The future of the Church in Wales from the Archbishop in waiting?

Archbishop in waiting? the Bishop of Bangor. Picture: Church in Wales. Source: The National Wales

The future of the Church in Wales, or, more accurately, the future of the Church in Wales according to Andy John, Bishop of Bangor, is predicted in an 'exclusive' interview with The National Wales. 

Others insist the Church in Wales has no future. Not surprising given the mess created by the bench of bishops with their secular obsessions. 

In 2015 the Church Growth Modelling blog forecast that attendance figures for the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of the USA (TEC), indicated extinction dates around 2040. 

Aged 57, if Buggins' turn prevails, Andy John will be the penultimate Archbishop of Wales leaving another to do the final sweeping up. Gregory Cameron, the next most senior bishop after Andy John is 62 so he is likely to miss out as is the Tory loathing bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy who is 61.

At 68 the bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, will soon be drawing her pension leaving only Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, who is 62.

Depending on his/her age the next bishop of Swansea and Brecon could also be the last Archbishop of Wales.

The new Bishop of Swansea and Brecon is to be elected this month* leaving the way for the election of the new Archbishop but if St Davids were to become vacant there would be a further delay. 

That may account for Andy John's extraordinary statement:

“I think the question whether Bishop Joanna resigns is done and dusted”, Bishop Andy states. “She made clear that she regretted what she had to say… I think if we cannot provide a way in which people can acknowledge wrongdoing, learn from their mistakes, and come back, then it begs questions about whether we believe people can change. Whether or not we think the Christian faith is about second chances. To me, fundamentally, it’s about that. And those who are baying and frothing at the mouth seem to me to be part of what I think is quite pernicious in society: which is that we dress up in virtue – or in the language of virtue – a kind-of campaign to persecute.”

Having found ''Biblical support for church gay marriages" the divorced and re-married bishop of Bangor can no doubt justify anything he fancies. 

In his interview for The National, Andy John was asked about the draft Bill which had been outlined at Governing Body (GB) in December. If passed by a two-thirds majority it would allow a five-year trial period for priests who would like to hold a service to bless a same-sex couple after their marriage or civil partnership.

Did the bishop of Bangor hope the motion will be approved? "Very much so", he replied before adding, "I think this will make us a more generous Church, which will make us a Church that provides space for people who demonstrate by their lives that they can be wonderful disciples of Jesus Christ when they want to live in love with a person of the same sex. I fail to understand… I fail to really understand why that is problematic.

Building up the pressure before the next meeting of GB, the former archbishop of Wales John Davies told ITV that it would be  a "slap in the face" for gay Christians if the church does not consider introducing services of blessing for same-sex couples.

"Simply to say", explained the archbishop, "that because it's always been so it must never change I think is a slap in the face to an awful lot of people who see something valuable in the church, but to some extent still feel rejected by the church."

That simply does not hold water. 

No generosity has been shown by the bench to an 'awful lot of people' who have been slapped in the face by a myopic bench of bishops, eager to impose their own liberal agenda at the expense of faithful Anglicans un-churched by the Church in Wales. 

As the recently retired Archdeacon of Llandaff, Peggy Jackson, a late convert to Anglicanism, put it with all the charity she could muster, "individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can." (The naked truth).

There have been no 'second chances' for traditionalists who remain outside in the cold in what the bishop of Bangor refers to as 'a kind-of campaign to persecute'. It is clear why. The Church in Wales is at odds with the vast majority of Anglicans, let alone Christians. Anglicans in the Church in Wales who seek to practice their faith in common with the majority of Anglicans are an embarrassment to a bench of bishops preoccupied with fleeting secular fads and fancies.

As bishop Andy told his interviewer: "The pandemic has reminded the Church of its purpose: to serve. “Our job is to argue for a more humane, compassionate, loving society, and to be unafraid and to be unapologetic about that." His colleagues have “done remarkably well” during Covid-19 too. And it is hard to disagree. Even more so considering that – in his words – that the Church in Wales is “a bit like an oil tanker: it takes ages to turn us around”.

In a nutshell. The Church in Wales has set its course - to extinction.

The interview ends with: "A very confident and unapologetic message from a bishop who is very confident and unapologetic. With the possibility of him at the helm, perhaps this Welsh oil tanker will chart the right course, after all."

The interview started with the interviewer's confession: "I don't generally do God, I tell Andy John." Exactly the sort of people the bench look to for support and justification.

If ever the Church in Wales needed a transfiguration it is now.

* Correction: Election of new Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
 The election is to be held in September.
https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-events/election-new-bishop-swansea-and-brecon/

Trouble and strife

Unhappily married: Andy and Flo                                       Credit: daily Mirror

Andy Capp and Flo are unhappily married. Andy is a working-class figure who never actually works. Andy's hobbies include pigeon racing, darts, snooker (his cue's name is "Delilah"), football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasional cricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk in the local pub (often falling into the canal and being fished out by a constable, and always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), ending up in the local jail, fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), unsuccessfully mooching money from everyone for beer, unsuccessfully flirting with barmaids, picking up other bargirls, loafing on the sofa, and fighting with his long-suffering wife, Florrie (also known as "Flo").

Despite their difficulties Andy and Flo have have stuck together but their life together is a cartoon. The reality for others is no joke. A loveless marriage other than a marriage of convenience is a burden to both parties. When children are involved the atmosphere can be unbearable for them when constant bickering and worse takes place. This is the problem the Catholic Church has to resolve without the divisions that have split and weakened the Anglican Communion.

Two addresses "set down important markers" for Synod-2015 on its first formal day of work. The Rorate Caeli Blog sets out the Synod's most likely outcome "barring a miracle". Surely a miracle is needed. Watering down the faith can lead to no faith other than faith in one's own desires as witnessed in liberal Anglicanism whereas absolutism can be equally destructive as illustrated by Islam.

The alternative of living one's life in a loveless marriage and continuing to receive Holy Communion compared with a loving, happy marriage but denied the sacrament is a dilemma the Catholic Church must resolve without all the baggage that has gone with it in the Anglican Church, much of it brought about by liberal clergy.

"Church risks being seen as 'homophobic' if it doesn't evolve" said the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan in his presidential address to members of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales in April 2014. "Gay marriage should be accepted in the same way that divorce and re-marriage has been" and added that quoting the Bible is not the way to settle debate on such emotive issues: "Some people have changed their minds for example on women’s ministry and same-sex relationships when they have experienced the ministry of a woman priest in the one case, or discovered their own son or daughter to be gay in the other".

Dr Morgan argued, "Holy scripture itself is far more nuanced, subtle and complex than we often realise. We cannot just quote biblical texts on different subject matters and think that settles an issue". But that is exactly what Dr Morgan did in 2008 when he quoted St Paul ("In Christ there is no bond or free, male or female, Jew or Greek") to justify his stance on women bishops: "I do not see how, having agreed to ordaining women to both the diaconate and priesthood, the church can logically exclude women from the episcopate".

If Synod becomes embroiled in similar arguments the Catholic Church will find herself in the same sorry mess as the Anglican Church. For outsiders, denying the sacraments to people who have remarried looks particularly harsh, especially when compared with the practice of annulment.

The Rorate Caeli blog referred to "squaring the circle". Can it be possible without detriment to the Church? Pray that it is.