Dysfunctional Church

Bishops of Llandaff and St Davids with mentor, former TEC presiding bishop          Source: Twitter

Is it any wonder that the Church in Wales is dysfunctional?

"Llandaff Diocese ✝️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿@LlandaffDio Feb 7, 2018

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate, visited the diocesan office while in the UK as part of the Bishop’s Training programme.She is acting as mentor to @BishopJuno and Bishop Joanna"

I wrote at the time: "Since we were led to expect so much from women bishops it is a bit of a mystery why they need mentoring". With hindsight they did but why choose Barry Morgan's heretical mentor? To hasten disaster? 

The Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori is credited by US observers as having brought The Episcopal Church to its knees, not in prayer but in its demise, sinking into oblivion as is the Church in Wales.

As the problem with the bishop of St Davids lingers on, Andy John, the senior bishop in the Church in Wales pending the election of the next Archbishop of Wales, apologises for her behaviour while the leader of the Anglican Communion Justin Welby is 'embarrassed' by bishop Penberthy’s twitter comments.

No matter. As she seeks to 'recuperate' from her relentless party political tweeting, bishop Penberthy is on sick leave for a month while rumours circulate of her being translated to Swansea and Brecon. Even if true would they want her?

As absurd as the rumours appear, simply moving the problem is not uncommon as previously witnessed by the habit of moving predatory clergy before the whole issue exploded with dire consequences for the Church.

In Llandaff rumours abound following the prolonged absence of the Dean:

• Bishop June, on the advice of the Greater Chapter, took action against Dean Gerwyn and lost. The Dean was exonerated.
• The Dean is now taking action against Bishop June. 
• Dean Gerwyn recruited Archbishop Barry Morgan in his defence which has not gone down well with bishop June. She regards the former archbishop as being disloyal and are now in open warfare. Morgan now regrets June Osborne landing in Llandaff.
• Head Verger Hoad was suspended on a minor (but unknown) charge, which is still being investigated. 
• The Cathedral has advertised for a Chief Executive Officer to work with the Greater Chapter. This is the de facto role of the Dean. This is being done whilst the Dean is still in post, but on extended leave.
• The numbers attending the cathedral and the giving have collapsed.

What are the facts? Silence serves only to generate more rumours and speculation. 

In the diocese of Monmouth the results of the Enquiry and Review announced in May 2020 into the departure of bishop Richard Pain is long overdue. It was hoped the Enquiry and Review would be completed within six months.

Meanwhile in Monmouth the Historic Episcopate has been further 'locally adapted' in the 'methods of its administration in the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church' to accommodate bishop Cherry and Wendy seen here at Holy Synod in the sanctuary of Brecon Cathedral:

Holy Synod Brecon Cathedral January 2020                                Original Source: Church in Wales

Bishop in name only

Contempt? Bishop of St Davids enthronement          Source: Twitter/Nation Cymru

"THE Bishop of St Davids, Dr Joanna Penberthy, apologised last week for a tweet that she had posted in March, in which she had urged: “Never, never, never trust a Tory.” This was her contribution to a debate in which some Welsh Tories were believed to be subverting the Welsh Assembly: a serious issue, and one on which a responsible bishop could well have an opinion.

"But the opinion here was hardly a measured contribution, merely a repeat of a well-worn banality. It left Tory-voting Anglicans (a majority among the laity) with the impression that she held them in contempt." 

That is the view of the Rev Angela Tilby writing in the Church Times yesterday. She continues: "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).

Such comments are in marked contrast to the glowing tribute archbishop Barry Morgan paid to Joanna Penberthy when he struggled to justify his manoeuvrings to get her elected as the first woman in the Church in Wales. He said: 

“What is really important to stress is that Joanna wasn’t elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop.

“She has considerable gifts – she is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy."

Not so. After her appearance in the TV programme 'The Hour' I wrote: "Joanna Penberthy’s contribution was worse than I feared, aligning the Church with a political movement rather than the Kingdom of God. She was unbalanced, dishonest in her claims and blatantly sexist. I doubt that she brought anyone to Christ."

The TV programme was previewed on Twitter. The new bishop complained that, as the 129th successor to St David and the first woman to hold the office, it was 'hard': 

While "all those men in my diocese who don't think that women can be bishops have treated me with respect, and so they accept my authority, they don't accept that I am able to to celebrate the sacraments so they wouldn't receive communion from me or be ordained by me. It's hard to have a group of people in the diocese who see women as that different."

It has been much harder for the many women and men who have been martyred to the political posturing of the Church in Wales, effectively un-churched by a Governing Body resolution that gave Joanna Penberthy the authority she claims but which is not recognised by the vast majority of Anglicans or Christians in other denominations.

According to commentators on another thread, clergy in the diocese of St Davids have received a letter of apology to be read to congregations without comment. It states that bishop Penberthy is taking time off to 'reflect, recuperate and respond appropriately'.

'Recuperate' implies she is staying put. Buying time, hoping the storm clouds will settle but the damage has already been done. 

Bishop Penberthy shows contempt for those who do not agree with her. She is not a source of unity. For the good of the Church she should go and take her party political gospel with her.

Postscript [18.06.2021]

Another apology, no action.

"The Senior Bishop of the Church in Wales has apologised for offence caused by tweets published by the Bishop of St Davids concerning members of the Conservative Party.

In a statement, Bishop Andy John, the Bishop of Bangor, also reassures people of all political persuasion that they welcome in the Church in Wales.

Bishop Andy is the Church’s Senior Bishop following the retirement of the Archbishop of Wales in May."

Full statement here.

Postscript [21.06.2021]

"Church in Wales working to 'restore damaged relationships' after bishop's 'never trust a Tory' tweet" - Christian Today.

As did the former bishop of Monmouth when the going became tough, the bishop of St Davids is reported to be on sick leave, perhaps waiting for the dust to settle. It did not settle in Monmouth where the report on the investigation into the bishop's departure is long overdue. 'We do as we please' could be the motto of the Church in Wales.