How many will fight the good fight?

Former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, with the Ven Andrew John (right) on his
appointment in 2008 as Bishop of Bangor. Source: BBC

When archbishop Barry Morgan secured the election of his favoured candidate to be bishop of Bangor after the death of bishop Tony Crockett in 2008, the average adult Sunday attendance in the Church in Wales was around 37,000. 

It was predicted then that church attendance in Wales could decline to less than a quarter of that level

and, if proved true, "by 2050 Wales will be home to the smallest church-going population in Britain."

In 2018 the equivalent Sunday attendance figure was 26,110 representing 0.8% of the population of Wales. Extinction of the Church in Wales is predicted by 2040.

Archbishop Barry Morgan is seen by many as the architect of the demise of the Church in Wales, aided as he was by the example of his heretical mentor, US Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

The bench of bishops now places Governing Body decisions above biblical teaching, something that enabled bishop Crockett to refer to Church members who followed biblical teaching as heretics.

The heretics in the Church in Wales are not shunned Anglicans who keep the faith but its bishops who have abandoned the faith as received as they press ahead to undermine the sanctity of holy matrimony, the union for life of one man and one woman. 

The Church in Wales bishops made it clear in the September 2021 meeting of the Governing Body where their loyalties lie. For them a vote at GB overrides the Church's Formal statements of faith,

The bench is seeking to make God in their own image as they warn others against keeping the faith.

They wrote to their clergy following the ordination to the episcopacy of the Rev Stuart Bell, the former Rector of the Rectorial Benefice of Aberystwyth, with a warning:

 "A decision by members of the Anglican Convocation in Europe (ACE) to stand apart from the oversight of the bishops of the Church in Wales, and of the Churches of the Anglican Communion in communion with us, means that Church in Wales clergy should stand back from receiving communion at services held under the auspices of the ACE. No ministers affiliated with the Anglican Convocation in Europe should exercise ministry or leadership in a Church in Wales context, unless the explicit written permission of the appropriate Church in Wales diocesan bishop has been given.

ACE bishops responded: 

"Contrary to what Archbishop John and his Bishops have said, it is the the Church in Wales which has placed itself out of communion with the majority of Anglicans worldwide by departing the historic, orthodox, biblical faith. Faithful Anglicans living under such failed oversight need a spiritually safe home and a hope for the future. We are grateful that Gafcon has provided this by authorising ACE as a genuine Anglican jurisdiction."

Church in Wales bishops are leading their congregations into heresy. Church members must stand firm and 'fight the good fight', challenging the Church's departure from the 'historic, orthodox, biblical faith' as witnessed by the vast majority of Anglicans.

Postscript [02.04.2023]

The fightback begins in the Church of England.

Church Times reports: "Ten London clergy launch schismatic deanery chapter over same-sex blessings."

Statement from the Diocese of London:

"The Diocese was first informed a few hours ago that a group of clergy in the City of London is seeking to set up its own parallel, unregulated structures, outside of those of the Diocese of London and the Church of England. This unilateral move would have no legal substance.

"The initiative has been announced publicly, without discussion, at a time when constructive ongoing dialogue continues here in the capital, and across the country, following the House of Bishops’ proposals in response to the six-year Living in Love and Faith process. As a Diocese, we remain committed to working together through our differences, recognising the strength of our shared faith in Christ, and all that brings us together."

Disaster looms closer

The Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, at  his Enthronement as Archbishop of Wales                                                                                      Source: Church in Wales

 This extraordinary behaviour (above) of the newly enthroned archbishop of Wales, Andy John, takes place in the sanctuary in front of the Holy Table where the holy sacrifice of the Mass takes place. 

Nothing it seems is sacred in the Church in Wales any longer. 

Little surprise then that the Church Growth Modelling blog estimates the extinction of the Church in Wales, among other denominations, in less than 30 years.

The author writes: "Sadly, the immediate future looks bleak for the Church in Wales, Church of Scotland, Episcopalians, Methodists, and older Welsh nonconformists. They need to seriously ask themselves how they have gotten themselves into a situation where extinction is less than 30 years away. What is wrong with their beliefs and practices that are stopping them from making converts? A quick about-turn is needed."

Also, "The Church in Wales contains a mixture of churchmanships, and for many years all were on the conservative side. However, in the last 25 years, it has become increasingly liberal. In common with most historic UK Christian denominations, it has steadily declined since 1960. This analysis investigates the likelihood of decline leading to denominational extinction."

By secularising the Church it has lost most of its mystery, its 'otherness'. Its bishops simply do as they please acting more like politicians than shepherds of the faithful. 

The first prediction of the bishop of Bangor after his enthronement as archbishop of Wales was 'Same-sex Church in Wales marriage hope within five years'. The Holy Grail of the renewed, diverse, and inclusive Church in Wales dominated by its bench of bishops.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise from an archbishop who is a re-married divorcee who interprets scripture to suit himself and those whose main mission is inclusion of their own to the exclusion of all others.

Richard Pain, Bishop of Monmouth, Petertide  ordinations 2018                Source: Monmouth DCO

Episcopal frivolity is nothing new to the Church in Wales. 

The former bishop of Monmouth caused offence to many by his inappropriate behaviour in Eucharistic vestments.

Perhaps the bishop was unaware, or simply did not care, that in the ninteenth century a priest, Fr Arthur Tooth, was sent to prison for defending the right to use Eucharistic vestments in the Church of England. 

Such events serve to emphasise the extent to which the Church in Wales has sunk into secularism.  

In St Davids diocese bishop Joanna unashamedly carries on after her extended sick leave as if no problem with her ministry ever existed while rumours of alleged bullying continue to circle around the bishop of Llandaff.

The archbishop brushed aside the behaviour of the bishop of St Davids and rejected calls that he should launch an inquiry into the running of the Llandaff diocese following allegations of bullying.

Birds of a feather! The Church in Wales is doomed.

The future of the Church in Wales from the Archbishop in waiting?

Archbishop in waiting? the Bishop of Bangor. Picture: Church in Wales. Source: The National Wales

The future of the Church in Wales, or, more accurately, the future of the Church in Wales according to Andy John, Bishop of Bangor, is predicted in an 'exclusive' interview with The National Wales. 

Others insist the Church in Wales has no future. Not surprising given the mess created by the bench of bishops with their secular obsessions. 

In 2015 the Church Growth Modelling blog forecast that attendance figures for the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC), indicated extinction dates around 2040. 

Aged 57, if Buggins' turn prevails, Andy John will be the penultimate Archbishop of Wales leaving another to do the final sweeping up. Gregory Cameron, the next most senior bishop after Andy John is 62 so he is likely to miss out as is the Tory loathing bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy who is 61.

At 68 the bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, will soon be drawing her pension leaving only Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, who is 62.

Depending on his/her age the next bishop of Swansea and Brecon could also be the last Archbishop of Wales.

The new Bishop of Swansea and Brecon is to be elected this month* leaving the way for the election of the new Archbishop but if St Davids were to become vacant there would be a further delay. 

That may account for Andy John's extraordinary statement:

“I think the question whether Bishop Joanna resigns is done and dusted”, Bishop Andy states. “She made clear that she regretted what she had to say… I think if we cannot provide a way in which people can acknowledge wrongdoing, learn from their mistakes, and come back, then it begs questions about whether we believe people can change. Whether or not we think the Christian faith is about second chances. To me, fundamentally, it’s about that. And those who are baying and frothing at the mouth seem to me to be part of what I think is quite pernicious in society: which is that we dress up in virtue – or in the language of virtue – a kind-of campaign to persecute.”

Having found ''Biblical support for church gay marriages" the divorced and re-married bishop of Bangor can no doubt justify anything he fancies. 

In his interview for The National, Andy John was asked about the draft Bill which had been outlined at Governing Body (GB) in December. If passed by a two-thirds majority it would allow a five-year trial period for priests who would like to hold a service to bless a same-sex couple after their marriage or civil partnership.

Did the bishop of Bangor hope the motion will be approved? "Very much so", he replied before adding, "I think this will make us a more generous Church, which will make us a Church that provides space for people who demonstrate by their lives that they can be wonderful disciples of Jesus Christ when they want to live in love with a person of the same sex. I fail to understand… I fail to really understand why that is problematic.

Building up the pressure before the next meeting of GB, the former archbishop of Wales John Davies told ITV that it would be  a "slap in the face" for gay Christians if the church does not consider introducing services of blessing for same-sex couples.

"Simply to say", explained the archbishop, "that because it's always been so it must never change I think is a slap in the face to an awful lot of people who see something valuable in the church, but to some extent still feel rejected by the church."

That simply does not hold water. 

No generosity has been shown by the bench to an 'awful lot of people' who have been slapped in the face by a myopic bench of bishops, eager to impose their own liberal agenda at the expense of faithful Anglicans un-churched by the Church in Wales. 

As the recently retired Archdeacon of Llandaff, Peggy Jackson, a late convert to Anglicanism, put it with all the charity she could muster, "individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can." (The naked truth).

There have been no 'second chances' for traditionalists who remain outside in the cold in what the bishop of Bangor refers to as 'a kind-of campaign to persecute'. It is clear why. The Church in Wales is at odds with the vast majority of Anglicans, let alone Christians. Anglicans in the Church in Wales who seek to practice their faith in common with the majority of Anglicans are an embarrassment to a bench of bishops preoccupied with fleeting secular fads and fancies.

As bishop Andy told his interviewer: "The pandemic has reminded the Church of its purpose: to serve. “Our job is to argue for a more humane, compassionate, loving society, and to be unafraid and to be unapologetic about that." His colleagues have “done remarkably well” during Covid-19 too. And it is hard to disagree. Even more so considering that – in his words – that the Church in Wales is “a bit like an oil tanker: it takes ages to turn us around”.

In a nutshell. The Church in Wales has set its course - to extinction.

The interview ends with: "A very confident and unapologetic message from a bishop who is very confident and unapologetic. With the possibility of him at the helm, perhaps this Welsh oil tanker will chart the right course, after all."

The interview started with the interviewer's confession: "I don't generally do God, I tell Andy John." Exactly the sort of people the bench look to for support and justification.

If ever the Church in Wales needed a transfiguration it is now.

* Correction: Election of new Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
 The election is to be held in September.
https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-events/election-new-bishop-swansea-and-brecon/

Another Church in Wales senior executive position

Icing on the cake at the Church in Wales HQ                                           Source: Twitter

The Church in Wales, home to the Mission/Ministry Areas, is advertising for a Head of Mission and Ministry, another senior executive post with a "Competitive salary commensurate with comparable roles across the organisation."

The role is "one of visionary leadership, strategy setting and dynamic operational management of a diverse range of activities. It involves working closely with the Bishops both corporately through meetings of the Bench of Bishops and individually as they lead their dioceses and oversee their portfolios."

The 2012 Church in Wales Review recommended (Recommendation XLVI) that: There should be a Board of Mission and Ministry responsible for all the spheres of work at present covered by the Bishops’ advisors...and that: There should be a Director of Mission and Ministry to direct the work, and an annual report and debate on their work by the Governing Body.

The Review also recommended (Recommendation XXII) that:There should be three administrative centres, one in the North and two in the South and South West...leading to (Recommendation XXV) that: The recommendations XXII, XXIII and XXIV should be reviewed after three years and a judgement made about whether the Church in Wales is best served by six dioceses with three administrative centres or whether it would be more effective to reduce to three dioceses, together with four area bishops.

At the current rate of executive expansion and declining attendance there will be far more chiefs than indians to divide the cake at the point of extinction.

Another change at Llandaff's deanery?

Another Llandaff vacancy?

In 2013 the Church in Wales lost probably the best woman priest appointed to serve in its tiny province. Janet Henderson resigned her position as Dean of Llandaff after only two months in the post.

The episode opened a can of worms. There were rumours, charges and counter-charges. To her credit Janet Henderson did not allow any of the mud to stick on the accused.

The real reason for her departure remains a mystery so, undeterred, archbishop Morgan carried on as before regarding the Church in Wales as his personal fiefdom.

Former commercial property developer and the archbishop's Chaplain Gerwyn Capon was appointed Dean of Llandaff in 2017. The appointment did nothing to resolve the problem. It exacerbated it.

Two camps formed. The 'antiques' group being largely in favour of the appointment and those who thought the elevation of a relatively inexperienced priest to a senior position was asking for trouble.

Commentators have made their views clear on this blog since Barry Morgan made the appointment. Comments made under the preceding entry suggest that the matter may soon be resolved by the departure of Dean Capon. Currently on sick leave it is thought in clergy circles that the dean is unlikely to return other than to allow access for the removal men.

I had already received uncorroborated information that a complaint of bullying had been lodged by the dean after he was confronted by the bishop about 'a web of deception'.

The Church in Wales is becoming a woman's world.

The dean's departure would provide June with the opportunity to make another feminist senior appointment.

The bishop of Llandaff has already proved to be provocative as a LGBT+ campaigner and in her appointment of the first transgender vicar, now Canon Sarah Jones.

After news that most deacons ordained in the Church of England in 2019 were women it has been reported that the Church of Sweden which encourages its clergy to use gender-neutral language now has more female than male priests for the first time, described as "a sign of huge strides for gender equality since women were first allowed to be ordained in 1960."

The priesthood is not about gender equality but secular criteria have been used to sway public opinion resulting in a secularised church making politically correct appointments.

Archbishop Morgan has much to answer for. He was in the forefront of the drive for the ordination of women and same sex marriage. The Church in Wales now has the first lesbian bishop living openly in a same sex relationship. With her two LGBT campaigning sister bishops they now have gender parity on the bench. No doubt they will be insisting that the next archbishop of Wales will be a woman.

The Church in Wales is heading for extinction by 2040, largely as a result of archbishop Morgan following the example of his heretical mentor, Katharine Jefferts Schori the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC).

Katharine Jefferts Schori                   Barry Morgan

Along with the Church of England TEC is on a downward spiral 

Some legacy!

Path to extinction

Source: Church Growth Modelling 8 July 2015

"The Bishop of Monmouth-elect, the Ven. Cherry Vann, said that it would be a 'sad day if all the focus on growth was just about numbers', but that 'we can’t ignore the fact that church congregations, generally speaking, are either stable or declining'." - Twitter @ChurchTimes

Cherry Van is right on course to discover far more about decline when she takes her notion of stability to Wales.

The Church in Wales is heading for extinction in around 20 years time along with the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the US Episcopal Church. Fortunately for her and her liberal colleagues she will have retired before the collapse leaving others to sort out the mess the 'progressives' have created.

Decline continues as traditional roles are overturned. Over the last couple of decades, women have been leaving mainstream Christian churches at about twice the rate of men while more women than men are entering clergy training in the Church of England.

Promised benefits of the ordination of women have not just failed to materialise, they have been reversed.

In 1993 when Michael Alison (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners) moved, That the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure, passed by the General Synod of the Church of England, be presented to Her Majesty for her Royal Assent, he said:

"For those millions of people, the Church of England, with its formal state link, is a kind of valuable stalking horse by which they can bring pressure to bear on the powers that be to promote or to maintain Christian standards in education, complex moral and ethical issues, and so on."

Instead we have bishops who advocate same-sex marriage in Church and appear oblivious to the dangers of confusing children by spreading LGBT propaganda in primary schools in the guise of sex education.

In 2015 the Church Growth Modelling blog forecast that attendance figures for the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC), indicated extinction dates around 2040. The Church of England was "on the margins of extinction with some calibrations say yes, just; some say no, just."

The liberal leaning Canadian Episcopal Church must be added to the list.

Regular attendance figures from Canada show that the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) is in serious trouble, "running out of members in little more than two decades if the church continues to decline at its current rate". Statistics for 2017 indicate that average Sunday attendance has dropped to 97,421. The rate of decline is increasing suggesting an extinction date also of 2040 based on 'five different methodologies'. Figures for baptism, confirmation, marriage and funerals show an even faster rate of decline.

There is a common factor. Churches that have adopted liberal programs are in decline while conservative Protestant churches which take a more literal view of the Bible continue to thrive.

On his retirement the Archbishop of Wales reflected that he had supported numerous secular causes, including gay marriage. He has also backed women clergy during his 'leadership'. Commenting on the consecration of the Church in Wales' first female bishop he said: "I think that was pretty important as a matter of justice, as a matter of equality and as a matter of doing what was right".

No theology; pure secularism.

On gay marriage, Dr Morgan had previously called for the church's view on same-sex marriage to change with popular opinion adding "That's quite something, I think, in a church that hasn't always been known for its liberalism."

The Anglican Church is now soaked in liberalism and heading for disaster. Liberals have what they want at the price of extinction.

In Wales, Membership and Finance figures for 2018 show "continued decline in most measures of participation in parish life." Regular Sunday attendance has sunk to 26,110 or 0.8% of the population. The political appointment of Ms Vann to the position of bishop of Monmouth has been welcomed by liberals who no longer see the traditional teaching of the Church as relevant.

In the Church of Ireland clergy have objected to the appointment of a conservative bishop because of his membership of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). These clergy believe that GAFCON’s policies "are 'antithetical' to the principles a Church of Ireland bishop must commit to in the rite of consecration. These include 'fostering unity, care for the oppressed, and building up the people of God in all their spiritual and sexual diversity'" showing how far many Anglicans have strayed like lost sheep.

This from Church Times illustrates how absurd the liberal position has become in undermining traditional beliefs: The Dean of Waterford, the Very Revd Maria Jansson, told The Irish Times that "the Bishops’ attendance at GAFCON had undermined unity within the Church. 'How can Bishops Harold Miller and Ferran Glenfield reconcile the vows they made at their consecrations as bishops ‘to maintain and further the unity of the Church’ with their support of GAFCON, which stridently endeavours to undermine that very unity?', she asked."

More to the point, how can liberally progressive bishops reconcile their vows to maintaining the unity of the Church when they represent a small and shrinking percentage of the 87 million Anglicans worldwide?

The Church is in crisis. Only 2% of young adults identify as C of E. 

Interlopers have changed the Anglican Church to satisfy their own desires, driving forward an agenda to validate a lifestyle incompatible with the Gospel.

From Virtue Online: "Progressive Pansexualist 'Christians' have declared war on orthodox believers. Their goal is not mere acceptance, but to overthrow the moral order and destroy conservative churches who hold the line on faith and morals."

What we are left with is not Christianity but Churchianity and it is spreading.

Anglicans often described themselves as “Episcopally led and Synodically governed.” That is fine so long as bishops remain guardians of the faith but many are in the forefront of aggressive change, putting 'progressive' provinces at odds with mainstream Anglicanism.

Now Pope Francis is calling for a 'synodal' Church giving progressive Catholic bishops a similar platform to Anglican bishops for driving forward change with claims of being moved by the Holy Spirit.

Is there no end to this madness?

Church in Wales decline and fall

Membership and Finance 2018 | The Governing Body of the Church in Wales

Figures from the membership and Finance Report 2018 to be presented at the September meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales show continued decline in all measures bar one.

Confirmations were up 30% despite the unilateral decision of the bench of bishops to scrap confirmation as a prerequisite to Holy Communion - see Dodgy legal advice leads to Eucharistic free for all. There was a 36% fall in confirmations 2017 - 2016.

The 25% increase in weekdays only attendance between 2017 - 2016 fell back 19% between 2018 - 2017.

Perhaps more surprisingly the reported Sunday attendance increased between 2017 and 2018 in a number of important fields: under 7s; 7 to 10s; 11 to 17s; and families. The average attendance of under 18's was down 1%; down 7% between 2017 and 2016.

The Report also shows a worrying decline in total giving across a range of categories despite an increase in average giving per attender.

Archbishop George Carey's six-year-old prediction that "the Church of England was one generation away from extinction" unless more was done to attract young people into the Church was aired again in Norwich Cathedral where a helter skelter was thought to be the answer.

In Llandaff it is gay pride.

The predicted outlook for the Church in Wales is even more gloomy than for the Church of England with 'massive church closures from around 2025 onwards' leading to extinction around 2040.

The ordination of women was supposed to reinvigorate the Church. It has had the opposite effect importing a brand of liberalism summed up by Piers Morgan in an interview ‘Liberals have become utterly, pathetically illiberal’.

One cleric has had the guts to put down a question (Q.2) at GB about the declining moral standards of the Church in Wales. Perhaps he will inspire others to reclaim the Church in Wales from the bishops before they destroy her.

Postscript [05.09.2019]

From Not Another Episcopal Blog:

"The Church in Wales has bought into the LGBTQ formula for denominational decline. The statistics look eerily similar to those we have witnessed in most Episcopalian dioceses."

A point strongly made by George Conger on Monday's Anglican Unscripted (No. 529) when he said all the mistakes made by the Episcopal Church 20 years ago are being repeated by the Church of England. The Church in Wales has gone down the same path but has become so irrelevant that it no longer warrants a mention.

First same sex marriage in the UK Anglican Church

"Marriage is the bedrock of our society and now irrespective of sexuality everyone in British society can make that commitment." - Women and Equalities Minister, Maria Miller, 17 July 2013

Mrs Miller was wrong. The bedrock of British society is the Bible which we "undermine at our peril".

As the then Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dr Richard Chartres put it at a symposium in the House of Lords in 2011: British society is built upon Biblical principles. Our culture and civilisation were founded on the Bible. If we undermine those foundations, we undermine our society.

If marriage were the bedrock of society it would be the union of a man and a woman as it has been throughout history and in virtually all human societies. Perhaps the Women and Equalities Minister thought it part of her equality brief to interpret equality as "same" when, in fact, marriage reflects the complementary natures of men and women - Coalition for Marriage.

In the same way that same sex marriage was promoted as 'equality', 'love' has being hijacked to become a synonym for sex, usually same sex and even self gratification, 'self love', according to Teen Vogue which has been promoting anal sex, instructing teen and pre-teen youth on how to have so called “safe anal sex”. (H/T Anglican Mainstream).

And so it goes on. “History was made” again last week when the first same sex marriage took place in an Anglican church in the UK. “Mark and Rick”, a US couple who had been together 24 years were married in a Scottish Episcopal Eucharist service in Edinburgh. After the Scottish ceremony Archbishop Justin Welby said the problem is still ‘intractable’. That is because the church has made it so by refusing to say 'No'. 

In their zeal Anglican bishops are secularising the church to the point where church attendance is becoming meaningless.

Love and equality have become synonymous with decline and fall in the Anglican church. In 2015 it was forecast that ECUSA (the Episcopal church in the US), the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales face extinction within 25-35 years followed by the Church of England in the next century. Equally loved to death!

Is there any point in being a traditional Anglican, particularly in the Church in Wales?

The joy of the Christian faith is simply expressed in this rendition of the Te Deum (H/T Anglican Pastor). There is a far more stirring, majestic example here. It is punctuated by loud blasts on the organ which echo my feelings of exasperation and probably that of many other traditionalists at having been left by the Church.

Exhibiting their profound ignorance of matters spiritual, the response of New Anglicans to traditionalists  has been "Go to Rome if you don't like it" or, from the mainly menopausal feminist brigade, "Get used to it, we are in charge now". There have been no concessions in Wales. The only message is keep giving. For what? While the Church of England genuinely valued all church members as true Anglicans when binding provisions were made for faithful worshippers who, in common with most Christians, cannot accept the ordination of women on theological grounds, the attitude of the Church in Wales (CinW) has been take it or leave it. Theology is rejected while the latest secular fads are adopted by the bench of bishops for dissemination to congregations through largely compliant clergy.

Sunday by Sunday we are served with helpings of the latest Christian Response from an Anglican Perspective (CRAP) heavily laced with a misguided view of equality that has everything to do with political correctness and nothing to do with Christianity as the Gospel is bent to accommodate the latest alleged injustice. It is indeed very odd that the Bible can be taken literally in circumstances which threaten our very existence while bending other parts to suit a fashionable political stance.

Led by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Wales with the Archbishop of Westminster often in step, Christianity is continually being sold short to its own detriment with misapplied views on neighbourliness while giving succour to Islam as Muslims abroad continue to convert non-Muslims by the sword if necessary and in the UK demand more and more special privileges to enhance their status such as opting for Sharia, a legal code that systematically discriminates against women, children, apostates, blasphemers, non-believers (infidels), adulterers, and homosexuals. Imagine the outcry if Christians espoused such discriminatory values.

The CinW is fast reaching the end of the road with extinction predicted in a generation. The possibility of the first woman bishop in Wales draws ever closer making it even more difficult for traditionalists who have remained in the Church to continue their membership. Not that there should be a woman bishop in Wales. Better that the measure be rescinded as a breach of faith since the promises of care evaporated as soon as the bishops had their way with their ultimate plan unfolding.

Moving from feminism to their next PC project the bench of bishops has made it perfectly clear that the CinW is to fully embrace the LGBT agenda en route to the acceptance of same sex marriage, again under the guise of 'equality', while the Church of England talks her way into it with 'Facilitated Conversations' concluding with this mumbo-jumbo. If LGBT people are having such a hard time being accepted, how are there so many openly gay and lesbian people in the Church with clergy very much in evidence promoting their particular life style and often viciously condemning anyone who dares to hold a contrary view to theirs? Women deacons were not enough. Women priests were not enough. Civil Partnerships were not enough. What next? The slide is endless.

True Anglicanism is expressed here in a Pastoral Letter by the Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council, making all those pennies we saved in little cardboard boxes in Sunday School worthwhile. Too late for many, there are now just 'empty boxes, empty gestures, empty words'. Read the sorry tale of the final straw for an ex-CinW worshipper here.

For many traditionalists the final straw has been drifting in the breeze while searching for that crumb of comfort but there has been none, nor will there be. The Church in Wales is going from bad to worse with Credo Cymru apparently impotent. As Dr Morgan approaches retirement he will have much on which to reflect having brought the Church in Wales to her knees, not in prayer but in desolation. What a legacy.

So is there any point in being a traditional Anglican? Unless you are exceedingly fortunate I think not. But Christianity is not dead. "Be joyful and keep the faith!", even if your church has left you.

Digging their own grave

                                                                  Photo: Church in Wales

Saturday witnessed an unexpected milestone, over 900,000 page views for the Ancient Briton blog which was started in 2010 after some friendly banter about the way the world was going. My aim was to air the grievances we had discussed while attempting to avoid being left behind by the grandchildren as technology advanced. Clearly I am not alone. My thanks to all the commentators who have added their views in support or to the contrary.

Inadvertently a platform has been provided for free speech for Anglicans who have become marginalised in their own Church as ambitious clerics drive their own liberal agenda. "If you don't like it you can leave" used to be the response to traditionalists. For those who have remained their resolve is being tested further.

Also on Saturday the Church Growth Modelling blog published Conversion to the Diversity Ideology
Part 2 - Justification of Hypotheses. Here is an extract:

The Church in Wales is an Anglican church, and like many UK denominations, is indicating decline to extinction [8].  Last year the attempts by its leadership to introduced same-sex marriage were stalled by significant opposition from diocesan representatives. Since then the bishops of the church have issued a pastoral statement that indicates the Church’s conversion to Diversity in the public sphere [9].

Notably there was the display of the rainbow flag as the identification badge (C).  The unenlightened laggards within the church are subtly discredited with statements like  “the Church is not yet ready to accept same-sex marriage” (D). There is a general confession of, and apology for, past damage the church has done to gay people (B). Though the actual offences, and the people involved, are not identified, leaving the reader to re-write history for themselves in order to make sense of the statement (A).

We 'unenlightened laggards' are regularly condemned from on high for holding a contrary opinion to the new Diversity Ideology. "Lacking in love and understanding" we are the new sinners according to devotees of the Queer Bible, yet these are the people who will have "killed off" the Church within a generation. 

It's a funny old world which is why I started blogging in 2010 and have continued to do so despite the many gagging attempts of people who have no interest in free speech from the top down.