Church impotent

Archbishop of Wales Andy John                                                                                       Source: BBC

The impotency of the Church in Wales became a little clearer on Sunday in an interview with the new archbishop of Wales, Andy John. 

Questioned on the BBC radio programme All Things Considered the divorced father of four admitted his failure and 'messing up' as he put it.

 So concerned was he with his failure that he had considered applying for a HGV licence or taking up teaching but some 'good friends' persuaded him to use his failure as a lesson for others. It would make him a 'better priest'.

This convinced him that there had to be 'a way back', something he has clearly applied to his own ministry and that of the bishop of St Davids in his comments on Joanna Penberthy's behaviour. 

Archbishop John went on to say "that compassion has no boundaries, that compassion is a good thing. It is restoring. It is not that the Church shouldn't have proper boundaries. It should have standards and we should hold each other accountable. However, there has got to be a way back. Then if you never give people a way back into faith then you drive people into a cul-de-sac and you drive people out of the Church and that's true for people whether they have been divorced, re-married or people who are gay. Whether it is people who are trans or what-have-you. 

"If you say there is no place for you in the Church I think you've done something truly dreadful and we must remember that Jesus called each and every part of society to come and to follow Him."

Asked about his stance on 'the gay issue' the archbishop said it was a bit of a shock to him to encounter gay Christians who displayed all the signs of goodness and godliness and kindness and righteousness that he thought was impossible. It made no sense. It created a kind of crisis in his theology. Here were all the fruits of the Spirit in these lives and yet the scriptures spoke against this.

That caused him to go back and ask serious questions about the extent to which moral theology can be undertaken purely on the basis of what was revealed and understood to be appropriate. An appropriate ordering of life in the first century after our Lord's death and whether or not we need to introduce other questions as well to have us form a way of ordering our lives, managing our affairs in a way that is appropriate and good but doesn't lock us into a kind of first century lifestyle or expectations which he didn't believe could be sustained in the 21st Century.   

Challenged on what he had said Abp John acknowledged that he had had 'robust' conversations particularly with evangelicals who do not see things as he had described them but the Church had changed its position on a number of things whether it is divorce or the role of women. The arguments about that were very, very fierce indeed and we came to realise, not just because of scripture but we saw women exercising good and godly leadership and we realised that this was the clincher. This was what made sense when they saw it in action  and when the Church in relation to the same sex issues sees that there are good people who are engaged and mutually belong to each other and the sky doesn't fall down we will move on and we will no longer have an issue to wrestle with.

Question on what he could do about two dioceses where senior staff have been at odds with one another Andy John admitted it had been "Challenging". There were two things that we have to bear in mind when dealing with such difficulties. First, in the Church in Wales like many Churches, we had not been very good or accustomed to dealing with things like job descriptions, competencies, the way in which grievances, complaints and so forth are managed and tended to rely on the relational aspect of life so we just expect to get along with people and it is a rude shock when all of a sudden you don't and people complain and they have grievances and they are really quite serious. We haven't been good at providing for ourselves, a way of managing our conflicts. He thought we were now suffering the consequences of that but the mistake was to think that you could run from this.

The archbishop said he was committed to changing the culture, running towards the challenges or conflicts, not away from them. His task was to make sure that culture shift takes place within the Church, making sure we have the proper protocols, the Rules and Regs that control our life, but that the culture of the Church is one in which we are both a safe, healthy, mindful organisation where ultimately, because we do believe totally in reconciliation. If we can't get this right, if we can't learn what it means to forgive and move on it undermines our witness. He was confident that the Church in Wales does believe in those things and it just needs to bring more energy and resolve to making sure that we don't 'duck the issues' but get them right.

So, getting things right means that discipline is for underlings in 'monarchical' bishoprics while errant bishops are to be shown compassion and forgiveness. 

That the archbishop should point to women in the Church exercising good and godly leadership given the mess in St Davids and in Llandaff serves only to emphasise the impotence of the Church in Wales and its discredited leadership.

The archbishop says that compassion should be shown to those who break the rules, providing them with a 'way back' but, as the bench has hypocritically demonstrated over many years, there is no way back for Anglicans who keep the faith by sharing the beliefs of the majority of Christians in the wider Church. It is the cul-de-sac for them.

It seems to me as far as the archbishop is concerned, Nothing really matters... as zoroastrian Freddie Mercury used to sing.

On the rocks

The Church in Wales is foundering.

Having accepted that people are doing 'different things on a Sunday which means that they are not going to turn up at Church', the Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, told BBC Wales that he has brought in a PR company to help deliver its message.

He said it is "a way of engaging people's minds and hearts with what lies at the very centre of the Gospel and that's about bringing life and purpose and compassion and goodness into the communities where we live....Social media explaining that message, social media expressing something about the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel, I think is very, very worthwhile indeed."

The compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel has been perverted in the Church in Wales resulting in a message that seeks to give people what they want now rather than what they need for the promise of eternal life.

Will social media provide the answer? I doubt it. Many of the Twitter messages I see are self-promoting, ingratiating or simply promoting a secular cause.

Take this blatant feminist tweet from Llandaff diocese: "Worth mentioning again....@ChurchinWales  will now have gender parity on the Bench of Bishops...and we're extremely proud of this!"

That is an entirely secular view of equality of opportunity in the workplace, completely devoid of any spirituality.

A tweet from Archdeacon Sue: "Special day as our new Bishop @cherry_vann is Consecrated at Brecon Cathedral. Praying that God will bless Cherry, her partner Wendy and all the people of the @MonmouthDCO. May we be a faithful people praising God, proclaiming the Good News and serving with love @ChurchinWales.

The Church in Wales refused to comment on Cherry Vann being in a same sex partnered relationship when she was appointed bishop-elect of Monmouth. Now her same sex relationship has become a matter for celebration as though the office of bishop were some sort episcopal duo.

Not to be outdone an Area Dean in the diocese of Monmouth tweeted: "Definitely an occasion for white SCP stole today for consecration of  @cherry_vann. The prayers & love of the Llandaff & Monmouth Chapter of SCP are with Cherry & Wendy today. Look forward to spotting other SCP clergy #wearthebadge @scpeurope @MissionMonmouth @MonmouthDCO."

Having recently celebrated a same sex civil partnership anniversary of his own the Area Dean cocked a snook at the Church of England when the House of Bishops issued their pastoral statement on Civil Partnerships – for same sex and opposite sex couples.

He tweeted: "My response to CofE latest pastoral guidelines and my expression of solidarity on the day of Cherry’s consecration as a bishop in the Church of God!"

Source: Twitter

Is this "the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel" we can expect to be reading about on social media? It is nothing more than an extended ploy driven by self interested parties to push through same sex marriage in church.

After Bishop Pain retired, it was reported that clergy and laity had expressed hopes that his successor would be someone from outside of the Diocese of Monmouth. Not only did they get their wish but Cherry Vann just happened to be on site for the announcement of her appointment giving the impression that the appointment of the first lesbian bishop had been carefully choreographed in secret.

At her consecration Cherry Vann invited a friend, the Rev'd Robert Lawrence, a member of the Society of St Francis from the Diocese of Newcastle, to preach. 

"A bishop is a point of unity," he said, "(or so I was always told), except that in the church today we seem to find disunity when (say) the bishop is a woman in a church where not everyone accepts the leadership of women, or when the bishop is in a same sex civil partnership in a church where not everyone accepts gay relationships, and where the bishop is English in a Welsh diocese."

 In other words, you are on the wrong side if you disagree with the ordination of women, do not accept a bishop who is in a same sex civil partnership or, oddly, a bishop who is English in a Welsh diocese!

Many clergy will not have heard Mr Lawrence's admonishment. They have already left along with tens of thousands of Anglican laity leaving a compliant rump to do it their way.

Piloted by an incompetent bench of bishops it is no surprise that the Church in Wales is foundering.

Postscripts

[28.01.2020]

The Church in Wales is wasting no time in using social media to spread its message of the gospel according to LGBT. Tweeted this morning: "Watch out for this interview with the new Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, on @BBCWalesToday at lunchtime and 6.30pm today @cherry_vann."

Early morning viewers will have already seen the recently consecrated bishop of Monmouth explaining on BBC Wales News that she will not campaign for same-sex marriage in the Church in Wales and hoped her supporters would not be disappointed.

The former Archdeacon of Rochdale said she was “overwhelmed by the warm welcome her and her partner Wendy had been given and hoped to send a positive message to people who feel rejected by the church.”

She was not speaking of the thousands of Anglicans abandoned by their Church but for gay people who she claims feel rejected. Bishop Vann continued: "I hope that it is a sign of hope. There are a lot of gay people in our schools, in our colleges and universities, out there in society who think that the church is against them, that they don't have a place in the church.

"I hope that being here as a gay person, in a same-sex relationship, will give those people hope and help them to see that this is something that the church embraces and is able to celebrate along with any other faithful committed relationship."

The message is clear. Cherry Vann has no need to campaign. The bench has it in hand.

[31.01.2020]

In response to a charge by Peter Tatchell of  "SELFISH HYPOCRITE!" after the bishop of Monmouth  said she won't campaign for same-sex marriage in the church, the Church in Wales was quick to respond with "Bishop Vann said she was undecided about same-sex marriage, not that she opposed it."
Tatchell claimed that she [Vann] only got to be a priest & bishop thanks to equality struggles of other LGBT+ Christians. Now she says she opposes equal marriage within the church.

Dialogue and death

Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, welcoming guests at a dinner hosted by the

Muslim Council of Wales in Cardiff.  Source: Church in Wales

On Tuesday 26th March 2019 the Muslim Council of Wales "were delighted" to hold their Annual Interfaith Dinner. It was held at St Fagans National Museum of History "an illustrious venue that is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle and chronicles the historic lifestyle, culture and architecture of the Welsh people.

"In the usual tradition of the Muslim Council of Wales interfaith dinners, each table in the main hall was named after a virtuous characteristic such as kinship, compassion and hope. The name cards at each seat also had beautiful quotes from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), such as 'None of you believes until you love for your brother what you love for yourself'.

"Sheikh Yaqoub Kutkut opened the evening with his melodic recitation of the Holy Quran. Professor Saleem Kidwai OBE, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales welcomed everyone in the opening address and a minute of silence was held for the victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack.

A different culture was in evidence in Sri Lanka a few weeks later.

On Easter Sunday, jihadist suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State (IS) group killed at least 253 people and injured some 500 at churches and top-end hotels across Sri Lanka.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is visiting Sri Lanka taking a message described by the Rev George Conger on Anglican Unscripted as:

"Why can't we all get along? Why can't we just be nice to Muslims who are killing us when what is needed is someone to speak about regeneration, salvation and suffering through persecution. We don't need the pablum of the liberal democratic West.

"While the Christians there are under fear for their lives the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and of Pope Francis, is that if we are only nicer to Muslims, if we make friends with them and go to their house for dinner every so often, then all shall be well.

"The response that Anglican Unscripted was hearing from its followers was: 'You don't understand; these people want to kill us. They believe that it is for them, Muslims, a moral duty to kill the infidel and we are the infidel, to kill the idolator'

"There is a mismatch between the pablum of Western liberal Christianity and the on-the-ground Christianity of the suffering persecuted Church."

Bishop Gavin Ashenden added:

"There is an incredible arrogance too in Christian commentators in the West who keep on saying the problem with these Muslim terrorists is they don't understand Islam like we do. If they only understood Islam properly they would know it was a religion of peace. They would know that they had no proper mandate to do these things. We could indeed explain how they are being bad Muslims and we expect them to stop and in fact we expect them to stop any day soon because they must surely see they are bad Muslims.

"Of course this is completely out of touch with reality on the ground and the dreadful overlaying of an enormously shallow and prejudiced view of a kind of Western liberal relativistic Islam which has nothing to do with the way in which people read the Quran, live in Islamic communities or see their priorities and so it's a way of evading the truth and evading reality and of course above all it is incredibly patronising and detached from reality."

The uniqueness of Christianity appears to be lost on those in authority in the Church of England and the Church in Wales.

Instead of delivering Christ's message that there is only one way to the Father they convey the impression that all religions are basically the same as expressed by the Bishop’s Officer for Interfaith Dialogue in the archiepiscopal diocese of Swansea and Brecon with its coverage of  Witchcraft, Atheism, Peace Mala, Hare Krishna, Sufi, Islam, Yungdrung Bön, Judaism and Druids.

Presumably in recognition of such work, Interfaith specialists from Europe and North America will be finding out how Wales "models strong relationships between people of different religions" at a conference next week according to a Church in Wales provincial press release:

"Wales’s First Minister and the Archbishop of Wales will be among those describing pioneering partnership work in Wales at the regional meeting of the Anglican Inter Faith Commission.

"The event takes place at Cardiff’s Pierhead building on September 9. It will be chaired by the Archbishop of Dublin and attended by interfaith specialists from Anglican churches in Europe and North American and also representatives from other faiths and church denominations."

The web site of the Anglican Inter Faith Commission includes AIFC News Feeds, one of which is:
15/03/2019 Church leaders offer prayer and solidarity after New Zealand mosque attacks leaves 49 dead.

Like thousands of other persecuted Christians those murdered in Sri Lanka are quietly forgotten.

No response is expected at the Inter Faith Commission to pleas from the persecuted abroad: 'You don't understand; these people want to kill us. They believe that it is for them, Muslims, a moral duty to kill the infidel and we are the infidel'.

Peace Mala. The Archbishop of Wales with supporters @StDavidsNeath.
Source: Twitter @WelshMuslims

Postscripts

06.09,2019

Archbishop Welby pontificates on climate change, but clams up on persecution of Christians in India


08.09.2019

From Christian Concern:
The press regulator guidelines on Islamophobia were leaked this week and reveal a serious threat to press freedom when it comes to Islam related issues.

Extracts from Islamic thought police target the press

"Newspapers and magazines are regulated by the Independent Press Standard Organisation (Ipso) which was set up in 2014 following the phone-hacking scandal. For months, Ipso has been working on a project to draft guidance for journalists on how to report on issues connected with Islam and Muslims. Drafts of this guidance were leaked to the thinktank Policy Exchange which has issued a report about the revelations."

"Trevor Phillips, former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, wrote: 'If we give way to the demands being made, the only people who will find themselves silenced will be those who want to tell the truth'."

"The freedom of the press is under threat from Muslim activists who want to control what is said about Islam. Ipso, the press regulator, is capitulating to their demands. Unless things change, press freedom is set to fall. Truth will be the victim."

09.09.2019

This morning
The Church in Wales Retweeted
"Dr Angus M Slater
@AngusSlater Very proud to be in Cardiff today with Interfaith Professional Doctorate students from @UWTSDLampeter @UWTSD with the Anglican Communion Network for Interfaith Concerns organised by the @ChurchinWales"

in an earlier tweet:

"Real, practical, and impactful interfaith work with students assisting Anglican Bishops from across Europe and North America in the reading of scriptures in an Interfaith light."

[My emphasis - ED.]

They could make a start by reading the scriptures in a traditional Christian light.

16.09.2019

Koran read at Westminster Abbey as Royal Cathedral bows to Islam

“By welcoming an uncritical reading of the Koran, Westminster Abbey asserts the legitimacy of Mohammad and in so doing repudiates Jesus.”

“Reading the Koran in cathedrals is sometimes seen as a sign of civility, hospitality or inclusion. Instead, it validates Islam’s teaching that is predicated on the claim that the resurrection was a fraud and Jesus lied to his followers and the world.”

Easter message

Bishop's Pride involvement 'fantastic'                                                                              Source: BBC

From the bishop of St Davids' Easter message:

 "Many of us this year will have lived through pain and suffering that we did not

choose and could hardly bear, knowing that God walks with us, but also hardly

knowing how that is supposed to help. Holy Week, Good Friday and Holy

Saturday remind us that we are called to endure." 

How true. Not just this year but every year since women were ordained in the Church in Wales.

Orthodox Anglicans did not choose to be cut off from their Church but Barry Morgan and his band led by his embittered Archdeacon Peggy Jackson saw to that.   

Each year absence from the Triduum reminds us most strongly of what we have to endure for our faith. 

The bishops welcome all manner of allegedly persecuted minorities while rejecting Anglicans who remain faithful to the orthodox teachings of the Church. The 'inclusive' church has no time for orthodoxy.

No doubt there will be further dollops of hypocrisy from other bishops.

As the Archbishop of Wales told anyone who was prepared to listen at the Swansea and Brecon Chrism Mass: "Because one act of compassion, one act of gentleness, of kindness, of mercy, of forgiveness, of love, from one person to another, changes someone’s life. And if someone’s life is changed then, as imperceptibly as it may be, the world is changed for the better.”

There is no sign of life changing compassion for abandoned Anglicans.

In Monmouth the bishop is still absent. For Holy Week and Easter they have instead a guest preacher, the 'married' gay priest, the Revd Canon Jeremy Davies, former Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral, the old stomping ground of the bishop of Llandaff June Osborne.

It is more of the same and not just for Easter!

Sense and nonsense

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York  

The Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Wales have both been in the news recently speaking about immigration. John Sentamu fled Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda for the UK in 1973 so unlike the Archbishop of Wales he has some experience in the matter. Dr Sentamu has taken the biblical view inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Dr Morgan's view is typically academic emphasising the popular political but partial view that EU migrants help sustain our economy and health service.

Of course immigration has benefited the UK but in a controlled manner. Evidence from Europe, particularly in Germany where opinion has changed sharply, shows that a huge influx of mainly young Muslim men has not been as rosy as Dr Morgan suggests. Had we not voted to leave the EU hundreds of thousands of migrants would have been eligible to move to the UK from Europe.

Dr Morgan is quoted as saying that "the Christian faith compels us to affirm the dignity of every human being and to offer help to anyone in need. Britain has always in the past shown generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency to those facing persecution, even at times of greater deprivation and difficulty than the present time" but unfortunately Muslims are not reading from the same book.

The Archbishop's words also sound very hollow to members of his own church who continue to believe in the authority of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They have been left in a spiritual vacuum without sacramental assurance and pastoral support since Dr Morgan refused to appoint a replacement after Bishop David Thomas retired as Provincial Assistant Bishop eight years ago.

Politics were in evidence when Dr Morgan was thanked at the last meeting of the Governing Body for his "extraordinary" service to the Church. The Chair of the Governing Body’s Standing Committee praised the Archbishop for his Presidential Addresses and the sermons on "church governance matters, women bishops, the Anglican Covenant, etc. You have explored devolution, climate change, Gaza, gender and sexuality, parenting, assisted dying, organ donation and much more, he said as if Dr Morgan were retiring from the Welsh Assembly. He went on, you use public media so effectively that on all these issues the imperatives of the gospel are heard. They are always carefully constructed, based on extensive reading and scholarship, and learning lightly worn. They are listened to with respect even by those expert in their own field." Not a view taken by others when Dr Morgan's 'scholarship' was queried following his last Presidential Address entitled ‘Biblical stories can reveal a new understanding of same-sex relationships’. It was widely ridiculed.

The praise heaped on the Archbishop made no mention of the steep decline in church attendance or of the divisions caused in the Church in Wales under Dr Morgan's leadership. He must have had his tongue in his cheek when the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon praised Dr Morgan for his "leadership" of the Church in Wales "at a time when significant changes in society have caused us to examine some of our own disciplines, some of our own opinions and practices". Bishop John said that Dr Morgan's approach to walking those paths, to examining possible changes, has been to "remind us of scripture, tradition and reason" and has done that "cogently, consistently and compassionately". A more accurate description would have been in the absence of scripture, tradition and reason as Dr Morgan pursued his political agenda thus secularising a diminished Church.

It is clear that the bench of bishops live in their own little bubble. Although they claim membership of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church they go their own way having ignored pleas of the Orthodox and Catholic churches and forged closer bonds with local Free (or non-conformist) Churches under the guise of Ecumenism.

The bench of bishops appear to have their heads in the sand unless it is their ultimate desire simply to be a tiny segment in the Uniting Church in Wales. In a tribute to the Bishop of St Davids as he prepares for retirement, Dr Morgan described Bishop Wyn as a "quintessential Dean and a rather reluctant bishop". That is true. Bishop Wyn is greatly admired for his extraordinary work as Dean of St Davids but in a video interview marking his retirement he sadly illustrates how the bishops of the Church in Wales all appear to become infected by 'Bazzeritis'.

Referring [@29 mins] to people who 'tend to slag the church off in terms of decline' Bishop Wyn highlights a small but stable congregation of 8, ignoring the massive decline in church attendance under Dr Morgan's leadership. If that had been his vision as Dean, his Cathedral would not be the jewel in the Church in Wales' crown that it is today, especially when compared with the sorry state of Dr Morgan's Llandaff Cathedral.

Is it any wonder that so many of us feel like refugees in our own Church?

“Compassion rather than judgment”

Compassion rather than judgement was the message Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, wanted to leave with the congregation in Southwark Cathedral where she preached yesterday:
http://www.episcopal-life.org/79425_122868_ENG_HTM.htm
but her address was self-serving. It was not so much the message that was off key but the messenger.

Her message doesn’t sit well with her actions. In a letter to The Times, clergy of Southwark diocese distanced themselves from Bishop Schori’s teaching and presiding in the cathedral. “Bishop Schori is well known for her doctrinal statements and practice that are contrary to the teaching of the Bible. She is also well known for initiating many litigations against orthodox congregations within the Episcopal Church and defrocking doctrinally orthodox bishops and clergy, so exacerbating disunity in the Anglican communion. Only recently she defied the instruments of the Anglican communion by reneging on the agreement made by the Episcopal Church to abide by the moratorium regarding the consecration of actively gay and lesbian bishops.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7148346.ece

Compassion is the key to New Christianity. In their liberal world everyone is expected to show compassion allowing them to do just about anything they please but it quickly dries up when it does not suit their cause. If predictions for Synod are correct, orthodox Anglicans can expect no compassion from those who have turned away from the historic faith. Dr Schori’s plausible message will have been well received by fellow liberal converts while ‘traditionalists’ have already been betrayed using judgement rather than compassion.

[Note. This a re-post due to problems with formatting]

Passion with Compassion

Over lunch with my fellow mature students recently conversation turned inevitably to politics, the Tories taking their usual lead with a provocative comment about all the ‘scroungers’ hard working tax payers have to support. Clearly not everyone needing support is a scrounger and not all tax payers are honest and hard working. In fact there are many who will avoid paying tax if at all possible – “How much for cash?” etc.

It is a sad fact that where compassion is shown time obscures initial ideals while some simply take advantage of the system. Now I have no desire to become embroiled in the abortion debate but I was shocked yesterday by the passion shown in some of the comments in response to Cranmer’s Blog (see left) under the heading “I’ve never voted Labour before”. Abortion replacing contraception is abhorrent to most people but back street abortion was not something to be proud of, neither was the cynical exploitation of unmarried mothers by some religious organisations ‘caring’ for them in squalid conditions and profiting from the ‘disposal’ of their children.

Moved by compassion yet revolted particularly by late terminations the choice must be agonising for anyone having to make it but to do so surrounded by hysteria is bad enough without turning it into a political football.

It’s a pity these people can’t agree to disagree like my mature fellow students.