Some Comparisons

Benito Mussolini and Gary Lineker striking poses

Soccer pundit Gary Lineker dropped himself right in it when he compared the language used to launch the government's new asylum policy with that used in 1930s Germany.

In the same spirit, his balcony pose in a BBC News bulletin reminded me of more graphic analogy from that era.

The BBC said that the sports presenter was taken off their Match of the Day show after a row about the impartiality of Lineker's tweets claiming that he had breached its social media guidelines for tweeting about the government's new migration law.

Not wanting to be left behind, an increasing number of pundits are withdrawing their services in a show of solidarity for Lineker.

I see from his Twitter account that Lineker has 8.8M followers which may account for the outpouring of sympathy for the BBC’s top earner of over £1 million annually. 

By contrast Home Secretary Suella Braverman has a mere 120.9K Twitter followers.

From a Church Times tweet about another BBC casualty: "The BBC Singers is one of the leading advocates of choral music in the world, and their budget probably equals one sport presenter’s salary. The BBC corporate spin on it is beyond belief."

Sympathisers can sign a petition to stop the planned closure of the BBC Singers here.

The BBC previously announced that some of their News channel’s most famous faces, including Jane Hill, Ben Brown and Martine Croxall, were to be axed before the launch of a channel that combines international and domestic news.

For those of us who find the BBC's obsession with soccer completely disproportionate, some trimming of the seemingly endless number or presenters, commentators and reporters is long overdue.

The commentator John Motson  unwittingly summed up the problem in a quote from a tribute following his death. When the BBC apologised for a delay in presenting the News because coverage of a soccer game had overrun, Motson retorted, soccer is the news!

For too many he was right.

On the rocks

The Church in Wales is foundering.

Having accepted that people are doing 'different things on a Sunday which means that they are not going to turn up at Church', the Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, told BBC Wales that he has brought in a PR company to help deliver its message.

He said it is "a way of engaging people's minds and hearts with what lies at the very centre of the Gospel and that's about bringing life and purpose and compassion and goodness into the communities where we live....Social media explaining that message, social media expressing something about the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel, I think is very, very worthwhile indeed."

The compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel has been perverted in the Church in Wales resulting in a message that seeks to give people what they want now rather than what they need for the promise of eternal life.

Will social media provide the answer? I doubt it. Many of the Twitter messages I see are self-promoting, ingratiating or simply promoting a secular cause.

Take this blatant feminist tweet from Llandaff diocese: "Worth mentioning again....@ChurchinWales  will now have gender parity on the Bench of Bishops...and we're extremely proud of this!"

That is an entirely secular view of equality of opportunity in the workplace, completely devoid of any spirituality.

A tweet from Archdeacon Sue: "Special day as our new Bishop @cherry_vann is Consecrated at Brecon Cathedral. Praying that God will bless Cherry, her partner Wendy and all the people of the @MonmouthDCO. May we be a faithful people praising God, proclaiming the Good News and serving with love @ChurchinWales.

The Church in Wales refused to comment on Cherry Vann being in a same sex partnered relationship when she was appointed bishop-elect of Monmouth. Now her same sex relationship has become a matter for celebration as though the office of bishop were some sort episcopal duo.

Not to be outdone an Area Dean in the diocese of Monmouth tweeted: "Definitely an occasion for white SCP stole today for consecration of  @cherry_vann. The prayers & love of the Llandaff & Monmouth Chapter of SCP are with Cherry & Wendy today. Look forward to spotting other SCP clergy #wearthebadge @scpeurope @MissionMonmouth @MonmouthDCO."

Having recently celebrated a same sex civil partnership anniversary of his own the Area Dean cocked a snook at the Church of England when the House of Bishops issued their pastoral statement on Civil Partnerships – for same sex and opposite sex couples.

He tweeted: "My response to CofE latest pastoral guidelines and my expression of solidarity on the day of Cherry’s consecration as a bishop in the Church of God!"

Source: Twitter

Is this "the compassion that lies at the heart of the Gospel" we can expect to be reading about on social media? It is nothing more than an extended ploy driven by self interested parties to push through same sex marriage in church.

After Bishop Pain retired, it was reported that clergy and laity had expressed hopes that his successor would be someone from outside of the Diocese of Monmouth. Not only did they get their wish but Cherry Vann just happened to be on site for the announcement of her appointment giving the impression that the appointment of the first lesbian bishop had been carefully choreographed in secret.

At her consecration Cherry Vann invited a friend, the Rev'd Robert Lawrence, a member of the Society of St Francis from the Diocese of Newcastle, to preach. 

"A bishop is a point of unity," he said, "(or so I was always told), except that in the church today we seem to find disunity when (say) the bishop is a woman in a church where not everyone accepts the leadership of women, or when the bishop is in a same sex civil partnership in a church where not everyone accepts gay relationships, and where the bishop is English in a Welsh diocese."

 In other words, you are on the wrong side if you disagree with the ordination of women, do not accept a bishop who is in a same sex civil partnership or, oddly, a bishop who is English in a Welsh diocese!

Many clergy will not have heard Mr Lawrence's admonishment. They have already left along with tens of thousands of Anglican laity leaving a compliant rump to do it their way.

Piloted by an incompetent bench of bishops it is no surprise that the Church in Wales is foundering.

Postscripts

[28.01.2020]

The Church in Wales is wasting no time in using social media to spread its message of the gospel according to LGBT. Tweeted this morning: "Watch out for this interview with the new Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, on @BBCWalesToday at lunchtime and 6.30pm today @cherry_vann."

Early morning viewers will have already seen the recently consecrated bishop of Monmouth explaining on BBC Wales News that she will not campaign for same-sex marriage in the Church in Wales and hoped her supporters would not be disappointed.

The former Archdeacon of Rochdale said she was “overwhelmed by the warm welcome her and her partner Wendy had been given and hoped to send a positive message to people who feel rejected by the church.”

She was not speaking of the thousands of Anglicans abandoned by their Church but for gay people who she claims feel rejected. Bishop Vann continued: "I hope that it is a sign of hope. There are a lot of gay people in our schools, in our colleges and universities, out there in society who think that the church is against them, that they don't have a place in the church.

"I hope that being here as a gay person, in a same-sex relationship, will give those people hope and help them to see that this is something that the church embraces and is able to celebrate along with any other faithful committed relationship."

The message is clear. Cherry Vann has no need to campaign. The bench has it in hand.

[31.01.2020]

In response to a charge by Peter Tatchell of  "SELFISH HYPOCRITE!" after the bishop of Monmouth  said she won't campaign for same-sex marriage in the church, the Church in Wales was quick to respond with "Bishop Vann said she was undecided about same-sex marriage, not that she opposed it."
Tatchell claimed that she [Vann] only got to be a priest & bishop thanks to equality struggles of other LGBT+ Christians. Now she says she opposes equal marriage within the church.