A glimmer of hope for the Church in Wales

The Archdeacon of Carmarthen, Dorrien Davies, is to be the 130th Bishop of St Davids
Source: Church in Wales

There is a glimmer of hope for the Church in Wales following the announcement that the Ven Dorrien Davies has been elected to be the 130th Bishop of St Davids.

There were many expressions of delight following the announcement which are summed up in the response: "The right person to bring healing and allow the Diocese to move forward together."

A former St Davids Canon Residentiary, the bishop elect asked for the Diocese and the Province to pray for him as he begins the difficult task of rescuing the diocese of St Davids from mistakes of the past and for bringing back some credibility to the Church in Wales. Of that he can be assured.

Postscript [12.11.2023]

"Let's make this journey together" - The new Bishop of St Davids looks ahead to his forthcoming role and what the future holds for St Davids Diocese.

Christmas Greeting 2022

Gari Melchers, The Nativity, 1891

 

My depiction of the nativity this year sums up the general mood and suffering of many.

Nevertheless, with hope,

Very Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year

Advent IV: Reflecting in the darkness

The Advent Wreath                                                     Source: Church of England

"Advent marks the beginning of the church year. It is a time for reflection in darkness, for renewal of hope and for a movement towards a beginning." - Church of England Advent and Christmas

For many Anglicans the 'renewal of hope' has taken an unexpected turn. It truly is a time for 'reflection in darkness'. 

They have not lost their faith but they have lost their Church, abandoned by bishops who claim to be moved by the Holy Spirit but follow the spirit of the age, the Zeitgeist.

The clearest possible signal of the direction of the Church of England, as in the Church in Wales and other liberal Provinces,  has come from the Archbishop of York designate who believes that the Church should look to society rather than to scripture and tradition for guidance.

Consequently thousands of Anglicans have been left by their Church to reflect in darkness. Some have made the journey across the Tiber. For others that journey presents its own difficulties, particularly for disaffected Roman Catholics who found their spiritual home in the catholic and reformed Anglican Church.

Pray that the truth will be revealed. Pray for Gavin Ashenden who will be received into the Roman Catholic Church today, for those led astray by errant bishops and particularly for all those left reflecting in the darkness. 

Dialogue and death

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bishop Gavin Ashenden added:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Postscripts

06.09,2019

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


08.09.2019

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

Extracts from Islamic thought police target the press

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

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

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

09.09.2019

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

in an earlier tweet:

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

[My emphasis - ED.]

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

16.09.2019

Koran read at Westminster Abbey as Royal Cathedral bows to Islam

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

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

Hope and despair

His Beatitude Raphael Sako and Chaldean Bishop Shlemon Warduni celebratingthe first Mass  in
 Mosul since 2014, with Syriac Catholic Archbishop Mouche and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop
Nicodemus Dauod Matti Sharaf participating.  Source: ACN UK

Aid to the Church in Need reports: "The bells rang out in Mosul for the first time in more than three years when a church in Iraq’s second city opened its doors for Mass on Christmas Eve.

Up to the last minute, plans for the service at St Paul’s Church in Mosul’s Al-Mundshen suburb hung in the balance – until a group of young Muslims helped clean the church and make it ready – including erecting the cross [my emphasis - Ed.]

This is not what we have come to expect. Individual Muslims and Christians have lived peaceably side by side in many areas of the Middle East for generations but Christianity and Islam have fundamental differences - see Muslim-Christian Relations summary - which have led to endless conflict resulting in the death of many Christians and destruction of their churches.

In May last year, Egypt carried out airstrikes in Libya after at least 26 people, including children, were killed and 25 wounded in a gun attack on a bus carrying Coptic Christians south of Cairo, the latest in a series of terrorist incidents targeting the religious minority (here).

More than 100 Christians have been killed in Egypt in the past year. Most attacks have been claimed by 'IS militants'. In December, Coptic Christians in Egypt experienced a different version of Islam than that experienced by Christians in Mosul when nine people were killed in two attacks on Coptic Christians in Helwan district, south of Cairo, according to Egypt's interior ministry (here).

Egypt is regarded by many Christians as the home of Christian monasticism. Christianity in Egypt dates back to the beginnings of Christianity itself (here) but Christians, mainly Copts, are now a minority, estimated to be between 10% and 20% of the population.

Believed to be funded by religious leaders with cash from Saudi Arabia, Christian girls in Egypt are being targeted for kidnapping, forced marriage and conversion, according to Release International, which supports persecuted Christians around the world.

Coptic Christians in the south of Egypt renewed calls on local authorities for an end to discrimination after a number of churches were closed down it was reported last October. Two churches in two separate villages in the southern province of Minya have been shut down by the authorities, a statement by the Minya diocese said. It said worshippers were harassed at both churches and pelted with rocks at one of them.

While faithful Christians abroad risk their lives to attend church services, church attendance continues to dwindle in Great Britain. Photographs are cropped to exclude empty pews and video coverage, such as it is these days, invariably shows a few old ladies comprising congregations.

In most churches, gone are the daily Eucharist and the alternative service on Sundays for those mainly young people unable to attend the main service so they drift away, unlikely to return. I hear that even the Cathedral church in Bangor closed after the service on 31st and apart from a funeral Friday will remain closed until next Sunday.

Many of the old ladies making up Anglican congregations will be dead by 2035 when according to the Pew Research Center "Babies born to Muslims will begin to outnumber Christian births".

The plight of Christian minorities in Muslim countries should be plain for all to see. Individual acts of kindness are outweighed by repression and ruthless action in Islamic states, even against Muslims who seek free expression of their religious human rights.

The Pew Center forecasts that "In the next half century or so, Christianity’s long reign as the world’s largest religion may come to an end... Muslims will grow more than twice as fast as the overall world population between 2015 and 2060 and, in the second half of this century, will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group."

The spread of Islam needs no help from Christian leaders, examples here, here and here.

The Washington National Cathedral and five Muslim groups hold the first celebration of Muslim
Friday Prayers, Jumaa, in the Cathedral's North Transept in Washington, Nov. 14, 2014.
Larry Downing | Reuters | BDN

"Once a place has been used for Muslim worship it is ipso facto a mosque"

Writing for the International Business Times Yasmin Alibhai-Brown portrayed Muslims as the victims, "Why do Muslims get picked on at Christmas?" She finishes her piece with the words "Christ for us Muslims is a messiah sent by God. Why would we not remember and celebrate his story?"

Because, according to Saudi cleric Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan , "while there is more leniency regarding secular or national holidays, participating in Christmas celebrations, congratulating Christians on their holiday, and sending them gifts is not permitted because Christmas 'is based upon a corrupt dogma that was refuted by the Quran'." His comments were broadcast on the Kuwaiti Al-Resala TV channel on December 3, 2017. More clerical objections here and here.

As the Saudi cleric says in his video broadcast, individual acts of kindness are just that but instead of challenging an ideology which is anti-Christian, from Archbishops downwards Anglican clerics are embracing Islam as a valid alternative faith.

Census figures for England and wales show that "the percentage of Muslims among the under-fives is almost twice as high as in the general population". Validating Islam in the wake of immigration and high birth rates is likely to make the ideology more acceptable when leaked documents reveal even ISIS recruits have poor grasp of Islamic faith.

Perhaps when the country is predominately Muslim sympathetic Anglican clerics will abandon their Christian faith altogether as they have scripture and tradition to become Imams.

Postscripts

[05.01.2018]

EX-MUSLIMS TO POPE: ISLAM NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE

[06.01.2018]

Egypt's Coptic Christians to consecrate huge new cathedral

[07.01.2018]

Europe’s Growing Muslim Population

Muslims are projected to increase as a share of Europe’s population – even with no future migration.

Source: Pew Research Center

Women, sex, death and judgement

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales and the Archbishop of Canterbury

Surprise, surprise! The Church of England cannot carry on as it is unless decline is ‘urgently’ reversed – Welby and Sentamu. The latest sorry saga is reported in a Telegraph article here.

First to hit the rocks was The Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC). The Church in Wales is bobbing along on autopilot hoping to avoid catastrophe by setting the same course as TEC.  Now, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have warned that in the Church of England "there is a compelling need to realign resources and work carefully to ensure that scarce funds are used to best effect":

"The Church of England will no longer be able to carry on its current form unless the downward spiral its membership is reversed “as a matter of urgency”, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have warned.

It could face a dramatic shortage of priests within a decade as almost half of the current clergy retire, according to the Most Rev Justin Welby and Dr John Sentamu.

Meanwhile dwindling numbers in the pews will inevitably plunge the Church into a financial crisis as it grapples with the “burden” of maintaining thousands of historic buildings, they insisted."

You don't need a doctorate to spot the link. TEC is now described as a post-Christian church :

"This is no longer George Washington’s Episcopal Church – in 1776 the largest denomination in the rebellious British colonies. Membership has dropped so dramatically that today there are 20 times more Baptists than Episcopalians.
U.S. Catholics out-number the Episcopal Church 33-to-1. There are more Jews than Episcopalians. Twice as many Mormons as Episcopalians. Even the little African Methodist Episcopal denomination -- founded in in 1787 -- has passed the Episcopalians"....

"Liberal Christianity has been hailed by its boosters for 40 years as the future of the Christian church. Instead, as all but a few die-hards now admit, the mainline churches that have blurred doctrine and softened moral precepts are declining and, in the case of the Episcopal Church, disintegrating."

Sad to say, the Church in Wales is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Regular attendance figures are almost at rock bottom claiming just 1% of the population as regular attenders. The historic parish system is shot to pieces. Priests are no longer offered a 'living'. Instead, Priests-in-charge, often of groups of parishes and 'house-for-duty' priests have been used to prop-up the system but even this is no longer a viable option. The Church in Wales is regrouping into ministry areas "served by a team of people both lay and cleric", the hierarchy oblivious to the fact that in many parishes the laity have been shouldering the burden of responsibility for keeping the ship afloat for years, mopping-up tasks not suited to incumbents. But don't expect much change with the new breed of Non-stipendiary ministers who expect only to officiate on a Sunday because they work during the week!

From figures in the Telegraph article, "typical Sunday attendances have halved to just 800,000 in the last 40 years:

"The two archbishops gave their backing to a series of reports calling for administrative changes in the Church to be debated by the Synod next month but added: 'Renewing and reforming aspects of our institutional life is a necessary but far from sufficient response to the challenges facing the Church of England.' They went on: 'The urgency of the challenge facing us is not in doubt'.

'Attendance at Church of England services has declined at an average of one per cent per annum over recent decades and, in addition, the age profile of our membership has become significantly older than that of the population. 'Finances have been relatively stable, thanks to increased individual giving. 'This situation cannot, however, be expected to continue unless the decline in membership is reversed'."

So much for the transforming ordination of women, liberal views on gay and lesbian bishops and the current push for same-sex marriage to be recognised by the Church. Read a previous entry "The Church of England is in crisis" here. It is not as if the writing was not on the wall. In 2010 Archbishop Rowan warned "Conform or face the consequences":

"The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked Provinces who have violated the Communion’s moratoria on gay bishops and blessings, along with those who cross provincial borders in response to these actions, to withdraw their representatives from the Communion’s official ecumenical bodies and from the newly formed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (UFO).

'Some public marks of distance,' or discipline of those who defy the wider Church, 'are unavoidable if our Communion bodies are not to be stripped of credibility and effectiveness,' Dr Rowan Williams said."

But the liberal agenda continued until we read in 2013: "The Church of England is in crisis" (here).

While newfangled liberal Anglicanism continues to disintegrate, traditional Anglicanism is thriving where the majority have not been seduced into changing the faith to suit temptation. Some may see this as a judgement. Thriving Anglican Churches are not confined to Africa as witnessed in the Anglican Church in North America. In England there are many growing Evangelical and Anglo Catholic churches. In Wales Anglo Catholic parishes continue to shine in the darkness despite the efforts of their bench of bishops to extinguish the flame.

Amidst the gathering gloom there is still hope.

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need". Hebrews 4:16