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.

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/

The future?

To gain a better understanding of boosting rural churches amid falling congregation numbers the Church in Wales is urging people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved and have their say in shaping the future of rural churches in their communities. - Powys County Times

Commentators may have their say but will anyone be listening if what is said is not what 'progressive' Anglican bishops want to hear?

One newspaper report claims that a witch, Harmony Nice, has so many devotees on social media she is outdoing the Church of England. She boasts "more than one million followers on YouTube and Instagram combined, compared to the church’s 335,000."

The archiepiscopal diocese of Swansea and Brecon has dabbled there but with entirely different results.

In 1996 the Church in Wales claimed a membership in excess of 91,000. Regular Sunday adult attendance slumped to just over 26,000 in 2018 and probably lower when the 2019 figures are published.

In their attempt to become more relevant to society, parts of the Anglican Communion have departed so far from the Christian message that they appear more akin to an arm of social services.

A highlight of the Church in Wales 2020 celebrations is a visit to the Welsh province by the Archbishop of Canterbury, described by The Conservative Woman as the 'Archbishop of Woke' who 'slanders his own flock' after he apologised for the Church of England being ‘deeply, institutionally’ racist.

The Gospel message is no longer good enough for progressive Anglicans.

The result can be seen in the above photographs published by Mail Online in 2013:

"The photo on the left shows St Mary's Church in Cable Street while the photo on the right shows worshippers gathered for Friday midday prayers outside a nearby mosque in Spitalfields, both in East London.

"What these pictures suggest is that, on current trends, Christianity in this country is becoming a religion of the past, and Islam is one of the future."

Postscript [19.02.2020]

From A Badge of Disgrace: The Fall of the Boy Scouts

"Right now, too many churches, Christian colleges, even businesses are dangerously close to making the same mistake [as The Boy Scouts of America]. They're so desperate or fearful -- or both -- that they're willing to water down who they are to protect the small space they're standing on. There's just one problem: the gospel's truth isn't up for negotiation. And in their rush to soften the blow of its confrontation, some believers are selling out their identity as followers of Jesus."