Wales, Wales!

First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford                                                                   Source: Guido Fawkes, order_order.com

Nation Cymru reports:  "The Welsh Government is setting itself on a potential collision course with the UK Government after deciding to allow people to self-identify their gender when standing as candidates for the Senedd - much to the chagrin of Wales-Women’s Rights Network

Little surprise there  given this earlier report from order-order.com: 

"The Welsh government is paying out £9 million in taxpayer cash annually for woke jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have uncovered data revealing that in 2022, a total of 138 posts in the Welsh Government featured words ranging from “diversity” and “inclusion” to “climate“, “wellbeing“, and “race“. A whopping 25 staff are employed in roles mentioning “equality“. The total cost of these, including salary and pension contributions, was £8,879,479."

Meanwhile, in NHS Wales, the health minister has warned that there may be fewer hospital beds in Wales, after asking health boards to make a further £64m in savings.

The Welsh Government has an action plan to make Wales  'A Nation of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees' in which it has a 'vision' for Wales to become "the world’s first ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, celebrating Welsh hospitality and our history of migration and safety. " 

No matter what the cost in a cash-strapped Welsh economy it appears! 

Another government minister said that vulnerable people will "inevitably" feel the impact of spending cuts as she prepared to announce how the Welsh government will fill a black hole in its budget.

Nation Cymru also reports that the Welsh government is working on a plan to introduce a Bill "to make our parliament more representative of the people it serves", which includes provisions to introduce candidate quotas for people seeking election to the Senedd: “Our proposed model for quotas is designed to maximise the chances of achieving a Senedd comprised of at least 50% women."

With plans to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96, and change the electoral system to one that is "wholly proportional" no doubt the Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality (DIE) campaigners will will be keen to ensure that the real needs of the people of Wales do not come before the wishes of the Welsh DIEhards. First they need to know what a woman is.

Postscript [12.11.2023]

Fresh challenge for Welsh Government’s gender-balanced Senedd plan - Martin Shipton writes in Nation Cymru: "The introduction of a Bill to the Scottish Parliament that will end the rights of transgender women to identify as female when applying for public appointments should prompt the Welsh Government to ditch a similar plan relating to membership of the Senedd, according to a campaign group."

Bishop of St Davids election

St Davids Cathedral (photo by Toby Pickard)                                                                                     Source: Church in Wales

This beautiful photograph of the sun setting over St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire was published in a Provincial News item, Election of new Bishop of St Davids. It is also symbolic of the sun setting on Christianity in the Church in Wales.

The election of the previous bishop of St Davids was all about politics. It ended in disaster.

In another Provincial News item, New team for Panel as it widens access to ministry, the Church in Wales announces that "A senior journalist and Lay Canon is the new chair of the panel which selects people for ordained ministry."

Their aim is 'to increase the number of vocations and for new priests to reflect the wonderful diversity of our communities'.

Diversity along with inclusivity and equality have come to supersede all else in the Church in Wales.

A commentator under my previous blog entry sarcastically referred to 'eccentric congregations in Pembrokeshire' which, given the context of the comment, implied that traditional, orthodox Christianity was eccentric.

That does not augur well for the election of the next Bishop of St Davids later this month.

Postscripts 

[16.10.2023]

BBC News article St Davids chooses successor to 'never trust a Tory' bishop

[17.10.2023]

The Archdeacon of Carmarthen, The Ven Dorrien Davies, is to be the next bishop of St Davids.

https://twitter.com/ChurchinWales/status/1714294224538181736

Betrayal of trust

Martin Bashir and Lord 'Tony' Hall

Inclusivity and diversity, the current watchwords of church and state were eagerly taken on board by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as is abundantly clear from their current output. 

Vacating his post as BBC Director General in 2020 Lord Hall said there had been "big, big changes" at the corporation since he took over in 2013. His tenure as director general began at a time the corporation was "in crisis".

He referred to "tense" negotiations with the government around dropping free TV licences for the over 75s, the 'n-word' controversy and gender pay equality.

Diversity of thought was needed within the BBC in addition to racial diversity, said Lord Hall.

What of integrity?  

The BBC has betrayed our trust.

The crisis referred to by Lord Hall pales in the light of the Dyson inquiry which found that the BBC fell short of "high standards of integrity and transparency" over Martin Bashir's 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Bashir was found guilty of deceit and breaching BBC editorial conduct to obtain the interview.

An internal investigation by Tony Hall before he became the BBC's director general was said to have been "woefully ineffective". There was a "covering up".  

Bashir joined ITV in 1999 but in 2016 he returned to the BBC as religious affairs correspondent, despite his apparent dishonesty and deceitful behaviour, qualities not unknown in the Church of England.

Described in the Mail as the 'pointless' Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has been criticised for turning his back on a school chaplain who was reported to a terror unit after questioning his school's new LGBT policies

The Rev'd Dr Bernard Randall was sacked because he had delivered a sermon in which he told pupils they were allowed to disagree with the school's new LGBT policies, particularly if they felt they ran contrary to the Church's values.

The Christian Legal Centre, which has taken up Dr Randall's case, appealed for Archbishop Justin Welby, along with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, to publicly support Dr Randall. All three senior figures declined to give Dr Randall their backing

So Dr Randall becomes yet another victim of a Church that has betrayed its traditional Christian beliefs for inclusivity and diversity.

Another betrayal of trust.

Welcome and Beware!

Visiting Newport Cathedral on 31 October Wendy observed this "Amazing poster on entry to the Cathedral".

If Wendy is unknown to readers, especially those in the Monmouth diocese, reading the bishop-elect's letter to her electors should clarify and explain how the 'inclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ' has become 'amazing' to some in the Church in Wales:

 8th November 2019

"From the Venerable Cherry Vann    

Dear Electors,

A lot has happened since we last met on 17th September 2019 and I am looking forward to moving in to Bishopstow at the beginning of December and beginning a new ministry among you in the new year.

As a way of thanking you for the part you played in the three day marathon that was the Electoral College, Wendy and I would like to invite you and some of the diocesan officers to Bishopstow for drinks and nibbles on Thursday 19th December, 5.00 – 7.00pm. Please come for all or for part of those two hours, as you are able. It would be lovely to see you for a more relaxed and informal conversation for however long you can come. 

In the meantime, be assured of my prayers for you and for the Diocese of Monmouth and please do pray for Wendy and I as we prepare to leave Manchester and move to a new life and ministry in the Church in Wales. 

I very much look forward to seeing you again  

Prayers and good wishes

Cherry"

It is not clear from Cherry's letter what part of  her episcopal ministry Wendy will be sharing in but this must be another first for the Church in Wales which, in the words of the bishop of Llandaff, has "unhealthy preoccupations with gender and sexuality".

The Church in Wales press office and the Diocese of Monmouth declined to comment on whether the cohabiting bishop-elect is in a partnered same-sex relationship but nevertheless the appointment is a slap in the face for the Governing Body after they rejected a bid by the bench of bishops to ditch traditional teaching on marriage and allow same-sex marriage in Church.

It is also a snub to the Anglican Communion position that marriage is intended to be a faithful, exclusive, lifelong union of a man and a woman. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is not inviting same-sex spouses to the 2020 Lambeth Conference of bishops.

More welcome in the divided diocese of Monmouth would have been a spiritually uplifting appointment, not another nod to inclusivity, a euphemism if ever there was one, and further division.

"A warning to society"

A 'Watch and Share' video from Christian Concern:

This is not an isolated case according to a formerly Trans woman:
'Hundreds' of young trans people are seeking help to return to original sex.

Readers may have watched another video of a 7 yr old boy describing how his mother dresses him as a girl claiming that he has gender dysphoria. The boy's father disagrees and has turned to a family court to stop his son from transitioning to a girl.

Added to these distressing stories are more bizarre episodes which have the effect of trivialising a serious medical condition.

Some recent headlines:

Outraged feminists boycott Always sanitary towels after brand ditched Venus logo from their products in response to Trans-rights campaigners who say men use them too.

Transgender activist Jessica Yaniv loses 'wax her b*lls' complaint against salon workers.

Transgender athletes – the controversy that could bring down women’s sport.

The age of responsibility in England and Wales is 10. The age of consent is 16 yet primary school children are being exposed to Trans and gay lessons. It is hardly surprising that there has been a 2,500% increase in referrals to gender identity clinics over the past decade.

Children go through many phases in growing up. Exploiting this natural process is to be deplored.

One might have thought that Christian Concern would have the Church in Wales on board. Instead transgenderism is actively promoted. Perhaps that is because the Church in Wales is Christian in name only as their Trans clergyperson eagerly spreads their inclusive message - agree with us or you're out.