C of E agrees to bless sin on trial basis

General Synod November 2023                             Source: Church of England

Despite the Church of England's belief that marriage is between one man and one woman, its General Synod has agreed that special services of prayer and dedication asking for God’s blessing for same-sex couples should be introduced on a trial basis.

The religious service could follow a civil wedding ceremony with readings and prayers, music, flowers and confetti, giving the appearance of a wedding in all but name.

The Church of England Evangelical Council said the decision "will tear local parish congregations apart, damage the relationship between large numbers of clergy and their bishops and cause churches across the dioceses to feel as though their shepherds have abandoned them."

Sadly, most of the bishops of the Church of England could not care less, as in the Church in Wales, where many faithful Anglicans have already been abandoned for keeping the faith.

No honour among thieves

 

In This is not Dibley I referred to the MailOnline story: "Remind me, it is 2023, isn’t it?’: Why has the Cornish town Dawn French loves risked such an unholy row by refusing its own Vicar of Dibley?"

The report: 'Cornish church reverses ban on female vicars' has given church feminists and toadying MPs a field day.

These feminists have used the Church for their own political purposes, accusing, scheming and reneging. Promises and agreements that enabled them to reach their goal mean nothing.

Listen to the blatant misrepresentation by the chair of WATCH as she seeks help [to] bring "discrimination" in the Church of England  to an end. As did the recently retired bishop of St Davids, WATCH regard difference of opinion, even when based on fact, as discrimination and prejudice

There have also been attempts to redefine gender language used about God. In The Mother Church: Turning God Trans published in Crisis Magazine [a recommended read - AB] it is suggested that a disproportionate number of those pushing for change would appear to be 'left-wing female vicars'.

No honour from certain MPs either, including the the Father of the House, a self-declared WATCH supporter, who appear unable or unwilling to distinguish between equality and theology regardless of measures agreed to,

Anglicanism in this country is dying. The Church in Wales is leading the decline with their one-track strategy of inclusion and diversity which again uses the Church to advance a political cause at the expense of others. 

If only a fraction of the effort put into their latest 'outreach-social justice' drive had been devoted to the excluded things may have been different. St Davids diocese is watched with trepidation as they prepare to elect their new bishop. Scripture, reason and tradition must not again be sacrificed to secularism.

Despite denials the Roman Catholic Church is creeping in the same direction in proposing women deacons and Catholic LGBTQ+ advocates. This has arisen as a real possibility through the Synod on Synodality, which was launched by Pope Francis in October 2021.

This is a repeat of the push for Anglican women deacons. It was claimed that it did not mean that they would become priests if made deacons. As deacons they argued that it was discrimination if they could not be ordained to the priesthood followed by the threefold ministry argument that it would be discriminatory not to allow women bishops.

Now that they have achieved their aim and converted Anglicanism to conform with their own desires they want to get rid of anyone who does not share their warped ideas of equality.

There is no honour among thieves.

Living in sin and faith

Church of England General Synod: Bishop of London's Living in Love and Faith Presentation February 2023                              Source:The Church of England

The General Synod of the Church of England has backed plans put forward by its bishops to bless gay couples. 

The motion was brought by the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, following six years of work on questions of 'identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage' known by its fully loaded title Living In Love And Faith.

For opponents of the motion it could have been more accurately described as living in sin and faith.

There was no justification of the bishops proposals based on scripture, tradition or reason. Only alleged experiences of victimhood, one of the six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion.

If true, there has been a remarkable turnaround, particularly in Synod membership.  

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said priests would have the option to bless gay couples, but could choose not to. He told the Synod, "No-one has to offer these services and no one will be disadvantaged if they don't." 

This is very reminiscent of the step by step approach that led to the ordination of women. Revisionists do not give up. They bind their time, wearing down the opposition until they reach their goal. When the dust has settled the Church of England will surely follow the example of the Church in Wales and push for same sex marriage in Church.

As for Cottrell's assurances, Synod has only to look to the experience of Anglicans in the Church in Wales where similar assurances amounted to nothing. There has been no outcry about the shoddy treatment of traditionalists or protests of discrimination against those forced to leave.

Women and the Church (WATCH) will continue their war of attrition with their constant allegations of sexism and discrimination until they completely wreck the Church that nurtured them.

Slowing the death of Anglicanism in Great Britain

General Synod                                                                                            Source: Church of England

An analysis of  the votes for membership of the Church of England General Synod Elections 2021 shows a majority of the House of Clergy to be revisionists while the House of Laity reflect more orthodox Anglican views despite intensive canvasing by Inclusive Church to elect revisionists:

 House of Clergy

Orthodox – 79    (40%)

Revisionist – 83  (42%)

Unknown – 34    (17%)

House of Laity

Orthodox – 73    (37%)

Revisionist – 69  (35%)

Unknown – 55    (28%)

(Analysist's note: The labels Orthodox and Revisionist refer to the member’s position on blessing same-sex unions.)

As in Scotland and Wales bishops in the CofE are out of touch with views in the pews but in England there is some hope for Anglicanism in the House of Laity.

Commenting on the results the Rev Peter Ould wrote, "this puts to bed finally the misconception constantly spun by those wanting a change in the church’s teaching that the average person in the pews supports their position. In reality, the representatives of those in the pews were more likely to back someone who took a traditional stance than someone who wanted to revise the church’s teaching."

In Christian Today a different analysis led to the conclusion that "Church of England conservatives on marriage and sexual ethics have held their ground in this month's elections to the General Synod but have not made significant gains" leading a co-creator of the Thinking Anglicans website to predict "It is likely that following the Church in Wales vote to allow services of blessing for same-sex couples a similar proposal will go before the new Synod within the next two years."

Already leading the way on same sex marriage the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church continue to show their contempt for orthodox Anglicans in the way they are handling the behaviour of their appointee, Anne Dyer, bishop of  Aberdeen & Orkney. Two reviews have recommended she “step back permanently” from the episcopate with immediate effect. Instead the bishops have chosen a mediation route to resolve the case, that is, to provide the result they want which is typical of revisionists. They persist until they win. 

The long suffering laity in Wales know only too well that their bishops regard themselves as the Church, manipulating Governing Body to do as they please.

The extending absence of the bishop of St Davids, who, like her Scottish counterpart, seems incapable of doing the decent thing and resign, calls into question the cosy structure the bishops have created for themselves. 

Following the extended absence of the former bishop of Monmouth, the review of which is still being massaged before release, one would have thought that the extended absence of another bishop while awaiting the appointment of a third would have at long last triggered a response to the recommendations of Section 15 of the 2012 Church in Wales Review: 

Recommendation XXII

There should be three administrative centres, one in the North

and two in the South and South West.

Recommendation XXIII

The Dioceses served by the three administrative centres should

form joint committees for all areas of work, unless there is an

overwhelming reason to keep a particular committee separate. 

Recommendation XXIV

The administrative centre in the North should also be the base for

the provincial work that relates most naturally to those offices of

the Welsh Government that are located in Llandudno. 

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.

While the Church in Wales has been turned upside down the bishops continue to do it their way, ignoring any recommendations that upset their privileged position.

Orthodox laity in England have shown that they can slow the death of their Church. Others should follow suit to protect the Anglican Church from its bishops.

Postscript [21.10.2021]

"Results of the General Synod (national church parliament) election in the Church of England indicate that conservative evangelicals will have the numbers to block changes such as authorising same-sex blessings or wedding ceremonies." Eternity News

Phobias used to silence opposition

Source: imgur

I have not read of any reference in reports of the recent Church of England Synod to epistemophobia or sophophobia, unlike transphobia and homophobia, the clubs being used to silence opposition to revisionists. 

 Dr Ian Paul probably came closest when he asked at Synod: "Do you think it is at all helpful or permissible for members of this Synod to describe voices in the videos on Living in Love and Faith (LLF) as transphobic to seek to silence them?"

Former nurse, Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, who was leading the 'Passing the Baton' session on LLF had said that the Church of England 'should be a safe space for people with opposing theological views on the issues of marriage, gender and sexuality'.

In response LGBT activist Jayne Ozanne accused conservative Anglicans on General Synod of "transphobic and homophobic rhetoric".

Ms Ozanne told the bishop: "The LGBT community feel they are constantly being asked to love those who are abusing them and that in itself is abusive.

"There is transphobic and homophobic rhetoric even in these questions coming from people, which we are not even allowed to call transphobic and homophobic.

"I would remind people of what the definition of that is. It is views that are seen as transphobic by the person they are aimed at." [My emphasis - Ed.]

How convenient. The NHS definition of phobia is "an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal".

Phobia charges have become weapons as have charges of misogyny. There is a well trodden path in Anglicanism of people claiming victimisation. Anyone who differs is charged with being phobic, a misogynist or, as the bishop of St Davids claimed, being 'at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination' simply for taking a different position.

Such tactics stifle debate, perpetuating the notion of victimhood. 

The Church of England is being dragged along the road to secularism, seemingly ignorant of the fate of other Anglican Churches that have taken the same path.

David Virtue writes in The Episcopal Church: The Day The Music Died:

"Slowly, but surely, The Episcopal Church is being depleted of people. We still don't know what COVID has done to overall church attendance. As long as there is no scandal, the Episcopal Church is glad to see the back of orthodox bishops and clergy as they leave.

"Why and what does it really matter if bishops like Love, Howe, Bena, Herzog, Wantland, Ackerman, Iker et al., leave? After all, why would you want someone to stay if they did not share the same progressive views as you do about the faith once for all delivered to the saints? Why have a thorn in the flesh when you can have it removed?"

Closer to home the CofE has only to look at the fate of the Church in Wales on the other side of Offa's Dyke where virtually anything goes now that traditional Anglicanism has been all but snuffed out.

The days of both are numbered with ever decreasing attendances.

There is a personal price too. Christian Concern reports on the case of a Christian pastoral administrator who was sacked for two Facebook posts that raised concerns about transgenderism and sex education at her son’s Church of England primary school.

"Having worked for 7 years as a pastoral assistant at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Mrs Higgs was summarily dismissed in early 2020 after sharing a petition against the extension of relationship and sex education on her private Facebook case.

"After an anonymous complaint attacked Mrs Higgs’s views as “homophobic and prejudiced”, the school promptly dismissed her for bringing the school into disrepute. Last October, Bristol Employment Tribunal rejected Mrs Higgs’s claim for religious discrimination." She has won the right to appeal her case.

There is a much wider problem. 

While the Islamic terrorist organisation ISIS has been driven underground or dispersed, there is more evidence of atrocities committed by the Taliban which enforces a strict interpretation of Islamic law in Afghanistan.

A video has emerged of Afghan commandos being shot dead after an apparent surrender. The Taliban rejects the video, saying it's fabricated!

From All Africa: "After the so-called 'Islamic State' saw its influence in the Middle East wane, the group and its affiliates have targeted poorly governed areas in Africa.

"Jihadis have taken control of significant territories in the Sahel and the Lake Chad regions, which include parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria. In 2018, the West African Centre for Counter Extremism (WACCE) reported up to 6,000 West Africans, who had fought with the 'Islamic State', returned home from Iraq and Syria after the group's self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed.

"It was only a matter of time before we would begin to see ISIS activities replicated in their home countries," says Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, director of the WACCE in Ghana."

The UN has told the BBC that the situation unfolding in Afghanistan is a "humanitarian catastrophe" and one of the worst crises in the world. Around 18 million people, more than half the country’s population, are in urgent need of life-saving support.

The fate of non-Muslims (Dhimmitude) in Islamic states has been made plain many times but still, in countries where Islam is not dominant, any questioning of Islam attracts charges of Islamophobia. 

Instead of heeding the warning, revisionist have taken the practice on board to silence opposition, leading to the slow demise of the Church of England, following in the steps of the Church in Wales and TEC. But nobody in authority seems to care!

Reflections after Synod

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek (left), and the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, after their consecrations
at Canterbury Cathedral, in July 2015      Credit: PA/Church Times

Good news is hard to come by for Anglicans left stranded by a church which now gives more weight to politics than to faith, often the faith of cradle Anglicans who were to discover that their Church had left them after the women's movement occupied the driving seat.

It was good to read, then, that the House of Bishops expressed regret that “not nearly enough” was done to create an understanding of the practical outworking of the settlement that accompanied the Women Bishops Measure (see previous entry).


Mission and Ministry in Covenant (GS 2086) responded to a resolution of the General Synod in 2014
by outlining 'proposals for bringing the Church of England and the Methodist Church into communion with one another and enabling interchangeability of their presbyteral ministries'. From Christian Today:

"The particular difference between the two churches lies around their understanding of how churches should be led. Anglican churches operate under an episcopal model with bishops seen as following on from the apostles, as the Church's leaders. As bishops consecrate more bishops and ordain new clergy, the 'apostolic succession' continues.

"However Methodists do not accept the idea of 'apostolic succession' in the Anglican sense. But now under the proposals an Anglican bishop would take part in ordaining new Methodist ministers, meaning they would enter this 'apostolic succession'.

"However the nub of the controversy and opposition lay around existing Methodist presbyters who would not have to be re-ordained – a point the CofE's bishops consider a 'bearable anomaly'. "

A 'bearable anomaly' for some is 'an intolerable departure from order' for others which widens the divide between the Anglican Church and Roman Catholic/Orthodox Churches. For supporters of the ordination of women that is unlikely to be an issue. For others, for whom a woman priest has the same standing as a Methodist minister, it is yet another nail in the coffin.

Original source: Morton Morland/Twitter

Having won the votes to allow women priests then bishops, the women's movement appears to assume that we must all change to their way of thinking but conscience is not something that can be altered by synodical vote.

One of the more telling moments was when Justin Welby called for greater Anglican Communion say in the selection of a successor: He told the Synod: “The work of the Archbishop in the Anglican Communion is quite demanding and quite extensive. The representative of the . . . other members of the Anglican Communion – about 90 per cent from the Global South – when I was interviewed was the Archbishop of Wales [Barry Morgan] who is a wonderful man who did a wonderful job as Archbishop of Wales, but may not have entirely represented the Global South.”

Exactly! Barry Morgan always represented himself regardless of the consequences, particularly for those who have found themselves unchurched. He imitated Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori with the same disastrous consequences which have crippled the United States Episcopal Church (TEC). That Justin Welby applauded the award of Oxford doctorate to Katharine Jefferts Schori helps to explain his archiepiscopacy and his baffling performance over the treatment of Bishop George Bell as explained by Bishop Gavin Ashenden on his blog.


Finally a tweet from the Rev Sally Hitchiner‏ @SallyHitchiner:
"And my first full synod as a member is complete. Highlight was passing motion to support and welcome people with Downs and their families, even after a heated debate.... unanimously."  Hobbit's Wife tweeted in reply: "I really don’t get why this even needed debate. Meant to be Christians so everyone should be welcome. Please help me understand!"

As I understand it the debate was a ruse to discuss screening/abortion. The problem with this is that various groups are welcomed leaving others feeling excluded, and with good reason.

Women priests and bishops have been welcomed, gay, lesbian and transgender people have been welcomed. Since 'love' is the passphrase, how soon before polyamorous people are welcomed, responding to the claim, "I'm polyamorous, why should I limit my love?"

The only people who appear to be unwelcome are traditional Anglicans. The House of Bishops of the Church of England recognise the problem but as far has the bench of bishops in the Church in Wales are concerned, traditionalists can whistle, thanks mainly to archbishop Barry Morgan. This is his legacy from Twitter. His heretical mentor mentoring the new women bishops:

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church(USA) and the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate,visited the diocesan office while in the UK as part of the Bishop’s Training programme.  She is acting as mentor to @BishopJuno and Bishop Joanna

Mirror, mirror, on the wall....

The Church of England's House of Bishops voted Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy
to celebrate  gender transition but urged bishops to use the existing baptism rite as a way
 to mark the passage. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)/theblaze

...who’s the fairest of them all? - Neither Church nor State that's for sure. Both are engaging in absurd distortions of reality.

General Synod paper GS Misc 1178 provides an "update" on ‘Welcoming Transgender People’, as if they are not welcome already, using the now familiar propaganda techniques of exploiting the 'victim' status - see earlier entry - just as the LGBT lobby has done to secure a dedicated chaplaincy and "a safe, sacred space for our LGBTI+ friends to share their stories, explore their faith and enjoy time together with no fear of judgement" -  [click here and scroll down to "Open Table come as you are"].

In July 2017 the General Synod carried, "with strong support in all three Houses, a motion brought forward by the Blackburn Diocesan Synod, that this Synod, recognising the need for transgender people to be welcomed and affirmed in their parish church, call on the House of Bishops to consider whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to mark a person’s gender transition."

'Theblaze' summerises how the Church of England’s House of Bishops voted on Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy to celebrate gender transition. Bishops were urged instead to use the existing baptism rite as a way to mark the passage. Dodging the concept of second baptisms the Church of England has instead given the green light to using existing liturgies similar to the way gay unions are being blessed with all the outward appearances of church marriages.

The State, as in NHS England, is also pandering to fashion as if money were no object in offering biological males a smear test for cervical cancer if they identify as females, even though they do not have female organs, while women who could be at risk but identify as men are not being routinely offered potentially life saving NHS screening for breast and cervical cancer amid fears it might offend them.

If people want to ignore their biological sex they are free to do so but they should not expect others to engage in their fantasies. Cervical Cancer Prevention Week from 22-28 January.

Next, LGBTQI+ takeover?

The Golden Calf, with apologies to Poussin

"Church of England to discuss same-sex blessing" - BBC

"Synod’s ‘welcoming’ transgender motion asks Bishops to consider liturgy" - Church Times

"Church of England to debate blessings for same-sex couples" - Guardian
"Church of England to consider same-sex blessing services" - Pink News

The pressure to accept blessings leading to same sex marriage on a par with the marriage between a man and a woman is everywhere but is it justified? The Church of England is to debate holding services for same-sex couples for the first time.

The plans have been put forward by the diocesan synod in Hereford, which voted in favour of an "order of prayer and dedication" following a marriage or civil partnership, in response to couples who said they wanted it.

This is how "a gay member of the Synod", Jayne Ozanne, explained the move to PinkNews:
She was “thrilled” at the “overwhelming support the motion has received”.
“It provides an important step on the road to ensuring we are all treated equally by the Church of England.
“I know that many are incredulous at the time it is taking for the Church to understand that we are all loved equally by God, but things are changing and given the strength of support we know that exists I hope this will be debated as soon as possible by the General Synod.”

The Bishop of Hereford, the Right Reverend Richard Frith, said:
"Clergy are already encouraged to respond pastorally and sensitively when approached.
"The motion which is part of a much wider debate asks for guidance on materials to be used in affirming and praying with same-sex couples."
The general synod will now debate a form of service described as "neither contrary to nor a departure from" the doctrine of the church.
Individual churches and priests would be able to opt out of holding the services if they wished.

The pressure is summed up in Church Clarity: "an online database that 'scores' (mainly) US churches according to whether they are 'affirming' or 'non-affirming' of LGBTQ persons, and how clearly they communicate their policy. Its stated aim matches its name: it wants to challenge evasiveness and obscurity on what is to many a central, and personal issue." The group comprised mainly of progressive leaning Christians, says: "No person should have to wonder the limits of their 'welcome'."

It is difficult to see how people can claim to be unwelcome when they are established members of a church which permits them to propose a motion which is contrary to biblical teaching. An Introduction to General Synod and how the parish and deanery relates to it can be found here.

The tactics are familiar. If you are not for us you are against us. Such words as equality, love and affirming imply the moral high ground when the object is, in biblical terms, immorality. What they demand in the name of love is the seal of approval no matter what the consequences for the Anglican Church.

Marriage is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. "It is the very basis of the whole fabric of civilised society." That is it. To claim that members of the Church of England will be treated equally only if same sex blessings are affirmed is absurd.

To expect others to sanction that which is contrary to church doctrine is an act of utter selfishness modeled on the movement for the ordination of women. The liberalism they brought with them was based on the notion that there was no biblical objection to their ordination.

They cannot use the same argument in favour of same sex marriage or blessing gay relationships. That bishops of the church can think it acceptable shows just how far the Anglican Church is sinking below the waterline since women were ordained.

The Church of England lost another 34,000 worshipers last year, far more than all the regular worshippers in the Church in Wales and they still fail to see the problem!

The cost of success

This image from Twitter (H/T Anglican Mainstream) shows the celebration of a lesbian civil partnership at Southwark Cathedral with "Eucharist, Dinner and Dancing". 

It was joyfully attended by the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy Dean of Christ Church Oxford, who pressed Philip North either to renounce his membership of The Society or to decline his nomination as bishop of Sheffield, and his wife Emma Percy, Chair of WATCH who likes to refer to God as a 'She'. 

Taken with the errors committed at the recent General Synod in York, this is another example of how far Anglicanism in Great Britain has become a do as you please religion.

In another recent post on Anglican Mainstream the question was posed, Why is the Episcopal Church near collapse? A note of caution was added: Ed:  The author of this article is not mentioned, nor is it dated.  We believe it to be several years old, but we consider it suitable for posting as the situation has not improved and the article clearly shows the effect of revisionism.

The rot started in the US. If ever there was a cautionary tale to heed one would have thought that the brakes would have been applied but instead progressives in this country have held up TEC as an exemplar.

After all she has done to bring down the Episcopal Church in the United States, their former Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, was invited to proclaim the Gospel at the consecration of the new bishop of Llandaff, ignoring the Church in Wales' own Basic Guidance concerning the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist:   "[17.] The Gospel is normally proclaimed by a deacon, where available...and, from the Appendix, It is the duty of the deacon to proclaim the Gospel."

The Gospel stunt was a distraction which focused on the advancement of women in the Church rather than giving glory to God with the central focus of the liturgy being Christ himself (General Guidelines).

Another posing opportunity for women bishops       Source:Salisbury Journal

Back at the parish ministry area level, this comment was received following my previous entry which confirms worrying reports about Ministry Areas:

".... you mention 'inspiring our poor worn out hard working priests'
I agree with you but the management push to force ministry areas everywhere, is doing the opposite. Team leaders here in Monmouth are hard to come by as no one wants to run 3-4 parishes with less and less team members. Cwmbran, became a ministry area and went from 4 full time clergy, to two, the curate recently was moved to Malpas Ministry Area as no one would apply for it, so the remaining ministry team leader has resigned and is off to Llandaff as a team vicar. So soon no full time clergy......but hey plenty of lay readers who have been ordained...........(is it me or is that bad theology?)
I gather Llandaff has a chap going round full time, telling PCC's how wonderful ministry areas are......."

In the wider sphere, an observation from Pope Benedict XVI who sent a "sobering" message at the funeral of Cardinal Joachim Meisner saying he was moved at the dubia cardinal's ability to "live out of a deep conviction that the Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.

What liberals claim as progress is the cost of their success. At the official level Anglicanism is all but finished in the US with Great Britain not far behind while blind progressives still insist that it is they who are right!

But all is not lost. Please read this hopeful message: To the Anglicans of Great Britain.

Postscript [28.07.2017]

Read a review of material from Southwark Cathedral to mark civil parterships  here.

Dumbed-down, dressed down, let down

The Church of England at Synod

Who needs scripture, tradition or reason when a few dozen like-minded people can gather together in His name to make up the rules as they go along?

The headline in Plant Transgender after the transgender blessing debate was 'Church of England votes to bless transgender lives'. This is the attitude the Church has validated and sums up the current trajectory of the Church of England as progressives pander to lobbyists who seek to make the church more relevant to society regardless of the evidence and views of the wider Christian Church:

  "Imagine awakening one Sunday morning joining with your family at church for a special service to celebrate your authentic gender?  A coming out like never before is taking place at the Church of England, the third largest Christian communion in the world. Blessed by your church you would find yourself confident, spiritually empowered and ready to face life as never before. A motion to make this a reality has been agreed on during the Church’s four-day general synod meeting in York which started on Friday. but may take three years to finalize."

As the Rev Peter Ould put it, 'T is for Tearing up the Rules of Anglicanism'. Listen to his excellent podcast on Radio Free Canterbury here.

On their web site the Church of England proclaims 'a Christian presence in every community'. That is a presence for all on equal terms but now there is a special welcome for LGB+T people who claim they want to be treated the same as everyone else while demanding special treatment.

Also, clergy are to be allowed to ditch their robes in a 'further sign of dress-down Britain'. This is likely to result in some bizarre sights removing any semblance of the 'otherness' as mystery is replaced by the commonplace.

Again and again the bishops of an Anglican Church have let down those they are meant to guide.

New Anglicanism: secularism with ritual?

"Recent developments in The Episcopal Church with respect to a change in their Canon on marriage represent a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our Provinces on the doctrine of marriage. Possible developments in other Provinces could further exacerbate this situation." - Scottish Episcopal Church Agenda and Papers, General Synod 2016.

Last month the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to allow same-sex couples to be married in church.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have been criticised for inviting the proposer of the Scottish gay-marriage motion to the General Synod meeting in York, placing a group of the Synod’s laity and clergy in an “invidious” position.

There should be nothing to discuss if a change is "a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching" but the Archbishops of Canterbury and York appear to be one-track minded on this issue. In January 2016 there was an explanation in The Telegraph explaining how the Anglican Communion came to find itself in this mess.

Much has been made of changing attitudes towards gay marriage but how many simply go with the flow? That public opinion has shifted is hardly surprising in a do-as-you-please society which fails to recognise the absurdities of the new 'anything goes' mentality.

In what could be a "world first" an eight-month-old Canadian baby has been issued with a health card that does not specify the child's sex. It has been done at the request of parent Kori Doty, a non-binary transgender parent who identifies as neither male nor female. The obvious is no longer obvious.

The Holy Smoke podcast above poses the question: Are Christians warming to gay marriage? For secularists same sex marriage is defined in terms of equality, regarding any opposition as discrimination. That religious groups are apparently falling into line indicates not so much a change in view of the sacrament of marriage, rather it indicates how the church has been infiltrated by lobbies determined to advance their agendas at any cost.

Civil partnerships were introduced to ensure that homosexual couples are not discriminated against. For the Anglican church to introduce same sex marriage would be to turn it into a secular institution with ritual, a return paganism.

Update [09.07.2017]

Reporting on GS Misc 1158 - Proposals for the Pastoral Advisory Group on Human Sexuality and the Development of the Teaching Document (item 8 on Saturday's Agenda at the York Synod) - Archbishop Welby "hoped a document would be available for discussion at the synod in early 2020 'though on a process this complicated we cannot be pinned down relating to time'."

Had the Archbishop maintained Christian doctrine ‘founded in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it’, the Church would not have the complication.

Winding up the debate on her motion calling for a ban on the practice of Conversion Therapy aimed at altering sexual orientation, Ms Jayne Ozanne quoted a tear jerking letter from a retired homosexual priest in his 90's who complained about homophobia in the Church. This has been alleged so often that the bishops believe it when in my experience the reverse is true, often with the innocent on the receiving end as some gays seek to extend their influence at the expense of others.

Next up: Church of England to vote on transgender services. To follow, 'polyamorous' marriage?

Postscript

Please also read Sin at Synod - How the Church forbad forgiveness by Gavin Ashenden and listen to Peter Ould losing it in his Podcast T is for Tearing up the Rules of Anglicanism.

What hope can there be for Anglicanism in this country?

Is the Anglican Church Going Completely Mad?

Susan Musgrove, centre, with, left, Rev Cecilia Eggleston, Paster of the Metropolitan Community
 Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Rev David Hewlett, Vicar of Corbridge, before the start of the
Affirmation service for Susan at St Andrew’s Church, Corbridge, Northumberland. Source: Guardian

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28

For years Galatians has been (ab)used by liberals in the Anglican church to justify just about every departure from Scripture starting with the ordination of women. Now that sameness has been exhausted, difference is back on the agenda.

After he was approached by a young transgender person seeking to be “re-baptised” in his new identity, the vicar of Lancaster Priory has proposed a motion to the General Synod to debate plans to introduce a ceremony "akin to a baptism" to mark the new identities of Christians who undergo gender transition.

These are the preparatory words used in the Church of England's Baptism service: 

 
  Our Lord Jesus Christ has told us
  that to enter the kingdom of heaven
  we must be born again of water and the Spirit,
  and has given us baptism as the sign and seal of this new birth.
  Here we are washed by the Holy Spirit and made clean.
  Here we are clothed with Christ,
  dying to sin that we may live his risen life.
  As children of God, we have a new dignity
  and God calls us to fullness of life.

The vicar could have replied that the Sacrament of Holy Baptism cannot be repeated. What does he hope to achieve by embroiling Synod in yet more turmoil?

Synod fallout

"Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain, right, with his husband Stephen."             Photograph: The Guardian

The General Synod Report from the House of Bishops Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations GS 2055 was debated on Wednesday 15 February after group discussions. Ahead of the group work there was a presentation by the Bishop of Norwich and the Bishop of Willesden.

What was said in the presentation should be broadly acceptable to anyone who wants to uphold the Christian faith. Church Doctrine must inform society not bend to it. That society takes a more liberal view of sexual activity today is irrelevant.

Most regrettable is the need constantly to apologize for upholding the Christian faith. The Bishop of Norwich said he regretted the pain and anger felt by those who were disappointed adding an apology to those who thought the tone of the Report was wrong.

Worse, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to members of the General Synod setting out the next steps following the vote not to take note of GS 2055, a procedural motion allowing Synod to move on. Their tone is worrying.

In their letter they write "How we deal with the real and profound disagreement - put so passionately and so clearly by many at the debate - is the challenge we face as people who all belong to Christ...The way forward needs to be about love, joy and celebration of our common humanity; of our creation in the image of God, of our belonging to Christ - all of us, without exception, without exclusion."

Inclusion for LGBT campaigners means having their demands met, for same sex marriage in church to be accepted on a par with traditional marriage regardless of the consequences for the Church. Learning from the movement for the ordination of women they will agitate until they have what thy want. Ironically the lost vote was counter-productive as explained here.

When the Archbishops of Canterbury and York write about our belonging to Christ - all of us, without exception, without exclusion - they seem to forget the thousands who have left their Church in despair at the constant pandering to minorities who have no interest other than their own satisfaction.

Last year a group of gay Church of England clergy revealed that they were defying the official line taken by church leaders on same-sex marriage (the first pictured above). Ignoring the authority of their bishops and the teaching of their Church, half the signatories declared themselves already to be in a gay marriage. Why is the Church apologising to them?

Another Anglican priest, George Pitcher, writing in the Telegraph sets out the position plainly: "I'm a bleeding-heart liberal cleric – but the Church of England must not accept gay marriage". That is more like the authentic voice of the Church. If gay activists find that unacceptable it is they who should leave, not cradle Anglicans. LGBT people can live together. They can have civil partnerships. They can attend Church but they cannot be married there. Those are the rules. Greed does their cause no credit.

As the CEO of Christian Concern wrote, It's time for the Church of England to lay down the law on marriage.

Also, from a Christian Today memo, To Bewildered Bishops - Please Be Shepherds, Not Sheep

A desire to satisfy the wants of the few must not obscure the need to keep the many.

Postscript [23.02.2017]

The gays have it.

Source: Premier

General Synod has voted to reject the bishops' sexuality report after a move to vote by Houses. 

The fact that the House of Clergy voted 93 in favour and 100 against with 2 abstentions and less than two thirds majority in the House of Laity indicates the situation in which the Church of England now finds herself after so much appeasement. 

It was clear that the gay lobby would accept nothing less than capitulation. Endless sob stories and references to 'moving forward' as the Church had done with the admission of women to the Episcopate made it clear that the LGBT+ lobby is on a journey, not to travel hopefully, but to arrive.

The 'silent middle', the stepping-stone of blessing gay patrnerships, was the tear-jerker of the day moving the bishops to apologise yet again. Apologise for what? The Christian faith?

The Church should stop apologising for upholding the faith of Christ crucified before there is nothing left to defend. 

Postscript [16.02.2017]

The gays have it, or do they?

Lies, Damn Lies and Synodics - What exactly did Synod not vote for last night?

Listen to the Rev Peter Ould HERE. Excellent.

First misogynistic then homophobic, now potential killers! No wonder people are leaving the Church in droves

♫Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue

 And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true....♫

From some recent reports as Synod prepares for the LGBT battle:

 "The Church is driving homosexual people to suicide because of its negative and discriminatory attitude towards same-sex relationships, a major Christian charity has concluded" (here).

"Church of England 'not listening to gay Christians', say retired bishops". "In an open letter published online, 14 leading retired bishops wrote that a recent report on same-sex marriage failed to include the “authentic voice” of the LGBT community and was instead focused on talking about them rather than to them" (here).

"The Bible doesn’t have anything to say about lesbians but they need to be included in order to make statements about the group who really disturb the men. These are the men, who are men, but do not behave like men when it comes to sex and they need to stop it" (here).

The onslaught* is gaining momentum. Lies, damned lies and statistics to 'prove' that the House of Bishops has it wrong by defending traditional marriage. Previously accused of homophobia, now defenders of the Christian faith are charged with driving homosexuals to suicide  because of its negative and discriminatory attitude towards same-sex relationships.

This charge has been shot down on the Psephizo blog which refers to the work of Anglican priest and statistician, the Rev Peter Ould:

What the authors have demonstrated here is that their research shows that, contrary to the claims that Oasis make with no evidence to support them, LGB people do not have worse mental health outcomes when in “non-affirming” church environments and indeed there is some evidence to suggest that attending a conservative church actually improves mental health for LGB people, even when they have significant internalized homophobia.

The 14 retired bishops protest too much. After three years of "shared conversations" with the LGB community and other Christians they write that the bishops' report on same-sex marriage published last month failed to include the “authentic voice” of the LGB community. It was, they complain, focused on talking about them rather than to them. Some of the 14 are readily identifiable as homosexuals but how many of the others are waiting to come out if they have the stamp of approval of the Church?

Their conclusion appears to be that LGB people have been discriminated against because the official report did not come out in favour of gay marriage. A common complaint used by the feminist movement, if you are not for them you are prejudiced and discriminate against them.

As for WATCH perhaps I should let 'The Chair’s thoughts' speak for themselves but I would have thought the statement "The Bible doesn’t have anything to say about lesbians" would be a great comfort to WATCH wimmin. After all, a similar spurious argument helped to secure the ordination of women priests. It will be interesting to see how many more variants of that argument will eventually be employed to create even more diversity in the  Church taking her ever further from her spiritual roots even if it "risks further alienating the church from wider society" as the Guardian report put it.

Learning from the feminist movement, Church of England gay activists such as Changing Attitude are taking the Church down the same path as WATCH did with the same disasterous results. Nothing matters but their own selfish desires. Hence last year's headline: Gay Marriage Support From Christians In The Church Of England Is Now Outstripping Opposition, New Poll Reveals. If the LGBT activists are as successful as the feminists, the Church be will full of lesbians, gays and the gullible.

Referring to "Mr Welby", the Guardian opines in its Editorial that "It is generally accepted that about one in 10 of the Anglican clergy are LGBT (three times the proportion of non-white clergy...hence anguished protests by 14 retired bishops at the weekend)." It is understandable that a newspaper would offer a secular view, but for the Church? Is there nothing that is sacred or spiritual?

So, the Church of England is set for "a renewed clash" this week when Synod votes on a key report from the Bishops on the "divisive question" of gay marriage and same sex relationships mired in gay propaganda and false information. No wonder people are leaving the church in droves.

Feminizing the Anglican Church has been damaging enough, queering the Church for 1.7% of the UK population or 10% of the clergy based on figures in the Guardian  would be a disaster even if it were not contrary to scripture .

Postscript

* The onslaught gains more momentum. Martin Bashir, BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent, writes:

'Fireworks and faith at general synod'
 As members arrive on Wednesday morning, they'll be greeted by a vigil organised by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and Changing Attitude with the support of the Peter Tatchell Foundation and Out and Proud African LGBTI.

This is the well tried strategy:

• Exploit the “victim” status;
• Use the sympathetic media;
• Confuse and neutralize the churches;
• Slander and stereotype [traditionalist] Christians;
• Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and 
• Intimidation.

See also  Anglican Mainstream: "Manipulative, domineering revisionists must be opposed, not appeased".

 

Sacred Synod?

Archbishop Barry Morgan                                 Source: Daily Post

The newspapers in Wales have been full of it since the naming of the bishop elect. For example, the Western Telegraph has: "Sacred Synod to confirm election of new Bishop of St Davids".

In reality there is nothing sacred about it other than that the event takes place at Evensong in a place of worship, Archbishop Barry Morgan's trouble prone Cathedral in Llandaff.

On video [@1.19] and in the press, the bishop elect constantly advances the feminist cause telling her audience how she has broken new ground in the Deaconate and in the Episcopate being "one of the first women" despite the fact that according to Dr Morgan her 'election' had nothing to do with her being a woman. He said she was the best person to be a bishop, presumably based on his criteria written to fit her profile. Given her inexperience at a senior level it is difficult to believe that there is no person better qualified. Chosen from a secret shortlist we are expected to accept Dr Morgan's word despite years of deception to ensure that he gets his own way from the ordination of women to his LGBT agenda to his same sex marriage ambitions.

If so sure of his ground why the precedent of the Archbishop's promotional video produced to convince viewers that the process was not another stitch up? Some analysis is called for.

Sacred:
devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.
pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to secular or profane)

Secular:
of or relating to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal

profane:
characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles or things; irreligious.

It is difficult to conceive that anyone other than a Morgan acolyte could consider the confirmation of the election of the new bishop of St Davids to be sacred. It has Barry Morgan's secular politics written all over it. Her name as the bishop elect had been circulating for months. She attended the Credo Cymru 'Conference to Preserve the Breadth of Anglicanism in Wales' when more deserving members were excluded. Interestingly the view from England after the event was that Anglo Catholicism in Wales is finished.

There were reports that the archbishop deferred entering hospital for essential surgery so that he could preside over the electoral college. A call for prayers in an ad clerum from the Bishop of St Asaph indicates that Dr Morgan has deferred treatment until December, thus enabling him to stage manage the synod as well as the 'election'. Nothing it seems is to be left to chance. No price is too high in ensuring that a woman bishop is in place before Dr Morgan retires, even the desolation of the Church in Wales. A relative minnow in the Anglican Communion and minute in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church but for the 1% or so of the population of Wales who still attend regularly it is still their church, nominally. The dwindling few have responded to calls over many years to give sacrificially while receiving nothing but politics in return. How will they feel when left with nothing but the bill?

Whilst the whole process reeks of cronyism I would be surprised if there were any objection to the election at the synod. Dr Morgan has successfully crushed all opposition in his re-modelling of the Church in Wales as a career opportunity for sycophants and a refuge for sexual licence.

Based on fifteen year's experience covering Church of England politics and witnessing the death throes of the Episcopal Church in the United States,  George Conger has been talking on Anglican Unscripted about the decline of the Church of England into a church that is "already all but dead". What he says can be applied equally, and more so, to the Church in Wales. When a bishop is elected, he says, the candidate loses his backbone to a process called collegiality, a well used weapon in Dr Morgan's armoury along with 'canonical obedience' when the Church in Wales has been anything but obedient to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The installation of a woman bishop at Wales' most holy shrine is all about Women and the Church (WATCH). It is profane.

Postscript [30.11.2016]

BBC News: "First woman bishop appointment to be rubber-stamped". - Exactly!

Closer together and wider apart

Former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Lorna Hood
 making her way through the Church of Scotland's Assembly Hall, where commissioners made
 "a historic vote" in favour of accommodation for congregations that choose a minister in a
 same-sex civil partnership    Source: Christian Today (Photo: John Young)

From one "historic step" (see caption) to another. Addressing Synod yesterday the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (C of S), the Right Rev Dr Angus Morrison, said: The Columba Declaration paves the way for future joint working between the Kirk and the Church of England (C of E). It sets out how members and clergy will be allowed to worship and exercise ministry in each other's churches. Approved by Synod by 243 votes to 50 the report will now go to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May for approval.

Paved with good intentions, the declaration moves the C of E further towards nonconformity while pretending to keep a toe in the Apostolic Church following the lead of the Church in Wales (C in W).

The proposals are set out in GS 2016, "Growth in Communion, Partnership in Mission -
A Cover Note from the Council for Christian Unity". There are two references to apostolic succession.

Para 18 (i): Within the apostolicity of the whole Church is an apostolic succession of the ministry which serves, and is a focus of, the continuity of the Church in its life in Christ and its
faithfulness to the words and acts of Jesus transmitted by the apostles.

Para 31: The Church of Scotland also believes that its ministries are in apostolic succession, without needing to include the episcopal order nor to express that succession through it.
In its ordination rites it emphasizes the continuity of the Church and its ministry. It can
recognize in the historic episcopal succession maintained by other churches a sign of the
apostolicity of the Church. It does not, however, regard it as important for the bene esse
(‘well-being’) of the Church in the same way as the Church of England, and therefore
while respecting its perspective does not share from its own side the significance for the
Church of England of this issue in seeking to grow together.

God forbid that the C of E should follow the lead of the C in W:

"Consequently the Church in Wales Working Group's Long-term Recommendations to their Governing Body were that: 'the Methodist jurisdiction, the Presbyterian jurisdiction and the URC/Covenanting Baptist jurisdiction each elect a bishop, the bishop will ordain all those who are to become ministers within that jurisdiction. That this bishop will be a bishop in the Church Uniting in Wales and will share collegiality and full interchangeability with all the other bishops of that Church'."

Sidelining the Scottish Episcopal Church, the C of S and the C of E "acknowledge one another’s churches as churches belonging to the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and truly participating in the apostolic ministry and mission of the whole people of God". 

But what of the wider Church? 

The C of S, the C of E and the C in W are minnows in the Christian Church which is dominated by Catholics and Orthodox, now showing signs of coming together while Anglicans drift apart. In global terms Anglicans are mentioned once, "Nigeria now has more than twice as many Protestants (broadly defined to include Anglicans  and independent churches) as Germany, the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation yet they claim to be in the forefront of advancing the apostolic ministry and mission of the whole people of God.

What does this amount to? 

The C of S has opened the door to the appointment of married gay ministers. Having lost the same-sex marriage battle, the Archbishop of Wales is encouraging his rapidly diminishing flock to support the Iris Prize Outreach project which aims to "make 36 short films over the next three years with different community groups to build understanding of LGBT issues". 

Driven by WATCH the C of E  is obsessed with gender issues: "Fewer than one in 50 large churches led by a woman priest".

For the Church to survive in Britain it will have to become closer to the apostolicity of Catholics and Orthodox, not more protestant and secular.

Postscript

'No unity at the expense of truth': a response to Justin Welby's Presidential Address.
An excellent analysis from Christian Concern, H/T Anglican Mainstream, here.