Their hypocrisy!

Source: Church in Wales

"There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other." - Church in Wales bench of bishops.

The hypocrisy of it. 

Highlighted in Provincial News, top of the Agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales from  September 6-8 is a Bill to authorise a service of blessing for same-sex partnerships. 

"Same-sex couples will be able to have their civil partnership or marriage blessed in Church in Wales churches for the first time if new legislation is passed next month (September)."

No doubt seeking their usual secular support an article has already appeared in BBC News. 

The bishops have issued a set of ‘Pastoral Principles’ intended to 'guide people towards thoughtful and considerate discussions'.

Introducing them they say: “There can be no room for seeking to undermine sincerely held views. Neither should we seek to walk away from each other. Our union in Christ is at the heart of our life and the bonds and character of our baptism hold us together; sharing a commitment to each other as together we seek the Kingdom of God. We hope these materials will stimulate this quality of engagement.”

But that is precisely what they have done to faithful Anglicans who have not been swayed by secular desires. Undermined for years they have been ignored by the bench and left with no hope.

Clearly regarded as less worthy than same-sex couples desiring a blessing of their union, the bishops have walked away from traditionalist Anglicans who hold sincerely held views with no thought for their spiritual welfare.

One has to wonder if the bishops of the Church in Wales really do believe in the Kingdom of God.

More rank hypocrisy from the Bench

"The Archbishop of Wales and the Church in Wales’s four serving diocesan bishops are calling on the UK’s political leaders to commit to the rule of law and work together to secure the prosperity of our country." 

- Provincial press release

Full statement HERE.

It is a bit rich when the Bishops of the Church in Wales place on record their "evident concern for the well-being of our democratic processes and constitution in the United Kingdom" when the Bench of bishops regularly ignores democratic processes.

Consultations in the Church in Wales have been regularly ignored when the results have not accorded with the wishes of the Bench. 

Extract from an entry on 9 August 2016:

"Diocesan meetings were organised at considerable expense to discuss a Code of Practice designed to cater for faithful Anglicans who, on theological grounds, were unable to accept the ministry of women bishops. The wishes of the majority were ignored, see True to his word: "Over my dead body!". Then there was the farcical taking of opinions about allowing same sex marriages and/or blessings in church, see Marriage: Dodgy discipleship?. Barry and his bench sitters simply did what they wanted when the result did not fit their secular agenda, see Bishops' rank hypocrisy. So why should anyone expect other than a predetermined outcome this time?" 

Physicians, heal thyselves springs to mind again.

Easter message

Bishop's Pride involvement 'fantastic'                                                                              Source: BBC

From the bishop of St Davids' Easter message:

 "Many of us this year will have lived through pain and suffering that we did not

choose and could hardly bear, knowing that God walks with us, but also hardly

knowing how that is supposed to help. Holy Week, Good Friday and Holy

Saturday remind us that we are called to endure." 

How true. Not just this year but every year since women were ordained in the Church in Wales.

Orthodox Anglicans did not choose to be cut off from their Church but Barry Morgan and his band led by his embittered Archdeacon Peggy Jackson saw to that.   

Each year absence from the Triduum reminds us most strongly of what we have to endure for our faith. 

The bishops welcome all manner of allegedly persecuted minorities while rejecting Anglicans who remain faithful to the orthodox teachings of the Church. The 'inclusive' church has no time for orthodoxy.

No doubt there will be further dollops of hypocrisy from other bishops.

As the Archbishop of Wales told anyone who was prepared to listen at the Swansea and Brecon Chrism Mass: "Because one act of compassion, one act of gentleness, of kindness, of mercy, of forgiveness, of love, from one person to another, changes someone’s life. And if someone’s life is changed then, as imperceptibly as it may be, the world is changed for the better.”

There is no sign of life changing compassion for abandoned Anglicans.

In Monmouth the bishop is still absent. For Holy Week and Easter they have instead a guest preacher, the 'married' gay priest, the Revd Canon Jeremy Davies, former Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral, the old stomping ground of the bishop of Llandaff June Osborne.

It is more of the same and not just for Easter!

The hypocrisy of it

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd John Davies, makes the case for changing the Church in
Wales’s position on same-sex relationships at the recent meeting of its Governing Body, in Lampeter
Source: Church Times/Picture credit Church in Wales

From Church Times

Addressing their Governing Body the Archbishop of Wales claimed that the status quo on same-sex relationships was unsustainable.

"For him and the bench, it was simply a question of 'justice', he said. 'We have people in our congregations in committed same-sex relationships who can be baptised, confirmed, admitted to holy communion, and even be ordained in the case of civil partnerships. To say to them that, when it comes to formally affirming [and] recognising your relationship in some form, we can’t do that, and you must retreat into the shadows at the moment. . . I don’t think it’s any longer fair or sustainable'."

The bench have traditionalists in their congregations who have been baptised, confirmed and admitted to holy communion but they are also committed to the teaching of Christ through scripture and tradition.

They have been rejected so are unlikely to be ordained despite pledges in the Code of Practice.

That is unsustainable by normal standards but acceptable in the Church in Wales.

The stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.

Anything but orthodox Christianity

Part of the human chain of "faith leaders from across Wales" who gathered outside a Cardiff Mosque as an act of solidarity with the Muslim community. BBC   

In their Evening News programme yesterday, BBC Wales Today gave extensive coverage to the Welsh link in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park mosque attack.

On the extreme left of this video still as if she were preparing for the hokey cokey is the dancing Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Peggy Jackson. Brought into the Church in Wales by former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, to impose his liberal agenda on the faithful, this late convert is happy to see cradle Anglicans left with no church while she supports just about any cause other than orthodox Christianity.

The hypocrisy of it all.

The hypocrisy of it all

Bishop-elect of St Davids                     Archbishop Morgan                  Archdeacon of Llandaff

The Changing Attitude gay propaganda film 'All One in Christ' was premiered in St Asaph Cathedral on Tuesday evening. Defying the logic of observation and current practice it pleads for 'inclusion & equality'.

Showing her support for inclusion and equality along with the bishop-elect of St Davids is the architect of exclusion in Wales, the Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Peggy Jackson who has done more than most, apart from Archbishop Barry Morgan, to exclude faithful Anglicans who in common with the vast majority of Anglicans are unable in conscience to accept their understanding of scripture and tradition.

What is it about late converts that they cannot tolerate cradle Anglicans? They claim to have heard God calling them. So did Muhammad and Joseph Smith!

Bishops' rank hypocrisy

Getting married in the Church in Wales

The introduction to the Church in Wales Marriage Service describes marriage as a gift from God.  The Bible teaches that marriage is a life-long, faithful union between a man and a woman, and compares married love with the love Jesus has for his people – a love expressed in his willing sacrifice of himself on the cross.

 Compare the above introduction taken from the Church in Wales web site under the heading Marriage with the same-sex marriage Press Release in which the bishops of the Church in Wales draw attention to a joint pastoral letter issued in response to consultations and debates on same-sex marriage across the Church in Wales last year, as well as to a statement from the Primates of the Anglican Communion in January. It contains this grovelling apology for alleged mistreatment:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We recognise that you have often been persecuted and ostracized by the Church for your sexuality, that you have been mistreated by the Church, and forced into secrecy and dissimulation by the attitudes of prejudice which you have faced.  We deplore such hostility, and welcome and affirm the words of the Primates that condemn homophobic prejudice and violence.  We too commit ourselves to offering you the same loving service and pastoral care to which all humanity is entitled, and we commit ourselves to acting to provide a safe space within the Church and within our communities in which you can be honest and open, respected and affirmed.

While as a Church we remain unable to bless the committed partnerships you form in marriage or in civil partnership, yet we commit ourselves as bishops to work for a Church in which you can be fully affirmed as equal disciples of Jesus Christ or seekers after truth.  We will pray with you and for you, that together we may seek God’s blessing on our lives, and for faithful discipleship.”

This has Llandaff written all over it. If we consider two former bishops of Llandaff, both were loved by many but received entirely different treatment. One resigned after being accused of indecency. He was not "persecuted and ostracized". I recall numerous diocesan occasions when the bishop was present. He later returned to pastoral and episcopal work. The other bishop was not in favour of the ordination of women. His life was made hell.

The Press Statement continues - In the letter, the bishops acknowledge that while the consultations showed that the Church is not yet ready to allow or bless same-sex marriage, the debate is not over. They commit to working for a Church in which gay and lesbian people are “fully affirmed as equal disciples” and to praying with and for them. They also apologise to gay and lesbian people for the persecution and mistreatment they have endured at the hands of the Church and they commit themselves to providing a safe place within the Church for all gay and lesbian people. [My emphasis - Ed.]

The bishops "apologise to gay and lesbian people for the persecution and mistreatment they have endured at the hands of the Church" but where is the evidence? If gay people want to wear their sexuality on their sleeves we are entitled to ask for some facts. What persecution and mistreatment and directed at whom, clergy and/or laity? What proportions of the clergy are gay, lesbian or transgender? And what about heterosexual couples "living in sin"? Are they not worthy of an apology?

In my previous entry I drew attention to the claim that bullying played a part in persuading women to leave the Church and that many victims "vote with their feet, and leave the organisation. 

The bishops are encouraging the same strategy as was highlighted in the ordination of women campaign. Exploit the "victim" status, slander and stereotype (substitute homophobic for misogynist) and intimidation.

Before they go any further the bishops should consider who the real victims are of their secularisation of the Church in Wales.

Church in Wales Lowlights April 2015

"Places like Wales you can write off with Brazil as either in the pocket or in the mindset of Katharine Jefferts Schori in the hard left." - Anglican Unscripted 172 (@12.38)

The recent meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales was dominated by the representation of women in the church: "Equality agenda responsibility of the whole Church" see pages 4 and 5 (of 8) in Highlights. It did not occur to them that self praise is no recommendation.

Never one to shrink from voicing her own opinions as if they were representative of the Holy Catholic Church, the Venerable Peggy Jackson "saw a disconnect between who we are and who we think we are. 'We must address our own issues. We want positive action, not positive discrimination.' She urged women to step up and take responsibility". Peggy and her chums may be big fish in a very small pond but in no way are they who they think they are.

But Barry did not have it all his own way. Another of his chums, the Lord Harris of Pentregarth, a former Bishop of Oxford and "a leading CofE liberal thinker" who thinks that the "Koran should be read at Prince Charles' coronation" (here), inserted an unpopular recommendation in the Church in Wales Review:

Recommendation XLII
1) Fees for occasional offices should be paid into church
accounts and go towards the cost of the Share in the Ministry
Area.
2) Clergy stipends should be recalibrated to ensure that they are
comparable to that of neighbouring Anglican churches.

As a former Dean of Llandaff was fond of saying, that went down like a cup of cold sick with Church in Wales clergy who rejected the idea. The motion was lost, with 48 votes against, 34 for, and 27 abstentions. Again there is nothing like self-interest for moving the soul. Much like the "Damascus Rangers" who in a flash saw which side their bread was buttered after the Church in Wales decided for themselves that there was no theological objection to the ordination of women.

From page 27 of the Review report, "The Church in Wales is unusual in allowing clergy to keep fees for funerals, weddings and other occasional offices. This system is open to abuse and we find it unacceptable". It is an oddity of the Church in Wales that other Provinces are held up as exemplars when it suits and then dropped or otherwise ignored. Recall how the Code of Practice in the Church of England was held up as an example of care and compassion in the debate on women bishops only to be dropped after the motion was successfully amended to accept the innovation before a code for Wales was agreed by those for whom it was intended!

Compare also the use of discretionary funds: "Care for those in need is an essential feature of Christian discipleship and an important part of the Church’s work. At the same time this work needs to be effectively managed. In the past people in need have turned to the clergy for help from Discretionary Funds. This role for the clergy is no longer appropriate. - But fine in the Church in Wales! Christ had a word for that. 

One of the oddest moments occurred in Question Time with the question:

 Will the Bench of Bishops, recognising that current Church policy is to instruct all clergy to use fermented communion wine at the Eucharist, consider in individual and exceptional circumstances, for pastoral reasons, permitting a cleric with the approval of the bishop, to offer a separate chalice of non alcoholic communion wine? 

Bishop Gregory responded:

"The question opens out unexpected theological intricacies. The Anglican Lambeth Quadrilateral said that "the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself—Baptism and the Supper of the Lord—are ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by him." This means the use of wine—the fermented juice of the grape—is essential to proper celebration of the sacraments. The reception of bread alone should be pastorally sufficient when well explained to anyone who has difficult receiving alcoholic wine." 

At last, I thought, some theological sense but then Bishop Gregory added: "Dealcoholicised wine is available for use in the Eucharist; and a discrete second chalice could be used". So how long before the Liturgical Commission recommends a change to "took the cups"? Perhaps in due course, on its road to non-conformity, the Church in Wales will encourage the use of optics and individual communion glasses in the part of the church set aside for coffee so that everyone can do their own thing.

The main issue for the Archbishop, his campaign for same-sex marriage, remains hovering in the background. It is currently being discussed around the Province in preparation for it to be imposed regardless of the outcome of any discussions, just as the Code of Practice was imposed after disregarding the outcome of provincial meetings which agreed that adequate provision should be made for Church members who were opposed on theological grounds to the ordination of women. If the bishops of the Church in Wales kept the faith there would be nothing to discuss. "Places like Wales you can write off". Seems so.

Church in Wales: The hypocrisy

The Governing Body of the Church in Wales meets again today to discuss matters of importance to their Archbishop who yesterday delivered his self-justifying Presidential Address while managing to implicate the whole Bench by announcing:

"This presidential address is different because it is from all seven bishops – an address that has been agreed by all of us, so that although I am the one giving it, it is given on behalf of us all. If you like, we are all co-presidents on this occasion and the reason for this will become obvious in a moment." If that is true, it is a sorry reflection on their bishops who are charged with promoting unity.

Today two items on the agenda stand out in the sharpest contrast. Items 16, Report from Discussion Groups on Same Sex Relationships, and 17, Bill to Incorporate into the Book of Common Prayer an Alternative
Ordinal.

The first question in 'The Examination' from the The Ordination service: Do you accept the Holy Scriptures as containing all things necessary for salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord? To which the candidate will reply "I do".

The bishop will address the congregation:
"People of God, do you believe and trust that they are worthy to be ordained? The "people of God" will respond accordingly.

One of the 'Main Points' in the 'Report from Discussion Groups on Same Sex Relationships' under the previous item: We must not rely on the Bible alone when responding to ethical situations, but neither should we rely completely on experience; there is a place for theological reflection that balances scripture, tradition, reason and experience.

It is clear from the Report in which direction the Governing Body is being directed with seventeen pages of justification compared with the carefully chosen remarks to justify the biased decision of the Bench on the Code of Practice but that will not prevent another loud "By the help of God I will" in response to the question:

"Will you endeavour to promote unity, peace and love among those you serve and to lead by encouragement and example?"

Not in our backyards - in yours!

George Osborne and Eric Pickles favour changes to planning regulations but
oppose developments in their own backyards. Photograph: Martin Argles

This duplicity caught my eye when it appeared in the Guardian 10 days ago. Today there is an opportunity to do something about it.

For those wishing to protest against the "breathtaking hypocrisy" of Ministers who want to scar what's left of our countryside while protecting their own little bits of England, 38 Degrees have lanched a 'Save our countryside' petition. Readers may wish to add their names.

Is to question this, Islamophobia?

Twelve dead, over 180 injured and God knows how many Bibles burnt. The hypocrisy is mind blowing. Have you checked what barnabasfund is doing to save Christianity?