It's Wimmin Wot Matters

 

#GoodNews: So glad to follow the lead of St David’s. Historic for @ChurchofEngland and very welcome alongside Diocese
of St Davids in @ChurchinWales with female Bishop Joanna and female @DeanofStDavids Sarah  Source:Twitter

The tweets in the caption above suggest that the diocese of St Davids (not St David's) has become the model for feminist expansion in the Church of England. 

Four out of five Cathedral clergy are female. The bishop, dean and two minor canons are female with one solitary male, the sub-dean.

Looking at the various published figures for ordinations in 2020 more female than male deacons and priests have been ordained in St Davids diocese, a trend in the Province as a whole.

Gender parity, or Church by numbers, is the name of the game. 

Early in 2019 the Church in Wales concluded that there was 'more work to do on gender parity'. In September 2019 Cherry Vann was appointed Bishop of Monmouth. This allowed the former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, architect of the Church in Wales' demise, to brag last night on S4C's Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol that the smallest Anglican province was the first to achieve parity among bishops.

Archbishop Morgan also spoke of the part played by the bilingual Church in Wales in helping to maintain the Welsh language. Not something regarded as important when aiding the feminist cause by 'electing' the three women bishops in St Davids, Llandaff and Monmouth. 

None of the three female bishops is a natural Welsh speaker. Neither is the current Archbishop of Wales which necessitated wheeling out the retired archbishop to speak of the achievements of the Church in Wales one hundred years after disestablishment. 

Archbishop Morgan was also given the opportunity to advance another of his 'achievements'. His policy of accepting same sex relationships on a par with traditional marriage. This policy has not been accepted by the Church at large and this, along with the ordination of women, has seen many faithful Anglicans leave the Church through exclusion.  

New worshippers have not been attracted by these failed policies. After years of decline a mere 0.8% of the population in Wales regularly attend Sunday services. 

Between 1996 and 2016 the number of signed-up Church in Wales members dropped from 91,247 to 45,759. The 2018 Membership and Finance Report shows that the average Sunday attendance of people over 18 had fallen to 26,110.

At its demise the Church in Wales will be a feminist institution along with the Church of England. In 2019 the CofE ordained more women deacons than men.

Sweden already has a majority of women priests and a female archbishop. In 2009 Eva Brunne became the world's first openly lesbian bishop, another example of feminist 'equality'.

The process of 'feminisation' went much quicker than the Swedish Church had foreseen. In 1990 it was estimated that it would take another century before half of the clergy would be made up of women. But the 50 percent threshold has been reached just thirty years later.

None of this prevented Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland, warning that "people are leaving the Catholic Church 'in droves', tired of 'little old men' who continue to 'beat the drum of obedience'."

Complaining that she is "ignored completely by the Church's hierarchy" McAleese should not be surprised after all the false promises made by women's groups such as Women and the Church and their supporters.

Describing herself as a person with a "thinking brain" it doesn't take much thinking to see where the Catholic Church would be heading after ordaining women based on the experience of Protestant Churches.

For feminists it is wimmin wot matters, not the Kingdom.                                                                      

Church in Wales takes a back seat

Three faiths and more                                                                     Source: BBC

A tweet from the Church in Wales contributor to the BBC documentary series Young, Welsh, & Pretty Religious, no doubt forgetting that pride is one of the seven deadly sins: "I'm proud to have had the opportunity to share a platform with @SaharAlFaifi in the making of #YoungWelshAndPrettyReligious. #MoreInCommon"

Sahar Al-Faifi responded with: "I am honoured to share it with you too father Ross ... God bless you :)". That would be her god not his. Job done.

Not to be outdone @LeanneWood for Plaid Cymru "congratulated the young Welsh people featured in the @BBCOne  programme #YoungWelshAndPrettyReligious - in particular work of anti-Islamophobia activist @SaharAlFaifi."

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Perhaps with an eye on voting intentions Plaid Cymru "adopted @RunnymedeTrust definition of Islamophobia and want to see people of colour and religion that face 'daily abuse' protected. As if to prove the point, in the first episode of the documentary the victim card is played but only at face value. There is more to follow in episode 2, hopefully with hard facts rather than opinion.

The UK government rejects racial definition of 'Islamophobia' , a catch all invention designed to ensure that Islam has protection not enjoyed by other beliefs but the protection campaign continues.

Unfortunately for him his pride earned the Church in Wales curate only a bit part in the first episode but he was up against Krishnas, pagans, Jews and Muslims, an anti anti-Islamophobia campaigner and a fashion designer for Muslim women's clothing. Evangelical Christians had a better showing due to their increasing numbers. 

The series introduction explains that three quarters of the 1,000,000 under 30's in Wales are not religious. Since the year 2000 religious belief has halved but as some beliefs are plummeting others are rising, doubling, trebling their following. 

"Since the millennium the number of Muslims has doubled to over 50,000 and is the fastest growing religion in Wales. [The average adult Sunday attendance in 2017 was 27,359.] In this century Muslim and Hindu numbers have risen in Wales but Christian numbers have plummeted. Out of a population of 3,000,000 people less than 1% regularly attend Church and if the current decline continues Christians will be a minority in Wales by 2050." 

In the next episode a Hare Krishna monk pays a visit to his parents, we meet bisexual Christian Will and Sahar "faces religious intolerance head on".  I can hardly wait.

Pentecost - Welsh revival!

Bishop Andy John, the lead bishop on evangelism                                         Source: Church in Wales

From a Church in Wales Provincial press release: Church launches £10m fund to inspire new Welsh revival.

+Andy has drawn the short straw as the lead bishop on evangelism. Perhaps it is not surprising since his Easter messages have made the rest of the bench look like amateurs but is it good news?

There is more to evangelism than saying the right things, a problem exemplified when bishop Michael Curry preached about love at the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle earlier today.

Many thought he preached a powerful sermon, drawing attention to the need to love God and one's neighbour. But the US Episcopal Church and Anglican bishops in Great Britain have distorted scripture, using 'love' as a password to permit virtually any permutation for sexual freedom.

A passionate supporter of same sex marriage, Curry's beliefs are curiously at odds with the beauty of the marriage service, clearly intended to apply to the union of one man and one woman for the procreation of children.

Easter messages reached rock bottom in 2014 when Archbishop Barry Morgan spoke of solidarity and forgiveness. He said: "Solidarity and forgiveness sum up the meaning of Easter and when one sees these values exemplified, one begins to realise the significance of what it means to believe in the God of Jesus."

He expanded his message in a newspaper article at the time. Lecturing politicians on ethics Morgan suggested that "people of all parties could work to bring something of the generous spirit of the governing body to wider politics and work to build a society in which are neighbours are not just tolerated but loved."

That 'generous spirit' led the Governing Body to show a complete absence of love for traditional Anglicans when it voted for a code of practice that abandoned the faithful. Instead it ushered in a feminist cult hell-bent on feminising the church and allowing same sex marriages.

So what of the Evangelism Fund? The chair of the committee overseeing the Fund said, “We are keen to give grants to effective, well-constructed projects and to ensure the Church’s money is well spent. We will be looking for ideas, for example, that create growth among people in age groups under-represented in our churches, create new forms of ‘church’ to appeal to people not currently going, and projects which lead to changes in culture or provide teaching and learning in faith all over Wales.”

Over represented in terms of numbers are elderly women. Traditional Anglicans have been made unwelcome while every effort is being made to accommodate more LGBT people by pretending they have been unwelcome in church despite their disproportionate presence in many congregations and especially among the clergy.

'More of the same - but faster', as the new archbishop put it, can only quicken the eventual demise of the  Church in Wales which in 2015 was given a potential extinction date of about 2040.

What most congregations now lack are traditional Christian families with children in the choir, Sunday school, youth club, Scout and Guide organisations, etc, looking forward at Pentecost for their annual Whitsun treat.

That women were more in evidence was not a problem as there were sufficient men in the choir and serving at the Altar to carry out essential tasks. If not, willing husbands and non-church people would often help-out.

To correct the imbalance today is a near impossible task. The Anglican church is no longer about 'otherness', just more of the same in vestments. A failed strategy that has resulted in empty pews because mystery has been replaced by what is commonplace in society.

As for new forms of ‘church’ to appeal to people not currently attending, there are toddler groups,  'messy' church, cafe style worship, animal blessings, LGBTQI+ eucharists. Everything in fact but repentance.

How much better it would have been at no extra cost to appoint Welsh speaking bishops in the  Church of Wales to make Welsh speakers feel welcome as outlined in the Welsh Language Guidelines published by the Church in Wales: "In general, what is expected is a positive and imaginative approach to extend the use of the Welsh language in the life of the Province".

The Welsh bishops like to lecture others but rarely practice what they preach beyond enforcing their secular agenda. They have ignored consultations and used positive discrimination to achieve their objectives, alienating many to gain a few.

As for a Welsh revival, dream on. Thanks to liberal minded bishops Anglicanism hangs by a thread. They are stretching it to breaking point.

From the press release: "The Evangelism Fund is being launched on Pentecost Sunday – May 20 – the day traditionally regarded as the Church’s birthday when Christians focus sharing their faith and growth."

Received faith has been abandoned resulting in constant decline. Tradition has been thrown out of the window while appealing to the faithless.

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place"  (Acts 2). Those were the days.

Sexuality, tolerance and institutional inclusion

 Changing attitude in St Davids Diocese                                            Pub talk in Llandaff                                   Source: Church in Wales

By accident or design 'sexuality, tolerance and institutional inclusion' were some of the 'hot topics' under discussion when young people were invited to ‘Grill the Bishops’ in a Cardiff pub this week. Sexuality not spirituality was the first word in the diocesan press release.

Asked about the way forward for the church on the LGBT issue, Bishop June said, “The way forward is that the church gets past the issues that it is struggling over and embraces marrying couples in church of whatever sexuality.”

The event was organised jointly by the Revd Becca Stevens, young vocations advisor for Monmouth Diocese and the Revd Wendy Tayler of Llandaff Diocese. There is an amusing link from the Monmouth Vocations site to a series of photographs on Facebook showing June's dominant use of the microhone although Richard did have to manage his wine glass, no doubt conscious of 1 Timothy 3:3. Looking through the photographs I was left wondering if +Richard was there as her minder or was ♀June mentoring him on the 'inclusive' Church in Wales.

There was nothing amusing about an earlier diocesan press release in which the bishop of St Davids rejoices in her Presidency of a new group aimed at "offering a ministry of welcome to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians" which has been launched in St Davids Diocese, Changing Attitude Transnewid Cymru (CATAC). 

That is despite the presence of numerous gay people in the church who, far from being unwelcome, are in many senior positions.

"It asserts that there is integrity in being both Christian and gay and that, for many people, it is a God-given reality, not a sin or sickness, and that LGBT people offer evidence of the fruits of the Spirit. In her address to the group’s inaugural Eucharist in St Patrick’s Church, Pennar, near Pembroke Dock,  group President bishop Joanna Penberthy suggested it "seeks a re-evaluation of Scripture and tradition". She said:

“After 2000 years, we are still learning how to work out our Christian faith. We are learning to cope with changing attitudes. Love is patient, it is kind, not envious or boastful, arrogant or rude. (St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians). “Let us be able to express what we think in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 13 

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…". In other words, anything is acceptable in love.

But there is no love outside full inclusion of LGBT people. Outsiders are not even permitted an opnion.

Prior to her 'secret' baptism, Gavin Ashenden wrote in his blog entry 'Meghan Markle, Justin Welby & The Use And Abuse Of Baptism':  "The Reich Church of our day has given way not over race but over gender, not to a fascist culture but to the new-Marxist values and concepts, peddled and enforced by universities, schools, state agencies, the police, and more recently the judiciary.

 "The neo-Marxist or cultural Marxist agenda sets itself not only against Judaeo-Christian revelation and values, but goes further to set itself against free speech."

Neo-Marxism or cultural Marxism is described by Bishop Ashenden in Anglican Unscripted #374 [@ 9.12] as a process beginning with feminism which presents as equality and fairness and then moves on to gay marriage because of the notion of equal treatment and re-imagining gender which moves on to the whole trans movement. 

The Christian Post reports that Queen's University in Belfast has denied a Christian ministry's request to screen a new documentary featuring the testimonies of people who have left homosexuality. An exact reason why it couldn't show the documentary at Queen's Film Theatre was not given but the university's response "suggests that the film doesn't match its idea of inclusivity".

Given her endorsement of CATAC (Changing Attitude Transnewid Cymru), a national organisation working towards the full inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the Anglican Communion, the bishop of St Davids would agree with that. So by implication would the bench of bishops.

It was reported after the appointment of bishop Joanna Penberthy that her election was a "stitch up". Indeed, her name was being circulated widely as the next bishop of St Davids long before her 'election' despite her inability to communicate in Welsh, the first language of many in her diocese.

Both she and June Osborne had known track records of using the church to push their feminist, LGBT agenda. The bishops who appointed them are complicit because they must have been aware of this. They should all pack their bags and take their neo/cultural Marxism with them.

Postscript [09.03.2018]

There is more propaganda from the bishop of St Davids using the sanctity of St Davids Cathedral to promote feminism in the church dressed up as equality in another press release 'International Women’s Day: The Bishop & the Suffragette'.

One hundred and ten years after suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst, Annie Kenney and Mary Blathwayt signed the Visitor's Book much has changed. Read how much in 'Feminists reign supreme – men are the new second sex' by By Kathy Gyngell in The Conservative Woman which illustrates how out of touch ♀Joanna is.

She stopped short of referring to the promiscuous lesbian love trysts of the suffragette leaders. An opportunity lost in her promotion of Changing Attitude Transnewid Cymru.

Yr eglwys a'r Gymraeg: 'Dechreuad' ond mwy i'w wneud

Andy John Bishop of Bangor                                               Source: BBC/Twitter

Another top job post has been created at the Church in Wales' expensive new HQ while ministry areas continue to scratch around for clergy and any help they can get if it is freely provided.

This time the bench of bishops require a Director of Welsh Language and Bilingual Mission to assist them having been negligent in ensuring that Welsh speaking bishops were appointed where appropriate. The diocese of St Davids is a glaring example where political correctness in appointing a woman bishop took precedence over all else.

Andy Pandy, as he is affectionately known in some quarters, gives his spin here on the need for a new post to promote Welsh within the Church in Wales which he says is "beginning" but there is more work to do.

Typically +Andy's account is in Welsh as if he has a vast Welsh speaking audience while Welsh speaking congregations are neglected. Certainly there is more work to do, starting with inadequate bishops engaged in empire building. Three dioceses have already come to readers' attention where the number of clergy is in stark contrast to priests out in the country dashing from church to church.

A Question of Balance

Once again I allowed myself to become irritated by watching Question Time on Thursday. It was like a repeat of the Carol Vorderman show in drag with that offensive little pip-squeak David Starkey ranting from a similar Tory election script. Whilst I welcome a variety of opinions (within reason) such tirades become wearisome especially when formed from a narrow historical perspective. Some will recall his 2009 dismissal of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish nations as ‘feeble’. People in glass houses….

Much was made by most of the panel, and the Chairman of course, of the links between the Labour party and its trade union sponsor Unite as a result of its dispute with British Airways. That was fair game but what are we to make of the report that the Tories have forced the BBC to drop their intensive investigation into the affairs of Lord Ashcroft in the run up to the general election? Can the implication be that they have something to hide? So much for transparency and balance.

Of course funding isn’t a problem for the really high earners in our society. A joke was made on Sport Relief last night that if every footballer donated a week’s wages we could buy Africa. Not being a fan of round ball games I may be biased but I find the astronomically high wages of footballers offensive especially given the bad example many of them set with their aggressive behaviour and disgusting habit of spitting all over the pitch which is then echoed by yobs spitting on the street and spreading diseases. “Spitting spreads germs” is a sign we ancients recall seeing on public transport.

Just as, if not more, offensive is the reported £60m bonanza for the president of Barclays. From the Telegraph: “The package is based on a £384,000 salary, but through a combination of perks including share bonuses, Mr Diamond could earn more than 150 times that amount”. Ignoring the perks, can anyone deservedly earn a salary sixteen times that of the average wage even if he does want to build the biggest investment bank in the world - especially if it is on the back of the tax payer as Vince Cable aptly put it?

David Cameron’s plan to impose a tax on banks to repay the billions used to bail out financial institutions is most welcome as is Alistair Darling’s expected Government support for a global bank tax. Whoever wins the next election and by whatever means, someone needs to do something about these greedy bankers.