Former bishops of Llandaff and of Monmouth in Grill the Bishops Source :Church in Wales
An announcement from CBCEW, one of many to cross my desk.
"The Right Revd Richard Pain, a former Bishop of Monmouth, will be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, on Sunday 2 July at St Basil & St Gwladys, Rogerstone Newport. He will be received by The Rt Revd Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
"Monsignor Newton said: ’We are delighted that after much prayer Richard has asked to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church. He will be the first bishop from the Anglican Church in Wales to be received into the Ordinariate since its creation in 2011. Richard has a long and distinguished ministry in the Church in Wales. He has many gifts which he will continue to use to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Wales."
It is difficult to reconcile Monsignor Newton's fulsome welcome with previous events in the diocese of Monmouth but it would be churlish not to wish Fr Pain well as he abandons the ship he helped to sink.
One of the most bizarre of such cases involved the feminist campaigner and prominent activist in the movement for the ordination of women, Dr Una Kroll who died in 2017.
She had been described as 'an inspirational woman famed for her humanitarian work'. She had been a doctor and nun who became a priest' but was to shock admirers and friends by publicly leaving the priesthood she had so long campaigned to be part of to become a Roman Catholic.
As I wrote at the time, "Many faithful Anglicans who showed charity in accommodating the desires of these women have since discovered to their cost, that their church has left them. This is particularly so in Wales where women were successful in ensuring that there will be no provision for alternative oversight. I have seen no evidence of a campaign for equality on behalf of the excluded."
As a bishop of the Church in Wales Richard Pain ordained women. Now he is being admitted to an organisation set up to accommodate those who were unable on grounds of conscience to receive the sacramental ministry of women,
He leaves behind many abandoned Anglicans without any sacramental or pastoral ministry.
A voice from below! Archdeacon Peggy Jackson (right) retires Source: Church in Wales/Twitter
Llandaff diocese, Twitter: Join us this #NationalThankYouDay as we say DIOLCH - THANK YOU to all our Priests and Deacons whose dedication to serving God and their community is utterly inspiring! You folks are amazing!
Do the people in Llandaff know or understand anything about the Church in Wales? Or are they simply perpetuating the bench of bishops' strategy of marginalising any faithful Anglicans who do not fit the new, secularised profile of the Church in Wales. If Archdeacon Jackson had had her way, the Church in Wales would have barred from ordination anyone who objected, on grounds of conscience, to women clergy thus making a mockery of the promises made to allow the ordination of women.
At Governing Body in 2019 the mean spirited Archdeacon of Llandaff introduced a private members motion asking Church in Wales bishops to refuse to ordain anyone who objected to women clergy, reneging on the twin integrity formula which allowed Jackson to enjoy the privileges conferred on her by archbishop Barry Morgan as his chief hatchet woman.
Jackson was supported in her endeavour by the now disgraced bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, and the current senior Church in Wales bishop, Andy John, bishop of Bangor, whose private life attracted much speculation before his divorce and re-marriage.
The two other bishops present, John Davies (Swansea & Brecon) and June Osborne (Landaff), signalled their lack of opposition to the measure by abstaining.
What amazing folks!
Responding to the debate the Archdeacon of Llandaff said that those who entered the priesthood were clear that the Church was not “in two minds” about women’s ministry. Those who found themselves “at odds” with a particular aspect of what the Church believed must “protect and operate their own arrangements and conscience how best they may.”
Her aim as a former member of GRAS was clear despite her disingenuous claim after losing the vote that it was not her intent to drive conservatives or Anglo-Catholics out of the Church.
Others saw it differently: "Having won the battle she was intent on shooting the prisoners."
Archdeacon Jackson along with her co-conspirator, Canon Jenny Wigley, had already been successful in amending the Bill proposed by the bench of bishops to enable women to be consecrated as bishops. Their amendment substituted a meaningless, voluntary code of practice for the statutory provisions contained in the bishops' bill.
Illustrating the bench of bishops complicity, the Church of England Newspaper reported at the time: "The Bishops had backed a two-stage process with a first vote to establish the principle and a second bill to amend the constitution to make provision for traditionalists. When an amendment allowing women bishops to be appointed one year after a single bill was proposed by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson the bishops made it clear that they would not regard a vote in favour of the amendment as ‘disloyal’."
The archdeacon's private members motion was to be the coup de grâce but even some of her most loyal supporters could not stomach her mean, vindictive attitude to their fellow Anglicans.
In the debate she complained it was 'hurtful' for her when she experienced 'denial or worse' from those who could not accept her calling. But for her, the only acceptable Anglicans are those whose vision of Anglicanism matches hers in a Church which, at 0.03% of the Anglican Communion and falling is way out of step with the vast majority of its 85 million Anglicans. Such is the conceit of these entrists.
The many faithful Anglicans who have been effectively un-churched by archdeacon Jackson's brutal implementation of the policies of 'His Darkness' are entitled to ask: Thank you for what?
Postscript[12.07.2021]
Bosom pals Source: Youtube
From the Choral Evensong to mark the retirement of the Venerable Peggy Jackson.
When the Church of England formally approved plans for women bishops the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Today we can begin to embrace a new way of being the church and moving forward together. We will also continue to seek the flourishing of the church of those who disagree."
Hilary Cotton, the then chairwoman of Women and the Church (WATCH), said she would like to see women ultimately make up a third of bishops, around 40 posts, "in order to make a difference".
They certainly have.
Mutual flourishing of those who disagree soon flew out of the church window.
Now Church Militant reports that "Nineteen prelates, including five women bishops, abstained from a pro-life vote as Britain's House of Lords voted 355–77 to approve the government's extreme abortion regime in Northern Ireland.
"Bishops Sarah Mullally (London), Rachel Treweek (Gloucester), Vivienne Faull (Bristol), Christine Hardman (Newcastle) and Elizabeth Lane (Derby) belong to the cohort of 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual.
"Seven male bishops, shamed by a previous Church Militant exposé, voted against the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No 2) Regulations statutory instrument on Monday.
"Even though the House of Bishops at the Church of England's General Synod stated in February that 98.3% of abortions in the United Kingdom are immoral, only Apb. Justin Welby (Canterbury) and Bps. Paul Butler (Durham), Christopher Cocksworth (Coventry), Timothy Dakin (Winchester), Julian Henderson (Blackburn), Donald Allister (Peterborough) and James Newcome (Carlisle) voted pro-life in Parliament.
"'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?' asks the prophet Isaiah. The answer appears to be yes, if she happens to be a bishop in the Church of England," lamented Dave Brennan, director of pro-life Brephos.
""One argument for having bishops with 'real-life experience' is that they can apparently bring their insights to bear on 'real-life' issues," Brennan noted. "But that hasn't happened with bishop of London Sarah Mullally who, despite having been a midwife and the U.K.'s chief nursing officer, is mum on abortion."
"One argument for having these 'Lords Spiritual' — and indeed an established church — is that they can be the moral conscience of the nation. If this is the caliber of our 'conscience' as a nation, it is no wonder we are plunging into such dissipation," he added. "
Tweets from Governing Body of the Church in Wales indicate that Peggy Jackson has failed in her latest bid to divide the Church in Wales.
Votes cast:
For 19
Against 63
Abstentions 20
Conscience is not dead.
She should now graciously drop her club and heed her Archbishop's advice:
listen to the voice of God, of the Teacher, of the Spirit and each other’s voices too.
Archbishop John Davies who abstained on the vote over the proposals said after the Governing Body meeting that, as far as he was concerned, there was no need to change the code of practice.
He rejected suggestions that the debate had exposed a lack of trust between various factions in the Church. The code of practice was purely in the hands of the bishops and could be torn up tomorrow should they so wish, he said, a situation that was bound to cause concern to traditionalists. “There is, perhaps, a lack of security”, he added.
Archdeacon Peggy Jackson insisted that it was not her intent to drive conservatives or Anglo-Catholics out of the Church. 'Anglican Unscripted' commentators [@ position 19] viewed it differently: having won the battle she was intent on shooting the prisoners.
Church in Wales bishops of Llandaff, Bangor, St Davids, St Asaph Swansea & Brecon and Monmouth
Archdeacon Peggy Jackson has attracted much criticism over her brutal treatment of faithful women and men who look to scripture and tradition rather than to her to decide what it takes to be an Anglican as accepted by 85 million members of the Anglican Communion of which the Church in Wales comprises 0.03%.
In her latest move she requests the Church's Governing Body to endorse her Motion that "all Bishops, consonant with previous undertakings, agree not to hold in future separate ordination services for any candidates, on the grounds of the candidates’ views on gender."
That is to deny ordination to men who are unable to accept the sacramental ministry of women and who rely upon the conscience clauses of the Code of Practice as intended.
In Jackson's book God calls women regardless but He calls men only if they enjoy the archdeacon's stamp of approval.
She is not alone in seeking to rid the Church of men who are not governed by the spirit of the age.
Canon Emma Percy, Chair of Women and the Church (WATCH) is quoted in The Times as saying “People are baffled that you can have senior bishops yet there are parts of the church which won’t accept women’s ministry.”
If people are baffled it is as a result of feminist propaganda which avoids theology, comparing instead secular standards of equality of opportunity in the workplace.
MAE Cymru, the WATCH sister organisation in Wales supposedly stands for ‘Ministry and Equality’. In practice it is about advancing the ministry of women in the Church regardless of ability and suitability under the guise of equality with emphasis on LGBT rights.
Anyone who gets in their way is expendable. Ignoring solemn pledges made to achieve their objective of women bishops the revisionists employ a form of taqiyya, using any means at their disposal to achieve their objective regardless of the truth.
When the bench of bishops meekly accepted the Jackson/Wigley amendment which substituted a voluntary Code of Practice for the statutory provision they became complicit in the MAE Cymry/WATCH agenda.
The BBC reported at the time: "There were huge cheers in the hall as the result was announced....The Church in Wales' bishops wanted a second bill to allow the Church's constitution to be rewritten for traditionalist priests who do not want to be led by a woman. But reformers successfully put forward an amendment earlier in the day to avoid delays in adopting the change during a meeting at Lampeter, Ceredigion. Their amendment led to the straight yes-no vote."
If the bench supports Jackson's coup they will be hastening the end of the Church in Wales, turning it into a sexualised organisation dominated by priestesses as in pagan times.
From a Church in Wales tweet: "Thanks to @MuslimWales for hosting an outstanding event last night to celebrate Wales' interfaith relationship - great to welcome Bishop Rowan Williams back as a guest speaker too."
No doubt the Muslim Council of Wales will have been thrilled to welcome Archbishop Rowan Williams as a guest speaker at their annual dinner but well known for his left-wing, inclusive views one has to wonder why was he invited.
For the majority of Muslims homosexuality is incompatible with their faith so the Anglican Church's views on homosexuality will be abhorrent to many Muslims.
In Birmingham, Muslim mothers succeeded in stopping LGBT lessons which they claimed were promoting gay and transgender lifestyles among primary school children.
In Wales parents' right to remove children from sex and relationships education (RSE) could be scrapped under reform plans. The Muslim Council of Wales, Christian Institute and the Catholic Education Service are opposed to the right of withdrawal being removed.
The Church in Wales, along with the National Secular Society, have backed the idea.
They said RSE helped young people "develop an understanding of tolerance and diversity" making it "fundamental to the core purposes of the new curriculum".
The Church in Wales is well known for its tolerance and diversity in its acceptance of the gay culture the bench is signed up to. Otherwise people have to make their own arrangements as the Ven Peggy Jackson succinctly put it.
The merciless killing of 50 Muslims in New Zealand has rightly been condemned but there was no similar outpouring of grief for the 140 Christians killed by Muslims in Nigeria.
According to the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) more than 300 Christians have been killed by extremists in February and March of this year alone.
Persecution of Christians is rampant but it goes largely unreported while the alleged persecution of Muslims is monitored by the government backed charity Tell Mama which claimed 593% rise in anti-Muslim hate crime across Britain in the week after the Christchurch shooting.
Claims that Muslims are a peaceful, persecuted minority have clearly resonated with many people. The majority of Muslims live peacefully but any attempts to present a more balanced view of Islam's ideology are met with claims of Islamophobia.
The Church in Wales should know better but they continue to show more respect for a faith that denies the divinity of Christ than for orthodox Anglicans. They are simply ignored.
Despite being well known for her LGBT advocacy I understand that jolly June Osborne was also present at the Muslim Council dinner.
A prime mover of the ordination of women with alternative episcopal oversight for those who could not in conscience accept the innovation, I wonder if Rowan Williams had a word in jolly June's ear about persecuted Anglicans in the Church of Wales? I doubt it.
The congregation at a service in Lambeth Palace celebrating 25 years of women’s ordination in the Church of England. Source: ACNS (Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Lambeth Palace)
The campaign theme #BalanceforBetter for International Women's Day 2019 on Friday, 8 March is explained thus:
"Balance is not a women's issue, it's a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage...Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive."
If it is a business issue, the drive for gender-balance in the Church has been a complete disaster as regular attendance at Sunday services has declined to the point that after "decades of falling church attendance and dwindling religious observance" the Church of England will no longer be obliged to hold regular Sunday services.
Successfully applying their secular, gender-balance values to the Church, feminists have succeeded in their campaign for women's ordination to the priesthood and their admission to the episcopate but they have shown no concern for the many other women and men who in conscience are unable to accept the innovation on theological grounds.
Women and the Church (WATCH) oppose the appointment of men who, in common with the vast majority of Christians throughout the world, cannot accept the sacramental ministry of women. They are accused of misogyny and not believing in equality even though provision was made to maintain the twin integrities when the ordination of women was approved in Synod.
Other obstructions have followed such as frustrating worshippers by concealing the sex of the celebrant yet women's ordination is celebrated as a great success. It may be for those involved and their sympathisers but for others it has been a disaster leaving other women with no church where they can worship in conscience.
It is right that women and men have equal opportunities in the workplace but faith is not something to be compromised for political purposes.
Success for some leads to despair for others. There is no balance in that.
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.
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
Do you see the archbishop chatting-up the ex-minister? He hasn't a clue what he has started. Llandaff next! Photo source: Wales Online
Love is the thing. Presiding bishop Michael Curry drawled it out at the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle:
The liberal infiltrators who have targeted Anglicanism continually talk of love, rolling all forms of love into one. It embraces every desire.
The liberal propaganda machine is spread widely, so much so that when discussing gender fluidity with a group of secondary school pupils they confidently predicted that pansexuality would become the norm. [See Postscript: Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids]
Schools, television, newspapers, church, in fact everywhere, 'education' has become the means of encouraging almost anything and everything except traditional marriage resulting in a massive increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
'Love' without qualification is all. We should not be surprised, then, when impressionable teenagers interpret the message as 'do as you please'.
The zeitgeist has been promoted shamelessly by people, including clergy, as a means of advancing their own preference. 'Get used to it', is their response. 'People will think nothing of it in time' as if that were justification for not defending traditional marriage, the foundation of family life.
If these people are right, why are church pews emptying?
In a recent twist, the Right Rev Rachel Treweek reportedly argued that only God can provide unconditional love. Previously she has argued that the Church of England should stop using male pronouns when referring to God in order to counter the erroneous belief that the Almighty has a gender.
From The Times (£). You can’t have love without faith, says woman bishop
"The first woman to become a senior Anglican bishop has questioned whether people can really have love or hope if they do not believe in God. The Right Rev Rachel Treweek shattered the so-called “stained-glass ceiling” when she was made Bishop of Gloucester in 2015, less than a year after the Church of England had voted to allow women to join its House of Bishops. At the time, she said that she would encourage British Christians to “speak out with confidence about their faith” after years of reticence over mounting robust public defences of Anglican belief."
She seemed to be implying that people in extraordinary loving relationships, with whoever/whatever must have a greater belief in God.
Following a tweet from Humanists UK which said how "deeply, profoundly offensive it was to the 53% of people in the UK that have no religion" the bishop has since denied that she said anything of the sort.
In an anxious video response the bishop wondered aloud "if without faith we can really know deep hope and love", which appeared to take her back to what she said she did not say.
Unable to stop digging a deeper hole for herself she mentioned love sixteen times referring to her 'own brokenness', the 'bomb attack in Manchester' and 'bishop Michael Curry's Royal wedding sermon'.
Persecution has reared its head in another controversy. Church of England evangelicals are claiming that they being "forced out" for being gay.
"Jayne Ozanne, 'an influential Church of England evangelical who is gay', has promised to raise the issue at the General Synod next month and ask whether churches are breaching the official guidelines of the House of Bishops. Speaking to The Sunday Times, she had "learnt of dozens of cases recently" and said she expected a #MeToo" moment for the Church to be stirred up."
The Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas, had criticised a letter extending welcome to same-sex couples last month by Lichfield diocese. Bishop Thomas, who chaired the conservative Evangelical pressure group Reform until 2015, was responding to recent guidelines issued by the Bishops in the diocese of Lichfield to all clergy and lay ministers which seek to end “intrusive questioning” on sexual practices.
The Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd David Ison, expressed concern about the Bishop of Maidstone’s comments on the Lichfield diocesan letter seeking to define “radical Christian inclusion”. In a blog contribution, he also criticises the Church of England bishops more generally for “institutional dishonesty” about clergy in same-sex relationships, which, he says, is damaging to mental health as well as corrupting of the institution.
With so much talk of love and inclusion you might have thought that a place at the table could be found for traditionalist Anglicans but not a bit of it.
The only chance of a welcome is to become a Muslim or ignore one's conscience and fall in behind those who already have.
A post-ordination scene outside Llandaff Cathedral. Source: Church in Wales
This post-ordination scene outside Llandaff Cathedral is palpable. Blessings and hugs. I well remember such joyous scenes before women were ordained. Everything then was clear cut. Orthodoxy prevailed.
There is nothing biblical about the ordination of women but having been led astray, many women insist that they hear the call as though God has changed His mind after sending His Son to show us the Way. If He had, surely the change would be universal, not confined to local decision makers. But, sadly, it is as it is.
Today the Church in Wales is in disarray. Progressives continue to push for more change as the pews empty. More defections are expected after the second woman bishop is enthroned next month because the promised provision evaporated once the progressives achieved their goal.
So, there will be great joy for many this morning among those for whom conscience is not a problem. For others there will be pain because their church has left them. More to the point, there will be great sorrow because nobody in the Church in Wales appears to care.
Churches coming together (CNS)Church moving apart (Church in Wales)
As the Catholic and Orthodox Churches continue to come closer together the Anglican Church in the UK drifts further away from the unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church with every ill-advised congregationalist move it makes.
During his visit to the Coptic Church in Egypt, Pope Francis joined with the Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the Eastern Orthodox churches, in placing flowers, lighting a candle and praying at the site where dozens of Coptic Orthodox Christians were killed by an Islamic State militant last year. Video here.
Christian Today reported: "As Christians face an increase in violence around the world and especially in the Middle East, there are significant signs that the major Churches are coming together, with the blood of martyrs acting as the 'seed of unity'." - But not the inward looking Anglican Church.
The contrast could not be greater. Coptic Christians are regularly attacked and killed in Egypt. Christians throughout the Middle and far East are constantly targeted by Muslims but in Great Britain Islam is affirmed as a religion on a par with Christianity while the Anglican Church pursues its fixation with secular matters.
As Scottish Anglicans move towards same sex marriage their leader has warned that GAFCON should "stay out of our territory" while the Church of Ireland is split over whether it should liberalise its stance on same sex marriage. Meanwhile the Church of England continues its shared discussions before its expected capitulation to the LGBT lobby in opting for secularism.
The bishops of the Church in Wales will still be smarting over their failure to lead the charge towards same sex marriage but they lost the plot years ago. Many congregations are elderly with little sign of younger people joining them. Indeed, for many youngsters in Wales religion has become a no go area. Some are even petitioning for an end to compulsory prayers in Wales' schools. They gained more than 870 signatures of support in less than two weeks. Without new blood collapse is inevitable.
Perhaps the experience of readers is different to mine but from what I hear, any faith visits to children in their formative primary schools are often carried out by female Methodist ministers, sometimes by an evangelical nonconformist but never by a traditional male Anglican priest.
I had hoped to be more positive in my outlook after Barry Morgan's retirement but I fear I was too hasty in my April entry, A promising start, when I reported that the bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the senior bishop on the bench of bishops, told the Governing Body to "put evangelism at heart of ministry".
My positive outlook crashed with the appointment of the bishop designate of Llandaff who has made it clear that her priority is to appoint more women to senior roles until parity is achieved. That is feminism, not evangelism. An appointment which, incidentally, has been met with a stunned silence in Llandaff after the clamour created by claims of homophobia, subsequently disproved, because the Dean of St Albans failed to secure the votes he needed.
So no new broom to address the disillusionment created by Barry Morgan as he bent the church to accord with his own views. Just more of the same. Take it or leave it. Many have decided to leave it, doubtless with more to follow. As Church of England rejects have been appointed in Wales the best of Welsh talent has left for England while the laity have opted simply to leave altogether.
One wonders how all those clergy who abandoned their former colleagues and faithful parishioners for a career in the Church now feel as they look at the state of the Church in Wales and see that they have no prospects in Wales.
Many more clergy and laity will be examining their consciences after the appointment of two female bishops. Doubtless many red lines will become distinctly pink but for others it will be the end of the road. A sorry, unnecessary predicament. In that, Morgan and his bench sitters have been cruelly successful. Opposition has been virtually wiped out in some areas, but at great cost, ignoring the expressed wish of the majority in consultations for alternative provision, leaving the fate of the Church to the Jackson/Wigley/MAE Cymru cohort.
Does anything matter anymore in the do-as-you-please Church in Wales? What of those who broke their Llandaff Electoral College oath of silence and the shameless campaigners including the unnamed bishop who put LGBT issues before the Church? No doubt that will be swept under the carpet by the bench along with everything else.
While some will find reasons to stay put, others will continue to leave. Evangelism is fine but for what? A church in which faith managers have shattered the parish system, interpreted the Bible to justify their own secular desires and ignored the wishes of its members when asked for their views while still claiming to be members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
How many more must leave before the bishops get the message? Without acceptable alternative provision, leaving is the only option for anyone who wants to keep the faith.
From left to right: The Rt Revd Gregory Cameron (Bishop of St Asaph); The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek (Bishop of Gloucester); The Revd Canon Jeffrey Gainer (Chairman, Credo Cymru) The Rt Revd Philip North (Bishop of Burnley); The Rt Revd Jonathan Goodall (Bishop of Ebbsfleet) and The Most Revd Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales). Source: Credo Cymru
'The English Experience of Living with Diversity' was the title of an address given by the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev'd Rachel Treweek, to the Credo Cymru conference held in Cardiff on 21-22 September under the heading 'That Nothing Be Lost: A Conference to Preserve the Breadth of Welsh Anglicanism'.
Book ending participants in the above photograph are the Bishop of St Asaph and the Archbishop of Wales who chose not to live with diversity when the Governing Body of the Church in Wales agreed that women could be made bishops in Wales. In consequence many devout Christians have since left the Church in Wales with catastrophic effects on attendance figures and consequent finances. For those who have remained in hope, the current dialogue represents the best opportunity for something to be salvaged from a Code of Practice which not only lacks charity but smacks of vindictiveness.
In his address the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev'd Jonathan Goodall, quoted the then Archbishop of Canterbury replying to a Church of England debate on the same subject. Abp Rowan Williams said,
‘People have talked at times about differences of opinion and how the Church
can live with differences of opinion. I think that the problem is for those who
are not content with the idea that we should go forward along the line of
ordaining women as bishops, the problem is not one of opinion, it’s rather of
obedience. It’s one of obedience to scripture, or obedience to the consensus of
the Church Catholic. And, while that’s not a view I wholly share, I think we
ought to recognise that that’s where it comes from, that those who hold that are
not just thinking this is a matter of opinion, and therefore it is rightly and
understandably a lot harder to deal with dissent if you’re talking what
fundamentally comes down to a question of whether you obey God or human
authority. That’s why it’s serious, that’s why it's difficult. More than opinion.’
The Credo Cymru Media Release (here) quotes the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Rev'd Gregory Cameron, asking ‘hard questions’ in his keynote address:
Did the Church in Wales really mean what it said in the canon enabling women to be bishops – that traditionalists should be given ‘a sense of security in their accepted and valued place within the Church in Wales’? Did traditionalists really want to be in communion with the Bench of Bishops? He thought it ‘very, very unlikely’ that the Church in Wales would establish any form of supplemental episcopal ministry, but recognized that traditionalists needed a corporate life. He encouraged them to explore ‘double belonging’: loyal both to the fellowship of their diocese (with canonical obedience to the diocesan bishop) and to their own (non-political) fellowship (with ‘affective loyalty’ to a bishop, whose friendship, trust and relationships with the Bench of Bishops would be crucial).
Obedience is the key. Conscience, or, as Abp Rowan put it, the problem of 'obedience' rather than 'opinion', whether you obey God or human authority. Thiscannot simply be superseded by loyalty to "the fellowship of their diocese (with canonical obedience to the diocesan bishop)". There has to be give and take on both sides, 'transformation of conflict' as Bishop Rachel Treweek succinctly put it.
I have heard differing interpretations of what Bishop Gregory said, some more cynical than others. In my view it would have been the height of cruelty for the bishops of the Church in Wales to enter into discussions offering no hope. If 'double belonging' means anything it must surely mean living with diversity, something that the Anglican Communion is well accustomed to as a broad church.
On 23 September the Church Times published an article under the headline, ‘Your Grace’ receives farewell tributes. The report was followed byanother, 'Traditionalists try to build bridges', referring to the Credo Cymru conference. It reminded readers of the final straw for many of the only significant minority not to be favoured by the current Archbishop - closing the door to any meaningful pastoral and sacramental integrity: "Any attempt to approach another bishop elsewhere to provide episcopal ministry would have 'very serious implications' ", a threat one hopes is regretted if the Church in Wales is to live with diversity.
In the absence of a separate structure for Wales along the lines of the Church of England model, the simplest way forward is for visiting bishops from The Society to provide an additional episcopal ministry, the ‘double belonging’ as Bishop Gregory put it, for mutual flourishing.
Update [28.09.2016]
Two further papers delivered at the "That Nothing Be Lost" Conference last week have been added to those previously posted (here).
Update [04.10.2016]
The keynote Address by the Rt Rev'd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph has been added to the Credo Cymru web site. You can read it here.
"Rev Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales at the vote for women bishops." Photo: WalesOnline
According to media reports today (here) the Church of England’s first woman bishop has been chosen. That must be one in the eye for the Archbishop of Wales. The Church in Wales won the race in the vote for women bishops but Dr Morgan has lost the chance to appoint the first woman bishop in England and Wales.
To recap, the Archbishop expressed delight at the result when Church in Wales voted to accept women bishops adding ominously that "he now hopes the church will have the courage to embrace further change". From the WalesOnline report after the vote:
"This time, the bishops proposed a two-stage process – holding a vote on the principle of women bishops but not appointing any until the constitution was amended to establish provisions for traditionalists. But Archdeacon Peggy Jackson and Canon Jenny Wigley tabled an amendment which opposed this two-stage compromise. Under their proposal, women could be appointed a year after the vote and the bishops would establish a code of practice to ensure that “all members of the Church in Wales” have a “sense of security in their accepted and valued place. When asked if he tried to persuade them not to take this action, Dr Morgan said: “It’s not my job to persuade people to do things which are against their conscience." [My emphasis - Ed.]
It was suggested that the 2008 rejection of female bishops in the Church in Wales was one of the most disappointing moments in Archbishop Barry Morgan’s time at the helm of the Anglican church. Perhaps that accounts for his vindictiveness towards anyone who disagrees with him by simply excluding them.
Postscript
And the winner is.................................
Source: Getty Images
The Reverend Libby Lane who lists her main interests as being a school governor, encouraging social action initiatives, learning to play the saxophone, supporting Manchester United, reading and doing cryptic crosswords. Par for the course! Reports here and here.
Also said to be in the running for the post were the Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, 53, chaplain to the House of Commons and a chaplain to the Queen, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, 59, Dean of York Minster and the Very Rev Dr Jane Hedges, 58, Dean of Norwich.
One would have thought a mere suffragan post beneath them so a case for discrimination seems unlikely to arise.
The point of posting the 'Meditation on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass' video was to remember why we do what we do, not how we do it. I had intended to post the entry under the title 'Lest we forget' but then I recalled that I had already used it (here) to remember others who had made the supreme sacrifice.
As usual my wife expressed my own thoughts more succinctly when she said in response to some of the comments received, "there is beauty in the simplicity of a said mass in the early morning or late evening when maybe only a few are gathered together but there is also beauty in the splendour of a solemn mass, the colours of the vestments, the music and singing. There is no need to be 'pro' or 'anti'. Each has its place."
Generally worshippers are able to choose between a simple said service and a sung service or they can choose another church where the style of worship is more to their liking. But there is now a more serious dimension. Church members who are unable to accept the ministry of women as priests and bishops must still be permitted to respond in good conscience to Christ's invitation:
"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
This is the challenge for the 'enlightened' Anglican Church. It must not fail.
and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life."
To the non-Anglican the Church of England must appear to be an archaic debating society in which the newly 'enlightened' struggle to drag reluctant members into the 21st Century. In a secular society most people at least have some understanding of conscientious objection but apparently not in a religious context so they employ secular criteria to arrive at the wrong conclusion. I remember men who were not called to fight in WWII being described as 'conscies' without any awareness of the facts. Possibly they were conscientious objectors but they were probably in reserved occupations which barred them from active service. During WWI in their ignorance many feminists and suffragettes handed out white feathers to men who were not in uniform, including honourably discharged wounded soldiers and those on leave from the front assuming them to be cowards. So earnest were some of these women that the facts became irrelevant to their cause believing only what they wanted to believe.
Little has changed. Maintaining the baptismal promise to "remain faithful to Christ" in one's attitude to the ordination of women attracts the stigma of misogyny. Continuing to believe that Holy Matrimony is an honourable estatebetween one man and one womanattracts the stigma of homophobia while the charge of bigotry is freely hurled at anyone who fails to toe the shifting revisionist line. Fortunately a significant minority still consider relevant facts so they refused to vote in favour of the ordination of women bishops without the promised safeguards that enabled women to be ordained priests in the Church of England resulting in a defeat of their own making. I have no idea what to expect from the July 2013 Synod but some have suggested that a two-stage Bill similar to that being presented to the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales in September may be a way forward. According to a Press Release preliminary GB group discussions are to take place on 10 April but given the firm stand already taken by the establishment (here and here) it is difficult to see what could be offered that would be acceptable to traditionalists resulting in the danger that if no agreement were possible the establishment would seek to find a way around the problem in the knowledge that the ordination of women bishops had been agreed. That does not suggest a sensible solution for those who already feel betrayed by actions taken to date. In looking for a new way forward women who would be bishops and their supporters must accept that for traditionalists, remaining faithful to Christ is not an optional extra but the faith of the Holy Catholic Church as we understand it in common with the majority of catholic and orthodox Christians worldwide. If we were a debating society to be swayed by secular criteria we would not have to bear the burden of conscience but that is not how it is. To say yes to secularism would be saying 'no' to Christ. The honourable way forward would be to satisfy firstthe needs of traditionalists and evangelicals. To do otherwise would perpetuate the legacy of ordaining women to the priesthood by fair means or foul, in that case foul given the already broken promises. In conscience as Christians we can and must do better.
The feast of Pentecost brings to a close Novena 2012 when we have been praying for unity and generosity of spirit so that our church may be truly inclusive. Pentecost is the feast people of my generation associate with the Whitsun treat. What better treat could there be than for the Holy Spirit to inspire Christ's disciples to live together in peace and Godly love, each allowing the other to worship according to custom and conscience.
A resounding NO to the ordination of women is the decision of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church, the universal Body of Christ from which the Church of England seems hell-bent on separating itself, not over any deep-rooted theological dispute regarding our Creed, but for secular reasons, specifically, misplaced feminism. If proof were needed, consider the opinion of one of the front runners predicted to be the first woman bishop in the Church of England, the Rev Lucy Winkett, who 'writes, speaks and debates on a wide range of issues reflecting on culture, gender and religion', presumably in that order. Read her account of 'A Half Changed Church' here. I shall pick-up on only one point, although I could challenge all. When the Rev Lucy Winkett writes about "A distinctive Christian women’s contribution to the current debates in society" she makes five points for the benefit of her WATCH audience, the second of which I find the height of hypocrisy:
"Second: a sense that sacrifice is not a dirty word, even though it might be incomprehensible to a self-satisfied society. A conviction that when it is chosen freely, we witness to the love of God for all humanity." [My emphasise - Ed]
That conviction of self-sacrifice does not extend to themselves. Out of pure self-interest they ignore the beliefs of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches with whom we are united at the very time they move together to fulfil Christ's prayer for unity. So much forthewitness of WATCH.
In a breath-taking piece of arrogance in the Telegraph article linked above, prejudging the vote of Synod, the faith-by-numbers Bishop of Oxford described the ordination of women to the episcopate as 'inevitable'. No matter that Christ, the New Covenant, defined the Way, the Bishop and his chums have to second guess Christ's example and do things their way. But more disappointingly, the subject of the article, the Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev John Hind, who has led opposition to ordaining women as bishops also said that it was now 'certain to happen', perhaps forgetting that the only certainty is death when we all shall have to answer to God for our misdeeds. Better then to remain true to our Baptismal promise to:
"Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ
against sin, the world and the devil,
and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life."
What is wrong is wrong. Women bishops in the Church of England may appear to be a political reality in terms of gender politics but this has no part in faith, the faith that has sustained men and women for two millennia until a self appointed group of feminists decided to usurp the authority of mother church. In a recent blog entry I wrote about the treatment of a highly respected priest and former Additional Curates Society Chairman, the Very Rev Jeremy Winston. In a Telegraph obituary he was referred to as "the best bishop the Church in Wales never had". In fact he had been told in no uncertain terms that "there is no place for you in this church." Read a moving tribute here. It illustrates the attitude of the Church in Wales towards those whose conscience does not accord with the tunnel-vision views of their Archbishop, views more extreme than those of the Archbishop of Canterbury who at least has made some effort to honour pledges given when women were accepted for ordination to the priesthood. All the liberal propaganda about wasting talents can be seen for what it is when one of the Anglican Church's brightest stars can be eclipsed by secular political correctness.
Generosity is a word that trips easily from the tongues of the liberal elite. Bishop Pritchard says, "I think the code of practice is a generous, rigorous way of making sure that bishops honour both those who want women bishops and those many fewer people who disagree with it in conscience and I think the code of practice interpreted properly by bishops will be more than adequate to do that." Fr Edward Barnes unpacks these meaningless, self-serving assertions here.
As our Church slips evermore towards obscurity, the latest liberal cause célèbre to hit the headlines is the report that one hundred clerics in the diocese of London have signed a letter stating that they should have the right to host civil partnerships on grounds of “individual conscience”, just as they can choose to marry divorcees in their churches. The protesters ignore warnings of the descent of the Anglican Church exemplified in the US, dismissing them with a fleeting, 'Oh that's America, it couldn't happen here!'. I doubt that the Archbishop of York sees it that way having come under attack for his views on the meaning of marriage with one protester handcuffing himself to a lamppost like a modern day suffragette with a sign at his feet bearing the words “Homophobia is so gay”, illustrating how twisted protesters misrepresent Christian values. In common with many Christians, Dr Sentamu welcomes civil partnerships but insists that the state does not have any power to 'change the long-settled definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman'.
We are all made in the image of God so it is understandable that we all want to be respected but to respect one another does not imply sameness. God's creation sees male and female coming together as one flesh in the sacrament of marriage for the procreation of children. To pretend other is a disservice to those who championed the cause of civil partnerships despite some misgivings that the 'progressive' brigade would soon want more than was asked for, a not unfamiliar situation in today's church. Speaking before the Washington state legislature hearings on the definition of marriage in, Washington, on the subject"Redefine marriage and history will not be kind to you", Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse said, 'Let me remind you that a vast majority of African Americans completely reject same sex marriage. They are deeply offended by the high-jacking of the moral authority of their civil rights movement'. [My emphasis Ed]. Her profound witness to the love of God through the sanctity of marriage can be read here.
The place of women in the Universal Church has been distorted for political ends. There is no discrimination of women in the Apostolic Church. Women 'choosing freely' do 'witness to the love of God for all humanity', a view exemplified by Doctor, lawyer and theologian, Priscilla Noble-Mathews in a broadcast linked here, testimony that this is our church, this is our faith, the faith that binds us to the Holy Catholic Church which says NO to women bishops.
