Beyond belief

'Retiring' Archbishop Barry Morgan      Source: Wales Online

A fawning article in Wales Online "Archbishop Barry Morgan on love, bereavement and Christmas hope" affords the Archbishop more credit than he is due. It conceals the sense of loss experienced by many members of the Church in Wales as the direct result of Dr Morgan's actions and inaction.

The article continues: "Archbishop Barry Morgan is preparing for his last Christmas as leader of the Church in Wales and his first without his beloved wife, Hilary. Throughout his ministry he has sought to comfort people who have faced loss and illness, and now he is sharing his experiences of bereavement in the hope that it will help others."

The story ignores the needless pain Dr Morgan has inflicted on others, a sense of loss that either he fails to understand or chooses to ignore. Many believe the latter. He could have retired years ago but he chose to stay at the helm, leading the Church in Wales into the wilderness as his heretical mentor, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, did for TEC.

Loss is a terrible thing and can be heartbreaking but loss resulting from the deliberate actions of supposed Christian leaders is inexcusable. That is the situation many members of TEC have found themselves in. A situation that is being repeated in the Church in Wales simply because as 'loyal Anglicans', they are unable in conscience to depart from the traditional Apostolic faith of the Holy Catholic Church. As priest and bishop it is Dr Morgan's duty to comfort people who have faced loss so to cause that sense of loss is unforgivable.

The lives of regular churchgoers often revolve around the church. Their religious and social lives are intertwined. When ostracised there is a vacuum. That is the position in which many church members have found themselves. The attitude of the Archbishop and the Bench is one of take it or leave or look elsewhere. Alternative provision as in the Church of England for anyone who does not subscribe to Dr Morgan's liberal agenda would be in his words, over his dead body. There is no comfort in that.

Campaigners for the ordination of women and some gay Christians love to protest that they have been persecuted but little if anything is heard about church members, often cradle Anglicans, who have been excluded for maintaining their historic belief in the Apostolic Church.  In my own experience supposedly devout Anglicans have refused to share the Peace and refused to speak because their liberal cause has been rejected. How very liberal!

Some 'traditionalists' have battled on in such circumstances while others have succumbed under the pressure of their harsh treatment and left the church. Although deprived of spiritual support many have found the experience liberating. Little surprise then that regular Sunday attendance in the Church in Wales has dropped to less than 1% of the population and continues to fall.

Victims!

The bishop-elect of St Davids receiving Holy Communion from the Chaplain to the LGBT community in the Diocese of St Asaph.                     Source: BBC

"By far the most popular homophile tactic is the claim to victim status, which is a very powerful, almost paralyzing, weapon that gives them a distinct advantage in the public square." 

The six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion

A BBC report headed 'Church in Wales premieres sexuality acceptance film' includes a video clip showing the bishop-elect of St Davids receiving Holy Communion from the Chaplain to the LGBT community in the diocese of St Asaph, illustrating an inclusive church in which homosexual people are portrayed as victims.

In the Guardian report St Asaph Cathedral will host the screening of All One in Christ on 6 December. The 12-minute documentary is "critical" of the church’s approach to homosexuality. It tells the story of two former nuns who fell in love only to be ostracised by the church after their relationship was exposed.

That was forty years ago. Today, gay and lesbian clergy are very much in evidence from deacons to deans. There has yet to be an openly gay bishop but there have been plenty of rumours surrounding some of the bench sitters over the years so why such absurd claims?

If homosexuality is accepted on a par with heterosexuality there would be no need for people to come out. With two wives and two husbands raising children as 'family' units, acceptance as normal families is demanded. But it is not normal. It is part of the same sex marriage agenda which members of the Church in Wales rejected by a margin of 4:1 in St Davids diocese. 'Changing Attitude' explains the Archbishop's claim that Canon Penberthy is 'the best person to be a bishop'. Someone to carry on his mission after Dr Morgan retires in January 2017.

The claims are false. The real victims in the Church in Wales are those who have been ostracised for keeping the faith against the tide of secularism advanced by Barry and the bench sitters. That Canon Penberthy has been made bishop-elect of St Davids in such circumstances is a travesty from which the Church in Wales is unlikely to recover.