butter issue rather than Bread and Wine.

A report in the Church Times today puts the recent vote in the Church in Wales in a different light from the claims printed in the official journal Highlights making it look ever more likely as a fix: "The debate on the amendment lasted longer than the debate on the Bill itself. It was passed by 72 votes in favour to 46 against. There were six abstentions...The House of Bishops declined their constitutional right to consult privately before voting, and supported the Bill unanimously." 

A two-stage approach had been endorsed by the Governing Body last September but an amendment tabled by the Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven. Peggy Jackson, replaced those clauses with new ones instructing the Bench of Bishops to agree a code of practice without delay. The fact that the bishops went ahead and voted unanimously for the amended Bill without consultation suggested to some that there had been an element of collusion in the process. I am not surprised.

Just a game for some!              Photo: Church Times

After the vote the Archbishop said "we will produce the Code of Practice. That's what the Bill says, that's what we've been entrusted to do, and that is what we will do." From the Church Times report: "In the debate on the amended Bill, the Bishop of St Asaph went through some of the theological arguments against women bishops. "I'm not sure if I find these arguments shocking, or laughable, but it is not a tradition that I can defend....Arguments about complementarity and the representation of the persona Christi  were "essentially modern, and only came to the fore when the older arguments had lost their force", he said. "All this is beginning to look to me like a prejudice looking for a theology rather than a theology governing tradition." Hardly encouraging for those now forced to look to a code of practice. In response Canon Tudor Hughes (St Asaph) argued that the amended Bill took away the opportunity for "members of the Governing Body to explore together effectively the provision that traditionalists need to secure a lasting place in the Church in Wales.

"We were given an assistant provincial bishop: that was removed. We were given a Bill with a second Bill: that was removed. How can we be assured that the code of practice won't be removed? We have been assured that we have an honoured place. It doesn't feel like that."

Next stop the Church of England where the Holy Spirit is being similarly manipulated. Press and public will continue to voice their faithless anger aiding the revisionists to produce their required result. One has to wonder what these people actually believe.

Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire

The feast of Pentecost brings to a close Novena 2012 when we have been praying for unity and generosity of spirit so that our church may be truly inclusive. Pentecost is the feast people of my generation associate with the Whitsun treat. What better treat could there be than for the Holy Spirit to inspire Christ's disciples to live together in peace and Godly love, each allowing the other to worship according to custom and conscience.

Space to think...

Christ Abandoned

I have noticed that some Blogs are taking a break during the summer so perhaps I should take the hint and leave some space to ponder for a while, in particular on what has happened to Anglicanism and where we go from here.

When I came across the above image a few years ago it spoke volumes to me. The church was derelict leaving Jesus hanging abandoned on the cross.
 ("O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me!")
Old Anglicanism hangs by a thread; New Anglicanism wants it cut. Why? The road to the ordination of women was not easy for them. There were failures and disappointments which proponents put down to the work of the devil but after the voting procedures had been suitably engineered, success was proclaimed as the work of the Holy Spirit. That cannot be right. The constant misrepresentation of those with a conscientious objection to the ordination of women, together with the way New Anglicanism is moving, demonstrates that what has been ‘achieved’ cannot be the work of the Holy Spirit, in fact, it is the other way round.

While I have been heartened by the ‘traditionalist’ faithful women and men who have contributed to blogs on this subject, I have despaired of the mean, vindictive ‘Christian’ people, often women, who, now they have what they wanted, enjoy rubbing the noses of the faithful in the dirt as they attempt to cast us adrift. To their credit, there are still faithful Old Anglicans who are determined not be put down by these strident advocates of liberalism whose attitude is “If you don’t like it, leave!” But leave for what? For confirmed Anglicans there is nowhere to go. If, as seems implied, Rome were an option, worshippers would have made that decision on its merits, not on a single issue however fundamental that issue. It does not concern ‘liberal’ Christians that for many there simply isn’t anywhere to go, hence our desire for sacramental and pastoral oversight that accords with our consciences and with what we believe to be Christ’s example. That does not make women bishops second class, it maintains the gospel.

New Anglicans pick and mix to suit their cause while many of them regard Jesus simply as a man of his time from which we have to move on. If that were true, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church must be nonsense but for those who believe that Peter answered Jesus correctly when he said You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, there can be no leaving. Can New Anglicans seriously suggest that Christ did not know what He was doing, or is it that they simply do not care?

Let These People Go

From The Guardian looking forward to the forthcoming Synod debate on women bishops and the Archbishops’ desperate last hope amendment to maintain some integrity for the church:

“Sally Barnes, from Women and the Church [WATCH], said: "If you institutionalise this kind of discrimination, it creates more problems. The issues of division will not be healing. If this goes down, Christian women who want women bishops have said, 'We're waiting for it to happen, we're so sick of the opposition. We will just leave.'"

Well go and good riddance. The people in WATCH have already been given too much rope. They are wrecking the Anglican Church with their duplicity claiming the guidance of the Holy Spirit when it suits them and the work of the devil when things do not go according to their selfish plan. They claim discrimination where none exists. They are blatant feminists caring not one jot for the faith of true believers in the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

For those who have been converted to acceptance of the ordination of women to the priesthood, life is so much easier. They have bitten the apple but why make life so difficult for the rest of us who remained true to the tradition of our church? Saturday’s Observer Magazine (04.07.10) carries an article “Is the Church Still Sexist?” which says it all. Still sexist? Joanna Jepson pictured below is quoted as saying “Whether I am called to be a bishop or not, the impact is personal, for all of us, because this corporate injustice is being challenged.” [My italics]

“I know I can do the job that is best suited to who I am” was the quote from a young curate while Lucy Winkett, who to her credit has not hidden her feminist goals, complains of what “in any other area of public life would be called discrimination.” She dismisses “the number of people who really can’t accept this [the ordination of women] [as] extremely small.” Rather like the early church? Forward in Faith and Reform are brushed aside as a small proportion of the ‘regular worshipping community of 1.7million (who attend at least once a month), the majority of whom – 65% - is female.”

This huge majority, a small minority in the Christian church as a whole, may be regular (I would say occasional) but it distorts the fact that the more frequent faithful few worshippers are more likely to have a deeper faith which is being pushed aside by forces content to see them fall by the wayside. How can this be? WATCH has nothing to do with faith. It is an ultra-feminist entrist organisation dressed in clerical clothing. I have no objection to feminism or to feminists but I do object to the deceit and duplicity WATCH use when they falsely claim discrimination to achieve their aim which is parity in the church as though it were a business corporation. They have already formed a woman bishop’s queue as they worm their way through the legal complexities and vote fixing in Synod as though they were engaged in some sort of corporate power struggle.

These women say they “will just leave” if they don’t get their own way. So what does this say about their faith and loyalty to the Anglican church if they can just up sticks and leave in a fit of pique while many devout Anglicans are so desperate to stay in their cradle church they are grateful for almost any fudge that can be put together? For far too long these WATCH feminists have been telling us to leave if we don’t like what they are about. Enough is enough. The church should embrace feminists but not destructive feminism before faith. It’s time to let them go and set up their own church, not destroy ours.

Postscript

With acknowledgments to Fr Ed's St Barnabas Blog this link is recommended viewing. I couldn't agree more.

Whitsun Treat

Children paddling in Roath [Cardiff] during Whitsun Treat - c 1930s

Today on Whit Monday in years past children would have been off on their Whitsun treat. Intrigued to see how others spent their childhood treat I ‘Googled’ and was surprised to find just the one image (above) taken in Cardiff, South Wales, in the1930s. Asking my wife about her memories she told me that she used to go off to the seaside in a charabanc. How posh! I went on the back of a lorry to a hired field although, if I remember correctly, in later years a double-decker bus was used but the venue was always the same.

Such simple pleasures, paddling at the seaside or in a brook followed by a picnic tea, probably with a blob of ice cream from a big tub as a special treat. No paddling for us but healthy, organised sports and games. Thinking back the adults must have had a busy time planning and organising Whitsun treats. The weather was always unpredictable with Whitsun being a movable feast so a marquee was provided. Responding to the calls of nature with men, women and children of both sexes present required at least four suitably enclosed pits that had to be dug – and sorted out afterwards. Also as part of the setting up, the games had to be planned and the sporting events organised requiring the course to be marked out and starters, judges, marshals, etc, assembled. Last but not least the food had to be provided with mothers volunteering to make cakes and prepare sandwiches. Drinks were provided along with a packet of Smith’s potato crisps, with salt in a twist of blue paper – add your own or leave it, what a good idea!

Today it is different. Children are in school - unless of course it’s another day off for teacher training which for some reason can’t take place during their long summer holidays. Few will be aware of Whitsun or the feast of Pentecost let alone the descent of the Holy Spirit unless it is mentioned in passing during inter-faith studies. But not everything is lost. They will still have their day off for the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May when, as one site puts it “For many people the spring bank holiday is a pleasant day off work or school. Some people choose to take a short trip or vacation. Others use the time to walk in the country, catch up with family and friends, visit garden centres or do home maintenance.”

What could be better than that, sat in the traffic in a hot car or sat on a square of concrete eating a greasy barbecued meal without having to bother with anyone and no community spirit?

Veni, creator Spiritus!