The Fall

Fall of the union flag                                                       Source: Twitter

Not to sully the display of gay pride flags the falling union flag can be seen thrown to the ground in this tweet

It is emblematic of the state the country finds itself in after the success of a strategy outlined in Life Site News in 2012, The six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion.

One of those strategies was to Confuse and neutralize the churches. 

So successful has this strategy been that the Anglican Church is in total disarray with same-sex partnered priests and bishops living openly together. Churches are being queered under the guise of equality and diversity with same-sex marriage on the horizon. 

Typical is St Mary's Priory Church in Abergavenny which is "Looking forward to welcoming @AbergavennyPri1 to @StMarysPriory for bigger, better Pride." 

They tweet, "We are an inclusive church where ALL Are welcome! Even our flowers welcoming everyone! Plz retwt 😊🏳️‍🌈". Happy to oblige here.

The same-sex partnered vicar is a regular worship leader at Governing Body previously queered St Augustine's, Rumney. 

The Church is not alone. The message of the First Minister of Wales to Pride Cymru last weekend was, "When we said that we wanted to make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly place in Europe, we meant it.

He uses the words stigma, discrimination, barriers, abuse, liberation, equality, struggle, exclusion, bullying and erasure. 

That is another of the six strategies to Exploit the “victim” status.

Far better to have heard about the NHS victims who have been stuck for years on waiting lists as their pain intensifies and risk of death from cancer draws closer through lack of early diagnoses. 

Far better to have a sensible plan for tackling the traffic chaos that greets major events in the nations Capital city.

 The most worrying strategy is Intimidation which has grave consequences for the education our children.

 Numerous comments under previous threads express concern about gender identification issues, the most notorious recent example being Cat-Identity Clash. 

Many of these issues originated across the pond where Sexual indoctrination of kids continues. In Toronto Gender-neutral school washrooms only serve to humiliate students.

Intimidation is used to prevent critics for speaking out. If they do they are branded as homophobic for expressing a contrary opinion while silence is construed as consent. 

As indicated in the Life Site News article referred to above, homophile strategists are very adept at manipulating public opinion. Their agenda on reshaping traditional values has been remarkably successful. The indoctrination of our children is a step too far.

Postscripts 

[25.06.2023]

1. “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children.

    Not if we have anything to say about it, you’re not. #LeaveOurKidsAlone ”

2. Another church for the bishop of Monmouth to tick off 
    https://twitter.com/CommsGuyMatt/status/1671857770276978688

[03.07.2023]

+ Cherry Vann presides at Open Table      Source: Twitter

Queering the Lord's Table 

https://twitter.com/EastCardiffMA/status/1675786556492201984

How mad can mankind get?

 'Male and female he created them'                                              Source: Free Icons

A Scots lad, 17, was chucked out of his classroom by a furious teacher for claiming that there are ‘only two genders’, something that has been obvious to most for generations.

A former magistrate dismissed from the bench for his views on the adoption of children by gay couples has lost his appeal against the decision:
"Richard Page, from Headcorn, was struck off and later relieved from the post of non-executive director of the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust after a decision made on an adoption case in 2014. Mr Page, a Christian, dissented from the view of his colleagues on the bench when a same sex couple applied to adopt, saying that in his view it was in a child's best interests to be raised by a mother and a father."

Mr Page was expressing his view. He said, "This shows that we are now living in a deeply intolerant society which cannot stand any dissent from politically correct views - even from judges."

This article illustrates is how it has come about. From James Parker: You couldn’t make it up if you tried:

"I was present as a gay rights’ activist at conversations by leading gay strategists from the US and the UK that outlined over three decades ago what we are seeing transpire today.

"The strategic goal was that men and women with same-sex attraction should infiltrate and take leadership within key areas of society with the purpose of using their positions to bring about homosuperiority. Yes, you read that correctly. Not homonormativity or mere equality, but homosuperiority.

"These areas included the entertainment industry, mainstream media, education, politics, healthcare – especially psychology and psychiatry, the military, religion and finally sport."

God created mankind in his own image, male and female he created them. Procreation is not recreation. It is the nuts and bolts of creation.

A sad commentary

Source:Source: Daily Post 

This is one of twelve redundant churches for sale referred  to in a May entry Your new home? The former Christ Church is located in the centre of the village of Rhosybol between Llanerchymedd and Amlwch on the Isle of Anglesey. It is still on the market.

The BBC is reporting that 110 Anglican churches have closed in Wales in 10 years or, as Premiere succinctly put it: "Eight per cent shut their doors for good during the decade covered, the Church in Wales statistics show. The decline leaves 1,319 Anglican churches in Wales still open."

Using the latest regular attendance figures that gives an average congregation of just 21 souls.

A Church in Wales spokesman said "there was a move to take a regional look at churches rather than let each one deal with the issue on its own. We're grouping a lot more parishes and congregations together, about 10-15 churches in an area, and thinking which ones can we sustain.

"There's a little bit more strategy - what's a sustainable congregation and where's the best place to do it?" The National Churches Trust said the rate of closures in Wales was relatively higher than England, given relative population size, where about 20 close each year.

Meanwhile in one of the buildings remaining open, at least for the time being, in the Church of England, the Rev Richard Coles, "radio presenter and Strictly Come Dancing 2017 star", has been seen entertaining his congregation with some mincing steps in a preview of his performance on Saturday evening.

The verdict? From the Telegraph: Ruth Langsford and Reverend Richard Coles were also down there at the bottom of the scoreboard but they possess both the entertainment value and fan base to keep them in the contest. We shall see next Sunday. 

After the launch of this year's series which includes a lesbian comedian as well as a gay vicar, there was a debate over whether gay contestants should be coupled with a dancing partner of the same sex prompting a previous gay contestant, Judge Rinder, to protest that the same-sex partner idea was 'absurd'.

If only the Archbishop of Canterbury could have been as forthright when he was asked in a LBC radio interview what his reaction was to a six year old boy being sent into a Church of England school dressed as and identifying as ‘a girl’. The Archbishop's reply was a boy wearing a dress to school was 'not a problem' indicating how far Anglican bishops have strayed like lost sheep.  A more profound response to the theology of cross-dressing amongst 6 year olds can be read here.

Back in Wales they have at least one claim to fame. According to 2011 census figures, Wales had the highest number of people in the UK with no religion. As attendance continues to fall more closures can be expected. Something for the bishops along with the Representative Body to ponder over in their spanking new Provincial office in the heart of Cardiff as the remaining 28,291 worshippers are encouraged to give far more than the average £9.41 per Sunday attender according to the latest (2016) membership and finance figures.

The Church in Wales recommends that its members should "give 5% of their take-home pay to the Church". For a single pensioner with no other source of income that amounts to £7.98 out of a weekly State Pension is £159.55 per week.

The current model is unsustainable with increasingly elderly congregations, that is, where the church still functions. Apart from toddler groups, messy church and the like, the traditional family where children sang in the choir, became servers, joined youth clubs, Scouts, Guides has become as scarce as the traditional parish church.

Traditionally the parish church has been at the heart of local communities. From the Church in Wales' Introduction to The Cure of Souls (1996): 

"The Church is at one and the same time a spiritual, moral and institutional community. Any attempt to isolate one aspect from the others misrepresents its reality.

What distinguishes the Church from other communities, at least in its own self-understanding, is that it is a ‘spiritual’ community – a fellowship/community of the Holy Spirit. That is, it claims to participate in the Spirit of God and to be established as the community it essentially is by the Spirit of God."

That should be the 'strategy' but Anglican bishops have decided to follow the failed TEC model, plodding along while becoming irrelevant to society as the edifice crumbles. What a sad commentary.

Mission Llandaff

Source: Twitter #speakingthegospelintoourcontext

Many of the comments received following my blog entries are centred on the diocese of Llandaff, its Cathedral and its personnel from clerical top to lowly bottom. 

The situation in Llandaff is dire. In the Cathedral church there are complaints about poor accounting practices, a lack of openness and bullying tactics being used to counter honestly held opinions expressed for the good of the Cathedral church. Whatever the financial situation it has not prevented the clergy from enjoying four days in Oxford at the expense of Llandaff's pewsters.

Had the discussions in Oxford been about the parlous state of the Church in Wales, especially Llandaff Cathedral, or of the mission of the Church in general, the jolly in Oxford may have been understandable but Mission Llandaff has more to do with the missionary position than mission itself with topics such as "faith gender sex".

After a session on "Every age should look to its own context for our expression of faith" Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch posed the question: "Is there a theology of sex and marriage?" A popular broadcaster, Prof. MacCulloch was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England but declined ordination to the priesthood because of the church's attitude to his homosexuality, unlike many clergy today, including bishops, who brazenly flout the rules, putting their own desires before the well-being of the Church.

Following on from the bishops' failed bid to persuade the Governing Body of the Church in Wales to adopt their strategy of permitting same sex marriage in church, Mission Llandaff looks nothing more than a blatant attempt to ensure that the Bench's carefully crafted 'not blessing' prayers are used in Llandaff diocese churches, contrary to the decision of worshippers while they are pressed to give more money to support policies they don't agree with.

Bishops should apologise for hurt caused to ignored faithful Anglicans

Source: Gay Times

The above photograph is entirely apposite to the circumstances the Church finds herself in as the pews continue to empty. The Gay Times published an article titled "Archbishop of Wales apologises for LGBT prejudice" under a picture of a nave full of empty seats which appears to be the ultimate desire of many bishops as they follow secular trends instead of proclaiming the Gospel to make new disciples. The bishops make claims with no supporting evidence. By contrast there is strong evidence of prejudice and bullying of the faithful here.

Reports of the bishops' strategy have been widespread including this from The Independent:

The Church in Wales did publish a series of prayers which can be said with a couple following the celebration of a civil partnership or civil marriage. "We, as bishops, feel that this is the right thing to do at this time. I realise that some people will regard these prayers as too little too late and others will regard them as a step too far. No one is compelled to use them, but they are provided for those who would like to do so. These prayers do not constitute a service of blessing."

The prayers may not constitute a service of blessing but it will be hard to spot the difference where there is a will to introduce same sex marriage using their 'stepping stones' strategy. As I have been told many times, familiarity will make it appear normal.

The bishops should be ashamed of themselves for having flouted the will of Church members after wasteful consultation exercises. ++Barry has tried every trick in the book to legitimise his thinking and has failed so he he gone illegitimate.

The same sex marriage consultation was a farce, designed only to test the water for sufficient votes to introduce legislation, as was the GB exercise. No matter what views were expressed or how members of the Church in Wales voted ++Barry's agenda is clear. The more women the better, the gayer the better. 

While there can be "no official acceptance of gay marriage or of blessings in the Church in Wales yet", with ++Barry's blessing there can be prayers which will be used to the same effect.

The bishops' duplicitous actions debase Mother Church. They should apologise to the faithful unreservedly.

Postscript [29.04.2016]

From:

Anglican Mainstream
Evangelical Fellowship of the Church in Wales responds to the Bishops’ Pastoral Letter

Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
A Response to the Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Church in Wales

Statistics of Omission

Note: The image of the Archbishop of Wales is disproportionate to average Sunday attendance to ensure his visibility.
In the 2011 Census, Christianity was the largest religion, with 33.2 million people (59.3 per cent of the population) here

The video in my 24 June entry, + Richard outlines his survival strategy, gave some clues to the dismemberment of the Church in Wales as the bishops implement Abp Barry Morgan's strategy for their survival, ie, retain all the bishops with their expensive diocesan structures, get rid of paid parish clergy and fool the laity into running the ministry areas nobody wants apart from Barry and his bench sitters.

Despite all Dr Morgan's political posturing the secularised Church in Wales (CinW) is barely significant in Anglicanism representing less than 0.04% of the Communion. If he were to be represented in the above chart in proportion to the average number of people attending CinW services the Archbishop of Wales would be invisible. According to CinW published figures the average adult Sunday attendance in Wales is 31,048 (Table 1 here) out of a population of 3,063,456 (1%). With seven bishops supported that works out at a mere 4,435 attendees per bishop.

When it suits them the CinW hierarchy refer to other provinces such as in the Church of England as examples of good practice as they did in support of their women bishops legislation. Archdeacon Peggy Jackson referred to CofE proposals when she conned the CinW Governing Body into accepting the Jackson/Wigley amendment which gave Barry Morgan a free hand to do exactly as he planned. Having secured the vote to appoint women bishops, he made no alternative sacramental and pastoral provision in the CinW Code of Practice, contrary to proposals in the Church of England and his bench sitters went along with him.

Following the CinW example I have been looking at the Church of England's Statistics for Mission 2013. The population of Wales is about the same size as the population of the diocese of Chelmsford but with a greater average Sunday attendance. They manage with one diocesan and three assistant bishops. Alternatively, based on population density, Wales with 381 people per sq mile, is similar to the diocese of Lincoln. They manage with a diocesan bishop and one assistant.

In the Table below I have included the diocese of Oxford, occasionally referred to in this blog and said by some commentators to be Dr Morgan's favourite diocese. These three dioceses together have 11 bishops with an average 90,000 souls regularly attending Sunday services or 8,182 attendees per bishop, almost double the number the bishops in Wales have in their charge yet the number of dioceses and bishops appears to be the only area off limits in their 2020 Vision strategy. A strategy which is being implemented under the heading "Serving community, inspiring people, transforming church". Serving and inspiring, no; transforming the church, yes, but not in a manner recognised by the vast majority of the world's 80 million Anglicans of which Wales makes up a mere 0.039%. Yet Dr Morgan would have his Church members believe that it is he who holds the keys.

Diocese/	Population	Pop Density	Average Sunday	Number	Attendees
COUNTRY		per Sq Mile	Attendance	of bishops	per bishop
Chelmsford	3,060,000	2,000	34,100	4	8,525
Lincoln	1,051,000	390	12,200	2	6,150
Oxford	2,313,000	1,040	43,700	5	8,740
WALES	3,063,456	381	31,048	7	4,435

Canterbury Ave. Sunday attendance  622,000
York             "           "           "            227,400

CinW            "           "           "              31,048

In Wales it has been not so much a case of Statistics For Mission but the consequences of omission. Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".

Rather than "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you", the Church in Wales has become obsessed with a mission to reflect society, misusing the Bible in the process. Questions such as, What did Jesus say about women priests/homosexuality/gay marriage, etc, etc? are posed to provide the predictable answer, "Nothing", ignoring what has been commanded. A faith based on what wasn't said rather than what was said is doomed to fail. *

The same mistakes have been made in the Church of England, also in steep decline as they too follow the path set by the US Episcopal Church (TEC) but the rot has been more severe in the Church in Wales. Read the Rev Dr Peter Mullen's "The meaning of TEC" for his assessment: "those modernising more rapidly are also failing faster".

If Wales were a Church of England parish rather than a separate province the faithful would still have the benefit of alternative Episcopal oversight. But the bench of bishops seem determined only to feather their own nests at the expense of everyone else.

Clerics who have seen the light are already departing for the Church of England. Ideally the 2020 strategy would be for the province to return to the Church of England where honouring promises ameliorates the sins of omission. That would give all an equal chance of survival since equality is the name of the game.

* Postscript [12 July 2015]

A further example of what wasn't said from York Synod:

"Elliot Swattridge, who represents the Church of England Youth Council on the Synod, said: "When Jesus instituted the first celebration of the eucharist during the last supper his words were simple: 'Do this in remembrance of me’.
"In this characteristically simple statement he instructed the entire body of his disciples to participate in not only receipt but also the administration of communion.
"Note that Jesus did not state 'do this but never administer it unless you have been ordained'. Neither did he state 'do this but only of you are over 18 years of age'."

Therefore, children and worshippers who have not been confirmed should be allowed to administer the sacrament at Eucharist services! Story here.

2020 Vision but still myopic!

The Church in Wales has chosen an interesting logo for their 2020 Vision Sunday campaign. Any similarity with the logo used by the South Orlando Baptist Church, here, will be coincidental but surely theirs could have been better utilised by the Archbishop. In the Baptist Church, His mission means what it says but in the Church in Wales it would be Dr Morgan's mission.

From the Church in Wales web site:

Churches across Wales will be re-adjusting their focus to 2020 Vision on one Sunday in November.

They are being asked to mark November 16 as 2020 Vision Sunday by supporting and praying for the Church in Wales’ strategy for growth.

Major changes are well underway in the Church in Wales as it responds to the challenge of making the best use of its resources to serve Wales today. These include expanding traditional parish boundaries into create larger “Ministry Areas” and encouraging lay people to take up leadership roles. The strategy is called 2020 Vision as it looks ahead to the Church in Wales’ centenary in 2020.

Prayers, readings and a sermon themed around 2020 Vision are being sent out to all churches in time for the special Sunday and are also available online.

Vision Sunday is a precursor to The Time Is Now Conference when "about 200 people from churches across Wales to share their stories of how their churches are responding to changes.They will be joined by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, and the six other Welsh bishops. There will also be conference theologian who will reflect on the issues under discussion. Dr Christina Baxter CBE, is a former Chair of the Church of England’s General Synod’s House of Laity, former Principal of St John’s Theological College, Nottingham, and a lay canon of Southwell."

Call me an old cynic but one has to question the validity of any consultation organised by the bishops after they ignored the consultation designed to inform the Bench about the Code of Practice and meekly did just as Barry wanted them to do to the detriment of the Church in Wales.

Any strategy for growth should be encouraged, including those where churches are thriving.  As the Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry said when speaking in the Commons about the Church of England, previously cited as an example of good practice: "the Church of England is deeply committed to the flourishing of all those who are part of its life in the grace of God...Indeed, I think we would all hope that every part of the Church of England can now flourish and thrive." So why not the Church in Wales?

Barry's strategy has become a familiar pattern. The Governing Body were presented with a procedure designed to secure the desired result on the admission of women to the Episcopacy. Then they were handed for consideration a loaded question about homosexual people being made to feel unwelcome with a similar rouse being used to gain acceptance of same-sex marriage in Church. Members are also being encouraged to consider their approach to assisted dying. All part of Dr Morgan's  mission rather than His mission.

If the Church in Wales genuinely wants a strategy for growth it should truly be His mission is our future, not Barry's. The fate of the Church in Wales under Dr Morgan's rule is painfully clear. I hope at least one of the 200 or so people from churches across Wales will pluck up the courage to ask if the outcome of the conference is predetermined as were the 'consultations' on the Code of Practice, or will they be hand-picked to avoid any opposition?

This is a suggested Collect for used for 2020 Sunday, including the unsaid thoughts of the Bench:

Generous God, thank you, that you bless us with so much love. Help us to recognise and celebrate all the good things that you have given. Lead us to be wise and just stewards of all your gifts so that, inspired by your grace, the Church in Wales may grow in love and service of others and be living signs of your reconciliation and hope in our communities and for all creation - so long as they are not faithful Anglicans remaining true to the Catholic faith! Amen.