The sinking ship

As 'Jolly June' Osborne prepares to sail off into the sunset on retirement she leaves behind a trail of discontent. There will be few tears spilt over her departure but many on the wreckage she leaves behind.

Thumbing her nose to scripture and tradition she has already set the scene for her successor by hastily installing a dean of her choice rather than letting the new bishop make the appointment. The new dean is a priest living openly in a same-sex partnership who was involved in some discontent over his involvement in the Percy affair during his time at Oxford.

He should fit in well, not only in the diocese but in the province which is foundering on the rocks of secularism following a string of political appointments.

In her long running battle with the former dean the bishop was forced to face allegations of bullying after it was decided that she had a case to answer. The allegations were subsequently withdrawn. 

Meanwhile the Revd Vicki Burrows, the Garth Ministry Area Leader, wrote of a "culture of fear" in the diocese in the Church Times (Letters, 17/24 December) and called for the suspension of the Rt Rev June Osborne, after the bishop was accused of "bullying and harassment".

The vicar resigned saying that she “can no longer minister with any sense of integrity in Llandaff”.

Bishop Osborne's response was to appoint the Rev'd Ian Yemm, "who is married to Bernhard, an NHS doctor", in what appears to be another attempt to pre-empt a decision by the Church in Wales.

No doubt the bishop of Llandaff with the again absent bishop of St Davids were influential in the appointment of the first lesbian bishop, the bishop of Monmouth, who also lives with her same sex partner giving the impression that their ministries have more to do with the promotion of homosexuality than the sanctity of Christian marriage.

What of the bishop of St Davids? The original announcement in August of Joanna Penberthy's latest sick leave  promised updates as they became available. I can no longer find that notice, perhaps because there have been no updates which is typical of the mushroom method of management in the Church in Wales.

This is what happens when sociology replaces theology.

Former giants of the Church in Wales before bishops were replaced by 'prefects'.
Five held Oxford Firsts in Theology.     Source: Anglican Misfit

But whatever the cause, the latest Church Growth Modelling is bad news for the Church in Wales as well as other denominations as wokeness replaces holiness:

"The Church in Wales contains a mixture of churchmanships, and for many years all were on the conservative side. However, in the last 25 years, it has become increasingly liberal. In common with most historic UK Christian denominations, it has steadily declined since 1960. This analysis investigates the likelihood of decline leading to denominational extinction.

"The Church in Wales is forecast to be extinct by 2038."

The author writes, "Churches do not grow by becoming like society and attracting people, but by becoming like Jesus and converting people."

Exactly.

Confirmation

 "The new bishop of Llandaff's first presidential address at a Llandaff diocesan conference makes informative reading. Strong on sociology but weak on theology and spirituality she should sit easily on a bench of bishops devoid of such talents.
Formerly five of the bishops in Wales held Oxford Firsts in Theology."
- From an entry 'Sociology replacing religion' in October 2017.

There was much hype about the former Dean of Salisbury beginning to transform Llandaff as soon as she crossed the Llys Esgob threshold.

She has - but not as one might have expected as the illustration shows.

In 2016 the Bishops of the Church in Wales wrote a Pastoral Letter to "all the faithful" concerning admission to Holy Communion of all the baptised "by virtue of their Baptism alone".  There were objections that the decision was based on dodgy legal advice,

In the rite of confirmation the Holy Spirit is invoked to come upon those who are to be confirmed.

At the Governing Body of the Church in Wales in September 2017 a private members’ motion asked for the time to consider in more detail documents prepared by the Bench of Bishops and for their period of introduction to be extended by a year to enable greater consideration of its implications. The Mover said "some people had theological objections to the change and their opinions should be heard."

The motion was carried. Discussed again in April 2018 at the  meeting of the Governing Body the bishop of St Asaph told delegates: "We are in the business of creating faithful disciples of Jesus Christ; enabling people to grow into a living faith." He added without any hint of irony: "We are a church which believes in theological debate and as a Bench of Bishop’s we are open to discussion."

There has been no meaningful debate with traditionalists but there was a brief nod to orthodoxy when a Confirmation service took place on 3 October in Llandaff Cathedral led by a Society bishop. Bishop Philip North was invited to celebrate and to confirm candidates.

I have seen no official report or photographs of the event. Some have suggested this was probably out of  official embarrassment due the numbers present. However, this is one report which appeared on Twitter: "Standing room only in the Cathedral for a Diocesan Confirmation @LlandaffDio and the most candidates I think I have ever seen. What utter joy. Thank you @BishopJuno and @BpBurnley. God is good!"

There is no such holding back in the Winter issue of Croeso in which the sacrament of Confirmation is subsumed under a story about same-sex marriage, the joys of the Gathering (an ecumenical LGBTQ+ safe space)! and a mini celebration in the candidate's local church with "flags and prayers for LGBTQ+ folks."

The liberal drift has indeed engulfed the Church in Wales.

From her gay friendly base in Llandaff, June Osbourne has followed the example of the bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy in promoting the LGBTQ+ cause while the third woman bishop to be appointed, Cherry Vann, bishop elect of Monmouth confirms the priorities of women clergy with a talk at a Rochdale Pride event on 'the Church of England's Pastoral Principles for living well together'.

Sociology has replaced theology but it should come as no surprise.

Writing for Virtue Online, Biblical Anthropologist Alice C. Linsley who served as a priest in the Episcopal Church for 16 years addresses 'Ten reasonable objections to women in the priesthood':

1. The Church is not a democratic body.
2. Women's ordination is linked to homosexual activism.
3. Women's ordination is rooted in Feminist thought.
4. Women priests perpetuate confusion about gender.
5. Women priests represent rejection of the authority Scripture and Tradition
6. Women priests cause confusion about the Eucharist.
7. Women priests represent a denial of the Fathers' teaching.
8. Ordination of women to the priesthood undermines women's ministries.
9. The feminization of the clergy discourages men's participation in the church.
10. A female at the altar blurs the biblical distinction between life and death.

The paper is confirmation of how sociology has replaced religion in liberal Anglicanism.

Sociology replacing religion

The Bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne delivering her first presidential  address
 to members of the Llandaff Diocesan Conference.      Source: Church in Wales

"As someone whose first love was sociology I’m fascinated by how people draw the various maps of their world so one of my earliest requests to help me understand the diocesan landscape was that we should have a large map in the office showing the physical shape of the diocese. It arrived last week and already I stand in front of it with colleagues getting them to explain to me how things work."

The Rt Rev June Osborne, Bishop of Llandaff 

The new bishop of Llandaff's first presidential address at a Llandaff diocesan conference makes informative reading. Strong on sociology but weak on theology and spirituality she should sit easily on a bench of bishops devoid of such talents. Formerly five of the bishops in Wales held Oxford Firsts in Theology.

Bishop Osborne said, "I will go on studying and using my map of the Llandaff Diocese but there’s another map going on which I’ve begun to study and that is the map of the diocese which we each carry in our heads. We’ve been doing some exploring of it today: and as I visit all the Deaneries in these next months I’ll be listening carefully to what you think ought to be our priorities because they’re writ large on your maps of how church should work."

This is far removed from the hype about the Dean of Salisbury beginning to transform Llandaff as soon as she crossed the Llys Esgob threshold. With parity high on her agenda her first move was to appoint a woman Chaplain as she began fishing for ideas on how to proceed in her new role.

Presumably the Archbishop of Wales had such imports in mind when he referred to the "huge range of talent, skill and faith" that the Church in Wales has among its people, both lay and ordained. 'Had' rather than has would have been more accurate. 

Archbishop Davies has promised  ‘more of the same’— but faster. In a pre- Primates’ 2017 conference video the Archbishop looked forward to learning from other provinces, ideas on new styles and new ways of delivering ministry, "something which we are seeking to do" in Wales he said. More of the same but faster can only mean accelerated decline. 

Consultation is a bench favourite to be ignored at will so the new bishop outlined how she was inviting clergy and lay people to help her draw up a common map of the diocese by pinpointing where they saw themselves and the part they played in it.

Sadly many of the most able clergy now see themselves in England while lay people play no part after the Church in Wales left them. 

The situation we find ourselves in is neatly summed up in the headline by Olivia Rudgard, religious affairs correspondent of the Telegraph: Number of new trainee priests hits ten-year high as 'celebrity vicars' make the Church look 'normal'. 

Celebrity vicars like the Reverend Richard Coles and the Reverend Kate Bottley have "made the church more accessible" according to the Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, bishop of Repton. She also highlighted the BBC's 'Broken' and 'Rev' as good media portrayals of the clergy. 

Perhaps she was not aware of the BBC series about church in Wales ordinands 'Why we’re all represented in the Vicar Academy'.

The report shows a "ten-year high" in trainee clergy with more women than men starting training as priests for the first time in sixteen years. One of the ordinands, a journalist aged 33 and mother-of-three, says she has been encouraged by moves to make the priesthood more inclusive to women, such as part-time curacies and courses that fit around childcare.

Another sociology job option of relevance to society.