Two Anglican Archbishops obsessed with women and the queer agenda

Revd Isabelle Hamley (CofE)                    Revd Canon Joanna Penberthy (CinW)

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Wales have shown by their recent appointments that they have much in common, putting women's issues and the Queer Bible at the heart of their ministries.

Before anyone complains that the bishop elect of St Davids was not appointed by Dr Morgan but by an electoral college, there is no difference other than going through the motions. The name of Canon Penberthy as the next bishop of St Davids was circulating months ago despite her having to endure "sexism on her way to the top". That is, the absence of female toilets in a male college which moved her to micturate in England. Had her trail-blazing taken place today she could have armed herself with a transgender sign and urinated in St Michael's College, Llandaff rather than having to micturate elsewhere.

In the 1980s St Mike's as it was affectionately known trained half the bishops now sitting on the bench, Swansea & Brecon, St Asaph and Monmouth. It is no more. Down the pan and soon to be followed by the 'washed up' Church in Wales herself. St Michael's Theological College now houses the St Padarn's Institute which we are told "comes on the back of dwindling attendances in the Church in Wales and the church's subsequent decision to reorganise traditional parishes into larger Ministry Areas". As Dr Morgan draws his pension early in the new year he will have much on which to reflect. Perhaps he will contemplate writing a book on how he excluded faithful Anglicans from Christian worship in Wales.

Canon Penberthy regards the first women Deacons as 'trailblazers' in the feminist cause. A supporter of blessing gay unions and same sex marriage in church she is also studying for a PhD in Quantum Physics which may not be regarded by the faithless as the most useful asset in the Great Commission if they are to be brought to Christ.

Another PhD student is the Rev'd Isabelle Hamley who is to take up the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Chaplain in January 2017, replacing Archbishop Welby's previous choice, another female Chaplain who has been appointed bishop of Dorking.

In modern parlance, 'the Revd Hamley' is recorded as being in the final stages of a PhD in Biblical studies, (Relational identity, Otherness and Victimisation: An Irigarayan Reading of Judges 19-21).

Not acquainted with the subject I Googled to find out what on earth she was talking about, only to discover that it boiled down to more from the Queer Bible and gender politics.

Is it any wonder that church attendance is declining at an alarming rate? Why not be honest and proclaim Western Anglicanism as the Church of Queer Theology?

Two sides of the coin

"During his time as archbishop, Dr Morgan has championed many changes in the Church in Wales, including a change in its law to enable women to be ordained as bishops.
He also apologised "unreservedly" to gay couples for prejudice in the church." BBC Report

Such comments are the highlights of many fulsome reports of the impending retirement in January 2017 of the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, all written from a secular viewpoint including the announcement on the Church in Wales website:

"Dr Morgan, who is the longest serving archbishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion and also one of the longest serving bishops, will retire on his 70th birthday at the end of January. He will also retire as Bishop of Llandaff after more than 17 years service, having previously been Bishop of Bangor for nearly seven years....During his tenure as Archbishop, Dr Morgan has championed many changes in the Church in Wales, including a change in its law to enable women to be ordained as bishops and the implementation of a radical strategy, 2020 Vision, to help the church grow and prosper in the approach to its centenary year.  He has also played a prominent role in public life, campaigning most notably for a fair devolution settlement for the Welsh Government and speaking out on matters of moral concern."

Reading some of the tributes, "the Archbishop of Canterbury described Dr Morgan as an 'extraordinary servant' who would be 'deeply missed' while the First Minister of Wales praised his 'vast contribution' to Welsh life" and "Wales’ senior bishop, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, praised his 'courageous leadership' of the Church in Wales", the casual observer is left in ignorance of the decline to near extinction of the Church in Wales under Dr Morgan's 'leadership'. 

You can read a more balanced view of the Archbishop's secular agenda during his time in office in VirtueOnline Viewpoints from which I quote:

Morgan is among the most revisionist of Western archbishops in the Anglican Communion, whose only legacy was changing a law enabling women to be ordained as bishops and then apologizing "unreservedly" to gay couples for prejudice in the church. Under his tutelage, there was no evangelical revival and churches continue to wilt and die.

In Sept, 2014, I wrote about the The Washed up World of the Anglican Church of Wales and noted that Morgan said that he would resist the founding of another province with every fiber of his body. He was, of course, alluding to the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). He made this statement at the 2009 Virginia Annual Council.

Well, his body might need new fibers because his Church might not be around for very much longer at the present rate of decline.

According to the latest statistics (2013), the Anglican Church in Wales shows Average Sunday Attendance (over 18) of just a little over 31,000 and under 18 of just a few over 6,000. That's a drop of some 1,728 persons (over and under age 18) from 2012. The Church is not attracting Millennials.

The trend for the future will be much the same as the past as there are no green shoots of renewal extant in the province, a source told VOL. Wales is the former ecclesiastical home of the less than notable, Dr. Rowan Williams.

Dr Virtue also writes:

As the Episcopal Church sinks slowly into the sunset, with millions of dollars in Trust Funds, valuable properties worth millions of dollars strategically located in large cities and a healthy Church Pension Fund, the other side of the coin is that its pulpits will lose several thousand priests and close more than 1500 churches over the next six years.

The Episcopal Church will see a drop of more than 2,000 full time parish priests in the next half dozen years, as retirement numbers increase geometrically, with a likely decrease of ordinands going into the ministry, Church statistics reveal.

This translates into the number of full time priests being reduced by 65% - 75% of total congregations in the denomination. These numbers are from 2014, the last year reported in some cases. Indications are that the situation is probably worse now in 2016. The average age of an Episcopal priest is 59 (or the mean - half older, half younger) there is a tsunami of retirements headed their way in the next 5-10 years with no possible way of filling pulpits with new ordinands.

For all its efforts to double the Church by 2020 and TREC, an attempt to reimagine the Church, nothing, it seems, is working. The church continues on its Gadarene slide.

That Dr Morgan should have chosen the oceanographer and Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church (TEC), Katharine Jefferts Schori as his guiding light says it all.