Near miss!

Archbishop of Canterbury                      Source: MailOnline                   Ex PO CEO Paula Vennells

 In 2021 Religion Media Centre reported "The Rev Paula Vennells, former chief executive of the Post Office, is “stepping back” from her role as a parish priest, after the scandal of postal workers wrongly convicted for financial crimes, caused by a faulty IT system."

From MailOnline yesterday: "Revealed: How disgraced ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells nearly became the Bishop of London after being 'supported' in her application by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby."

Vennells was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 2006 and served as a non-stipendiary minister in the Diocese of St Albans. Her lack of experience in the ordained ministry, particularly at a senior level did not deter her from applying for the post of Bishop of London, the third most senior position in the Church of England, for which she was shortlisted.

Apparently believing that administrative skills are more important than pastoral care, her application for the post was reportedly supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Whilst the Post Office scandal is at last receiving the attention it deserves, the conduct of the Church of England deviating from the faith to act like a political organisation must not be overlooked.

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

Church in Wales: Managed decline?

GB voting                                                                       Source: Church in Wales

 The Governing Body of the Church in Wales meets in September 2023.

From the Annual Report and Accounts 2022 of the Representative Body [Session 2, Agendum 9]:

Risk Management Policy

"3. Accelerated decline in church attendance

"The continuation of declining attendance and an increasing age profile would result in declining financial income for dioceses: this would lead to an inability to present established patterns of ministry to the whole of Wales. The Representative Body endeavours to maintain the highest financial support to dioceses possible. Also, a renewed focus on mission and evangelism, including additional financial resources being made available, aims to stimulate church growth."

News Posted: 23 August 2023

"The distribution of more than £137m to churches across Wales will be discussed at a key meeting of Church in Wales members next month.

"The money is being released from historic reserves over the next decade to help churches grow and serve their communities more effectively. Investment will be made in development of new ministries and initiatives, as well as in strengthening existing work."

'New ministries and initiatives'! No doubt awaited with eager anticipation. 

Llandaff Cathedral

Llandaff Cathedral                                                                                                                                              Source: Twitter 

The Dean and Chapter of Llandaff Cathedral are seeking to recruit a Chief Operating Officer in a newly created post as a key member of the Cathedral’s senior staff to support them in 'developing and delivering strategy and leading the Cathedral’s administration'. 

Salary: £50,000 up to £65,000 for an exceptional candidate. Closing date tomorrow, 17 May 2023. 

A Chief Executive/Chapter Clerk  was appointed in 2021.

Salary: £50,000 - £60,000 per year.

Ten years ago Llandaff Cathedral worshippers were asked to increase their giving amid a 'major financial crisis'. Apparently the Cathedral can now afford £100,000+ to assist senior clergy in the performance of their ministry.

Another Church in Wales senior executive position

Icing on the cake at the Church in Wales HQ                                           Source: Twitter

The Church in Wales, home to the Mission/Ministry Areas, is advertising for a Head of Mission and Ministry, another senior executive post with a "Competitive salary commensurate with comparable roles across the organisation."

The role is "one of visionary leadership, strategy setting and dynamic operational management of a diverse range of activities. It involves working closely with the Bishops both corporately through meetings of the Bench of Bishops and individually as they lead their dioceses and oversee their portfolios."

The 2012 Church in Wales Review recommended (Recommendation XLVI) that: There should be a Board of Mission and Ministry responsible for all the spheres of work at present covered by the Bishops’ advisors...and that: There should be a Director of Mission and Ministry to direct the work, and an annual report and debate on their work by the Governing Body.

The Review also recommended (Recommendation XXII) that:There should be three administrative centres, one in the North and two in the South and South West...leading to (Recommendation XXV) that: The recommendations XXII, XXIII and XXIV should be reviewed after three years and a judgement made about whether the Church in Wales is best served by six dioceses with three administrative centres or whether it would be more effective to reduce to three dioceses, together with four area bishops.

At the current rate of executive expansion and declining attendance there will be far more chiefs than indians to divide the cake at the point of extinction.

Another page turns

ANGLICAN BISHOP AND QUEEN’S CHAPLAIN CONVERTS TO CATHOLICISM

While he was a chaplain to the Queen, Gavin Ashenden objected to the reading of the Koran at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. The Koranic chapter on Mary, read from the lectern at the service of Holy Communion explicitly denied the divinity of Jesus. 

Under pressure from Buckingham Palace, Dr. Ashenden resigned his royal chaplaincy in order to be free to challenge the rising tide of apostasy in the Church of England.

His wise counsel, particularly on Anglican Unscripted, has been greatly appreciated by disaffected Anglicans whose Church has left them.

Consecrated as a Missionary bishop to the UK and Europe by the Archbishop of the Christian Episcopal Church, Bishop Ashenden struggled, without pay, to provide an element of leadership for orthodox Anglicans. Without a formal structure he effectively used the Internet to perform his ministry.

It says much for his integrity that he was asked by a Roman Catholic bishop to use his skills for the benefit of the Kingdom as a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Our loss is their gain. May he continue to be blessed in his ministry of truth.

Postscript [19.12.2019]

Gavin Ashenden: Why I’m becoming a Catholic

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.

Grapevine

The above figures taken from the Diocesan Conference 2018 Edition of 'Monmouth Grapevine' illustrate the shift from the traditional parish priest to lay ministry. Rounding up the '.5' to 48 Stipends plus 20 House for Duty priests produces a figure of 68 priests for 175 churches averaging two or three churches per priest aided by 31 NSMs.

Consequently the laity are taking on more responsibility but not for the better. Anglican priestly ministry is being diluted in Wales.

Communion by Extension, "that is, where the sacrament is taken to a church from another church within the benefice, where the Holy Eucharist has previously been celebrated" is becoming commonplace. The sick and the housebound are more likely to be visited by a lay person than by a priest and funerals are conducted by LMEs (Readers).

In a postscript to a previous entry, Local Mission Areas mask decline of 24 October 2017 I wrote:

"The bishop of  Monmouth has proclaimed that 'A third archdeaconry is to be created in Monmouth Diocese following overwhelming support for the move at this year’s Diocesan Conference (21 October)'. He said, 'As Bishop I am charged with the leadership of this Diocese. Faced with such a challenge I could ignore it and almost certainly let the Anglican presence in the Valleys fade away. Or I could do – what any organisation would do – let alone the church – invest in the area and try and turn it around'."

Since her arrival the third archdeacon has been over the diocese like a rash, unlike the bishop. The 'Anglican presence in the Valleys' he referred to has not faded away but the bishop who is 'charged with the leadership of his Diocese' has. His prolonged unexplained absence has left his clergy in the dark and the diocese in limbo.

Peppered throughout the 2017 Conference Edition of Grapevine there is no mention of the bishop in the 2018 edition or elsewhere giving rise to rumours ranging from nervous exhaustion to all manner of other possibilities.

That is not to suggest anything irregular or to add to his difficulties but the current situation reveals a weakness in the governance of the Church in Wales when paralysis can exist with no apparent remedy.

In the event of an Archbishop’s incapacity or absence from the British Isles "the senior Diocesan Bishop willing to act and capable of acting and not then absent from the British Isles, as long as the Archbishop remains incapacitated or absent from the British Isles, shall be the guardian of the spiritualities of any vacant see, and shall have and exercise all the other rights of the Archbishop".

What of the spiritualities of a non-vacant see when the system breaks down?

On the broader front, under its Disciplinary Policy and Procedure of The Clergy provisions, disciplinary proceedings may be instituted on the grounds of "teaching, preaching, publishing or professing, doctrine or belief incompatible with that of the Church in Wales" (3)(b)(a) but while the bishops are of one  mind on matters incompatible with the official position of the Church in Wales, as on Holy Matrimony, they will not hold themselves to account.

There is a spiritual vacuum in the Church in Wales because the bench lacks godly men to teach the faith as received. The decline continues.

Terminal decline

In his Petertide 2018 message the Archbishop of Wales uses the current obsession with soccer and hysteria surrounding the World Cup tournament to spice up his appeal for people to become involved in lay ministry. He says he is certain that there are "thousands of faithful people in our churches around Wales" who could do a huge amount to strengthen and build-up our ministry. He goes on to plug the 'Theology for life' course.

Ummm, thousands of faithful people? At the last count there were only around 28,000 mainly elderly regular attenders in the Church in Wales representing less than 1% of the population. There were 5,963 regular attenders under the age of 18 which, remarkably, is against the trend of continual decline but probably the result of parents seeking a place for their offspring in a church school before disappearing again.

In a province numerically smaller than many dioceses in the Church of England, Oxford has 65,000 worshippers, Chichester 47,000, most congregations are dominated by the elderly, some exclusively. In London with 89,000 worshippers, Pastoral Assistants are typically in their early to mid-twenties and considering a vocation to ordained ministry in the Church of England.

In Wales, dream on!  In my experience and that of others, many volunteers who felt called to a lay ministry would have been the last people I would have wanted calling in times of distress. Some were totally unsuited to the ministry to which they believed they were called but it was difficult to convince them.

Given the Church in Wales' apparent policy of accepting anything that moves if they show the slightest inclination towards ministry, lay ministry could do more harm than good.

As for the 'Theology for life' course, the Church in Wales does not do theology. It does what it refers to as equality. That is not 'equality' in the normal sense. It is a feminist euphemism for parity which applies a quota system instead of offering equality of opportunity based on ability and suitability. It is pure sexism.

What, then, is the Church in Wales teaching having abandoned the faithful, many of whom used to carry out the numerous tasks claimed by the archbishop as being left to the clergy. It teaches that the church must be relevant to society, adopting secular values.

As the number of women clergy increases cultural relativism expands. Our common heritage with the majority of Anglicans fades as spirituality gives way to sexuality. Far from saving the Anglican Church, feminists are destroying it, starting in the US and now rampant throughout the West.

In an article headed 'Could feminists save the Anglican Church?' the "brilliant theologian of the feminist movement", Rosemary Radford Ruether, is quoted as claiming that "Christianity has always absorbed cultural change to match people’s real lives – thankfully. Yet Christian doctrine seems to be continually out of step with social progress". The article goes on:

 "Feminism has produced some startling and radical theologies over the years, making it possible for women to claim their place in the Anglican Church hierarchy as priests and bishops.

"Christian feminists are working to subvert the patriarchal dogma of Christianity from within, dealing with some awkward, misogynist biblical passages and some awkward traditionalists. Read Mary Daly or Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and it becomes possible to imagine Christian symbols in ways that are not oppressive.

"Feminist theology attempts to re-frame Christianity to allow oppressed groups access to God, who, it turns out, does not privilege the male, white, middle class and heterosexual humans after all. Queer theology, like feminist theology, operates at the boundaries of the Church, though there is much more hope, acceptance and optimism at the grassroots.

"Feminism started a theological ball rolling....feminists worked tirelessly to talk the church out of its most blatant sexist dogma. The same process is happening for the LGBTQ Christian community. Of course, sexual identity is much more than being able to be married in church, but it would be an outward sign of theological transformation."

If anything the archbishop's appeal indicates how desperate the Church in Wales has become in its terminal decline, diluting priestly ministry as it identifies more with nonconformists and a United Church for Wales than the Holy Catholic Church of which it claims membership:

 "Since the Church in Wales continues to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, including other Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops, the Bench of Bishops acknowledges that this decision on ministry and gender is set within a broader process of discernment and reception within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God." (Code of Practice)

Within the Anglican Communion, many provinces have gone their own way in the Global Anglican crack up. They have little in common beyond their historical links with the Church of England.

The majority of Anglicans look to GAFCON to Celebrate Gospel of God. Meeting in Jerusalem at the largest international gathering of Anglicans in 50 years, the GAFCON chairman, Nigerian Primate Nicholas Okoh, said that the West is now among the most secular nations on the planet, which sadly includes the Church of England, to which the Anglican Communion owes its origins and for which, he said, we still have a deep affection.

"The essence of the Gospel has virtually been lost in the nations of the West, and if it is to recover its spiritual identity, it must once again embrace that same Gospel or face irrelevancy, decline and finally obliteration.

"The mostly western churches have compromised on sexuality issues and that is viewed here, by these evangelical Anglicans, as a road down which they will not go for fear they jeopardize both the true nature of marriage that is exclusively between a man and a woman, and worse, damaging to their very souls.

"It is not without its significance that of the 11 active Primates here, five are from Africa, two are from the Argentine and Brazil, one is from Australia and Southeast Asia (Myanmar) with just one from the U.S. That the U.S. role which was for years so prominent, and now so reduced, indicates the shift in global Anglicanism from the Global North to the Global South."

From the Letter to the Churches - Gafcon Assembly 2018:

OUR GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE
To proclaim the gospel, we must first defend the gospel against threats from without and within.  We testify to the extraordinary blessings on this Conference, which leads us to call upon God even more, that the Anglican Communion may become a mighty instrument in the hand of God for the salvation of the world. We invite all faithful Anglicans to join us in this great enterprise of proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations.

When the Archbishops of Wales and of Canterbury hold minority views which are contrary to the beliefs of the majority of Anglicans and the wider Church, further decline is inevitable.

Par for the course

The Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) reports that a Welsh television drama advisor is to become Director of Formation for Licensed Ministry for St Padarn’s Institute, the dumbed-down training arm of the Church in Wales.

The Revd Canon Dr Manon Ceridwen James worked as adviser on S4C’s drama Parch "a popular television drama about a female vicar in rural Wales", as if the Vicar of Dibley hasn't already done enough damage. She has been appointed to oversee the training of all licensed ministers in the country.

Canon James is the author of Women, Identity and Religion in Wales, a book on Welsh feminist theology which must be music to the ears of the bench sitters. 

She described her new role as “an exceptional opportunity for me to play a part in growing lay and ordained ministers who will equip our churches to serve our communities and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.”

What feminism has to do with the good news of Jesus Christ is unlikely to be discussed. Just taken as a given.

Women's ministry: laughing all the way to the top

The newly announced Archdeacon of Bangor will be among the story-tellers
at an event in St Asaph Cathedral to celebrate 21 years of women priests
 in the Church in Wales.    Source: CinW Press release

There is to be another celebration of women using the church for 21 years to further their careers at the expense of others when they meet in St Asaph Cathedral to recount stories of "uncertainty, inspiration and creativity".

The occasion is being organised by MAECymru, a self-promoting group of people who claim to have a vision of the Church in Wales as "a community of God’s people where, regardless of gender, justice and equality prevail". It is a vision of a church which misrepresents any opposition with spurious claims of prejudice, misogyny and inequality.

No wonder they are offering a 50% discount to entice new members to their gang.

"Welcome !  to  MAECymru"                                                                                  Source: MAECymru 

The newly announced Archdeacon of Bangor will be among the story-tellers. Her contribution to the debate on women bishops in the Church in Wales can be found in an essay following her trip to the US where she saw a woman celebrant wearing a pointy hat. That convinced her that she was right about women's ministry and the vast majority of Christians were wrong in their belief that the ordination of women to the priesthood was contrary to scripture and tradition.

The new Archdeacon has much to say about "women's ministry" but she completely misses the point. Women's ministry has become a process for the self-advancement for women in the church. Not ordinary women who worship quietly as they keep the church running but the minority of women who shout the loudest and are content to use the church for political gain at the expense of others.

Compare what she  has to say about ministry with this extract from A Noble Task by Bishop David Thomas who was asked to reflect on his experience of ministry as Provincial Assistant Bishop and how it might change if the episcopate in Wales  were opened to women:

 "Another  dangerous misconception concerns the nature of the objection to the ordination  of women as priests. People sometimes assume that the real problem has to do  with the ministry of women in the Church. This is not the case. The assumption  arises from a failure to differentiate clearly between ministry in general and  ordained ministry in particular. Perhaps I can illustrate the point from my  liturgical responsibilities. Sometimes, for instance when a document is being  prepared for Governing Body, I have to spend hours poring over the minutiae of  a revised liturgical text. This was how I spotted that, in the ‘gold book’  Eucharist, the heading of Preface 23 (for use at ordinations, institutions,  etc.) was ‘Ministry’. The heading has been corrected in the 2004 equivalent  (no. 30) to ‘Ordained Ministry’. This contemporary, very common, tendency  unconsciously to allow ordained ministry to get submerged in the much wider  concept of ministry, leads to all sorts of mistaken perceptions. All I can say  by way of comment is that the wisest (and toughest!) spiritual adviser I’ve  ever had so far was a woman; I benefited enormously from working in my last  parish alongside a woman deacon; I made it my business to increase the number  of female eucharistic assistants in my last parish, and I worked very happily  there with a quite outstanding woman churchwarden – added to which, I am well  aware that there are some situations, perhaps many, where a woman will be  better qualified to give pastoral care than any man. I have very good reasons  for accepting, affirming, valuing and rejoicing in the ministry of women in the  Church. The difficulty for me, as for others including many women, has to do  with that distinctive aspect of presbyteral ministry which we call eucharistic  presidency."

Bishop David Thomas was the first Provincial Assistant Bishop (PAB) appointed to provide acceptable sacramental and pastoral ministry to those who, in conscience, were unable to receive the ministry of women priests. He also proved to be the last PAB after Abp Barry Morgan and his bench sitters reneged on the agreement which eased the path to women's ordination in the Church in Wales.

The bench had achieved their objective and that was that despite the overwhelming desire expressed at Diocesan meetings for similar pastoral and sacramental provision to be restored.

MAECymru shares the duplicity of the bench of bishops. They have a vision for a Church in Wales in which justice and equality prevail but it is a cloak under which secularisation has taken hold, advancing minority causes.

They couldn't care less for the countless women and men who find their church has left them.

Justice and equality for those left with no church will be quietly forgotten as the story-tellers relate their sob stories.

Wimmin called to ministry

Canon Anne Dyer at St Andrew's Cathedral in King Street.
Canon Dyer is set to become the first female bishop in Scotland.
Source Press and Journal/Picture by Colin Rennie.

Another 'social worker' is to be enthroned as the first woman bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church this week. The new Episcopalian Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney has already made it clear she isn’t interested in restricting herself to "prayers, pews and parochial parish life". She is focused on "fighting for social justice, sexual equality".

Responding to critics of her backing for gay marriage, the new bishop said, “The Scottish Episcopal Church officially acknowledges that there is not one view on marriage within our church today. We hold differing views according to our consciences, but also after varied readings of the bible and prayer. Whatever view a person holds, they are welcome. It is the bishop’s role to try to hold diversity together, to enable those who disagree to find common cause and purpose, and see Christ present in every person."

She should have a word with the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev'd Mark Strange. There was no common cause when he dismissed objections from traditionalist Anglicans who accused the bishops of having chosen to “ignore the opinion of the Diocesan Synod”. Bishop Strange stated that he, the other electing bishops, and Canon Dyer “fully believe and trust that they have been led by the Holy Spirit”.

The Holy Spirit is having a busy time allegedly supporting all these wimmin who claim to be called to ministry based on controversial readings of the Bible.

Another +selfie: "We literally could not have got another person in the chapel!
Eucharist, fellowship & conversation enjoyed by all." Source: Twitter

In another example, a Church in Wales tweet has been promoting an interview with the bishop of Llandaff by a student who attended a well publicised Cardiff University Chaplaincy event to welcome their new bishop. 

Apparently the event was so well attended that  all 22 students present had to squeeze themselves into the chapel, including some of considerably riper years looking at the +selfie.

Had it not been for the big squeeze in the chapel the event could have provided yet another metaphor for the state of the Church in Wales. 

There are 30,676 students in Cardiff University giving an attendance figure for the welcome visit of 0.07%, somewhat short of the 0.9 % of the population worshipping in Church of Wales congregations on average Sundays - see Church in Wales attendance plummets.

Undeterred bishop June obligingly explains how she had been called to ministry. She had a "developing sense that God was calling [her] to the ministry of the church". Sorry June. That wasn't God. It was synodical voting by feminists and their sympathisers who have independently used Anglican church provinces for political advantage with no regard for the consequences.

A word count of the bishop's interview illustrates the secular approach to ministry by career wimmin. It shows Jesus, along with men and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, had one mention each while sex had six and women eleven.

What they have is a ministry of self-advancement based on 'varied readings' of the bible which appeal to secularists who, in turn, use it as ammunition to attack the church. The consequences are all too evident.

Ministry is about service. It is not a strategy for the advancement of wimmin, casting aside other women and men because they follow Christ's example along with the vast majority of Anglicans and most Christians.

But the saddest result of the feminist mission is that some genuinely faithful women have been misled into thinking that ordained ministry is part of God's plan when the contrary is obvious from any normal reading of the Bible.

Postscript [02.03.2018]

As if to prove my point, an article in the Church Times 'Women in ministry: the next steps' is described as a "response to Women’s History Month" in which Johanna Derry looks at issues faced by women clergy.

A word count shows not one reference to Jesus but 52 to women.

From the article: "I think that no one looks twice now when they see a woman priest — it’s accepted, and most people are very happy with it. It seems normative rather than quirky, and I think we’ve made very quick progress on the way women bishops have been received, too," the Revd Sheridan James, Vicar of St Catherine’s, Hatcham, says. She is the dean of women’s ministry for the Woolwich Area."

That is the same argument being used by clerics promoting gay marriage - people will accept it, they claim, as they have re-marriage after divorce. When the Vicar of St Catherine’s says that 'most people are very happy with it', she must be referring to the few Anglicans remaining who still regularly attend Sunday services. Tens of thousands are not. They have left.

In Wales where no provision has been made for Anglicans who are not swayed by relativism, their church has simply left them. There is no love, no charity, no concern. Just nothing. That is negativity.

If you are not for the revisionist agenda you are labelled a bigot, guilty of sexism, misogyny and all the usual phobias. Alternative views are not permitted even when, as the 1928 Book of Common Prayer put it when I was received into the congregation of Christ’s flock, one manfully fights under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil.

Nevertheless I welcome different shades of opinion but sadly some interesting comments are lost because they are unsigned and have no pseudonym to separate them from other 'anonymous' comments. Here are two opposing views by way of example.

Anonymous 1 - "I am sick and tired of the comments made on this blog. I am a woman and I object to wimmin being used to describe the females who serve God and His Church. You should look at the past and see how successful men have been. Not. Perhaps God is trying something new and wants to change the attitude that prevails."

Anonymous 2 - "Have you noticed this positive discrimination in the Church of Scotland where they more or less stopped recruiting men in favour of women with the result that they have run out of ministers. Once upon a time the discerning of a call to the ministry was the main role of the hierarchy when they encouraged and supported those with a vocation to listen to the call. Wider society is not turning the church into a minority - the church is doing that job by turning away from the search for true gifts of ministry and mission."

I again urge commentators to observe this rule when comments are submitted for publication.

A promising start

Senior bishop, the Rt Rev'd John Davies, Bishop of Swansea & Brecon.  CinW

A welcome change from many previous Presidential Addresses used to further the former Archbishop's political agenda, the Governing Body of the Church in Wales has been told to "put evangelism at heart of ministry".

Rather than 'take note' of the ever decreasing number of regular attenders at Sunday services, the bench of bishops now appear ready to confront the problem head on. Bishop John Davies echoed the feelings expressed on this blog when he said "Some GB members felt strongly and, I believe correctly, that the time was right for us to stop agreeing to simply ‘take note of’ the report.

"By means of an amended motion, GB was invited to take note but to do so ‘with a heavy heart’. Furthermore, GB was invited to ask the Standing Committee to take a careful look at the minority of parishes which were actually growing, and to identify good practice from which others might learn something, do something and, hopefully, begin to arrest the cycle of decline."

Amen to that.

The not so quick and the dead

The Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby pays a visit to St Alban's
  Academy in Highgate                                                                        Photo credit: Birmingham Mail

In my previous entry I referred to a report that the Archbishop of Canterbury was to visit a school in Birmingham where 80 per cent of its pupils are Muslim and just eight per cent of its pupils are Christian. He has. A report on his visit to St Alban’s Academy can be read here.

The reports I have seen so far concentrate on gays and gay marriage. Referring to Church of England’s laws the Archbishop said, "Marriage is between one man and one woman for life and sexual activity should be confined to marriage" before adding that he [like many of us -Ed.] has many gay friends who do "incredible" work. He  admitted that he "struggled" with his views on homosexuality adding: "I’m listening very, very closely to try to discern what the spirit of God is trying to tell us." That sounds like sandy ground to me, just as in Wales where 'consultations' are taking place to to be ignored, as before, if they don't meet their Archbishop's expectations set out here.

Important though the sanctity of marriage is it was this quote which worried me more:

"Answering a pupil who asked whether he would encourage him to convert from Islam to Christianity, the Archbishop said: 'I am not going to put pressure on you, and I wouldn’t expect you to put pressure on me'."

'Pressure' is reserved for Muslims who have no scruples about gaining converts for Allah. Examples here and here; ideology here. From another report today on the Facing Islam Blog:

"ISIS has abducted dozens of Assyrian men, women and children, including 12 from Tel Hurmiz, 15 from Tel Goran. They have been brought to Jabal Abdul Aziz. The residents of the villages of Tel Shamiran (approximately 50) and Tel Jazira (about 40) are being held captive in their own villages by ISIS.

 A number of churches have been destroyed, including the church in Tel Hurmiz, one of the oldest churches in Syria, the Mar Bisho church in Tel Shamiran, the church in Qabr Shamiy and the church in Tel Baloua.

Three weeks ago ISIS ordered Assyrians in the region of Hassaka to remove the crosses from their churches and to pay jizya (Christian poll tax), warning residents that if they failed to pay they would have to leave or else be killed."

The Principal of St Alban’s Academy told reporters: "Our collective Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu parents and those of other faiths or none send their children to St Alban’s because of its high expectations and good discipline founded on strong moral and religious principles and because they recognise the value of children being encouraged and supported in their faiths. Despite the fact that the school has a Church of England ethos, its multi-faith intake means it has strong partnerships with various establishments including Birmingham Central Mosque. [My emphasis - Ed.]

The Principal talks about a Church of England 'ethos' but I see little evidence in the reports. Perhaps he is unaware that it is the duty of all Muslims to convert infidels to Islam believing that "Islam is the one true faith that leads to salvation". Archbishop Welby may have been caught on the hop but I was disappointed that he didn't grasp the opportunity presented to him when asked about conversion.

Muslims need to know Christ. How else are we to conquer the evil that is being allowed to spread around the world on the absurd pretext that Islamic extremists have nothing to do with Islam? They are emulating their prophet while non-violent Muslims are spreading their religion surreptitiously. Turning the other cheek is one thing, turning away from Christ is quite another. According to research by the Pew Research Center, "in 34 of the 38 countries where the question was asked, at least half of Muslims believe that Islam is the one true religion that can lead to eternal life in heaven". We need more Christianity and less political talk so that people know the truth.

If I may Archbishop, some recommend reading from 2 Timothy 4:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.