Pied Piper of Oxford

The bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, has decided to ditch his baptismal vows and turn from Christ following the example of the former archbishop of Wales.

Other bishops have swiftly followed. No doubt more will join them as they follow the herd listening to the simpering stories of 'suffering' peddled by Jayne Ozanne and the Ozanne Foundation.

The Church in Wales is a prime example of what happens when Anglicans abandon their baptismal vows. Blessings of same sex unions will soon be followed by marriage in church of same sex couples when the bishops have bent the minds of the puppets on the Governing Body. 

The Scottish Episcopal Church and the The Episcopal Church of the United States have trod the same path. All are in decline.

The revisionists could not care less for the pain and suffering of those, often cradle Anglicans, who have been effectively excluded from the church for keeping their baptismal vows.

Secularism is killing Anglicanism.

Birds of a feather

Dean Martyn Percy            Source: davidould.net    Dean Lister Tonge          Source; Church in Wales

I see from the GoFundMe page set up on behalf of friends and colleagues of the Very Rev Professor Martyn Percy £60,525 has been raised from 475 people in 24 days. The target was £60,000.

Of the larger contributions there have been four gifts of £5,000 and one of £3,000. It would be interesting to know the sources of such large sums but the gifts are anonymous.

Way down the list is a gift of £100 from one Lister Tonge. Given his unusual name and Oxford links, I take it to be from the 'adventurous' Dean of Monmouth who has successfully rearranged the seating in the re-named Newport Cathedral.

His views are similar to the progressive professor who readers will recall created an almighty fuss forcing the withdrawal of Bishop Philip North's nomination to become Bishop of Sheffield, probably egged on by his wife Emma Percy, Chair of the feminist pressure group (some) Women and the Church.

Following a letter in 2010 in which the Bishop of Norwich wrote about women bishops Lister Tonge commented:

"But, having voted for the Archbishops’ disastrous compromise (torpedoeing) ammendment, be aware that the Synod is likely to throw out any Code of Practice which undermines the episcopal integrity and authority of women which you and your male colleagues enjoy.

The game is up for those who would seek to stay and at the same time wreck the forward movement of the Church of England. Their bluff has been called by Rome. It now needs to be called by Canterbury." 
See previous entry The bizarre world of the Church in Wales 

The 'movement of the Church of England', and indeed of the Church in Wales, has not been forward but backward as illustrated by declining attendance figures. The Church of England stares at oblivion as "just 2% of young Britons say they identify with it".

The reasons seem clear when comparing growing attendance at churches such as St John's church in Hull. Their vicar is currently in hot water for holding "an orthodox line, just on the basic beliefs and basic Christian behaviour and discipleship."

Commenting on tensions in Oxford in 2016 David Ould wrote:

 "Martyn Percy is well known as a liberal theologian and has a record of public statements that challenge orthodoxy, particularly in the field of sexual ethics. He is an outspoken advocate for full LGBTI inclusion in the life and ministry of the Church of England, and the revision of the Church of England’s traditional understanding of marriage.

What lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians are asking for is bread, not stones (LK. 11:11).  And many of us now long to see this bread freely given; not at a price, or with conditions attached.  So, what I hope and pray for from the Primates’ gathering next week is an unequivocal ‘yes’ to lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians’ full and equal membership of the church, holding up a mirror to the full love and cherishing that God has already poured upon them, and also awaits them in heaven."

Bread not stones was the battle cry of the late Dr Una Kroll referred to in Twenty disastrous years of decline. She was eventually "called by Rome" but not until after she and her friends had inflicted their brand of progress on the Church which is crippling Western Anglicanism.

New Bishop of Llandaff to be elected

Mesdames Gould, Wigley, Wolf, Jackson and Ford in Llandaff Cathedral      Photo: Church in Wales

Possibly in the mix, the three clerics without a mitre, Gould, Wigley and Jackson, hoping for another possible 'historic' appointment.

In the photograph the three Llandaff hopefuls were helping to 'make history' in an expensive stunt which saw bishop Geralyn Wolf flown in from the US to be the first woman Anglican bishop to lead a service in Llandaff Cathedral.

Of the three eligible wimmin, the cleric in trousers must have the edge. The Jackson/Wigley duo are well past their sell by date having already caused enough damage to the Church with their scheming to outlaw faithful Anglicans. Added to which, whenever the name of Peggy 'the pilot' has been mentioned as being in line for a mitre there have been gasps of horror at the thought. And rightly so. If disunity were the criterion she should be home and dry.

Tambourine cleric Canon Wigley has done herself no favours either. Celebrating 20yrs of women in the priesthood she danced down the main aisle of Llandaff Cathedral with Peggy the pilot before telling a BBC interviewer that she "looked forward to the day when there were no more minds to be changed about the acceptance of women priests" revealing a complete lack of understanding of the theological position, not only of members in her own Church but in the Anglican Communion and beyond.

All three were part of  Archbishop Barry Morgan's inner circle. The Rev Jan Gould BEM has been in evidence working in the more deprived areas of the diocese while the Jackson/Wigley duo have been politicking from more affluent areas. Married to the Rev Dr Peter Sedgwick, a former Head of St Michael's Theological College (now defunct) and Chairman of the Church in Wales Doctrinal Commission, Jan Gould appears to be better placed than many.

Apart from this trio, a former diplomat, the Revd Canon Dr Sarah Rowland Jones LVO OBE OStJ, Vicar of St John's in central Cardiff has been hotly tipped. She hosted the recent 'Light for Our Darkness' Sunday Worship service for BBC Radio 4 at which the former Archbishop preached. His address was to be shot down yet again for using his own interpretation of the Bible.

Any male candidate, including those poor souls who eagerly helped their former Archbishop to realise his political ambitions, can dream on. Reports suggest that many in Llandaff Cathedral are dreading the thought of a woman bishop. Others regard it as a well deserved penance. After the travesty of the St Davids stitch-up anything is possible bar rationalising the bloated bureaucracy that the bench has become.

In the press release announcing the election it was stated that "the new bishop will be the 72nd Bishop of Llandaff, a diocese which serves nearly half the population of Wales as it includes most of Cardiff, the South Wales Valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan".

So, there are five diocesan bishops covering about half the population of Wales while one bishop covered the other half in addition to his duties as Archbishop. He also found time to to act as Dean of Llandaff for a spell when his appointee quit after nine weeks in post. Perhaps realising he had made a serious error of judgement Dr Morgan asked Archdeacon Peggy to pilot things for him. Llandaff Cathedral has gone down hill ever since with financial problems and factional fighting leading to disunity.

The Church in Wales was assessed as 'cumbersome and top-heavy' five years ago in the Church in Wales Review. The parish system has gone, replaced by ministry areas with lay leaders while most of the worshippers have gone. Only the bishops carry on regardless. They and their comfortable livings appear immune.

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. 

The Review was presented to the Governing Body in 2012. Five years later, barring a miracle, the non-Welsh speaking, liturgical dancing feminist and supporter of Changing Attitude is to be enthroned as the 129th bishop of St Davids following a line of bishops stretching back to the Patron Saint of Wales, Dewi Sant, the first bishop in the 6th century. The bishop of Llandaff is to be elected this month and next February the bishop of Swansea and Brecon could retire creating a third vacancy. 

Given the imbalance between Llandaff and the rest, one has to wonder what the bishops of the Church in Wales do all day. Taking account of the relevant populations, population density and church attendance, the Province of Wales is similar in size to the Diocese of Oxford. But the bishops in the Diocese of Oxford care for almost twice as many regular worshippers than the Welsh diocesans without their assistants.

Of course Llandaff already has an Ass bishop who was appointed to help out because the Archbishop was busy with his political ambitions. My understanding of his possible elevation is once bitten, twice shy. Unless a male candidate who is the next "best person to be a bishop" emerges, a second female bishop is set to be appointed. Swansea and Brecon will provide parity on the bench

MAE Cymru will continue to demand parity at all levels until they achieve dominance. It is no longer be jobs for the boys but jobs for the girls. That is while there are enough worshippers left in the Church in Wales to care for. 

MAECymru                                                                         Source: Church in Wales

The 'Result' [23.02.2017]

After three days of deliberations, the Bishop-elect of Llandaff is.................. No result. "Statement to follow". https://twitter.com/ChurchinWales

Church in Wales Statement here

Mission Llandaff

Source: Twitter #speakingthegospelintoourcontext

Many of the comments received following my blog entries are centred on the diocese of Llandaff, its Cathedral and its personnel from clerical top to lowly bottom. 

The situation in Llandaff is dire. In the Cathedral church there are complaints about poor accounting practices, a lack of openness and bullying tactics being used to counter honestly held opinions expressed for the good of the Cathedral church. Whatever the financial situation it has not prevented the clergy from enjoying four days in Oxford at the expense of Llandaff's pewsters.

Had the discussions in Oxford been about the parlous state of the Church in Wales, especially Llandaff Cathedral, or of the mission of the Church in general, the jolly in Oxford may have been understandable but Mission Llandaff has more to do with the missionary position than mission itself with topics such as "faith gender sex".

After a session on "Every age should look to its own context for our expression of faith" Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch posed the question: "Is there a theology of sex and marriage?" A popular broadcaster, Prof. MacCulloch was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England but declined ordination to the priesthood because of the church's attitude to his homosexuality, unlike many clergy today, including bishops, who brazenly flout the rules, putting their own desires before the well-being of the Church.

Following on from the bishops' failed bid to persuade the Governing Body of the Church in Wales to adopt their strategy of permitting same sex marriage in church, Mission Llandaff looks nothing more than a blatant attempt to ensure that the Bench's carefully crafted 'not blessing' prayers are used in Llandaff diocese churches, contrary to the decision of worshippers while they are pressed to give more money to support policies they don't agree with.

A sorry tale

Muslim women in east London                                                                              Source: Telegraph

Perhaps I blinked and missed it but I have seen no outcry over last week's news that Oxford University is deviating from its 800-year-old tradition to remain relevant to "the dramatic change" in the U.K., by allowing its undergraduate theology students to skip studying Christianity after the first year of their degree, and choose instead subjects like "Feminist Approaches to Theology and Religion" and "Buddhism in Space and Time".

There was more coverage of the news that Air France company chiefs had sent staff a memo informing them that female staff on flights to Tehran would be required "to wear trousers during the flight with a loose fitting jacket and a scarf covering their hair on leaving the plane". Air France said that all air crew were "obliged like other foreign visitors to respect the laws of the countries to which they travelled. Iranian law requires that a veil covering the hair be worn in public places by all women on its territory." Outraged female employees of Air France have since been allowed to opt out of working on flights to Iran so that they can avoid having to wear a headscarf.

Compare Islamic requirements when passing through Muslim countries with the treatment meted out to a Christian NHS worker who lost her appeal over freedom to talk to a Muslim colleague about her faith. Also, a Sheffield University student who was expelled from his course after expressing support for biblical teaching on marriage on his own Facebook page. In a Swiss secondary school two Muslim boys were allowed not to shake hands with women teachers - a common greeting in Swiss schools - because it was "against their faith to touch a woman outside their family". Try telling that to the abused children of Rochdale.

By contrast Muslims are allowed to wear what they like because of their religion and mostly behave as they like, even preaching jihad. Intentionally or unintentionally the perception is that Islam is holy and must be respected even if conversion is by the sword while Christianity is to be avoided because a pen has been used to spread salvation according to biblical teaching.

The consequences are already with us:
"British Muslims are becoming a nation within a nation, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned". Commenting on "a ground-breaking survey", Trevor Phillips said we are "in danger of sacrificing a generation of young British people to values that are antithetical to the beliefs of most of us, including many Muslims". He called for the abandonment of "the failed policy of multiculturalism". [Channel 4 programme here.]

His comments came as the ICM survey for Channel 4, which surveyed 1,000 Muslims face-to-face, found that:

• One in 25 Muslims (four per cent) said they felt at least some sympathy with people who took part in suicide bombings, while a similar proportion said they had some sympathy with “people who commit terrorist actions as a form of political protest”.
• A quarter – 25 per cent – said they could understand why British school girls could be attracted to become “jihadi brides” overseas.
• Less than half (47 per cent) agreed that Muslims should do more to tackle the causes of extremism in the Muslim community.
• 52 per cent believed homosexuality should not be legal in Britain, 39 per cent agreed “wives should always obey their husbands”, and 31 per cent said it was acceptable for a man to have more than one wife.

See also What British Muslims think.

Under Human Rights legislation, Article 9: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching practice and observance.

2. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Sadly some are more equal than others. A sorry tale indeed and not a murmur from LGBTQI obsessed Church leaders as the "invasion" continues.

A sense of proportion

Righteous indignation has greeted the Foreign Office memo which suggested some outrageous activities for the Pope during his forthcoming visit to Great Britain in September but from the coverage by the BBC one would have thought it were Government policy rather than the silly ideas of a junior official produced in a brainstorming session.

The ideas were not very bright especially coming from an Oxford graduate but neither was the idea of circulating the memo which appeared to give it greater credence nor the decision by The Sunday Telegraph to publish it. However, brainstorming sessions force sometimes apparently ridiculous ideas into the open for consideration although on this occasion it should have been obvious that some of them would be considered gratuitously offensive. But to talk of the Pope cancelling his visit over the issue as suggested in the press goes too far. As the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Pope will be well aware of the wounds people suffer for their faith.