The Monmouth saga continues

Happier times? Bishop Richard Pain with the Archdeacon of Newport and the vicar of Caerleon
The Dean of Monmouth is behind them. Source: C in W

Martin Shipton stirred up a hornets' nest when he published his article in the Western Mail, Unholy row in Diocese of Monmouth. It was short on facts so readers were left in the dark about the cause of the row but that has not prevented people from taking their chosen side.

Comments appearing on this blog suggest that the lack of information about the row has led to entrenched positions making resolution more difficult. 

From the Introduction to the Church in Wales Disciplinary Policy and Procedure of The Clergy:

Good discipline is essential to the effective working of all organisations and the Church in Wales is no exception. Good discipline for clergy involves:

i) setting expected standards of behaviour;
ii) informing clergy of the standards expected and what will happen if those standards are not met;
iii) taking appropriate action if those standards are not met.

The Disciplinary Procedure applies to all Clerics exercising ministry in the Church in Wales. 

Disciplinary proceedings can be instituted where misconduct or poor performance is alleged to have occurred.  A single act or omission may be sufficiently serious as to justify instituting the procedure.

The grounds for instituting the procedure are as already set out in Section 9 of Chapter IX of the Constitution as follows:

(a)   teaching, preaching, publishing or professing, doctrine or belief incompatible with that of the Church in Wales;

(b)   neglect of the duties of office, or persistent carelessness or gross inefficiency in the discharge of such duties;

(c)   conduct giving just cause for scandal or offence;

(d)   wilful disobedience to or breach of any of the provisions of the Constitution;

(e)   wilful disobedience to or breach of any of the rules and regulations of the Diocesan Conference of the diocese in which such member holds office or resides;

(f)    disobedience to any judgement sentence or order of the Archbishop, a Diocesan Bishop, the Tribunal, or any Court of the Church in Wales.

All complaints should be forwarded to the Bishop in the first instance.  Where the complaint concerns the conduct, behaviour or performance of a Bishop the complaint should be referred to the Archbishop and where the complaint concerns the conduct, behaviour or performance of the Archbishop the complaint should be referred to the next most Senior Bishop.

In this case it appears that the correct procedure was followed. The complaints were not upheld but the complainants refuse to work with the bishop.

Working relationships have broken down. Without the benefit of the facts of the case, parishioners have been left to speculate, championing the bishop or the complainants according to preference.

That may be based on personality, prejudice, having been favoured or disappointed when unpopular decisions have had to be made or conveyed, often by archdeacons.

That the bishop is reported to have been cleared may have come as no surprise to many. The bishops of the Church in Wales stick together under Barry Morgan's blanket of collegiality.

Their stance on same sex marriage, contrary to section (a), above, teaching, preaching, publishing or professing, doctrine or belief incompatible with that of the Church in Wales, does not encourage confidence.

Neither did the appointment of the former bishop of Oxford to validate Morgan's plan to reorganise parishes into ministry areas so how much confidence can there be in the appointment of 'independent investigators' in a cloud of secrecy?

The Dean of Monmouth was the first to defend himself. Coming from a supporter of such clerics as the progressive professor Dean Martyn Percy who works to the detriment of orthodox Anglicanism as he strives to secularise the Church, readers may draw their own conclusions. Not that the bishop of Monmouth or the rest of the bench have done anything in support of Anglican orthodoxy. In that sense they are all tarred with the same brush

Petertide Ordinations 2018              Source:@MonmouthDCO

 The bishop's style is not to everyone's taste as regular readers of this blog will have observed from previous entries.

Similarly, the dean's expressed progressive views are an affront to traditionalists who were promised appropriate sacramental and pastoral care as faithful Anglicans who could not, in conscience, accept the ordination of women.

That promise evaporated on the retirement of the late Bishop David Thomas.

The accused archdeacons have said nothing that I am aware of. Often having to convey unwelcome advice, or doing the bishop's dirty work as some would have it, they find themselves in a difficult position.

Accusations of bullying have been made. That is a serious matter. There is a procedure for dealing with bullying but it is unclear whether the correct procedure has been followed.

Until the facts are known, speculation and damaging accusation are destined to continue.

There have been frequent calls, particularly from the diocese of Llandaff, for Martin Shipton to investigate unease in the Church in Wales but the requests fall on deaf ears. The decline continues.

Update [11/01/2018]

"An end to Bishop of Monmouth’s long absence may be in sight"

Bishop is likely to return to work in February - 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.

Assisted killing of the Church in Wales (continued).

In my 3 April entry I wrote about two agenda items to be discussed at the Governing body of the Church in Wales later this month, Assisted Dying and Same sex Marriages. Papers here.

Sandwiched between the two items is a third, "Church in Wales response to the Proposals from the Gathering of the Covenanted Churches 2012". It makes interesting reading.

Here is a taste:



10. Long-term Recommendations

10.1 The Working Group recommends:
10.1.1 That the Commission invites the five Covenanted Churches to think of
themselves as the Church Uniting in Wales.
10.1.2 That this Church will be congregational, presbyteral and episcopal in
tradition and mode of pastoral oversight.
10.1.3 That the Church will have nine jurisdictions – the six existing Anglican
dioceses plus a Methodist jurisdiction, a Presbyterian jurisdiction and a
URC/Covenanting Baptist jurisdiction, each of which will be invited to
elect its own bishop.
10.1.4 That a description of the bishop’s role be drawn up and agreed by all
five Covenanted Churches (see Annex 1).
10.1.5 That, when and if 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.
10.1.6 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.
10.1.7 That the bishops of all nine jurisdictions in the Church Uniting in Wales
consult with each other at least twice a year.

At their GB meeting last November, the Bill proposed by the bishops of the Church in Wales to enable women to be consecrated as bishops was successfully amended by the  Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Peggy Jackson, and the Reverend Canon Jenny Wigley. Their amendment substituted a voluntary code of practice for the statutory provisions contained in the bishops' bill. 

Here is what they said in explanation:

Our amendment seeks to reflect the overwhelming view of Governing Body members (as expressed in questionnaire responses in 2012), that:- 

 a) there should be provision for women to be consecrated as bishops in the Church in Wales, 
 b) there should be recognition and provision allowed for those who in individual conscience dissent from this move, 
while also keeping faith with other aims, as expressed:- 
 a) in 2008 – that provisions for conscience should not be included in the body of  formal legislation, 
 b) in 2012 – that legislation should not include structural provision to accommodate dissent. [My emphasis - Ed.]

That there should be women bishops in the Church in Wales gets over a covenanting hurdle but in the light of 10.1.6 above (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), the agreed amendment to the bishops' Bill "that legislation should not include structural provision to accommodate dissent" now looks particularly spiteful if structural provision were thought credible.