Leadership by example!

Archbishop of Wales Andy John                                    Source: Church in Wales

'Happy' and 'glorious', two words from the National Anthem that have been used to sum up the celebrations of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee. A tribute not only to HM The Queen but to the skill of all those who arranged and took part in the various events.

Among the events was the magnificent Thanksgiving Service held in the splendour of St Paul's Cathedral but there were two notable absences, that of Her Majesty The Queen which was explained, and that of His Grace the Archbishop of Wales which, so far as I can establish, was not.

Glancing at the order of procession in the Thanksgiving Service booklet (page 8), the only dignitary to send a representative was the Archbishop of Wales.

Curiously 'The Representative of the Archbishop of Wales' was not the next most senior bishop, Gregory Cameron, bishop of St Asaph, but the most junior, the recently appointed assistant bishop in Bangor, Mary Stallard.

Why? When Ms Stallard was appointed the archbishop said "I am delighted that Mary has agreed to take on operational responsibility for much of the life of our Diocese to assist me while I take on the role of Archbishop of Wales."

What, one wonders, was so pressing in the archbishop's diary that he was forced to absent himself from probably the most important event since he was elected archbishop, representing the Church in Wales at the Thanksgiving Service for a monarch who has led by example, keeping the faith when too many bishops have not.

Postscript [08.06.2022]

More embarrassment caused to the Church in Wales by its leadership: "The Church of England has its Mississippi and that's called the Church in Wales".

Anglican Unscripted's take on the Archbishop of Wales' Thanksgiving Service snub (starting at position 41.30):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfBGINajXY

Queen's speech 2014

Should we be surprised at the headline, Queen beats Archbishop of Canterbury as ‘most moral leader’ in new poll?

HM The Queen: "For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life.

A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people, of whatever faith or none." You can read the Queen's speech 2014 in full here.

The Bishop of Buckingham (for example): "The Church of England is still guilty of “serious institutional homophobia” and has yet to overcome “inertia and ignorance” towards same-sex couples, an Anglican bishop has claimed. Alan Wilson, the bishop of Buckingham, praised gay members of the clergy for showing “considerable courage and determination” as they fight deeply ingrained prejudices to marry. “In very few years people will wonder what the fuss was all about,” the bishop says in a Christmas sermon for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community recorded for Pink News. He adds: “But for now it’s a path that calls for considerable courage and determination. So please spare a thought this Christmas for them." Full article here.

If the Bishop of Buckingham wants a proper example of “considerable courage and determination” he need only look to the 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England'. One can only imagine what the Queen must be thinking with all that is going on in the Church of England and in Government especially when the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 received Royal Assent.

The Bishop of Buckingham is not a lone voice in the Anglican Church. Rather, he reflects the move away from liturgy to a particular view of social justice which relegates worship almost to an optional extra and "Christ’s example" is distorted to justify just about any secular fancy. One has only to look at the fate * of the Episcopal Church (TEC) for an example of how this trend develops into litigation and dilution of the faith resulting in a church in name only:

"Why is the Anglican Church in North America growing (now over 110,000) while TEC is in decline? Why has ACNA overtaken the Anglican Church of Canada in Average Sunday Attendance? It's all about the message - one of the transforming love of Jesus Christ to all sinners. There is almost no difference in the way a TEC parish functions from that of an ACNA parish. A visitor would see no discernible difference in worship forms, liturgy (though there is a greater use of the 1928 Prayer Book in ACNA parishes). The difference is what is proclaimed from the pulpit each Sunday. Preaching endless sermons about inclusion, diversity, the joys of pansexuality, the need for women priests/bishops, the Five Marks of Mission, MDGs and a whole host of so-called hot button issues does not change lives just opinions and not always that. TEC needs to radically rethink who they want as next generation priests. Second career aging lesbians won't cut it."

All is not gloom in the Church of England. Part of the package which saw the appointment of the first woman bishop included 'broad church' provision so that Evangelicals and Anglo Catholics have the opportunity to prosper.

Not so in the Church in Wales. Their bishops proposed legislation that would have made statutory provision for those opposed to the ordination of women on grounds of conscience but this was swiftly dropped after a successful plot by the devious Archdeacon of Llandaff and her sidekick the Area Dean of Llandaff which enabled the bench sitters to do as instructed by their unscrupulous Archbishop.

Looking at the success of ACNA and the failure of TEC it is not difficult to see why Dr Morgan stamps out any opposition to his view of Anglicanism. So much so that one has to wonder what is "an inspiration and an anchor" in his life. Where did Dr Morgan come in the 'most moral leader' poll? So far, I have been unable to find any reference to him!

* Update (30/12/2014)
See also here, an interview with Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the Church of St. Michael in New York City .

Respect!

On the right is a picture of Her Majesty the Queen,  Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England covering her head as a mark of respect as she visited a 15th century mosque on her state visit to Turkey. 

On the left is a picture Rebekah Dawson showing no respect for The Queen's justice. 

The Independent asks what happened after Rebekah Dawson refused to take her niqab off in court. Read the shocking story here.

'God save our gracious Queen'

Picture: BBC

On this, the 60th anniversary of the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II, how apt are those opening words of the National Anthem. As Supreme Governor of the Church of England she has been a rock on shifting sand. On this occasion I can do no better than quote from this article, Chosen and Anointed by God:

 "And through all the political fractures and religious schisms of the past six decades, she has been a vision of true majesty; transcending petty ideologies and the ephemeral fads that come and go like politicians in a by-election. In an age when representative government is despised and democratic accountability diminished by the interminable drip-drip-drip of scandal and corruption, it is worth reflecting on the fact that the Queen has remained loyal to her Coronation Oath to God, sworn in 1953, while thousands of succeeding politicians have reneged on their oaths of allegiance to her, incrementally subsuming Parliament to foreign powers; the Crown to foreign courts; undermining democracy with oligarchy; and negating sovereignty with fealty to unaccountable elites."

God save the Queen!

Another politician in clerical clothing

 In the latest helping of the views of the Archbishop of Wales in WalesOnline we have Organ Donations, Devolution, Gay Marriage, Homosexuality, Women's Rights, Demographics and the Welsh language. Unlike Her Majesty the Queen who broadcast a simple Christian message in her Christmas Day broadcast [see previous entry], here is another cleric who finds it much easier to preach politics from the privilege of the pulpit than to offer himself for election. The closest Dr Morgan gets to God is when he talks of the decline of the church, again abdicating any sense of responsibility with the words: “At the end of the day, the church is not the clergy and the church is certainly not bishops. The church is the whole people of God.” - If that is the case, why does he insist on ploughing his own furrow contrary to the direction of the universal Apostolic church to which he professes allegiance every time he recites the Creed?

Apart from the dwindling few he has gathered around him, the 'whole people of God' as he sees them couldn't care less for the views of the Archbishop according to the results of the 2011 census which showed his diocese of Llandaff as home to areas in the UK with the highest rates reporting no religion. Caerphilly takes the lead on his patch: Some local authorities in Wales also reported some of the highest levels of no religion. Caerphilly had the largest percentage point increase since 2001 of 16.7 to 41.0 per cent . Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Torfaen also saw large increases of no religion with 16.0, 15.5 and 15.4 percentage points respectively.

I hear on the grapevine that managing the decline of the Church in Wales has already run into trouble with problems implementing the 'Harries' Review. Despite a great deal of time and effort looking at clustering parishes this is now regarded as a non-starter. Also, as if to kick a man when he is down, Dr Morgan's cherished plan of making the Diocese of Llandaff the Archiepiscopal see will not take place in the foreseeable future. Added to which parsonages will not be sold off as recommended and the Archbishop has admitted that he has no power to close buildings so churches will continue to be used until they fall into disrepair for lack of funds and, presumably, become unusable on grounds of safety. None of this really matters to the bishops because all seven of them keep their jobs (I use the term advisedly) regardless of further decline below the 1% of the 'whole people of God' they care for in Wales, allegedly. This strategy also keeps all the bums on the bench so that when women bishops take over they will have somewhere to sit while wondering where all the people have gone. As senior appointments now go to outsiders, they could of course spend their time learning Welsh so they can talk among themselves in their 'home' language since a vast amount of money has been spent on translations for Welsh speakers, now down to 19% of the population and a tiny fraction of churchgoers practically all of whom no doubt would be bilingual.

Dr Morgan is very keen on supporting (some) minorities. He was particularly miffed at not being consulted over plans to exempt the Church in Wales from David Cameron's same-sex marriage proposals claiming that it would make the Church in Wales appear homophobic. What an appalling claim for an educated man to make, even worse by a cleric and more so by a bishop. It is not homophobic to believe that marriage is a life-long union between one man and one woman. But this is just another smokescreen. It is an attempt to conceal Dr Morgan's main aim which is to enhance his liberal credentials at any cost in the same way that he proposes a sleight of hand to allow the admission of women to the episcopate by making supposed provision for those opposed when he has already indicated that there will be no provision other than on his terms. If he were to offer himself for election, who would vote for such duplicity?

God Save the Queen!

Before I set off with my wife to spend Christmas with family I read an advance report of what the retiring Archbishop of Canterbury would say in his final Christmas sermon as Archbishop. My heart sank. I comforted myself with the thought that the headline remark may have been taken out of context. But no, in his sermon there was indeed another dig at those accused of damaging the credibility of the church in the vote over women bishops. The Archbishop added: "Faith is not about what public opinion decides, and it is not about how we happen to be feeling about ourselves. It is the response people make to what presents itself as a reality – a reality which makes claims on you". You can listen to his remarks here and make of them what you will but this part of his sermon is clear enough: In the deeply painful aftermath of the Synod’s vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn’t have said yes to the census question [referred to at the beginning of his sermon] turned out to have a sort of investment in the Church, a desire to see the Church looking credible and a real sense of loss when—as they saw it—the Church failed to sort its business out.

I interpreted Rowan's contorted departing message as meaning that while "Faith is not about what public opinion decides" people outside the church have some sort of investment in the church which they desire to see looking credible. In other words, they have no real interest in the church and support her even less but public opinion in its ignorance is a useful tool which conveniently 'supports' the view that Rowan and his entourage are correct on the question of women bishops while the rest of us, including the much larger universal church of East and West, are wrong and simply don't understand Jesus properly.

In the 'women bishops at any cost' campaign, the Queen's position as 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England' has been tossed into the debate to justify the call for women bishops with remarks such as: "The queen is the head of the Church of England; if the Queen can head the Church of England why can't we have female bishops". This shows either a lamentable ignorance of the Church of England and of the priesthood itself or it is an attempt to influence those outside the church who feel that they have some sort of an investment in the church which entitles them to an opinion on the faith of people who are being unfairly criticised by their own clergy.

It was most heartening therefore to watch the Queen's traditional Christmas Day broadcast. Her Majesty delivered a simple Christian message that could be readily understood by all with the words: "This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son 'to serve, not to be served'. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ. It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others. The carol, 'In the Bleak Midwinter', ends by asking a question of all of us who know the Christmas story, of how God gave himself to us in humble service: 'What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part'. The carol gives the answer, 'Yet what I can I give him – give my heart'." 

A clear simple message to live by Christ's example, not from a priest but from one who clearly understands the meaning of 'to serve, not to be served'. Something that the laity recognises but which has been largely forgotten by the clergy in their quest to see the Church of England relegated to the status of a Protestant sect.

The Call of Wisdom

Click here to listen a beautiful new anthem, The Call of Wisdom, written by British composer Will Todd and performed for the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral today by a choir made up of children selected from around the country. The Queen's face says it all as she listens intently to the repeated words 'I am here' which have much resonance for people of faith and recall Her Majesty's Coronation Oath. The Queen has 'been here' reigning for sixty years in a remarkable act of service and devotion to duty, demonstrating what a promise means, an example well captured by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury in his sermon, contrary to the carping criticism in the Mail Online. 


Having said that, if only our Bishops and Clergy likewise would seek to "maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof":

   Archbishop: Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?

   Queen. All this I promise to do.


God Save The Queen.

Are we already an Islamic country?

"Christian Britain is dead" said The Rt Rev Paul Richardson, a bishop of our established church, the Church of England. But the Queen is still Defender of the Faith, a faith based on love which shaped our nation, a love that now dare not speak its name.

The latest incident of alleged religious discrimination highlights the case of a Christian worker who lost her job after being 'targeted' by Islamic extremists at Heathrow Airport. In his Blog, Cranmer raises some important issues here. Whatever the facts of this new case, there is a perception that only Islam is beyond question with legitimate questions about the treatment of Christians being met with cries of 'Islamophobia'. 

Endless excuses are made but if we look abroad,for example, in Egypt,  the home of our Christian Desert Fathers, there are regular authentic accounts of the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Coptic churches but where is the condemnation from the 'Religion of Peace'? The answer is neatly summed-up by the Coptic priest Fr Zakaria Botros here. Those involved in inter-faith talks please take note. 


Postscript
Pakistan to review list of obscene words that includes 'Jesus Christ'.