No honour among thieves

 

In This is not Dibley I referred to the MailOnline story: "Remind me, it is 2023, isn’t it?’: Why has the Cornish town Dawn French loves risked such an unholy row by refusing its own Vicar of Dibley?"

The report: 'Cornish church reverses ban on female vicars' has given church feminists and toadying MPs a field day.

These feminists have used the Church for their own political purposes, accusing, scheming and reneging. Promises and agreements that enabled them to reach their goal mean nothing.

Listen to the blatant misrepresentation by the chair of WATCH as she seeks help [to] bring "discrimination" in the Church of England  to an end. As did the recently retired bishop of St Davids, WATCH regard difference of opinion, even when based on fact, as discrimination and prejudice

There have also been attempts to redefine gender language used about God. In The Mother Church: Turning God Trans published in Crisis Magazine [a recommended read - AB] it is suggested that a disproportionate number of those pushing for change would appear to be 'left-wing female vicars'.

No honour from certain MPs either, including the the Father of the House, a self-declared WATCH supporter, who appear unable or unwilling to distinguish between equality and theology regardless of measures agreed to,

Anglicanism in this country is dying. The Church in Wales is leading the decline with their one-track strategy of inclusion and diversity which again uses the Church to advance a political cause at the expense of others. 

If only a fraction of the effort put into their latest 'outreach-social justice' drive had been devoted to the excluded things may have been different. St Davids diocese is watched with trepidation as they prepare to elect their new bishop. Scripture, reason and tradition must not again be sacrificed to secularism.

Despite denials the Roman Catholic Church is creeping in the same direction in proposing women deacons and Catholic LGBTQ+ advocates. This has arisen as a real possibility through the Synod on Synodality, which was launched by Pope Francis in October 2021.

This is a repeat of the push for Anglican women deacons. It was claimed that it did not mean that they would become priests if made deacons. As deacons they argued that it was discrimination if they could not be ordained to the priesthood followed by the threefold ministry argument that it would be discriminatory not to allow women bishops.

Now that they have achieved their aim and converted Anglicanism to conform with their own desires they want to get rid of anyone who does not share their warped ideas of equality.

There is no honour among thieves.

This is not Dibley

Fowey Parish Church: Source Parish Website

From Mail Online: "‘Remind me, it is 2023, isn’t it?’: Why has the Cornish town Dawn French loves risked such an unholy row by refusing its own Vicar of Dibley?"

Yes, it is 2023  but the author of the Mail article headlined above appears unable or unwilling to separate fact from fiction. It is riddled with prejudice against those who follow traditional Christian teaching rather than the fad of the day.

Under the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 (No. 2) a Resolution may be made "That this parochial church council would not accept a woman as the minister who presides at or celebrates the Holy Communion or pronounces the Absolution in the parish."

That is the factual position.

The Vicar Of Dibley is a TV fantasy show but it is portrayed as reality by people with no religion of their own and feminists in the Church wishing to undermine fellow Anglicans who, on theological grounds, are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women. 

Ignorance offers no hinderance.

Some comments from the Mail article:

'It appears the parish church representatives here are obviously bigots,' said one comment on a community Facebook page.

'You should hang your heads in shame, such a bad decision,' read another. 'Remind me, it is 2023 isn't it?'

Progressives resort to lies and false accusations because they can muster no valid arguments to defend their own position This is typified by the Chair of Women And The Church (WATCH) who endlessly protests on Twitter and elsewhere about so called discrimination, simply because others disagree with her misrepresentations.

In this Christian Institute video the question is asked Do Christians want to drown children who 'might turn out to be gay'? 

The video illustrates how LGBT activists Jayne Ozanne and Peter Tatchell think so while Archbishop Justin Welby appears to agree with them. 

Also present at the confrontation was Ben Bradshaw MP who yesterday introduced a ‘ten minute rule motion’ aimed at forcing the Church of England to conduct same-sex marriages. It was passed by the House of Commons without a vote. This was despite Bradshaw himself saying in 2013 that it was the “prerogative” of the C of E’s leadership to decide not to allow gay weddings.

Beth Rigby of Sky News peddled the same discrimination line when mixing unrelated issues in an interview with Archbishop Justin Welby after the Ozanne/Tatchell demonstration. In the interview the archbishop refers to 'equal marriage' which implicitly accepts the redefinition of Holy Matrimony as not being solely between one man and one woman for life. 

The concepts of mutual flourishing and twin integrities have been swept under the carpet under the guise of equality. Traditional beliefs are now classified as bigoted, homophobic discriminatory simply because progressives have no valid arguments to support their stance.

People not toeing the progressive line are shut down or removed. Witness Christian theology lecturer Dr Aaron Edwards who was sacked for misconduct and threatened with a counter-terrorism referral by a Methodist Bible college for allegedly “bringing the college into disrepute” on social media for a tweet on human sexuality that went viral.

On 19 February 2023, Dr Edwards posted: "Homosexuality is invading the Church. Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this b/c they’re busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true. This *is* a 'Gospel issue', by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour."

The Ordinariate has also succumbed to intimidation. The Rev Calvin Robinson, an orthodox Anglican deacon, fighting the culture wars on behalf of the Christian faith is being cancelled 'step by step, day by day'. 

Robinson has been cancelled by a group of Catholic choir singers and the Catholic clergy to whom they made an ultimatum. According to Church Militant, the English Ordinariate withdrew an invitation to broadcast Robinson's celebration of Easter on GB News after complaints allegedly initiated by members of the choir who disagreed with views expressed by the preacher.

This is progress?

The writing on the wall

Writing on the wall - with apologies to Rembrandt

                             

                                    MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

                                    TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

                                    PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Interviewed on the TV programme The Hour in April 2018 the first woman to be made bishop in Wales, Joanna Penberthy, branded anyone who disagrees with her as prejudiced. No debate. No theology. Just unsubstantiated accusations of prejudice.

There is much to question. For a start, on the validity of her orders Joanna Penberthy simply dismisses the question. She remarked, such 'prejudice' is 'water off a duck's back to her', probably because the Church in Wales has no defence for going their own way in defiance of the overwhelming majority of Christians in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

The ordination of women is a political tool used by feminists to further their own selfish interests. They are not interested in the welfare of the church. They care even less for the many cradle Anglicans who have found themselves excluded. Pleas not to go their separate ways were water off a ducks back to them.

They base their case on false notions of equality, distorting the meaning of Christ's redeeming love while appealing for secular support to undermine the faith of the Church. So successful has this strategy been in the Anglican Communion that feminists are now using similar tactics to attack the Roman Catholic Church.

Feminists used to claim that the Anglican Church should set an example to the secular world by breaking the stained glass ceiling as if there was no difference between the sacred and the secular. That argument is now being reversed in the Roman Catholic Church: There are female presidents and CEOs. Why are we still asking if women can lead in the church? 

Our children and grandchildren are having to cope with the fallout of the new order. There are fewer male role models for boys to identify with. Women dominate primary education. Three quarters of secondary school teachers are women. The GP and the dentist are likely to be female along with the parish priest. 

Girls and boys are forced to ignore their birth assigned sexual identity and cope with unnecessary problems of self identifying genders coupled with imposing the use of preferred pronouns. Then there is distress that can be caused following the imposition of unisex toilets and the presence of intending but not yet transgendered pupils in girls changing rooms, all of which defies logic and panders to wokery .

Anglican experience has shown that feminists are not to be trusted. They have inched their way forward with false promises to achieve their objective before undermining any agreements as they seek to get rid of any opposition.

The Church in Wales is a typical example. It prides itself as being a leader in diversity. Not in spreading the Gospel but falsely using the Gospel to achieve its ends by interpreting scripture to suit themselves. 

The bishop of Monmouth uses her patronage, enthusiastically supported by the rest of the bench, in promoting LGBT minorities, while the 'first transgender priest' wasted no time in using the Church in Wales to spread transgender propaganda, an utter distortion of the Great Commission.

The bishop of St Davids has been busy spreading party political propaganda with her motto, “Never, never, never trust a Tory”. As Dominic Lawson commented in the Mail Online "With Tory-hating political bishops like this, the church hasn't got a prayer".

This is not the first time the bishop of St Davids has brought her office into disrepute. Her Dear John letter caused great offence to elderly clergy, raising suspicions that it was her way of getting rid of faithful traditionalist clergy. She busily backpedalled after adverse publicity

According to commentators responding to a previous entry That was the Church that was, it's over, let it go?, undeterred, Joanna has been meeting clergy and lay people to explain her position. 

There is nothing more to explain. Joanna's extended absence looks increasingly like a cooling off device, hoping that her flock would forget so that she could return to duty as if nothing had happened. 

Others viewed her behaviour differently.

Angela Tilby wrote in the Church Times, Bishops have to sacrifice privacy: "The public nature of episcopal office has been understood from antiquity. Bishops are meant to be visible, to be seen and known, to be a focus of unity in the Church, and a point of mediation between Christian communities and civic authority. “He must be well-thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace. . .” (1 Timothy 3.7).

 

The writing was on the wall from the start. Penberthy's was a political appointment engineered by archbishop Barry Morgan. Others have followed. 

The rot deepens but the writing was on the wall from the start.

Just a job!

Former Gogglebox star and a priest in Nottinghamshire
Photograph: @revkatebottley

From the Guardian: "It’s a job that comes with a range of uniform options...The retailer’s women’s black jumper with the word 'Believe” emblazoned in bold colours is a hit with female priests, leading one Church of England bishop to describe it as “the new clergy uniform'...

"Rev Kate Bottley, the former Gogglebox star and a priest in Nottinghamshire, also posted a picture using the hashtag #TeamBelieve. '​​Never one to shy away from a bandwagon, like most of the clerics I know I’ve bought this jumper,' she wrote."

But believe what? 

More or less whatever they like these days. The creeds have become something to recite in religious rituals. Clergy believe what they want influencing laity to do the same.

In the Church in Wales "the Bishop of St Asaph is among four senior religious leaders and Parliamentarians recognised for their 'ground-breaking work' in the area of sexuality, gender identity.

"The Rt Revd Gregory Cameron received an award for his leadership within the Church in Wales in bringing it to a point of enabling same-sex blessings.

"Jayne Ozanne, whose Foundation instigated the new awards, said: 'It is so important to recognise the role that leaders have in tackling prejudice and discrimination at an institutional or national level.  So many of us yearn for change, but few know how to achieve it.  I am thrilled that we are able to recognise some of our unsung heroes who have given so much in the fight for equality'.

It is not prejudicial and discriminatory to belief other than these people would have us believe.

Gay couple receive 'landmark' Church in Wales blessing from the bishop of St Asaph   Source: BBC

Postscript 

More 'believers' or 'seasonal consumerism at its worst' as Richard Frith, canon precentor at Southwell minster described it.

https://twitter.com/LlandaffDio/status/1469383091479326724/photo/1

Postscript [12.12.2021]

Thanks to Archbishop Cranmer for this video of a 'Believe' sweater wearing cleric explaining what believing means to her. 

The bishops of the Church in Wales clearly demonstrate that reciting one thing and doing another is what they believe.

Foot in the door

'Sailing Nun' to help steer Church course with key Vatican job

 (Photos source: Twitter)

Translated from Vida Nueva: "Nathalie Becquart: the woman with a voice and (for the first time) with a vote at the Synod" - and a foot in the door!

"A female undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops. Make no mistake about what it means. It is not an administrative responsibility anymore. The French nun Nathalie Becquart will be in charge, along with the Spanish Augustinian Luis Marín, named after her on February 6, to take care of the proper functioning of this Roman department that is in a prominent place on Pope Francis' reform agenda. And they will do so under the guidance of Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod since last year.

Marie-Lucile Kubaki, Vatican correspondent for the French Catholic weekly La Vie, observed, "With her arrival at the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Pope deepens his logic of appointing more women to positions of responsibility in the Vatican, as he did with Francesca di Giovanni, undersecretary in the Section for relations with States in 2020, for example.

"Small but firm steps. That seems to be Jorge Mario Bergoglio's strategy. It is clear that Nathalie's voice and vote will not change things on their own. But for the first time, the opinion of one of the 660,000 religious women on the planet counts. Will others follow?"

'Small but firm steps' will sound familiar to Anglicans. Step by step women who, allegedly, only wanted to be deacons used every trick in the book to be ordained priest  and to be admitted to the episcopacy.

Remember when it was said that if women were allowed to be accepted as deacons, it didn't follow that they would then be allowed to become priests? When deacons wanted to be ordained priests, it didn't mean that they would be allowed to become bishops?

Jolly June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff, admitted recently in a podcast that "once you've made women priests there isn't a theological reason at all why they shouldn't enter the episcopacy."

June along with her colleague Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids, both complain that anyone taking a different theological position to them is prejudiced.

In a television interview in April 2018, bishop Joanna asserted, "if you can be prejudiced in the soft institution of the church, what does that say about your attitude to women?"

The 'soft institution of the church' to use Penberthy's words has been used by feminists to advance their own cause at the expense of the Church, trampling on the faithful in the process as Women and the Church (WATCH) have demonstrated when they have reneged on the agreement that gave them what they wanted, feminist power.

A foot in the door is just the beginning.

The cost of change

View enjoyed by Church in Wales Representative Body staff                                                                                                                                  Source: Twitter

The revelation that the former Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is acting as mentor to Two Church in Wales bishops, Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids and June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff, suggests that the Church in Wales is awash with money.

I hear that the annual rental of their new HQ at 2 Callaghan Square, Cardiff is £500,000 but the lease is for just one year.

Perhaps that explains the letterhead stuck on the nameplate (illustrated) signifying a temporary arrangement as the blind continue to lead the blind into extinction. The departure of the architect of destruction, the former archbishop, offered the opportunity for real change, to right former wrongs. An opportunity lost.

Rumour has it that the staff are not happy in their new home, preferring their previous accommodation in Cathedral Road but no longer at the heart of the nation the Church in Wales continues the pretence that it is a force to be reckoned with, regardless of cost, so it needs to be at the hub, perhaps giving them closer access to BBC Wales following their relocation to the centre of Cardiff.

Some thought that the demise of St Michael's College, Llandaff, Wales' only Theological College, now a conference centre, would have provided the opportunity to relocate there since half the bench will have very fond memories of their leisure time there. 

There has also been a rash of senior appointments under the umbrella of the never popular Mission Areas designed to keep the chiefs happy at the expense of the indians. As the Parish share goes up perhaps some of the indians will go on the warpath but many congregations are either too old or too compliant to make a fuss. Hence the expectation that they will dig deeper, compensating for all those who have lapsed on discovering that their Church has left them.

Archbishop John Davies promised more of the same - but faster. His Llandaff appointee obliges by choosing change as the theme for her Lenten addresses. That is unlikely to be for the better, rather, as the bench chooses.

So far that has led only to decline and disillusionment while those who speak up are constantly accused of prejudice and discrimination without any supporting evidence. When the first woman bishop to be appointed in Wales was challenged she admitted that it amounts to nothing more than holding opposing views rather than nodding compliantly.

No theology is offered, only appeals to secular values of equality of opportunity in the workplace, advancing feminism in the church regardless of the consequences. There is more of the same in the bishop of Llandaff's 'Wales Online' interview: Victim, prejudice, discrimination, inequality, parity, barriers, unwelcome, change, battle, etc, etc.

Spiritual leadership was mentioned without any evidence of its presence. Quite the contrary. The constant decline in people attending church is not helped by women bishops and their admirers droning on about how beastly men are, particularly in the church.

Bishop June said "You can talk about it as a story of decline but actually what it is about is change." How very convenient.

I wonder what she makes of the many remarkable women who have left the church because they do not share her politically motivated, limited views.

Newspeaking of love

George Orwell  statue unveiled outside BBC Broadcasting House                                                                                                                    Source: Telegraph

The First Minister of Scotland sounded utterly convinced that only her views could possibly be correct when offering her "unequivocal" apology to gay men convicted of sexual offences that are no longer illegal.

She said "the simple fact was that parliamentarians in Scotland had, over many decades, supported or at least accepted laws which "we now recognise to have been completely unjust... Hundreds of people in Scotland were liable to be convicted as criminals, simply for loving another adult."

If Ms Sturgeon feels secure enough to condemn previous law makers as in error, why did she twist the facts? She was correct only in that it took law makers in Scotland more than a decade to catch up with reforms to the law in England and Wales in 1976.

My understanding of the legislation to which she objected was that convictions were not for loving another adult but for buggery. The law was changed after the Wolfenden report recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence".

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 granted civil partnerships rights and responsibilities in the United Kingdom very similar to civil marriage. A reform welcomed across the political spectrum but not good enough for activists who demand that marriage be redefined in the name of supposed equality.

The LGBT lobby has had considerable success with newspeak. Constant repetition of the words 'love' and 'equality' in relation to same sex marriage has provided a smokescreen to achieve an objective which undermines the basis of family live, the joining together of a man and a woman for the procreation of children without which civilisation as we know it would end.

But what about infertile couples? they claim, before advocating adoption by gay couples, the use of surrogates and more recently, womb transplants allowing men to have babies. There is little if any thought for the effects in later life on the children resulting from such unions.

Gay couples can live together in circumstances similar to civil marriage without fear of prosecution but acceptance has turned into demands. Now the tail wags the dog. Even Anglican bishops are content to demean the sanctity of marriage by agreeing to legitimise that which is contrary to Christian teaching.

The First Minister's misuse of the word love was a precursor to linking same sex marriage with equality, condemning supporters of traditional marriage as lacking integrity, wisdom, compassion and justice using words such as wrong, homophobia, hate, fear, discrimination, prejudice and bigotry, the implication being that opponents of same sex marriage are bigoted, prejudiced people who lack compassion and a sense of justice.

There is no justice in condemning people simply for having an opposing view. In years to come as the Church crumbles and society further disintegrates, another First Minister could be standing in Ms Sturgeon's place condemning others for supporting or at least accepting laws which "we now recognise" to have been completely stupid.

Illiberal liberals

Christian Tim Farron pushed to resign leadership of the LibDem Party. Source BBC

It has been widely reported that Tim Farron resigned as the leader of the Liberal Democrat party because he could not continue in the face of continuing questions over his faith. He said that he had been torn between his Christian faith and serving as a political leader. 

Earlier it was reported that former gay bobby, now Liberal peer Lord Paddick had quit as Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson following the "furore" over leader Tim Farron's views on gay sex. Intentionally or otherwise Paddick's action put enormous pressure on an "honourable and decent" man - the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

During the General Election campaign journalists continually baited the Lib Dem leader over his Christian faith implying that the lifestyle of 1.7% of the population was far more important than the faith which not only underpins British society but on which our system of government is based. Tolerance and fair play has no place in the politically correct world of people who have nothing to offer but political correctness and their constant cries of '....phobia' to curtail any rational discussion.

Since the election government talks with the DUP have been dogged by complaints that the DUP is against same sex marriage as if it were the Holy Grail. As an example the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, among others was quick to distance himself from the DUP policies on last Sunday's Andrew Marr TV show.

This has prompted the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) to protest that there has been a sustained attack on DUP MPs simply because they are socially conservative. "Two issues are always quoted – their opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion":

The BBC in particular has seemed far more interested in pursuing this than asking about the DUP’s policy on Brexit or the economy. Even if, like C4M, you are not party political, I expect you are outraged by the media’s actions.

John Humphrys laughed on Monday morning when a former DUP assembly member explained they are a compassionate party. Humphrys immediately claimed that “most people” think their stance is “intolerant”, citing opposition to same-sex marriage as an example. And yesterday, the BBC reproduced a long series of satirists’ cartoons lampooning the DUP.

In response to the whole controversy, Roman Catholic commentator Dr Tim Stanley (who does not support the DUP in general) defended the DUP’s right to hold religious beliefs and argued “it has become politically toxic to be a Christian”.

So dominant has the issue become that the Scottish Conservative leader who plans to marry her same sex partner soon has been told by the Prime Minister that any Conservative deal with the Democratic Unionist Party will not affect LGBTI rights as though there is something intrinsically wrong in the traditional belief that marriage is the union of one man with one woman.

We are supposed to be a Christian country but Christian values based on biblical teaching are ridiculed. Christians are mocked for their faith. Lord Paddick's sexual preference is his own affair but as a liberal one would have thought that he would regard Tim Farron's faith as his affair. Instead he chose to advance the LGBT agenda at the expense of the leader of his Party. How very illiberal.

"There are no atheists in foxholes" still holds true when tragedy strikes. Whether the merciless attacks on innocent people or events such as the tragic London tower block blaze, in times of need people expect the church to be there. But how much longer? Christianity in this country is under threat. Where will people turn when it has been extinguished by illiberal liberals and their like?

Postscript

Former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Yeovil, David Laws, claims that Tim Farron was right to resign because "he held prejudiced views". He said, " As a gay man, I do not wish to be 'tolerated'. I wish to be respected for who I am. And I want a party leader whose respect for human equality comes before outdated and frankly offensive religious views."

Mr Laws would earn more respect if he did not misrepresent the meaning of human equality and the views of opponents of same sex marriage. Many of us welcomed civil partnerships but gay marriage is a red line. Frankly, it is Mr Laws' prejudiced views as a gay man which are offensive but opponents of same sex marriage are no longer expected to hold a contrary view.

Liberal drift to engulf Wales?

The Dean of Salisbury addresses Gay Pride marchers.       Source: Facebook

The above still from a gay pride video on Facebook last Summer shows the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne, encouraging participants to be strong in difference, standing against "prejudice and hatred" and to march with pride in Salisbury after she gives the parade her blessing.

Lobbyists interpret 'dislike' as 'hatred' and 'disagreement' as 'prejudice'. Allegations which stick whether or not they are based on factual evidence. Charges of homophobia are used as a matter of course to stymie any discussion on the legitimacy of accusations that LGBT+ people are treated unfairly. Say it often enough and people will believe it without checking the facts. Introduce something and people will get used to it. That is the strategy and it has worked, hence the liberal drift of the Church.

When a senior church person speaks, people are expected to take note. The fact that senior church persons increasingly speak not for the Gospel but for the advancement of liberal values in the Church makes the problem all the more serious.

Even though the implication is false, 'spread love not hatred' is a mantra that has become fully in tune with Anglicanism in the UK today as it drifts away from Christianity towards paganism. Love is all but the meaning of love has been twisted to mean acceptance of just about every desire. If you are not 'for' you are regarded as 'against'.

The image of the Dean of Salisbury at the gay pride march is considerably different from the image projected on the Church in Wales website where she is presented as a thoroughly competent woman who will take the Church forward. But forward to what? The irony of the 'homophobia' charges after Jeffrey John's rejection by the Electoral College will not be lost when the reality of another LGBT promoting appointment dawns on unsuspecting Anglicans in Wales. June Osborne previously lent her name to the suppressed Osborne Report on homosexuality which should have been published in 1989 and was finally published in 2012. Some think the Report damaged her chances of preferment in England.

The die has been firmly cast in Wales. Interviewed in Llandaff Cathedral on BBC TV News yesterday evening bishop John Davies candidly explained  that: "There is no truth whatsoever in the allegation that the bench of bishops or indeed the Electoral College of the Church in Wales is homophobic. I have said on countless occasions that homosexuality, participation in civil partnerships is no bar whatsoever to ordination in the Church in Wales whether that be to the order of deacons, priests or bishops."

The charge of homophobia was clearly absurd given the grovelling apology by the bench of bishops to the LGBT+ community for perceived errors. There followed the Changing Attitude, Iris in the Community propaganda film alleging homophobia while promoting the LGBT+ cause despite the  gay friendly stance of the bishop of St Asaph who not only has appointed a LGBT chaplain but has a transgender ordinand waiting in the wings. So at some stage there will be a 'she' at the Altar though she is he, preferring to be thought of as she.

All minorities are regarded as acceptable in the Church in Wales with the exception of orthodox Christians. After the stitch-up which saw the first woman bishop in Wales involved in MAE Cymru's 'Saints and Sparklers' event it appeared that things could not get much worse.

What has become known as the liberal drift in England is overwhelming the Church in Wales with seemingly no-one able to repel it. When the bishop designate said "I do want to be a bishop for absolutely everybody, [including] those who might have wished for another candidate", did she really mean everybody, including loyal, conscientious Anglicans who have found that their Church has left them without provision.

Para 346 of the Osborne Report will be of particular interest for traditionalists:
We believe that the bishops, as the focus of unity of the Church, need to affirm the catholicity of the inclusiveness of the Church. The bishops have an important role in helping the Church live with unresolved issues. The way to resolve the conflict and tensions between groups is not by exclusion of one or more minority groups.

Exclusion has been used as a weapon in the Church in Wales since the retirement in 2008 of the  Provincial Assistant Bishop. Every minority has been deemed worthy of inclusion except orthodox Anglicans. Are they not worthy of love?

This problem has become all the more pressing with the appointment of a second women bishop to the most Anglo Catholic and populous diocese in the Province. Many more Anglo Catholic clergy who have kept the faith find themselves with nowhere to turn. They deserve better.

I hope the new bishop of Llandaff along with the rest of bench will now consider the dire position of the orthodox minority in the Church in Wales. Many of these loyal Anglicans are now elderly, often lonely with little to sustain them other than their faith but after years of service they find that their church has left them.

The bishop designate claims that women can make a difference. To date that has been wholly negative resulting in a code of practice designed for exclusion. If women want to make a difference they can start by making arrangements to include all, not just all those caught up in the liberal drift.

Something fishy?

The assembled throng outside the West Door of St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire                                  Source: Twitter @DavidGrundy

As far West from the great West Door as they could manage without joining the rest of the tiddlers in River Alun, the Canon Residentiary at St Davids Cathedral appears to have been delegated to lead the applause in appreciation of Archbishop Barry Morgan's 'historic' announcement that the bishop elect of St Davids is the first woman to be made bishop in Wales, Canon Joanna Penberthy.

A video of this damp squib of an occasion can be seen on Twitter and on the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) website.  While small in size the number of people gathered is the same size as many dwindling congregations in the Church in Wales but clearly a great embarrassment to the Archbishop as the video link in the Press Release has been edited so that only the applause is heard after the Dr Morgan gives the nod.  

Most of the news coverage followed the same theme: First woman bishop Joanna Penberthy 'faced prejudice', a strategy used to stain orthodox views as being negative. This theme is often used to condemn anyone who disagrees with the latest liberal fashion and was much used by the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) which has been superseded by Women and the Church  (WATCH), a feminist organisation currently insisting that God should to be referred to as female. In a similar vein, opponents of gay marriage are condemned as homophobic while anyone searching for the truth about Islam's attitude to non-Muslims is regarded as Islamophobic.

After the announcement of her election Canon Penberthy commented: "As someone who in the early years was at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination, I have absolutely no intention of dishing that out so I think it's important that everybody feels free to be honest about their opinions and about their misgivings." That is a welcome change from the view of the bench of bishops as currently constituted and a welcome change of heart from her Newnham days when as a young evangelical student she was more inclined to the view that Anglo Catholics should leave the Church of England because they were not real Anglicans.

When interviewed a BBC Reporter put the question to Canon Penberthy, Ordaining women is still controversial to some people. How do you reach out to those who are not happy with the idea? Her reply was far more encouraging than the Archbishop's 'over my dead body' policy. She said:

"I was very encouraged to be on a conference recently organised by Credo Cymru, which is an organisation for people who don’t wish to receive the sacramental ministry of women. It was a very positive gathering of how we can learn to live together in a world where women are priests and at that point where women might take episcopal ministry. It was about how do we live together in honesty, kindness and out of the values of that one shared gospel."

Following the Living with Diversity conference it was refreshing to hear from the bishop elect that everyone should "feel free to be honest". Since Bishop David Thomas retired there has been no place in the Church in Wales for people who remain unable to recognise the sacramental ministry of women as bishops and priests on grounds of theological conviction and conscience although officially remaining "within the spectrum of teaching and tradition within the Anglican Communion". Credo Cymru's statement can be read here.

With such lavish praise heaped upon her by the Archbishop and the bishop of Swansea and Brecon one wonders why Canon Penberthy had not previously joined the ranks of senior clergy as Dean or Archdeacon. Is it merely a coincidence that the bishop elect happens to be the right age as specified by the former bishop, Wyn Evans, to complete the work he started as Dean? Some fishy business on the Alun!

Fishy or not, this episode has all the appearance of a jigsaw puzzle coming into place except for one piece which just does not fit but he will be retiring soon when all should be much clearer, hopefully putting an end to prejudice and discrimination in the Church in Wales.

Ayup me duck!

Karen Bradley on her "ordination as a canon"            Photo: Derby Telegraph 

Ayup me duck! may not be as 'Father', dressed in floral frock and clerical collar, would normally be addressed in Derbyshire but perhaps that would be more appropriate than "Oh, look at her, just look at her. That's what it has come to now. Isn't it disgusting?" which is how Elaine Jones, Canon at Derby Cathedral alleges she was addressed adding "Just seeing me in the clerical collar was enough to make her recoil from me. To experience prejudice was a very good lesson and taught me a lot."

I say 'alleges' based on the the general tone of Joey Severn's article in the Derby Telegraph (here) when Joey refers to Karen Bradley's "ordination as a canon back in 2012". Far be it from me to dispute the 'facts' but I find it somewhat irksome to read articles about life in the Church written by reporters with no clear understanding of the subject they are addressing, rather like a ballet critic reporting on a boxing bout.  Here are a few gems from a very mixed up article - including the picture captions. The italics are mine.

"She was among the first women to be ordained in 1994, when being a woman in the Church was hugely controversial.... Women in the Church has been an issue that has divided the institution for decades." 

And get this! "The first women ordinations took place at St Paul's Cathedral, in London. However, it was not without controversy. Members left and entire congregations changed their branch of Christianity because of their unwillingness to accept women. 

"The next hurdle is for women to be given the right to become bishops."!

It is not unusual for hacks to confuse the facts but clerics should know better than to misrepresent Holy Scripture as in this piece of self-justification:

"The Rev Jean Burgess, who leads St Alkmund's Church, in Derby, is the Dean of Women's Ministry. She sees the reasons behind the unwillingness ["to accept women"] as being ingrained in thousands of years of tradition. She said: 'The tradition in the Church states that Jesus chose men. The reality is that, in the New Testament, it is very clear that it only highlights 12 men but that there were women disciples in his party. It is argued that most of the people in the Bible are men leading churches, but Paul clearly talks about women leading churches. The Bible we use is a translation from Greek and Hebrew. Greek is a very diverse language and one word can mean a number of different things. It seems to me, as a woman, that those scriptures are mistranslated and misunderstood. For me, it is about being equal under God and serving him as best we can."

There is a world of difference between serving and self-serving. St Paul used to be held up as the arch-misogynist. Here he is used to justify the ordination of women.

The article continues with what seems to me to be an odd contradiction: "Despite that opposition, women now make up a third of the Church of England's clergy and approval may soon be given for women to have the opportunity to be ordained as bishops. But for all the column inches in the press that the issue has generated across the country, people outside the Church are still surprised to see a woman in a collar."

Women have won their battle to become accepted as vicars in the Church of England. Their constant complaining about alleged inequality brings the Church into disrepute as does trying to convince outsiders that opposition to the ordination of women is simple prejudice rather than a question of theology.