Consecration of the Bishop of Llandaff

The bishop-designate of Llandaff, the Very Rev June Osborne    Source: CinW

“This service will be a wonderful celebration of faith and hope for the future as we consecrate June as bishop and welcome her into the family of the Church in Wales. I am sure everyone will welcome, support and pray for her as she begins this new stage in her ministry." - Bishop John Davies 

Faith? What a load of old cobblers. Faith has long since been abandoned by the Church in Wales in favour of an ideology of relativism. Why the new bishop is to be presented with a copy of the Bible is a mystery unless it is to act as a reminder of when the Church was built on faith.

A graduate in Social Sciences, June Osborne was a founder of the Church’s Leading Women programme. No surprise, then, in the travesty that the Gospel will be read by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate and the ruination of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

A portent I wonder?

Assisted killing of the Church in Wales

At their meeting later this month the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales (HT LNYD blog here) will discuss Assisted Dying and the Archbishop's current hobbyhorse, Same-sex Marriage - or the assisted killing of the Church in Wales as she has been handed down.

Mimicking the previous ruse used for admitting women to the Episcopate, cosy chats are being organised to discuss the blatantly loaded scenario:

"A couple of the same sex come to worship in your parish.   After a period of attendance, and enthusiastic participation in church life, they enquire if their relationship can be blessed.   How can the Church in Wales respond to same sex couples – theologically and pastorally?"

The Archbishop should know better than most how many gay couples are already in his Church with his blessing and have been worshiping without impediment for many years.

That we all may be one.

As Pope Benedict's visit to his German homeland draws to a close, this screen grab of Mass being celebrated in the Olympic Stadium illustrates how insignificant we appear from above. Despite that, the intensity of debate continues as we strive for unity. Lutherans in particular had been hoping for a gesture to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The Pope acknowledged that there had been talk that his visit would produce an 'ecumenical gift' but said that it was a 'political misreading of faith and of ecumenism.'  Emphasising the point he said, "A self-made faith is worthless.  Faith is not something we work out intellectually and negotiate between us.  It is the foundation for our lives."


Compare that statement with the report of his meeting with Orthodox Christians when Pope Benedict said, "the Orthodox are theologically closest to us; Catholics and Orthodox both have the same basic structure inherited from the ancient Church. So we may hope that the day is not too far away when we may once again celebrate the Eucharist together".


So where does the Anglican church stand? The position is neatly summed-up in this Blog but undeterred, the Anglican church has chosen relativism over unity. Depressing though it is, all is not lost. Closing his homily for electing the Supreme Pontiff, the then Cardinal Ratziger said, "At this time, however, let us above all pray insistently to the Lord that after his great gift of Pope John Paul II, he will once again give us a Pastor according to his own heart, a Pastor who will guide us to knowledge of Christ, to his love and to true joy. Amen." Unbeknown to him, that prayer was to be answered in Benedict XVI himself and in answer to Christ's prayer for unity the Ordinariate will be his legacy for Anglicans, hopefully to be followed by communion with the Orthodox church, God willing.