Why?

Paris Olympic Games 2024 opening ceremony                 Source: X (Twitter)

The above image is taken from one of a number of  Twitter entries showing a parody of The Last Supper in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.

A video is included an article by Must Read Alaska with the comment "The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics is one long drag show."

It certainly was a change from the customary format designed to show off Paris but diversity bordered on deviancy.

Founded on love and forgiveness, Christianity is an easy target that has been used by feminists, Islamists and others to further their own cause. 

Why the Olympic movement allowed itself to be similarly used deserves an explanation.

Postscript [28.07.2024]

Two interventions in the House of Lords on the threat to our Christian heritage:

Lord Pearson talks about the threat of Islamic terrorism. People that do, are accused of Islamophobia. 

He says its the "the modern world's most violent religious ideology". 

Lord Green of Deddington, on the effects of mass legal and illegal migration

“It’s likely children born today to an indigenous British couple will find themselves in a minority in our country by the time they reach their late 40s, yes, my Lords, a minority in their own country”

Poor judgement

 

 Already anticipating her own retirement as Bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne rushed into the appointment of a new dean after the resignation of the Dean of Llandaff, Gerwyn Capon, in May 2022.

One would imagine that with hindsight the bishop now regrets the above video presentation. On 31st March 2024, after another difficult period for Llandaff Cathedral, the retirement of Dean Richard Peers  was announced.

From the tone of the announcement it is clear that deviancy in the Church in Wales has become the norm: "Father Richard has been the Dean of Llandaff since November 2022 and lives with his husband Jim, a garden writer, and their dog Teilo."

A patron of The Open Table Network, Cherry Vann, the Bishop of Monmouth who lives with her civil partner Wendy and their two dogs, invites all to a diocesan celebration with the logo 'Faith in our future'.

The archbishop of Wales has predicted that same-sex couples could marry in church 'within five years'.

For Anglicans in Wales who do not accept the new norm of a secularised Church in Wales but keep the Christian faith as received the future is bleak.

Postscript [07.04.2024]

The bishop of Llandaff has announced that the Rev’d Canon Dr Jason Bray has accepted her invitation for him to become the next Dean of Llandaff Cathedral.

From Divinity to Deviancy

Mary Stallard the new bishop of Llandaff follows Delyth Liddell, Methodist University Chaplain

and LGBTQI+ Gathering church leader at the Pride Cymru parade.    Source: Twitter

Celebrating diversity at Pride Cymru, the new bishop of Llandaff lost no time in identifying with her LGBTQ+ promoting sister bishops, the former bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, the retiring bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, and the bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, patron of Open Table. 

Diversity has become a euphemism for deviancy.

As the time approaches for appointing the next bishop of St Davids the Church in Wales needs to rethink its priorities.

From St Davids Diocese: 

"An Extraordinary Diocesan Conference is to be held on Saturday July 22nd., following the announcement that Bishop Joanna Penberthy is to retire on health grounds. The half-day conference will be chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, and will take place at Newcastle Emlyn Rugby Club when conference representatives will have the opportunity to discuss the future of the diocese and what they would like from their new bishop when he/she is elected in October."

Much has changed in the sixty + years since Church in Wales bishops held Oxford Firsts in Theology.

A return from deviancy to divinity is essential to restore any credibility to the Church in Wales if it wants to avoid being characterised as the queer church. 

Announcing the retirement of the bishop of St Davids, the Archbishop of Wales said "I want to thank Bishop Joanna for her ministry in the diocese and province. She has contributed significantly to areas of church life in particular on environmental matters and with our Social Responsibility network." Quite! 

Environmental matters and social responsibility are important but faith and worship still matter.

The Church needs bishops who win souls in a spirit of true equality and diversity.

BBC Sounds recently broadcast on the All Things Considered series  a programme titled 'Gender and Identity'. University chaplain Delyth Liddell was joined by bishop Mary Stallard and Sarah Jones, a transgender Anglican priest and vicar of St. John's in central Cardiff.

From the programme notes:
"... Pride is not just a celebration, it's also about protest, designed to get people thinking about acceptance, equality and deeper matters about identity. Today, we turn our attention to that very matter, considering gender. What does it mean on its most fundamental level? What did God intend? How does it make us who we are to ourselves and each other? And what of the interplay between biology, psychology and faith? Big topics and ones which can stir confusion, concern, and generate challenging questions."

Personally I have never encountered non-acceptance or unequal treatment in race, colour or sexuality in decades of church life. Quite the reverse, yet comments are often received from protestors. But that is all they do, protest and abuse others. There is no supporting evidence. No engagement or acknowledgement of other commentators' desire to protect the sacrament of holy matrimony. Difference of opinion is simply dismissed as phobia to silence any opposition.  

After 2,000 years of scholarship and witness Anglicans are expected to believe that interpreting scripture to please oneself is the way to salvation. I think not.

This is the result: "I believe in a non-binary God whose pronouns are plural."

Next stop polyamory!

Postscripts 

[29.06.2023]

From the US:

The Queering of the Episcopal Church by David W. Virtue DD

Why is America tolerating indecent exposure at Pride events? by Family Policy Institute of Washington

[30.06.2023]

From C4M: PRIDE: THE ANTI-MARRIAGE PLATFORM

[11.07.2023]

Lesbian Methodist Minister and chaplain at Cardiff University, Delyth Liddell, says that "visible gay role models are key to changing attitudes about the LGBT+ community in churches".
On 'All Things Considered' the bishop of St Asaph, Gregory Cameron, is to share his thoughts with the chaplain on his vision for an "inclusive Church".

That is selective inclusion of course because the bishops have decided that there is no place in the Church in Wales for Anglicans who keep the faith.

The irony of it

Metropolitan Bishoy and Bishop Gregory Cameron sign the Agreed Statement on the Procession and Work of the Holy Spirit during a special evensong
service in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.  Christian Today / Lynn Glanville / Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough 

Taking timeout from the advancement of all matters  LBGTI+ in the Church in Wales, the Bishop of St Asaph has been involved in matters spiritual, a hangover from his years in the Church of England.

Appointed Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office in 2003, he became Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion in 2004. He was elected as the 76th Bishop of St Asaph in 2009.

Unsurprisingly the report 'Anglicans and Oriental Orthodox agree on doctrine of Holy Spirit' appears not on the Church in Wales website but in Christian Today .

The controversy dates back to the 7th century, when Eastern theologians objected to the statement the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father 'and the Son' ('filioque'). Anglicans inherited this reading from the Roman Catholic Church. Agreed Statement here.

 One might have thought that resolving this impediment to Christian unity would have merited at least a mention but the Church in Wales abandoned matters spiritual in favour of politics long ago under their previous archbishop

Many of the faithful who would have appreciated this agreement have also been abandoned by the Church in Wales which may explain why Church in Wales reports are dominated by the advancement of feminism, homosexuality and same sex marriage.

This report shows what might have been before the bench of bishops and, indeed, the house of bishops in the Church of England opted for deviancy over unity.