St David's Day - 900 years on

The Dean of St Davids (second left) with cathedral clergy                                                                   source: Friends of St Davids

Friends of St Davids Cathedral will have received a message from the Dean, Sarah Rowland Jones, wishing all a 'joyful celebration of St Davids Day, and blessed and holy Lent'. 

The message begins:

"As St David’s Day approaches, I’m delighted to share with you details of two upcoming TV programmes, and a whopping 25 radio programmes, which are being broadcast between this weekend and Easter, wholly or largely about St David and aspects of the 900th anniversary of the papal recognition of Dewi as an 'international saint' and of two pilgrimages to St Davids being of equal value to one to Rome. I'm quite bowled over that BBC Radio Wales in particular have embraced the celebrations quite so enthusiastically."

The Dean enjoyed a jolly in Jerusalem to help her consider whether David may have made a similar journey. Wondering why she could not have contemplated the conundrum at her desk in the Deanery I listened to her broadcast on All Things Considered. In her 4 minute interview with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilos III, his opinion was that it was quite likely that David did visit Jerusalem. 

The Dean asked the Patriarch to explain 'Patriarch' and 'Patriarchate'.

Advance to position 22 of the All Things Considered video for the Patriarch's probably unexpected answer in which he explained that the patriarch is the "living  testimony to the Apostolic Succession. That is to say that the Patriarch of Jerusalem is the successor to the first bishop, not only of Jerusalem but of the whole Church of St James, the brother of Our Lord. This succession has been without any break throughout the ages."

 

That is something for the still absent bishop of St Davids to contemplate privately as she celebrates the granting of a privilege from Pope Callixtus II in Rome that two pilgrimages to St Davids Cathedral were equal to one to Rome.

In my 28 February 2019 entry Bishop steals clothes I reported how the bishop had high-jacked Credo Cymru's motto "Be joyful and keep the faith". 

It was ironic then, now even more so. The Church in Wales abandoned the received faith years ago.

The ordination of women closed any hope of unity with Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Now the Anglican Church is split by the decision of some western provinces such as the Church of England and the Church in Wales to bless same sex marriages.

We were warned by the apostles:

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.-  The Letter of Jude (17-19)

St David's Day

St David's Day Walk from St Non's through St Davids                                                                                                                                            Source: Twitter

Yesterday was St David's Day. The Tweetosphere was full of tweets about the patron saint of Wales but the 'little things' St David spoke of were not aired, just the phrase.

David's last words to his followers were in a sermon on the Sunday prior to his death: "Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us." (Wikipedia)

The 'little things' referred to, keeping the faith and your creed, walking in the path that our fathers have trod before us are omitted, probably because they are precisely the things that the bishops of the Church in Wales have ceased to observe.

The path walked from St Non's through the city of St Davids on St David's Day, pictured above, shows just one clergyman among a group of women clergy who now control St Davids Cathedral which has become more of a tourist attraction than a place of pilgrimage.

Preaching to politicians at Cardiff’s St David’s Day National Service at St John the Baptist Church on Sunday the Archbishop of Wales urged politicians to 'model St David'. Perhaps with tongue in cheek he said: David and his monks, whether doing the little things or the larger ones, were focussed and concentrating servants of God and God’s kingdom;  people who, as Jesus demanded, built their lives on the rock of his teaching, absorbed it, lived it out and stood firm and strong in times of testing."

The rock has crumbled in Wales.

When tested the bishops have not keep the faith or walked the path our fathers trod before us. They have conformed to this world pursuing 'inclusive' policies, not the faith of our fathers and creed.

Archbishop follows suit

Archbishop of Wales, John Davies                  Source: Brecon & Radnor Express

From the Brecon & Radnor Express: "In his message for St David’s Day, the Archbishop of Wales, John Davies urged his followers to follow the example of St David to make our society strong, robust and caring."

A comment which sums up what has gone wrong with Anglicanism.

Followers of the former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, now lead the Church in Wales.

Followers of Christ have been left to fall by the wayside.

In his St David's Day message the archbishop talks of society, not the Kingdom of Heaven.

Following the example of the bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, John Davies quotes from the life of St David:

"Community, commitment and concern are things that can make our society strong, robust and caring, and that an ability to live in harmony alongside those with whom we might have significant differences mark us out as decent, honourable, people."

The archbishop has overlooked the fact that the bench of bishops would be ruled out of being "decent, honourable, people" since they have no time for anyone who follows Christ not them.

Bishop steals clothes

"Be joyful and keep the faith!"                                                                                                                                                                       Source: Credo Cymru

                             

Credo Cymru (Forward in Faith Wales) provides a voice for traditional believers in the Church in Wales:

"Founded in July 1993 following the creation of a Bill by the Governing Body of the Church in Wales to allow women to become ordained as priests in that Anglican Province, Credo Cymru aims to uphold: the faith handed down from Christ by the apostles : the faith of Saint David and all the saints of Wales : the faith of the historic mainstream of Anglican Christians." 

                      Their motto:

                              "Be joyful and keep the faith!"

which comes from last words traditionally spoken by Saint David to his monks: "Be joyful and keep the faith. Do those little things you have seen and heard from me."

It was astonishing, therefore, to hear the bishop of St Davids open her sermon in advance of St David's Day with those words when she preached on 'The last words of St David' in a service broadcast live by BBC Radio 4 from St Davids Cathedral on Sunday last.

St David was a 6th century Welsh bishop who lived a monastic life far removed from the life of the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales.

The Monastic Rule of David prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals, must drink only water and eat only bread with salt and herbs, and spend the evenings in prayer, reading and writing. No personal possessions were allowed: even to say "my book" was considered an offence. He lived a simple life and practised asceticism, teaching his followers to refrain from eating meat and drinking beer (Wiki).

It is possible, though improbable, that Joanna had no idea that she was stealing the clothes of Credo Cymru when she launched into her sermon: "Lords, brothers and sisters, rejoice and keep your faith and the Creed and do the little things you have heard and seen of me."

In ignorance of Credo Cymru's position or not, there is no excuse for masquerading as a guardian of the traditional faith of the Church when she and similar thinkers have diluted it to accommodate secular moods and ideas.

Anyone in Wales who, against all the odds, has struggled to keep the faith spoken of by St David has been ignored or weeded out of the Church in Wales along with orthodox Anglicans in other provinces that have unilaterally decided that after 2,000 years they know better than the Apostles and their successors, casting aside scripture and tradition in favour of self advancement and self satisfaction.

That bishop Joanna should choose the last words of St David to enhance her own position as one who follows in the footsteps of St David is beyond farce. It is a slap in the face for all faithful Anglicans who have rejected the revisionism engaged in by the 129th Bishop of St Davids and the rest of the bench of bishops.

It is an insult to those who have kept the faith after the bench of bishops deprived them of the sacramental assurance and pastoral oversight promised when the Church in Wales unilaterally ordained women in defiance of the wishes of the majority of Christians, including most of the 85 million members of the worldwide Anglican Communion .

By comparison the tiny Church in Wales has 44,000 members on its Electoral Roll, only 27,000 of whom regularly attend Sunday worship yet their bishops continue to claim that the Church in Wales is part of the Apostolic Church because the Nicene Creed forms the basis of Anglicanism, ignoring the fact that they have departed from the agreed common beliefs expressed in the Creed.

 Listening to Joanna's sermon with no knowledge of her background, one would have thought she was preaching to the faithful at a Credo Cymru service:

"Keep your faith, keep the faith. The faith Dewi Sant tells the community to hold onto is not a faith of their own imagining. It is the faith of the Christian community, taught first by those who had met the risen Jesus.

A faith then handed down on through the early Christian centuries and summed up in the Nicene Creed. The faith statement put together by the Church in the fourth century.

The Creed expresses the core of the Christian faith and is held in common by countless millions of Christians today."

The problem for Joanna Penberthy is that the faith held in common by countless millions of Christians today is not the diluted faith of the Church in Wales, the Church of England and other provinces which have adopted a faith dominated by feminism and sexual freedom under a banner of love which is more akin to early paganism and its priestesses.

The Christian faith as expressed in the Nicene Creed has been adapted unilaterally to allow women bishops: "The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church."

The faith expounded by the bishop of St Davids would not be recognised by St David. To imply otherwise is an insult to those who strive faithfully to "do those little things you have seen and heard" from St David.

Women’s Day of Prayer

Today marks the worldwide Women’s Day of Prayer.

Four days ago on 1^st March the people of Wales celebrated St David’s day. Today, 5^th March it is the turn of David’s mother, St. Non. A nun of noble birth she was raped by the young son of the King of Ceredigion.

It still goes on today and in the most appalling circumstances. Yesterday a Guardian Blog entry appeared opposite. If you missed the harrowing story you can read it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/sarah-boseley-global-health/2010/mar/04/abortion-kenya Tab down to the first comment and click on the link to go to the Vimeo film clip.

On this Women’s Day of Prayer spare a thought for these poor girls in Kenya and for all other victims of rape and violence throughout the world.

Happy St David’s Day!

As the people of Wales celebrate their Patron Saint’s day, spare a thought for those who struggle to keep the faith of St David in the face of oppression from within their own church.

David was born on a cliff top during a violent storm near St David’s, Pembrokeshire, around the year 500. He was a renowned teacher and preacher who spread the Christian faith founding monastic settlements in Wales, Cornwall and beyond. Under his monastic rule monks lived on a diet of bread and water, pulled the plough without the assistance of animals and spent their evenings praying, reading and writing.

In the twenty first century a boy from Neath, Barry, b.1947, now reigns over what has become a rapidly declining church in which liberalism and ‘relevance to society’ have replaced the missionary zeal of ancient days and politics are more important than religion.

Denied meaningful Episcopal oversight in their own church, those wishing to uphold the Apostolic faith abandoned by their bishops have joined other similarly minded Anglicans in the United Kingdom in exploring (without commitment) what opportunities are available to them simply by registering their interest on a web site: http://welshordinariate.blogspot.com/ [This new link replaces a link that has been lost. - Ed.]

Contrary to Christian teaching the petty minded Church in Wales’ establishment threatens the full might of the law against any ‘unauthorised’ use of their logo on this ‘unapproved’ web site. Clearly the pen has become mightier than the plough in the Church in Wales as it sinks into oblivion.

Happy St David’s Day!