Fit for purpose?

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

All dressed up but nowhere to go. The Church in Wales has no future.

That is the conclusion of bishops who are not deluded by their own sense of importance. 

Much has been made of dwindling attendances at Sunday services, apart from at the Governing Body (GB), but why does anyone attend services at a church that has lost its way? It cannot be for theological reasons because the Church in Wales has abandoned theology for the Zeitgeist.

Conclusions reached at GB are no longer based on scripture and tradition but on the whims of a manipulative bench of bishops. Biblical truths are ignored or misinterpreted to make them appear more plausible.

Faithful Anglicans who are unwilling to accept false doctrine have left the church thus strengthening the hand of remaining members who are willing to conform.

If the mission of the Church in Wales is based on false doctrine its evangelism will lead people astray so it must be better for the soul to be a believer on the outside than a non-believer on the inside.

To be cast out by remainers with false accusation of misogyny, homophobia and of not believing in equality is the flowering of weeds sown by bishops who have interpreted the Gospel to accommodate secular trends resulting in churchianity rather than Christianity.

The Church of Wales is deformed with no apparent chance of correction. All of its bishops continue to show allegiance to posturings of the former archbishop. A form of succession which perpetuates his brand of radicalism has developed into a ministry not of hope but of despair. The consequences are dire.

For worshippers no longer able to tolerate the hypocrisy of the bench of bishops there is not the range of options available to disaffected Anglicans in England.

Assistance that may have been provided by provincial episcopal visitors from England to allow traditional parishes to flourish has been stymied by mean-spirited shepherds and shepherdesses who refuse to allow PEVs to cross the border.

Consequently most of Wales has been turned into a spiritual desert for traditionalist Anglicans. The faithful have been abandoned while the Church in Wales continues to pretend to be in fellowship within the Holy Catholic Church.

It is generally assumed that disaffected Anglicans will turn to Rome as the only practical alternative for those who need to find another spiritual home.

That is not so simple for conscientious worshippers who are drawn to the 'catholic and reformed' worship provided by the Anglican Church.

The Ordinariate was set up by Pope Benedict XVI to maintain Anglican patrimony. It allowed 'Anglicans to become Catholic while retaining elements of their identity', not that there is much opportunity to participate in Wales other than in SE Wales.

If that option is available the process of reception into another church after a lifetime of Anglican devotion is not an attractive option, particularly for those in declining years, often widows or widowers, cradle Anglicans who hoped to die as Anglicans as did their husband or wife.

In the absence of Anglican churches abroad visiting Anglicans have been permitted to receive at the local Catholic church but that does not apply in the wilderness created in Wales so the faithful are denied Holy Communion.

The bench of bishops speak of an inclusive church based on equality. It includes some but not others. There is no equality in that.

They are not fit for purpose.

Church in Wales: Code of Practice Stage 2, Llandaff

"As part of legislation to ordain women bishops, passed by the Church in September, the Bishops have to draw up a Code of Practice to ensure all members of the Church, including those with conscientious objections to the decision, continued to feel accepted and valued in it." - Church in Wales. [See previous entry here.]

The first of the consultation meetings were held on 22 January in the dioceses of Bangor and Llandaff. I have received no reports on the Bangor meeting but I understand that the Llandaff meeting in Pontypridd attracted well over 100 Church members including around 20 clergy who responded to the Archbishop's invitation "to consult as widely as possible with church members in order to reflect their views as best we can."

The open meetings in each of the six Welsh dioceses are are being held for members to have their say on what provisions the code should include. The meetings will be followed by a discussion at the Church’s Governing Body meeting in April. The next meeting will be held in St Davids Diocese tomorrow, 28 January at 7pm in Holy Trinity Church hall, Aberaeron.

At the Llandaff meeting the Provincial Episcopal Visitor (PEV) was the favoured solution. This was the conclusion of Credo Cymru (FiF Wales) in their written submission: "We consider that the easiest way to achieve such a solution would be to make use of bishops from other provinces and give them limited authority to act within Wales, with clear authority from the diocesans concerned." *

This would be a positive step to ensure that all feel accepted and valued but sadly some still feel that despite the overwhelming desire of traditionalists to reach an amicable solution, the Archbishop is in no mood to give ground and interpret "in order to reflect their views as best we can" as meaning 'as before'. If that proved to be the case the Bench would be guilty of an unforgivable deception. Members should 'keep the faith', go to the meetings, and make their voices heard for the sake of the Church.

* Correction:
Following further enquiries I understand that 'PEV' was used as a shorthand for alternative Episcopal oversight while Credo Cymru did not limit their proposal to Provincial Episcopal Visitors. Their suggestion was 'episcopal visitors' from 'other provinces', a subtle difference. I apologise for the confusion but the inference is the same. What is being asked for is sacramental assurance by whatever means.

The gentle art of persuasion or is it deception?

A BILL TO ENABLE WOMEN TO BE CONSECRATED AS BISHOPS

"WHEREAS the Law and Constitution of the Church in Wales has hitherto not permitted women to be consecrated as bishops

AND WHEREAS it is now appropriate in the Church in Wales that women be eligible for consecration to the Holy Order of Bishops

AND WHEREAS the Church in Wales intends to continue the ministry of the universal church in its threefold orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and to remain part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church 

AND WHEREAS the Church in Wales, subject to the provisions of the civil law relating to equality and other relevant matters, wishes to respect those who in conscience cannot accept that women be eligible for consecration to the Holy Order of Bishops ..."

The above preamble to the Church in Wales Bill to Enable Women to be Consecrated as Bishops reads as a statement of facts but only the first statement is true. The universal church does not consider it appropriate that women be eligible for consecration to the Holy Order of Bishop. This is an innovation based largely on secular principles of equality misapplied to the church for political reasons and have nothing to do with the Christian faith as handed down through the ages.

The Anglican Communion has been torn apart by separate provinces breaking with our traditional understanding of ordination. This and the related matter of Homosexuality and Anglicanism has resulted in many provinces representing about half of the 80 million practising Anglicans worldwide responding to these theological disputes by declaring a state of impaired communion with their counterparts.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches have made their positions abundantly clear, examples here and here. Ordaining women to the episcopate is in direct contradiction to the statement that 'the Church in Wales intends to continue the ministry of the universal church in its threefold orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and to remain part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church'.  As Metroploitan Hilarion observed, the future of ecumenism is in great peril with the gap widening between orthodox and progressives.

'Progressives' have shown themselves determined to plough their own furrows regardless of the cost to unity and to the fate of their brothers and sisters whose only 'error' has been to remain loyal to the traditional teaching of the 'One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church' in common with the vast majority of Christians including most Anglicans. The preamble to the Bill asserts that the Church in Wales...wishes to respect those who in conscience cannot accept that women be eligible for consecration to the Holy Order of Bishops" but on the evidence so far, this sounds as empty as 'the Church in Wales intends to continue the ministry of the universal church in its threefold orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and to remain part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church'.

Unlike the Church of England where alternative episcopal oversight is provided by Provincial Episcopal visitors, such oversight has been denied to worshippers in the Church in Wales following the retirement in 2008 of the Provincial Assistant Bishop (PAB) on the grounds that alternative oversight creates a church within a church. This argument is refuted in The Church, Women Bishops and Provision : "We have shown that authentic episcopal oversight can be, and has been, exercised in a variety of ways,  both historically and today" [p.77].

Under Section 3(2) of the Bill:
Recommendations made pursuant to the provisions of subsection (1) and agreed by the Bench of Bishops must be included in a Bill introduced into the Governing Body of the Church in Wales within two years of the promulgation of this Bill [My emphasis - Ed.]. But what sort of provision can possibly be made given Dr Morgan's outright rejection of anything acceptable to those for whom it is intended? Without a complete about face there cannot be acceptable provision. A PAB would no longer be appropriate because he could not with integrity be an assistant to a woman bishop so a duly consecrated bishop, or bishops, perhaps from outside the province, would be required which is unlikely given Dr Morgan's refusal even to replace the PAB.

The danger if this legislation succeeds is that having achieved their main aim of permitting women to be consecrated as bishops, the Bench of Bishops will find themselves unable to agree any proposals put to them, no doubt making full use of the proviso 'subject to the provisions of the civil law relating to equality and other relevant matters' if their conduct to date is taken as a guide. One only has to look to the manoeuvring in England and what has happened in the United States to be wary of this legislation. 

Barry's Rule

  “I’ve always thought that Barry is probably rather more liberal than I am. And I’m a very old-fashioned high churchman – I know he disapproves of that, really.” - Archbishop Rowan Williams

The Gospel according to Barry pretty well sums up everything that has gone wrong in the Church in Wales and in the Church of England for that matter. Liberalism par excellence: gender politics, same sex marriage and of course his obsession with women's ordination but despite his claims, what he preaches is a minority view in the wider church, even in mainstream Anglicanism. In England where WATCH have done all they can to secularise the Anglican Church we have just witnessed the appointment of a new Bishop of Beverley. - (The Bishop of Beverley is a Suffragan Bishop in the Province of York. The Bishop’s role is that of a Provincial Episcopal Visitor, assisting in the pastoral care of those parishes that have petitioned for Extended Episcopal Care under the Act of Synod – the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood.) 

True to his word Archbishop Rowan has kept faith with those who, as a matter of synodical process, find themselves in a minority in the Church of England. He has consistently re-appointed Provincial Episcopal Visitors, bishops who share the same beliefs as those in their charge. In Wales it is a different matter. So far as Archbishop Morgan is concerned he has made it clear that there will be a replacement only over his dead body.

Back in 2008 when he first tried to force through the ordination of women to the episcopate in Wales, Dr Morgan said: "I cannot support any of the proposed amendments to the bill, which call for the appointment of a male bishop with jurisdiction for those who oppose the authority of a woman bishop. To do so, moreover, would be to sanction schism, to threaten the unity of the church" obviously blind to the fact that in ordaining women he has already sanctioned schism in the church abandoning any hope of unity with Rome and the Eastern churches as they move closer together. 

Aping members of Women and the Church he told the Guardian: "In an age when women have broken through the glass ceiling in most professions in Britain, it is strange that they still face discrimination in a church that believes there is "no male or female" in Christ. Women can become judges, surgeons, chief executives and heads of state, but in the Church in Wales - which waited until 1997 to ordain women as priests - they are as yet unable to become bishops". Treating Mother Church as though she were just another secular organisation Dr Morgan falsely accused opponents of discrimination while blatantly discriminating against them in his own church.

Papers have now been published in preparation for the meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales next week (13-14 September). Agenda Item 13 sets out Dr Morgan's new strategy to allow women to be ordained to the episcopate. As foreseen when discussions were initiated at the last meeting, the proposals are clearly intended to enable Dr Morgan to establish the principle of women's ordination to the episcopate before he has to retire. They could not be more explicit. The proposals are based on these statements:

   1. There would appear to be clear and sufficient support for the Bench to bring forward a Bill to enable women to be ordained as bishops. 

   2. There is smaller, but nevertheless significant, support, for some form of pastoral provision for individuals who, in conscience, cannot accept that this step should be taken.

In the event, 'smaller but nevertheless significant support' actually amounted to "65% of the lay members and 51% of clerical members indicated either strong or broad support for provision for individual conscientious opt-out with 16% of the lay members and 11% of the clerical members indicated strong support for such provision". Comparing these percentages (65% and 51%) with the 0.05% of Anglicans the Archbishop represents when he presumes to have an input into the selection of the next Archbishop of Canterbury it would be fair to say that there was overwhelming support for 'pastoral provision for individuals who, in conscience, cannot accept that this step should be taken' but instead what is proposed is a scheme devised to avoid Dr Morgan losing the vote a second time by seeking to ensure that the measure is safely approved in principle leaving any opposition to be dealt with (ie crushed) later.

At the same meeting the Governing Body will be asked to welcome the Report from the Church in Wales Review, Section 5 of which deals with Governance and Decision making. The thrust of this section is that the Governing Body should be making decisions based on the system of synodical government used by other churches in the Anglican Communion resulting in a proper flow of ideas and resolutions from parish or deanery to Diocese and from there to the Governing Body. The current top-down, 'Father knows best' approach results, with the rare exception, in rubber-stamping decisions already taken by a liberal Archbishop who does not take kindly to dissent. The Review panel also made it clear that they do not believe that the present system of elections to the Governing Body results in a true reflection of church opinion. In these circumstances it is absurd to try to force through legislation on such a weighty matter as the ordination of women to the episcopate when true representation is in doubt and governance is not what it should be.

The new proposals are clearly designed to get agreement in principle regardless of the fact that to date, intent to care for all in the church has not been honoured:

     1. The first Bill would deal with the following matters of principle:

Women may be ordained as bishops in the Church in Wales.

There will be a scheme of pastoral provision, to be approved by the Governing Body by means of a second Bill, making provision for those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of a woman bishop.　

If this first Bill were to be passed and become a Canon, it would not come into force until such a second Bill is approved by the Governing Body and becomes a Canon.

    2. The second Bill would refer to the Canon enabling women to be ordained as bishops. We have purposely suggested that the scheme of pastoral provision be included – presumably as a schedule – in a second Bill in order to give as much confidence as possible to those for whom it provides that their genuinely held views are being taken seriously and that the church is being faithful to its declared intent in 1996. 

It is suggested that the two Canons would come into force on the same day.

In effect, this establishes the principle with minimal risk of losing the measure for a second time due to the Archbishop's intransigence while embarking on the charade of 'making provision for those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of a woman bishop'. Proposals currently being considered will not provide the pastoral and sacramental oversight of a bishop who shares their views; under Barry's rule 'declared intent' has proved meaningless. If earlier promises can be broken so lightly there can be even less confidence in the new proposals. 

Even if the proposal were accepted, ultimately they may become impossible to honour. Already in England it has been projected that "unless we start growing our congregations now at the rate of three per cent each year, we will decline into near oblivion"  but in Wales congregations are declining at the rate of 5%!  As the church is increasingly feminised and numbers dwindle, it is possible that in a generation there may no male bishop to appoint from the likely two or three remaining before ultimate collapse. Without the security of a bishop who shares their faith enshrined as a Canon there can be no future for traditionalists in the Church in Wales.

The most sensible way forward at this stage is to withdraw the measure pending resolution of the proposals recommended in the Church in Wales Review for improved governance and representation. In the meantime, Barry's rule should come to an end having reached normal retirement age. He should retire gracefully leaving his successor to take the church forward not with the liberal political agenda that has resulted in decline but in faith before it collapses completely.