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!

Feed my sheep!

St. Peter must be turning in his grave! The closing message of the York Synod is that "the Church of England could be virtually extinct in 20 years as elderly members die". We have also been told that "Christians should learn from Muslims how to exist as a 'minority' culture in British cities dominated by immigrants"!  

How does the church hierarchy feel about what they have done? Bending over anyway necessary to accommodate anything but the traditional Christian faith, "feed my sheep" has been replaced by 'shepherd please thyself' as the Anglican church becomes ever more secular by the day. So much for the ordination of women, sexual freedom and all the other politically correct introductions that have relegated traditionalists to the awkward squad.

However bad it looks in England though it is much worse in Wales based on this piece news I received:

 "Since Wales has neither a Provincial Episcopal Visitor (PEV) or Provincial Assistant bishop (PAB), and the Mission Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda (SSWSH) is based on a society model centred on the PEVs, it would appear that, contrary to the expectations of the remnant Anglo-Catholic faithful who look to Credo Cymru for support, SSWSH will have no mission agenda in Wales. Indeed when asked specifically at a SSWSH gathering to clarify this point it was suggested that SSWSH would only work in the CofE. The liberal Bench of Bishops in Wales are adamant that, being all things to all people, they are able to cater for the diverse needs of their church, so they will not permit the English PEVs to cross the border to administer the sacraments of Confirmation and Ordination. Consequently, there is no episcopal bed rock for the society model in Wales. Those traditionalist Anglicans in Wales who were pinning their hopes on being Credo-SSWSHed had better read the small print; it seems that by not appointing a replacement PAB the Bench have Credo-swotted them!"

 Following a recent protest against the closure of a church in the Rhondda, Archbishop Morgan complained that he could be accused of 'being a tyrant'. I have seen no evidence so far that it has previously bothered him. So it is to be lambs to the slaughter rather than feed my sheep. How long I wonder before a bishop recommends paying jizya for the privilege of living among our immigrant population?