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Six openly partnered/married gay and lesbian bishops at Lambeth 2022.                  Source: Twitter

There have been a number of postings on Twitter of this group of gay and lesbian bishops at Lambeth thumbing their noses at orthodoxy, this one by @TransEpiscopal, a group of "transgender Episcopalians and allies dedicated to making the Episcopal Church a welcoming place for all"!

The US Episcopalian Church along with other western Anglican provinces do not need transgender, gay and lesbian priests and bishops to make people welcome. If the Church had not been welcoming there would be no openly gay and lesbian priests or bishops in the Church.

They protest that God loves them and that they are made in His image. So they are. So are adulterers.

God loves the sinner, not the sin, so these entrists busy themselves changing definitions to suit themselves, even re-defining marriage which is between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others and for life. Were it not so there would be no children and civilisation would cease.

The LGBTQ+ community is using the Church for their own ends. They are a vocal minority who do not represent the majority of Anglicans and fellow Christians.

The same sex partnered bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, (pictured 3rd from right) is a patron of Open Table, an organisation whose mission is to "warmly welcome and affirm people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA), + our family and friends, and anyone who wants to belong in an accepting, loving worship community."

Very well organised, a vocal minority is using Lambeth to manipulate public opinion for their own ends. 

The Global South stands for Bible based orthodoxy. They have set out four priorities for ‘Orthodox delegates’ including re-affirmation of Resolution 1.10. 

They must not be silenced by a vocal minority intent on serving their own interests above all others.

Postscript [01.08.2022] 

The house of the Lord! - Look at the setting for this circus. What have we become?

That was the Church that was, it's over, let it go?

A new order? The bishop of Monmouth at Sacred Synod in 2020 with her civil partner                                            Source:Twitter

 Older readers may recall the 1960s BBC TV satirical programme That Was the Week That Was which opened with Millicent Martin singing "That was the week that was, It's over, let it go ..."

Similar feelings have been expressed for the Church in Wales. It's over, let it go. But it is hard to do so while watching self-serving groups use the Church to advance their own particular agendas at the expense of loyal Anglicans who have been shut out.

Revd Stella Bailey, the new Archdeacon of the Gwent
Valleys and Director of Mission.          Source: C in W

Monmouth news has a message from the newly appointed Archdeacon of the Gwent Valleys and Diocesan Director of Mission, the Revd Stella Bailey: "I am passionate about shaping the church to enable it to preach the gospel afresh for this generation...I keep up to date with emerging social needs and seek ways that I can creatively respond. Sometimes this involves giving a voice to those who are voiceless, acting as an advocate or using my platform to highlight the issue and help bring about change. I teach about the issues of injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias so that the church can be more Christ like in its appearance."

Stella will be moving to the diocese of Monmouth from England with her partner Karen and their two dogs, Lyra and Stewie.

It cannot be a coincidence that the new archdeacon's bishop is also a lesbian living in a civil partnership with her same sex partner. The bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, is Patron of the campaigning Open Table Network (OTN). Along with her sister bishops in Llandaff and St Davids, they preach the gospel 'afresh' to promote secular causes.

An unpublished comment put it this way: "Not sure I fully agree with this, the incoming archdeacon of the valleys has no prior knowledge of the area, the people, the problems let alone the machinations of CiW. But she has one common factor with +newport they both have female partners. A case of like picks like rather than the best suited person. With such people running the church it deserves to be terminated." 

There is nothing 'Christ like' about complaining of alleged "injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias" to advance the LGBTQIA+ cause at the expense of other Anglicans who follow traditional Christian teaching in common with the vast majority of Anglicans and other Christians.

Sadly such tactics are not only accepted but are championed by the bench of bishops who are pushing forward their same sex relationship policies whether pew sitters agree or not.

According to a recent Church Times article Ten years on, Harries review has changed the Church in Wales, the Review found "warm, friendly and welcoming communities", not the injustice, prejudice and unconscious bias alleged. But it also found that the Church in Wales was in crisis which led to replacing the universally recognised parish system with unpopular ministry areas. 

That policy has been pursued by Church in Wales bishops with gusto while ignoring the recommended reduction in the number of diocesan bishops and restructuring of diocesan administrative areas. 

Instead senior staff levels have increased with an un-elected assistant bishop who will, reportedly, join the diocesan bishops on the bench, some of whom are also unelected to this self perpetuating coterie. 

It is over but hard to let go.

[Commentators are reminded that anonymous comments submitted for publication must include a pseudonym.]

Self or selfless?

The current debate on gay marriage ignores an important aspect of marriage - children. Children may not be in the minds of all gay or lesbian couples but if they are, they ignore the fact that it is normal for a child to have a mother (female) and a father (male). 

In probably the most high profile case, Sir Elton John and his partner have admitted that their son "faced 'challenges' and potential 'double' stigma as he grew up and have consulted counsellors to find out the best way of dealing with any potential problems." Hardly surprising when the boy's 'mother' (and possibly his biological father) will be 84 when Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John is 21 and his father (also possibly his biological father) is in his 70th year and both are/were male. In the US there was another bizarre story of a pregnant father giving birth to a bouncing baby girl. These sort of cases are so far removed from normality that they highlight the absurdity of change for no apparent reason other than self-gratification. I want, therefore I must have, no matter what the consequences.

Fresh from his Review for the Archbishop of Wales who appears to be somewhat accident prone in his choices, the liberal-minded former bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth has stepped into the debate with the suggestion: "Instead of at first opposing civil partnerships, and then only accepting them grudgingly with gritted teeth, they should have welcomed them warmly from the first and immediately proposed services of commitments and blessing in church. They should do this even now." Few people are any longer interested in what the Anglican Church has to say but it will be interesting to see what trendy recommendations Lord Harries comes up with for the Church in Wales to hasten its further decline.

Many religious and non-religious heterosexual people supported civil partnerships despite reservations that some participants sought to have their partnerships seen as a marriage. In the church this has become a familiar pattern of give a little, grab the lot. Spurious arguments about equality have seen women's ordination and liberal sexuality take more bites out of the apple until there is nothing left but a barely recognised core. The Anglican Communion is now in its death throws as the Anglican Covenant attempts to paper-over the cracks. For some odd reason, once a band wagon starts rolling people jump on for fear of being left behind and branded yesterday's people, many clergy included. 


PM David Cameron has been followed by the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband in support of so-called gay rights but in reality it has more to do with electoral advantage than ethics or conscience. By implication Cabinet Minister Francis Maude now associates family values with being nasty!  There is a moral here. Trendy desires have done the Anglican Church no favours in her drive to become more relevant to society. What the country needs is strong leadership based on traditional values instead of pandering to current whims which favour self over selflessness.

Oh what gay day!

If God had intended this, why did He make male and female? He could have done without men and perhaps tucked something under Eve's arm to go with her hand bag. 

Apparently the Church of England has pledged not to allow any of its buildings to be used for civil partnership ceremonies. Now call me cynical but haven't we had promises and pledges before? Civil partnerships were not weddings but that didn't last long. As the Google headline puts it:

  Gay and lesbian couples will get right to marry in church. 

I have no problem with civil partnerships or with gay and lesbian couples. The treatment that many have experienced and still experience around the world is shameful but why is it that liberals can't let things be? Grab an inch and take a mile is their motto with the consequence that religion is becoming irrelevant to many leaving a vacuum to be filled by the one that appears untouchable.

Gay “Marriage”

Reports that Gay and Lesbian couples could soon be allowed to “marry” in church strike a wrong note. According to The Times, “senior bishops in the Lords have [said] that they will support an amendment to the Equality Bill next month that will lift the ban on civil partnership ceremonies in religious premises. The amendment would remove the legislative prohibition on blessings of homosexual couples and open the door to the registration of civil partnerships in churches, synagogues, mosques and all other religious premises.”

Advocates of change will be quick to point out that a blessing is not a marriage but that will not stop a blurring of the ceremonies. In June 2008 The Telegraph reported that two male Anglican priests exchanged vows and rings in a ceremony that was conducted using one of the church's most traditional wedding rites. The report continued, “Although some liberal clergy have carried out "blessing ceremonies" for homosexual couples in the past, this is the first time a vicar has performed a "wedding ceremony", using a traditional marriage liturgy, with readings, hymns and a Eucharist.”

The introduction of civil partnerships righted a serious wrong but that is what they are. To blur the distinction between a civil partnership and a religious ceremony in which marriage is proclaimed in the Anglican Marriage Service Preface as “the foundation of family life in which children are born and nurtured” is nonsense. Civil partners “in good times and in bad, may find strength, companionship and comfort, and grow to maturity in love” but they are not “married”.