Fateful words

The bishops of Llandaff (left) and St Davids (right) with their TEC mentor Katharine Jefferts Schori
Source: Twitter

It came as no surprise that archbishop Barry Morgan described his chosen candidate, Canon Joanna Penberthy, as 'the best person to be a bishop' after she was elected bishop of St Davids.

Subsequent events have illustrated the irony of that description.

Likewise, Morgan's successor must rue the day when he welcomed the appointment as bishop of Llandaff of 'Pioneer English woman priest', June Osborne. 

The then Church in Wales' senior bishop, John Davies said, “In June Osborne, both the Church in Wales and the Diocese of Llandaff will find themselves to be richly blessed. June’s track record admirably demonstrates her passion for Christian ministry modelled on the Gospel imperatives of love, justice, inclusivity and openness. All of these are qualities which I and my fellow bishops warmly support and welcome. She is known as a leader with clear vision, a pastoral heart and a strategic mind.”

In 2019 June Osborne's 'clear vision' led her to charter an aircraft to fly all active diocesan clergy to a clergy school in Santiago de Compostela during Christian Aid Week leaving others to get on with charitable work. Mercifully the plane did not ended up in the sea. Had it done so the diocese would have been left with a few retired clergy who could not afford to subsidise the cost of the flight or had better things to do than pay to go on one June's extravagant jollies.

June has also demonstrated her idea of love, justice, inclusivity and openness when she sacrificed faithful parishioners in another initiative. 

From the Save St Teilo's - Save Our Community petition:

"In March 2019 the members of St Teilo’s church have been informed that a decision has been made by the Bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, to give their church away to an evangelical church called Holy Trinity Brompton. The decision was made with no consultation with the clergy or members of the congregation and wider community and she says the decision is final."

I doubt that many of the St Teilo's congregation have found themselves to be richly blessed by their bishop but, then, her first love was sociology.

Featuring regularly of late in the columns of the Church Times and in the Western Mail there appears to be a never ending feud between the bishop of Llandaff and her dean which is constantly dragging the Church in Wales through the mire.

Another article in the Church Times today refers to alleged bullying and harassment by the bishop of Llandaff but, like her colleague in St Davids no doubt she will continue to regard any criticism of female behaviour as discrimination and carry on regardless. 

Postscript [08.01 22]

For a devastating assessment of the current state of the dioceses of the Church in Wales and their diocesan bishops from across the pond go to Anglican Unscripted 709 starting at position 21.10.

Where faith doesn't matter

The Spring 2019 issue of Croeso, the Llandaff diocese newsletter, has the 'Diocesan Vision' logo Where Faith Matters splashed across its front cover. 

The reality is different. 

Faith does not matter in Llandaff or in any other diocese in the Church in Wales. 

What matters is toeing the party line. Bishops busy themselves making the Church more relevant to society, principally by championing the LGBT movement and embracing other faiths while excluding orthodox Anglicans who have kept the faith.

In Llandaff the bishop has alienated many by her high-handed managerial style moulded by the marketplace. The mystery of faith is unlikely to be conveyed successfully by a few Power Point presentations. 

Doubts have been raised about her alleged consultations regarding St Teilo's in Cardiff being given over to a church plant experiment. 

Also, it has been widely reported than an elderly priest has been told that if he is not fit enough to join jolly June on her jaunt to Compostela he is not fit to run his parish so he must retire. - Echoes of the bishop of St Davids trying to ditch faithful long serving male clergy!

No wonder that the Church in Wales is sinking fast.

According to the 2011 census nearly one third of people in Wales have no religion, a higher proportion than in Wales and England as a whole. A total of 58% (1.8m) gave Christianity as their belief, a 14% drop since 2001.

Numbers regularly attending Anglican Sunday services in Wales have declined every year since. Down to 0.8% of the population in 2017.

By contrast those in Wales stating in 2011 that they were Muslim was 1.5%,  more than double the 0.7% figure in 2001. 

Helping to encouraging the growth of other faiths at the expense of Christianity, the bench continues to embrace Islam even though Christians are reduced to living under humiliating dhimmi status in Islamic states, many of which continue to allow stoning of homosexuals and adulterers under strict sharia law.

Faith matters, particularly among Anglicans who are unable in conscience to accept the sacramental ministry of women in common with the overwhelming majority of Christians but their faith has been cast aside while favouring others and none.

Peace Mala. The Archbishop of Wales with supporters @StDavidsNeath.                                                                                     Source: Twitter @WelshMuslims

Update [07.04.2019]

From Christian today: Brunei's draconian new laws don't just affect gay people, Christians are at risk too.

Protests have been held outside the Dorchester in London over Brunei's new gay stoning laws. Some Christians are wondering why there isn't more outcry about the threat of death to the country's Christian community.

Despite the focus of media attention on the threat to LGBT people, the laws also affect the Christian community, with conversion from Islam and insulting the Prophet Muhammad both carrying the death penalty.

"The newest and third phase of the law is difficult news for Christian converts who are expected to have to go into deeper hiding," said Open Doors USA. 

The first phase, which rolled out five years ago, already curtailed the freedoms of Christians and other faiths by making it a crime to "persuade, tell or encourage" Muslim children under the age of 18 "to accept the teachings of religions other than Islam".  Anyone who does so risks being fined or imprisoned.

Around two thirds of the population are Muslim and the Islamic faith is strictly enforced.  In 2015, the Sultan of Brunei cancelled Christmas celebrations.

Tomas Muller, a persecution analyst for Open Doors' World Watch Research unit, said converts stand to be particularly badly affected by the latest changes to the law, with risks including separation from spouses and children, or forced divorce.

"It is to be expected that not only society will change—depending on what exactly will be considered as 'anti-Islam' –but also that the country's Christian converts will be forced to hide their faith even more carefully," he said. 

Postscript [08.04.2019]

In a Provincial press release the Archbishop of Wales has condemned as "barbaric" the laws recently enacted in Brunei, as the result of which those who are in same-sex relationships and those who renounce Islam face severe penalties.

There is no suggestion that his Muslim friends joined the archbishop in his condemnation after the Church in Wales in common with all people of faith and goodwill  reached out in friendship and solidarity with Muslims after the attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Epiphany

Perhaps alluding to Brexit, in her latest reflection the bishop of St Davids, Barry Morgan's idea of the "best person to be a bishop", tells her listeners that "the God who kept His people Israel safe, even through the holocaust and beyond, who kept His Church safe through the centuries will keep us safe. And we are called simply, not to wave magic wands to make things better but to open the ordinary things of our lives that the Holy Spirit may rush in through the gaps and in us Christ's glory may be seen by our love for one another and our service of the community."

What Church is Joanna Penberthy talking about? Not the Church in Wales which, thanks to her and her colleagues on the Bench, is crumbling around them. A Church that has become totally irrelevant outside Wales.  The Washed Up World of the Anglican Church of Wales is no longer considered when the state of Anglicanism is discussed. See Hey! Nobody Cares.

As for 'our love for one another', the excluded will take that with a pinch of salt. Traditionalist Anglicans in Wales have been deprived of  sacramental or pastoral care since the late Bishop David Thomas retired in 2008. Provincial episcopal visitors (PEVs or flying bishops) have been banned from Welsh dioceses in a determined effort to stamp out traditional Anglicanism in Wales showing a distinct lack of love for one another from the bench of bishops .

Yes, 'His Church', the body of Christ, is safe in the hearts and minds of conviction Christians. But they have been left out in the cold. They no longer count in the Church in Wales, just like the Church in Wales no longer counts in the wider Church.

That is the realization of Archbishop Barry Morgan's vision for the Church in Wales.

Some Epiphany!

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.