The big lie.

Church in Wales Governing Body Meeting 06 Sept 2021 discussing same-sex blessings                         Source: BBC News

                    

On his own admission the bishop of St Asaph prefers queers to evangelicals. That was his conclusion as bishop Gregory responded to the debate on same-sex blessings.

Sounding like a Taliban spokesman claiming every deed to be the will of Allah the bishop said, "I will not betray them, not for any price in this world or the next because I believe it is the will of Christ."

Others in the Church in Wales believe the opposite but the Bill passed when laity and clergy secured the necessary 2/3rds majority. Unsurprisingly the 4 bishops present voted for the Bill in one mind, that of the bishop of St Asaph.

Misinterpreting Galatians 3:28, the bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, seconded the Motion. She invoked memories of the departed to help bolster support for the Bill. Ignoring the Chair's intervention as she over-ran her allotted time bishop June ploughed on. She just wanted to "honour the memory of archdeacon Sue Pinnington who tragically died at the end of July." 

Bishop Osborne suggested that the speech archdeacon Sue would have made would have put the proposed liturgy in the context of mission to which she had 'dedicated her life':

"It may well be that she would have spoken about her sense of God's blessing on her long and godly same-sex life partnership." - The first of a number of archdeacons who would tick the box.

A disproportionate procession of gay clergy from vicars to archdeacons came to the rostrum to support the Bill illustrating that their sexuality had been no hindrance to their careers.

There were claims of suffering among gay and lesbian people as though they have a monopoly on suffering but they still have a church to attend unlike others who have been rejected and left to pray at home.

A prominent supporter of same-sex blessings interviewed on BBC News with her same-sex partner was trainee priest Ruth Eleri James. Clearly she had not been properly briefed. 

On BBCRadioWales (37 Mins in) she told the reporter of the "real love and welcome they have experienced in their local churches." 

Replying to the debate bishop Gregory said his 'heart went out' to archdeacon Stephen and others who had been brave enough to 'open their hearts' in the debate. Brave enough to tell GB of the pain and the cost of what it is to live as a gay or lesbian Christian within our Church because of the unconscious bias and oppression that we unknowingly inflict upon them.

No evidence was presented to support bishop Gregory's assertion. Quite the contrary given the number of gay bishops, archdeacons and others who have made successful careers despite alleged bias and oppression.   

Speaking after the debate the senior bishop Andy John urged the church to 'respond to new challenges'. He warned that organisations failing to adapt to changes ran the risk of "fossilization", ignoring the fact that Anglican provinces that had done most to conform to the world had rapidly declining attendance.

The 'church' bishop John refers to is not the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Church rejects same-sex blessings along with the ordination of women but Wales is a minor province governed by bishops intent on moulding a compliant Governing Body to their will, leading their flock into darkness.

Going their own way by allowing same-sex blessings the Church in Wales has again put itself at odds not only with the vast majority of Christians but with most of the 80 million Anglicans worldwide, risking suspension from the Anglican Communion.

The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the annual update of regular church attendance figures but based on previous trends less than 0.8% of the population of Wales would regularly attend Anglican Sunday services.

In his keynote address as President of the Church’s Governing Body, its senior bishop Andy John urged the Church to look for God in the changing world and respond to new challenges. He warned that organisations failing to adapt to changes ran the risk of “fossilization”.

Speaking after the vote bishop Andy said that despite all the evidence to the contrary  'the Church' recognised it had "demonised and persecuted" gay and lesbian people. They were reaching out to a constituency that felt abandoned.

It has not bothered the bench one jot that another constituency, so-called traditionalists, have been abandoned despite the promise of twin integrities in the Church in Wales in its Code of Practice.

They may now be joined by evangelicals forced to "find accommodation as best they can" as a former LGBT+ supporting archdeacon of Llandaff directed.

The approval of same-sex blessings is based on the falsehood that gay and lesbian people have been demonised in the Church. Allowing same-sex blessings as a half measure to accepting same-sex marriage in church as an act of repentance. 

No doubt some examples of hurt can be documented but in well over 100 years of combined church attendance neither my wife nor I can recall a single example of such rejection, only of welcome as described by Ruth Eleri James and her partner.

The fact is that claiming persecution is part of a strategy based upon "deceptions and half‑truths":

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

The vote to accept same-sex blessings is based on a lie. Shame on the Church in Wales.

Postscripts

[08.09.2021]

How it looks from outside the Church in Wales. 

Anglican Unscripted 684 starting at position 10.15. A devastating critique.

[11.09.2021]

CHURCH IN WALES BACKS THE BLESSING OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGES - C4M

[18.09.2021]

"It may not be an accident that this endorsing of the secular view of the priority and importance of sex and romantic relationships takes place in association with a culture which also attacked the core beliefs of Christianity." - What should we make of the Church in Wales' gay marriage blessings? Gavin Ashenden in Christian Today.

[21.09.2021]

"My experience of "synodality" in  Anglicanism  is that it was a ham fisted PR exercise in which the liberal elite imposed their will but made it look like their novelties were the will of the people." - Fr. Dwight Longenecker @dlongenecker1

[28.09.2021]

Reflections of an Anglican theologian: "The reason I want to comment is because what Cameron said at the meeting of the Governing Body provides a classic example of the weakness of the case for blessing same-sex relationships, and thus shows both why the Welsh church should not have voted to permit such blessings, and why the Church of England should not follow the Welsh example."

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!

The perils of organised religion

In March this year the Guardian carried an article 'Christianity as default is gone': the rise of a non-Christian Europe.

It showed that "In the UK, only 7% of young adults identify as Anglican, fewer than the 10% who categorise themselves as Catholic. Young Muslims, at 6%, are on the brink of overtaking those who consider themselves part of the country’s established church."

The figures are published in a report, Europe’s Young Adults and Religion, by Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University in London. They are based on data from the European social survey 2014-16.

"According to Bullivant, many young Europeans 'will have been baptised and then never darken the door of a church again. Cultural religious identities just aren’t being passed on from parents to children. It just washes straight off them'.

"The figures for the UK were partly explained by high immigration, he added. 'One in five Catholics in the UK were not born in the UK'.

"And we know the Muslim birthrate is higher than the general population, and they have much higher [religious] retention rates.

"In Ireland, there has been a significant decline in religiosity over the past 30 years, 'but compared to anywhere else in western Europe, it still looks pretty religious', Bullivant said.

“The new default setting is ‘no religion’, and the few who are religious see themselves as 'swimming against the tide', he said."

The BBC recently highlighted a ComRes survey for the Asian Network. It revealed that "On religion, over half of 18-34 year olds in the general population said it wasn't important to them "at all". Just 8% of young British Asians said the same.

"Overall, 46% of British Asians said it was "very important" to them - compared to 12% of the general population."

Christianity is shrinking while Islam expands.

In Anglicanism the reasons are clear. As physical education activities are reduced in schools, sports replace religion on Sundays. Consequently few families attend church.

Also, the Anglican Church which provided the means of expressing one's faith in a structured way in fellowship with others has has been secularized, again resulting in falling attendances as gender politics have replaced spirituality.

Sadly nobody in the church cares about the disaffected. It is good riddance to worshippers who were valued only for their giving.

In Wales, what felt comfortable and familiar is being replaced by an alien structure reminiscent of nonconformity as the bishops tinker with the structure and employ more 'experts' to keep themselves in employment.

Anglican congregations are increasingly identified as elderly. The absence of families means the absence of children needed to maintain continuity. Without young people the church which nurtured past generations is dying.

So the routine ends.

For those whose lives revolved around the church, taking a step back from organised religion results in a significant change in their social lives as well as their spiritual lives.

After supporting the unsupportable for so long, former worshippers no longer have to accept what is served up week by week, often by manipulative clerics with a vested interest in what they preach. Faults projected onto submissive congregations, making them feel guilty and in need of forgiveness.

The problem with organised religion is that congregations are expected to obey the rules regardless of the examples set by those who seek change. Consequently views such as 'the Vicar knows best' or 'I just keep my head down' prevail implying acceptance.

Over the years much has been accepted in silence. Now stories of abuse abound.

Accounts of cruel treatment handed down by the Christian Brothers were accepted with resignation. The so-called care by nuns of "fallen women" in Magdalene laundries amounted to outright cruel exploitation.

That has changed. The Irish no longer fear the Roman Catholic Church as they did in the past.

Many RCs 'escaped' the authoritarianism by becoming 'middle road' Anglicans (catholic and reformed). They find themselves thrust into another quandary now that the Anglican church has departed from the catholic faith.

One Catholic priest who became an Anglican because he could not cope with a vow of celibacy appears to have accepted the whole 'do as you please' secular package. He has been forced to quit after it was discovered that he was having an affair with his married curate. Reminiscent of a former bishop of St Davids and his chaplain, the temptation of mixing with female colleagues can become too much.

"Lead us not into temptation" has clearly become more difficult for some clerics following the ordination of women, even when married.

Where celibacy is the rule temptation is more widespread. In the US state of Pennsylvania it is reported that more than 1,000 children were abused for decades by hundreds of priests and systemically covered up by church officials.

Stories of abuse are rife. They encourage critics to point the finger but it is not the Church. It is the people in it.

Guilt and the forgiveness of sins play a prominent part in organised religion. So much so that young children make up 'sins' so that they have something to confess. Meanwhile the most appalling abuse has been covered up by bishops fearing that the Church would be seen in a poor light!

Abuse is not confined to the clergy.

It was the 'purging of sins' which resulted in an alleged victim of a deceased former Christian charity leader being beaten by him 3,000 times in the shed of the perpetrator's home and at the camps he ran in Dorset for young evangelical Christians.

A confidential report seen by Channel 4 News in 2017 described what it called the “beatings” of 22 young men:

“The scale and severity of the practice was horrific…8 received about 14 thousand strokes: 2 of them having some 8000 strokes over three years,” the document, written in 1982, noted.

"Despite the findings of the report, the Iwerne Trust did not inform the police. Instead, a senior figure in the Iwerne Trust wrote to John Smyth, telling him to leave the country. He went on to live in Zimbabwe, and then South Africa."

Yet another cover up. The reports mount up.

For many Anglicans, supporting the unsupportable is no longer an option so there is a dilemma. For the architects of the dilemma, those who engineered the ordination of women, the answer is simple, go to Rome.

That suggestion shows a total lack of understanding of faith. Many who suggest it are late entrants who 'came to faith' when they saw a convenient opportunity for expanding the feminist movement. That has had dire consequences for the Anglican Church.

It is not a simple process of crossing one's fingers and saying what is necessary. Consequently people of conscience are stuck.

For them the 'catholic and reformed' Anglican Church is their church of choice. It says much about the bishops and those who are responsible for outlawing faithful worshippers that they couldn't care less about those who, effectively, have been excommunicated.

Christianity is under attack. Unless organised religion adapts to accommodate the few remaining Christians 'swimming against the tide' the outlook is bleak.

Predictions indicate that Western Anglicanism has no future. Secularizing the church has been an abysmal failure, surrendering the church to feminism and all the liberal baggage that comes with it.

True Anglicans have been thrown overboard, in Wales without a lifeboat. The mutineers are heading for the rocks.

While Anglican patrimony has been carried over to the Ordinariate, membership is confined to those who promise to accept the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. That is a big ask for anyone with a questioning mind as illustrated by the revelations detailed above.

Catholics who found that they could not in conscience continue to accept all the teaching of their church and who have become Anglicans along with Anglicans who can no longer accept the teaching of the Anglican Church are left in limbo.

Meanwhile the decline continues. Something has to give.

The cost of change

View enjoyed by Church in Wales Representative Body staff                                                                                                                                  Source: Twitter

The revelation that the former Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is acting as mentor to Two Church in Wales bishops, Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids and June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff, suggests that the Church in Wales is awash with money.

I hear that the annual rental of their new HQ at 2 Callaghan Square, Cardiff is £500,000 but the lease is for just one year.

Perhaps that explains the letterhead stuck on the nameplate (illustrated) signifying a temporary arrangement as the blind continue to lead the blind into extinction. The departure of the architect of destruction, the former archbishop, offered the opportunity for real change, to right former wrongs. An opportunity lost.

Rumour has it that the staff are not happy in their new home, preferring their previous accommodation in Cathedral Road but no longer at the heart of the nation the Church in Wales continues the pretence that it is a force to be reckoned with, regardless of cost, so it needs to be at the hub, perhaps giving them closer access to BBC Wales following their relocation to the centre of Cardiff.

Some thought that the demise of St Michael's College, Llandaff, Wales' only Theological College, now a conference centre, would have provided the opportunity to relocate there since half the bench will have very fond memories of their leisure time there. 

There has also been a rash of senior appointments under the umbrella of the never popular Mission Areas designed to keep the chiefs happy at the expense of the indians. As the Parish share goes up perhaps some of the indians will go on the warpath but many congregations are either too old or too compliant to make a fuss. Hence the expectation that they will dig deeper, compensating for all those who have lapsed on discovering that their Church has left them.

Archbishop John Davies promised more of the same - but faster. His Llandaff appointee obliges by choosing change as the theme for her Lenten addresses. That is unlikely to be for the better, rather, as the bench chooses.

So far that has led only to decline and disillusionment while those who speak up are constantly accused of prejudice and discrimination without any supporting evidence. When the first woman bishop to be appointed in Wales was challenged she admitted that it amounts to nothing more than holding opposing views rather than nodding compliantly.

No theology is offered, only appeals to secular values of equality of opportunity in the workplace, advancing feminism in the church regardless of the consequences. There is more of the same in the bishop of Llandaff's 'Wales Online' interview: Victim, prejudice, discrimination, inequality, parity, barriers, unwelcome, change, battle, etc, etc.

Spiritual leadership was mentioned without any evidence of its presence. Quite the contrary. The constant decline in people attending church is not helped by women bishops and their admirers droning on about how beastly men are, particularly in the church.

Bishop June said "You can talk about it as a story of decline but actually what it is about is change." How very convenient.

I wonder what she makes of the many remarkable women who have left the church because they do not share her politically motivated, limited views.

Not another victim!

Bishop steps down after speaking of campaign forcing him to quit - Christian Today

The Ass Bishop of Llandaff is resigning after speaking of a "sustained campaign forcing him to quit". David Wilbourne, a strong supporter of gay cleric Jeffrey John, will step down on Easter Sunday after 'considerable and increasing pressure to relinquish' his post for the past 18 months.

The Ass bishop of Llandaff knows all about victims. Back in 2011 when he was justifying his appointment by the Archimporter of PC persons, Barry Morgan, he claimed that the ordination of women would rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones.

The Church in Wales has since ordained sufficient women to illustrate the nonsense of his comment. With so many women now in place, accusations by Jeffrey John of homophobia must be absurd.

After his appointment vicars in Landaff  received a letter from Wilbourne instructing clergy how he was to be received. Suitable parking was to be provided and a bag carrier was to conduct him into church. Perhaps unsurprisingly his symbols of office were to be displayed on the Altar to emphasis his authority. It proved never to be obvious otherwise. In an unwise move the Ass bishop also let it be known that he would be honoured to made the diocesan.

Wilbourne mentioned nothing in his statement about a sustained campaign forcing him to quit, or of the alleged considerable and increasing pressure to relinquish his post for the past 18 months. He was brought in by someone with no scruples and supported a candidate with no scruples. He has been part of the say anything, do anything campaign to advance the liberal cause that has so damaged the Church.

Pray that the bench has the imagination to recognise the errors of the past. No more of the same please.

Going, gone, gone. Ass bishop Wilbourne and the briefly Dean Janet Henderson
with their appointer Archbishop Barry Morgan.      Picture credit; Church Times

The Victim

Women in the Church were victims, allegedly. Gays, lesbians and transgenders in the Church are victims, allegedly. 

The true Victim was left hanging on the Cross. His words have been twisted to justify sectional interests to the detriment of the Church. The latest episode is witnessed by the LGBT campaign to have the high profile gay cleric Jeffrey John elected bishop of Llandaff.

Dr John says the bench of bishops is guilty of homophobia. This is the bench which wrote:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We recognise that you have often been persecuted and ostracized by the Church for your sexuality, that you have been mistreated by the Church, and forced into secrecy and dissimulation by the attitudes of prejudice which you have faced.  We deplore such hostility, and welcome and affirm the words of the Primates that condemn homophobic prejudice and violence.  We too commit ourselves to offering you the same loving service and pastoral care to which all humanity is entitled, and we commit ourselves to acting to provide a safe space within the Church and within our communities in which you can be honest and open, respected and affirmed."

Jeffrey John claims in an open letter to the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon that his situation is exactly similar to that of the Bishop of Grantham who is also in a same sex relationship. It may be insofar as civil partnerships are concerned but I have found no record of Bishop Chamberlain supporting the Out4Marriage campaign, twisting the Bible to support his stance.

Dr John also suggests that same sex couples are no different to infertile couples, or couples who are beyond the age of childbearing. He is badly mistaken. Addressing gay people directly in his Out4Marriage video Dr John claims that "the official church doesn't speak with integrity... so frankly doesn't deserve to be listened to". That does not bode well for the mission of the Church or for bench collegiality. It is a  pick and mix form of Christianity which leads John to claim that "God is Out4Marriage too"!

In his letter to the bishop of Swansea and Brecon who is the Church in Wales' most senior bishop, Dr John said he had been told by "a bishop present at the meeting of the electoral college" that “a number of homophobic remarks were made and were left unchecked and unreprimanded by the chair”. [My emphasis - Ed.]

For members of the Electoral College to leak information is a serious breach of confidence but for a bishop? He or she should seriously consider his/her position.

Regular churchgoers are dying out, literally and metaphorically. Those who have not been pressured into leaving and battle-on are fed up with gays and feminists claiming to be badly treated when the Church clearly has so many women clergy and gay people in their midst.

In England Archbishop Justin Welby appears to have sold out to Women and the Church (WATCH) despite their shameless campaign against Bishop Philip North because he is an orthodox Anglican. Read the history of this sorry saga here.

In Wales Archbishop Barry Morgan led the bishops into battle against Church members promoting same sex marriage. At the same time he was desperately engineering the election of the first woman bishop in Wales before he retired. His candidate also complained of discrimination. On investigation it proved to be nothing of the sort. One stitch-up is one too many.

I hope that the Bench has at last come to its senses. People need to hear about Christ crucified not false claims of victimhood.

Postscript [21.03.2017]

Unsurprisingly given the gay men's chorus which is singing ever louder to Jeffrey John's tune, the LGB pressure group OneBodyOneFaith this morning published an open letter (here) expressing their "concerns" about the way the process to appoint a bishop for the See of Llandaff has been handled. One of the signatories is the Rev Jeremy Pemberton, Chair for the Board of Trustee. It was he who thumbed his nose to the Church of England over the gay marriage issue.

OBOF have only Jeffrey John's word for what took place. That is second hand. There is no context, merely accusation. "The reported unanimity of the Llandaff electors is a strong indication of what they wish to happen" they write. There are two points here. It was common knowledge that many in Llandaff were desperate to avoid a woman bishop. Their best hope of avoiding that eventuality was to support Jeffrey John. Also, given the strong gay presence in Llandaff, the impression given is that many if not all form part of the chorus demanding that Jeffery John should be the bishop-elect.

As we approach Passiontide  the baying crowd becomes louder. There are echoes of "Give us Barabbas". The crowd had it wrong. So does OBOF and the media. Pray that the Bench withstands the media onslaught.