Pope Francis evicts "enemy" Cardinal Burke

The rumours have been confirmed. Pope Francis evicts his US critic, Cardinal Raymond Burke, from the Vatican. 

A useful commentary of events leading to the eviction of the pope's "enemy" is provided at the beginning of the above podcast video.

Pope Francis has attracted much criticism from commentators. Traditionalist Anglicans have looked on in bemusement as he appears to be guiding the Catholic Church along the path to ruin, the path already trod by the Episcopal Church in the US, the Church of England and the Church in Wales, among others.

Having sown the seeds of hope for change among revisionists, the Vatican is trying to draw a line on women’s ordination and homosexuality in new letter to German bishops.

That will not stop revisionists from pecking away as they seek to make the Church conform to the pattern of this world rather than be transformed as the Anglican Church in the West has witnessed 

What hope can there be for a Church when Christians who practice their faith by obedience to the word rather than apostates are regarded as the enemy?

Coronation thoughts

Their Majesties King George VI, Queen  Elizabeth II and King Charles III.  Source: Wikimedia Commons

I remember the shock of hearing that King George VI had died. It was a time of great sadness. 

Along with Prime Minister Winston Churchill the king set an example of fortitude which did much to encourage those of us huddled around the wireless listening to the endless WW2 news broadcasts, so many in fact that I wondered how the BBC would fill the airtime after the war. 

My lasting memories of Queen Elizabeth's coronation are of the Westminster Abbey entrance procession to Parry's, I was glad, and of Queen Sālote of Tonga shunning the rain, smiling and waving to the crowds from her open carriage in a procession of carriages with tops firmly closed.

Charles III's coronation will be different. It has been scaled down. Security is a greater risk but the processional route is much shorter. 

It will be a multi-faith occasion. I understand the motives but, as I mentioned in my previous entry, I doubt the wisdom of including believers of different faiths and none in what is essentially a Christian service.

On a more positive note, Pope Francis will be represented inside the abbey this time. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. the papal representative had to observe the ceremony from 'an especially-built stand outside Westminster Cathedral', because he was not allowed to enter a non-Catholic church.

Pope Francis has also sent a coronation gift, two shards of wood said to have come from the cross on which Christ was crucified. The shards have been incorporated in The Cross of Wales, a new processional cross presented by King Charles as a centenary gift to the Church in Wales.

An ironic choice since the bishops of the Church in Wales have abandoned the received faith of the Church in favour of secularism. 

The Pope's apparent obsession with taking the Catholic Church down the same path as the Anglican Church, deciding doctrine by committee, is not encouraging. He has only to look at the Church in Wales to see where that leads. Neither has the Church of England heeded the lesson, allowing revisionists to change Church beliefs for their own ends. 

They achieve this by introducing change gradually so that people become accustomed to it. It has happened in Church and State. A glaring example will be the crowning of Queen Camilla alongside King Charles. 

Much has changed since I heard of the death of King George VI. I can't imagine what the world will be like when Prince William is crowned, assuming the monarchy is not abolished.

Congregational Catholics

Cardinal Reinhard Marx and fellow bishops from Germany meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Nov. 17, 2022 | Vatican Media. Source: CNA

At the Collation & Installation of the new Dean of Llandaff, the Rev Canon Richard Peers, the retiring bishop, June Osbourne, repeated the claim that "the Church in Wales is part of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", a claim rejected by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches following the unilateral action of some Anglicans to ordain women to the priesthood.

 The bishop invited the Dean-designate to make the following declaration:

"I do solemnly declare my belief in the Faith which is revealed in Holy Scripture and set forth in 
the Catholic Creeds and to which the historic formularies, namely the Thirty-nine Articles of 
Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons as
published in 1662, bear witness; and in public prayer and the administration of the Sacraments,

I will use only those forms of service which are allowed by lawful authority, and none other. And
I hereby undertake to be bound by the Constitution of the Church in Wales, and to accept,
submit to, and carry out any sentence or judgement which may at any time be passed upon me
by the Archbishop, a Diocesan Bishop or any Court or the Tribunal of the Church in Wales."

Somewhat removed from the faith of one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Dean of Llandaff is in a same sex relationship living openly with his partner. The campaigning bishop of Monmouth is also living openly with her partner in a same sex relationship while the Archbishop of Wales is a re-married divorcee.

How can this be? 

Anglican beliefs allow local discretion under The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral :

1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God.

2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.

3. The two Sacraments,–Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,–ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.

4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.

'Locally adapted' opens a can of worms. The liberal agenda took hold in the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA, now TEC). In 2003 Anglican provinces declare 'impaired' or 'broken' relationship with ECUSA following the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated a bishop in a major Christian denomination, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Within a generation liberal revisionists have taken control of many Anglican provinces. The Church in Wales has become a joke among orthodox Anglicans and the wider Christian fellowship. The Church of England teeters on the edge of disaster as bishops push their latest deception, Living in Love and Faith.

Liberal provinces face extinction while Anglicanism elsewhere thrives. In the USA, Alarm Bells as Episcopal Church Decline Accelerates but nothing deters the revisionists. If at first they don't succeed they try, try and try again until they have their own way.

For those Anglicans who swam the Tiber the same ominous signs are appearing as German bishops meet with Pope Francis amid concern over Synodal Way

The president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said he will not deny blessings for same-sex couples.

The Synodal Way "is a controversial discussion process underway in Germany with the declared aim of addressing the Church’s clerical sexual abuse crisis by debating and passing resolutions on whether, or how, Catholicism needs to change (“develop”) its teaching – and the Catholic Church therefore change its approach – to questions of sexuality and the exercise of power, including doctrine and the sacraments."

The Church of England Synod voted to ordain women to the priesthood and to the episcopate. The Governing Body of the Church in Wales followed suit. The Church of England is seeking to emulate the Church in Wales, blessing same sex partnerships as a precursor to same sex marriage in Church. Disaster looms closer.

Faith by committee is not the faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Ultimately it has led to Jesus being depicted as a "rosy-cheeked Christ with breasts, beard and make-up jumping in front of a rainbow".

As Tony Barber wrote in the Financial Times yesterday, "The American priest and author Andrew Greeley once said: “The opposite of Catholic is not Protestant. The opposite of Catholic is sectarian.” But just as secular politics in western countries is a battleground between mutually suspicious conservatives and liberals, so Greeley’s appeal to respect differences of religious opinion is drowning in a doctrinal struggle for control of the Roman Catholic Church."

Postscript [04.12.2022]

Greek City Times The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church: Revealing The Truth

Pied Piper of Oxford

The bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, has decided to ditch his baptismal vows and turn from Christ following the example of the former archbishop of Wales.

Other bishops have swiftly followed. No doubt more will join them as they follow the herd listening to the simpering stories of 'suffering' peddled by Jayne Ozanne and the Ozanne Foundation.

The Church in Wales is a prime example of what happens when Anglicans abandon their baptismal vows. Blessings of same sex unions will soon be followed by marriage in church of same sex couples when the bishops have bent the minds of the puppets on the Governing Body. 

The Scottish Episcopal Church and the The Episcopal Church of the United States have trod the same path. All are in decline.

The revisionists could not care less for the pain and suffering of those, often cradle Anglicans, who have been effectively excluded from the church for keeping their baptismal vows.

Secularism is killing Anglicanism.

Phobias used to silence opposition

Source: imgur

I have not read of any reference in reports of the recent Church of England Synod to epistemophobia or sophophobia, unlike transphobia and homophobia, the clubs being used to silence opposition to revisionists. 

 Dr Ian Paul probably came closest when he asked at Synod: "Do you think it is at all helpful or permissible for members of this Synod to describe voices in the videos on Living in Love and Faith (LLF) as transphobic to seek to silence them?"

Former nurse, Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, who was leading the 'Passing the Baton' session on LLF had said that the Church of England 'should be a safe space for people with opposing theological views on the issues of marriage, gender and sexuality'.

In response LGBT activist Jayne Ozanne accused conservative Anglicans on General Synod of "transphobic and homophobic rhetoric".

Ms Ozanne told the bishop: "The LGBT community feel they are constantly being asked to love those who are abusing them and that in itself is abusive.

"There is transphobic and homophobic rhetoric even in these questions coming from people, which we are not even allowed to call transphobic and homophobic.

"I would remind people of what the definition of that is. It is views that are seen as transphobic by the person they are aimed at." [My emphasis - Ed.]

How convenient. The NHS definition of phobia is "an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal".

Phobia charges have become weapons as have charges of misogyny. There is a well trodden path in Anglicanism of people claiming victimisation. Anyone who differs is charged with being phobic, a misogynist or, as the bishop of St Davids claimed, being 'at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination' simply for taking a different position.

Such tactics stifle debate, perpetuating the notion of victimhood. 

The Church of England is being dragged along the road to secularism, seemingly ignorant of the fate of other Anglican Churches that have taken the same path.

David Virtue writes in The Episcopal Church: The Day The Music Died:

"Slowly, but surely, The Episcopal Church is being depleted of people. We still don't know what COVID has done to overall church attendance. As long as there is no scandal, the Episcopal Church is glad to see the back of orthodox bishops and clergy as they leave.

"Why and what does it really matter if bishops like Love, Howe, Bena, Herzog, Wantland, Ackerman, Iker et al., leave? After all, why would you want someone to stay if they did not share the same progressive views as you do about the faith once for all delivered to the saints? Why have a thorn in the flesh when you can have it removed?"

Closer to home the CofE has only to look at the fate of the Church in Wales on the other side of Offa's Dyke where virtually anything goes now that traditional Anglicanism has been all but snuffed out.

The days of both are numbered with ever decreasing attendances.

There is a personal price too. Christian Concern reports on the case of a Christian pastoral administrator who was sacked for two Facebook posts that raised concerns about transgenderism and sex education at her son’s Church of England primary school.

"Having worked for 7 years as a pastoral assistant at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Mrs Higgs was summarily dismissed in early 2020 after sharing a petition against the extension of relationship and sex education on her private Facebook case.

"After an anonymous complaint attacked Mrs Higgs’s views as “homophobic and prejudiced”, the school promptly dismissed her for bringing the school into disrepute. Last October, Bristol Employment Tribunal rejected Mrs Higgs’s claim for religious discrimination." She has won the right to appeal her case.

There is a much wider problem. 

While the Islamic terrorist organisation ISIS has been driven underground or dispersed, there is more evidence of atrocities committed by the Taliban which enforces a strict interpretation of Islamic law in Afghanistan.

A video has emerged of Afghan commandos being shot dead after an apparent surrender. The Taliban rejects the video, saying it's fabricated!

From All Africa: "After the so-called 'Islamic State' saw its influence in the Middle East wane, the group and its affiliates have targeted poorly governed areas in Africa.

"Jihadis have taken control of significant territories in the Sahel and the Lake Chad regions, which include parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria. In 2018, the West African Centre for Counter Extremism (WACCE) reported up to 6,000 West Africans, who had fought with the 'Islamic State', returned home from Iraq and Syria after the group's self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed.

"It was only a matter of time before we would begin to see ISIS activities replicated in their home countries," says Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, director of the WACCE in Ghana."

The UN has told the BBC that the situation unfolding in Afghanistan is a "humanitarian catastrophe" and one of the worst crises in the world. Around 18 million people, more than half the country’s population, are in urgent need of life-saving support.

The fate of non-Muslims (Dhimmitude) in Islamic states has been made plain many times but still, in countries where Islam is not dominant, any questioning of Islam attracts charges of Islamophobia. 

Instead of heeding the warning, revisionist have taken the practice on board to silence opposition, leading to the slow demise of the Church of England, following in the steps of the Church in Wales and TEC. But nobody in authority seems to care!

Love is the way!

 

In retrospect, when watching the above video clip one can only speculate on what the actress may have said to the presiding bishop for him to be so gushing about love while the actress looks on, looking as demure as she possibly can.

In reality the presiding bishop's concept of love has proved to be just an act.

An article by David Virtue on his VirtueOnline blog, reveals how revisionist Episcopalians led by bishop Curry trash churches they leave behind after losing court cases while orthodox Anglicans clean and leave the keys under the door.

One commentator wrote in response to the blog entry: "Yep. TEC has become the epitome of vindictiveness and hypocrisy. No real love for God or for their neighbors."

On this side of the pond there are no similar arguments about property. In the Church of England orthodox Anglicans have The Society to look to with WATCH left to harry in the background. 

Orthodox Anglicans in the Church in Wales have been left with nothing. Archbishop Barry Morgan saw to that vowing that there would be alternative Episcopal oversight 'over his dead body'. A policy continued by his successor, the recently retired Archbishop of Wales, John Davies.

In a widely circulated retirement statement archbishop Davies said the pandemic had highlighted the "goodness, kindness and love" in communities. People's compassion towards others "must not vanish" after the coronavirus pandemic.

Archbishop Davies and his bench of bishops have shown no goodness, kindness or love towards orthodox Anglicans. Only to revisionists who, like themselves, have been prepared to 'go along to get on'.

We should not be surprised as the Church in Wales uses TEC as its model. They sent the first two Church in Wales women bishops to former TEC presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, archbishop Morgan's heretical mentor as part of their training!

Love (charity) is the way. Sadly some do not know the meaning of love.