Making a difference!

Church of England women bishops                                                                                                                                                               Source: Church Militant

When the Church of England formally approved plans for women bishops the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Today we can begin to embrace a new way of being the church and moving forward together. We will also continue to seek the flourishing of the church of those who disagree."

Hilary Cotton, the then chairwoman of Women and the Church (WATCH), said she would like to see women ultimately make up a third of bishops, around 40 posts, "in order to make a difference".

They certainly have.

Mutual flourishing of those who disagree soon flew out of the church window.

Now Church Militant reports that "Nineteen prelates, including five women bishops, abstained from a pro-life vote as Britain's House of Lords voted 355–77 to approve the government's extreme abortion regime in Northern Ireland.

"Bishops Sarah Mullally (London), Rachel Treweek (Gloucester), Vivienne Faull (Bristol), Christine Hardman (Newcastle) and Elizabeth Lane (Derby) belong to the cohort of 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual.

"Seven male bishops, shamed by a previous Church Militant exposé, voted against the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No 2) Regulations statutory instrument on Monday. 

"Even though the House of Bishops at the Church of England's General Synod stated in February that 98.3% of abortions in the United Kingdom are immoral, only Apb. Justin Welby (Canterbury) and Bps. Paul Butler (Durham), Christopher Cocksworth (Coventry), Timothy Dakin (Winchester), Julian Henderson (Blackburn), Donald Allister (Peterborough) and James Newcome (Carlisle) voted pro-life in Parliament.

"'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?' asks the prophet Isaiah. The answer appears to be yes, if she happens to be a bishop in the Church of England," lamented Dave Brennan, director of pro-life Brephos.

""One argument for having bishops with 'real-life experience' is that they can apparently bring their insights to bear on 'real-life' issues," Brennan noted. "But that hasn't happened with bishop of London Sarah Mullally who, despite having been a midwife and the U.K.'s chief nursing officer, is mum on abortion." 

"One argument for having these 'Lords Spiritual' — and indeed an established church — is that they can be the moral conscience of the nation. If this is the caliber of our 'conscience' as a nation, it is no wonder we are plunging into such dissipation," he added. "

Not a difference one might have expected!

Laid bare

Ancient stone carving with apple

 ‘We asked for bread but you gave us stones‘ became a familiar cry from the movement for the ordination of women.

What has been revealed since they achieved their objectives is that they have hearts of stone.

Provisions made for orthodox 'traditionalist' Anglicans to ensure the successful passage of their 'equality' legislation have been gradually eroded.

Alternative episcopal oversight was cruelly withdrawn by archbishop Barry Morgan after bishop David Thomas retired.

The axe is hovering again, waiting to strike the final blow against orthodoxy. A blow by Morgan's hatchet woman that will change the Church in Wales forever, turning it into a feminist sect on the outer fringes of Anglicanism.

Following the Canon to enable the Ordination of Women as Bishops a Code of Practice in relation to the Ministry of Bishops was added.

There was a nod towards the Code of Practice adopted by the Church of England but it was twisted by the Jackson/Wigley amendment to ensure that there would be no similar structure to provide alternative episcopal oversight in Wales:

[4.] "Within the Church in Wales, those who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales."

Another paragraph was added:

[5.] " Since the Code of Practice needs to be both strong and flexible enough to respond to a changing situation in the future, and since the Governing Body has entrusted the Bench of Bishops with the task of agreeing a Code which commits the Bench to making provisions for all the members of the Church in Wales, the Bench reserves the right to amend the provisions of this Code as may be necessary in the future."

The sting was in the tail. Jackson's strategy is laid bare. Unless it is voted down the final blow will be delivered at the next meeting of the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales.

An alleged "changing situation" private member Motion submitted by Archdeacon Peggy Jackson reveals her original intent. 

It seeks to remove any provision for conscience in the Church in Wales:

"the Bishops should not in future allow conscience provisions to be extended towards anyone who seeks ordination from this point on; nor should they be prepared to consider for ordination in the Church in Wales anyone, who intends from the very outset of their ministry, to restrict the exercise of that ministry, by their reliance upon conscience provisions."

Archdeacon Peggy Jackson's Motion:

"That this Governing Body rejoices that the Church in Wales has now received the consecration of two Bishops who are women, and: 

1. requests that all Bishops, consonant with previous undertakings, agree not to hold in future separate ordination services for any candidates, on the grounds of the candidates’ views on gender. 

2. calls on the Bench of Bishops to resile from paragraph 5 of the Explanatory Note to their 2014 Code of Practice, and cease to ordain those who, refusing the sacramental ministry of women, expect to rely upon the conscience clauses of the Code."

Code of Practice procedures which were designed to allow those who 'on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests' to continue have been gradually eroded. 

In her final blow Jackson seeks to renege on a Church in Wales commitment designed to enable all its members to flourish within its life and structures.

In her explanatory note Jackson writes: 

"The purpose [of the Code of Practice] was to  recognise and honour the long allegiance and service many such people had given to the Church in Wales, and to mitigate as far as possible any feelings of rejection that they might otherwise experience, by the enactment of this doctrinal change. The provisions were never intended to maintain within the Church in Wales a parallel, or alternative, doctrinal tradition to that which had been decided by Governing Body; nor were they intended to uphold, or sustain on behalf of others, different doctrinal traditions belonging to other provinces of the Anglican Communion, with whom the Church in Wales has chosen to disagree."

Her duplicity is clear. Jackson portrays women as victims deserving sympathy despite having no sympathy whatsoever for the many women and men she has successfully shut out from her 'inclusive' Church:

"The Code of Practice set out, as a priority, its intention to promote as far as possible the mutual flourishing of all within the Church in Wales, and made provisions accordingly.  The cost of these provisions has been borne, at times painfully, by many people across the Church in Wales, but most specifically, and constantly, by women who serve the church: women ordinands who have been obliged to train alongside other ordinands who, with impunity, have been allowed to question and deny the validity of their vocations; women clergy who have been made to feel, in the context of some clergy gatherings where shared communion is impaired, that they are the ‘problem’, or who have been asked to tolerate the public  rejection of their ministry by fellow clergy, in the name of ‘tradition’ or ‘conscience’;  women exploring their vocations, who have had to overcome additional hurdles in discernment, over and above their male counterparts, because of a prevailing attitude among some influential people, that their vocations were somehow questionable.  A survey undertaken in 2017 indicated that, four years after the passing of the legislation on women bishops, women were still disproportionately being subject to these experiences."

It is difficult to see why anyone would believe the archdeacon after the lies, distortion and duplicity used by the women's movement when mere differences of opinion are deliberately exaggerated and represented as prejudice.

The women who are suffering are not those exploring their vocations but those with conscientious beliefs who have been shut out of their own Church. 

Conscience is not something to be turned off like a tap however Jackson wraps it up.

When she was a member of the Church of England Jackson is on record as saying that anyone who could not accept the new order would have to make their own arrangements. It is as if she was talking about changing social clubs:

"New individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can – just as many already have to do over a host of other current issues, some very uncomfortable, where people find themselves representative of a view which is not that sanctioned by the ‘church’ as a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament." - Canon Jackson in a GRAS Newsletter.

On the contrary, it is Jackson's view that is "not that sanctioned by the ‘church’ as a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament."

  

The Church in Wales is not a world leader in Anglicanism. It is a tiny Province which, thanks to Barry Morgan and Peggy Jackson, chooses to disagree with orthodox doctrinal traditions in the Anglican Communion and beyond. But it still represents the Anglican Communion in Wales. 

Faithful Anglicans who have had unorthodox doctrines imposed on them have no choice but to leave or be accused of hypocrisy. That there is nowhere else to go within the Communion is of no concern to Jackson and those sharing her views. 

Many have left, hence the dramatic fall in attendance leaving mainly elderly people with something to do on a Sunday as the Archbishop of Wales succinctly commented in an ITV interview.  

Average Sunday attendance in 2017 was 27,359 representing 0.8% of the population of Wales. A dismal figure which would cause many to stop and think but not those determined to pursue their own agenda at any cost.

Few elderly people are involved in Church politics. Under their noses the Church in Wales is being changed into a feminist cult using the hash tag #lovewins. It does not. More accurately #sex triumphs, now with the aid of the two women bishop activists glorified by Jackson in her Motion.

This callous disregard of faithful Anglicans by feminist entryists is un-Christian. It lacks even the slightest semblance of fair play. 

The faith held by the overwhelming majority of Christians has served the Church for two thousand years. A late convert, Peggy Jackson's approach to Anglicanism is warped in favour of her personal preferences as if she knows better than the Apostles and even Christ Himself.

She does not represent the majority of Christian women, only a certain type of woman. One standing naked in the garden tempting others with an apple. 

If the bench associate themselves with Jackson's motion they will deserve their share of odium that should be deservedly heaped on the archdeacon for dishonouring the Church with her blatant misandry.

Her Motion has to be rejected if the Church in Wales is to retain any shred of credibility.

Women bishops defy Governing Body

Jolly June          Source: Twitter@LlandaffDio

Within the Church in Wales, those who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales. (Principles. Women Bishops Code of Practice) 

It appears that the newly appointed women bishops in the Church in Wales are happy to defy their Governing Body in an act which can only be described as a visible sign of disunity, showing no regard for the procedure which enabled them to be appointed bishops.

At ordinations presided over by the first female bishop of Llandaff, as a mere gesture towards the agreed Code of Practice, arrangements have been made for a male bishop to step forward for the laying on of hands if the ordinand, on grounds of conscience, is unable to receive the sacramental ministry of a woman diocesan bishop.

I understand that similar arrangements have been made for ordinations carried out by the bishop of St Davids. The gesture is clear.

The rules were changed unilaterally by the Church in Wales to grant the wish of women who claimed to be 'called to ministry', even though the Church in Wales claimed to share the historic episcopate with other Churches, 'including other Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which continue to ordain only men as priests or bishops'.

No provision was made for those, who on grounds of theological conviction and conscience, are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests. Instead the Governing Body voted for a Code of Practice.

Under the Code, "Individual members of the Church in Wales who, on grounds of conscience, are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of a woman diocesan bishop, shall not be required to do so against their conscience, and alternative provision shall be made".

For the Code of Practice to have any meaning it must be seen to satisfy the consciences of those for whom it was intended but I understand that the new female bishops are making their own arrangements, thus placing orthodox ordinands in an impossible position.

The procedure has become so far removed from when the Provincial Assistant Bishop presided at ordinations that it lacks any integrity whatsoever.

The minister in the Sacrament of Ordination is the Bishop. The celebrant presides over the whole service – the interrogation of the candidates, the laying-on-of-hands (assisted by other priests who are symbolically receiving the new priests into the presbyterium) and the celebration of the Eucharist.  Importing another bishop (solely because he is male) to step in and lay hands on any candidates who have conscientious objections to the sacramental ministry of women, far from being a gesture of accommodation, turns the whole business into a charade of misogyny.

The curious arrangements proposed in Llandaff and St Davids do nothing to solve the basic problem of conscience either, since it is a requirement in the ordination service that those being ordained receive Holy Communion from the bishop who is the celebrant.

It has been said over and again that we do not have a problem with women; our problem remains the unilateral departure from the practice of the undivided church and by far the greater part of Christendom whose orders we have always claimed to have shared.

Traditionalist Anglicans in Wales are not alone in their struggle to survive. In the Church of England specific provision was made for men and women who in conscience are unable to receive the sacramental ministry of women bishops or priests but there has been a constant chipping away at the agreement. For the latest developments see the Forward in Faith document Nomination to the See of Sheffield: Lessons Learned.

When it comes to women's ordained ministry there seems to be far more of the old Eve than the new.

"A noble task"

The bishops of the Church in Wales, Llandudno 2012

 ‘The saying is sure: If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he  desires a noble task.’  I  Timothy 3

In his Theology Wales paper 'A Noble Task' Bishop David Thomas reflected on his experience of ministry as Provincial Assistant Bishop and how this might change if the episcopate in Wales were opened to women.

Bishop David died suddenly last week in the knowledge that the first woman bishop had been enthroned in St Davids and the imported bishop-designate of Llandaff is to be consecrated in Brecon Cathedral next month. Neither of the women bishops is a Welsh speaker, a language dear to +David's heart.

One can imagine the pain and the hurt felt by this faithful priest, bishop and pastor as his noble task was pushed aside to make the Church more relevant to society, principally by prioritising sexual minorities and gender issues. 

Bishop David's paper makes interesting reading in retrospect. Listed alongside it on the Church in Wales site are back papers including one by the Rev’d Joanna Penberthy, now bishop of St Davids, 'Learn from the past and build for the future', illustrating just how much theology has been replaced by politics in the Church in Wales.

It remains to be seen if loyal Anglicans who have been encouraged against the odds to 'Be joyful and keep the faith' can any longer survive in the Church in Wales. There has been a deathly silence since the Credo Cymru 'Conference to Preserve the Breadth of Anglicanism in Wales'. The divisive 'Code of Practice in relation to the Ministry of Bishops following the Canon to enable the Ordination of Women as Bishops' has yet to be tested. 

This will be the ultimate test of sincerity by a bench of bishops who "unanimously committed to securing a continuing place in the life of the  Church for those who cannot in conscience accept the new situation created by  the ordination of women to the priesthood." For others it is already over.

"People sometimes ask me how I imagine my ministry as PAB might change in the event of women being admitted to the episcopate in the Church in Wales. The only honest answer I can give is that it would not change; it would be over."  - 'A Noble Task'.

+David Thomas RIP

It's such a laugh being a bench sitter

The bishop of St Asaph, an ecstatic Archbishop of Wales, the bishop of Monmouth and the bishop of Swansea and Brecon with Joanna Penberthy,
a monoglot in the conservative, bilingual diocese of St Davids but claimed by the Archbishop to be "the best person to be a bishop"! 

Archbishop Barry Morgan is seen in the above BBC clip preparing for his crowning glory, his consecration of the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales. Not that her election had anything to do with her being a woman he insists, something believed only by his fawning functionaries. The blanket coverage of the event confirmed that it has everything to do with the 129th bishop of St Davids being a woman putting politics before religion.

Making his place in history regardless of the consequences has been Morgan's mission. After the ceremony he admitted that the occasion had been "a particular honour for him as he ends his ministry". It was "the icing on the cake".

Reminiscent of the absurd claim by the Ass Bishop of Llandaff that 'the ordination of women will rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones', in this video Dr Morgan links violence against women with Crossing the Threshold, the St Deiniol’s Group campaign for promoting women bishops.

Ironically it is these same women who have caused so much misery to a far greater number of women and men who have been trampled on by them while claiming to be called by God. They have called themselves. If God were going to call women, Jesus Christ would have done so 2,000 years ago. No matter how they twist scripture to make it appear more relevant to society, He didn't. The cost to Christian unity has been immense but that is irrelevant to them.

The Church in Wales is a tiny little Province in the Anglican Communion which makes its own rules yet supporters of the ordination of women claim that 'the church' has accepted it. The vast majority of Anglicans and the wider Apostolic Church have rejected the innovation. Dr Morgan suggests picking biblical texts selectively to support his view that the decision empowers women. At the same time he disregards all those women who have been cast aside because they have not succumbed to his political point scoring.

An embrace for the woman bishop.  Source: ITV

It is odd that the antics of the Church in Wales receive so much attention in the media given that churchgoing has become so depleted under Archbishop Barry Morgan's administration. His ministry has been dominated by embracing the ordination of women and LGBT issues. It has not encouraged the growth suggested. Instead, people have simply left in droves. Currently around 0.8% of the population regularly attend Sunday services. Decline continues at a staggering 5% a year. But the bench appears unconcerned in their cosy little cocoon. 

In the run up to the consecration the BBC dutifully turned up "at the church's training college" to record the proceedings for posterity. Formerly Wales' own St Michael's Theological College it was forced to close on Barry Morgan's watch as have many churches.

The BBC headline was History will be made tomorrow. A woman will be made a bishop in the Church in Wales for the first time. Unfortunately the iPlayer recording is not currently available but here are the recorded comments of the bishop-elect of St Davids with Barry and the bench sitters showing their true intentions, particularly with regard to the Code of Practice which the bench deliberately put in place to deprive traditional Anglicans of acceptable sacramental oversight as provided in the Church of England.

Asked how she responds to people who still can't accept women bishops the bishop-elect said: 
It's strange that people find it so difficult to see the full humanity in women as well as in men and why men are seen as the person that God calls and women are sort of slightly on the side. People are entitled to their consciences but I think the time for rehashing the argument is over.
It is understandable that she thinks that rehashing the argument is over because on further investigation the duplicity of the bench would be exposed.

I thought the bishop-elect's choice of words was rather odd given the circumstances the Church in Wales find herself in.
Humanity = The quality of being humane; benevolence.
Humane = showing kindness, care, and sympathy towards others, especially those who are suffering.
But who cares? The bench doesn't.

Note also the change of tone having joined the bench. Previously the bishop-elect claimed:
"As someone who in the early years was at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination, I have absolutely no intention of dishing that out so I think it's important that everybody feels free to be honest about their opinions and about their misgivings."
Asked by Ed Stourton about the nature of the alleged 'discrimination' she had suffered it amounted to no more than "blank incomprehension" that she would want to exercise her own ministry rather than help her husband. If disagreement amounts to discrimination, Barry and his bench sitters have been exercising discrimination against fellow members of their church for years.

Asked how the bishop-elect would manage opposition to women bishops in practical terms she said:
The genius of Anglicanism has been the way we have held people of all sorts and different opinions so there is a code of practice that enables us to make place for people who don't wish to receive my sacramental ministry.
No mention of course that the Code of Practice was written to be inclusive only on terms acceptable to the bench.

An ecstatic Dr Barry Morgan said: She's a woman and women always change things, for the better usually.
Is changing her mind to that of the bench an example of what he had in mind?

The bishop of Swansea and Brecon wryly observed:
It may change the way in which the rest of us behave at bench meetings because we can be quite robust.

Referring to 'Bishop Jo' in her new role, Bishop Dick of Monmouth said:
"The Church in Wales still hasn't got many senior posts with women in and I think 'Bishop Jo' coming along now will be a very clear signal", contrary to the Archbishop's claim that the appointment had nothing to do with Joanna Penberthy being a woman.

Oblivious to any fundamental conscientious objection to the ordination of women, the bishop of Bangor added:
As people see that she will do a wonderful job they will be won over.

But it was the bishop of St Asaph who rather candidly let the cat out of the bag when he said:
The Church needs to be the sort of place which says, this is how to disagree well. The real problem I think is that those who can't accept women bishops want more than we feel able to give.

With that revelation Dr Morgan concluded the gathering by engaging in some light-hearted banter directed towards bishop Jo. He said:
To the Archbishop they say Your Grace if they want to be terribly formal, to bishops they say my Lord, and I was just saying to John, she could be like the Queen, Ma'am. 

It's all such a laugh for bench sitters.

The bishops of St Davids and Gloucester share a laugh.  Source Wales Online     

Bishops in the Church in Wales have their own way of seeing things. Dr Morgan expressed his delight that out of the nine consecrations he has performed, that of Joanna Penberthy was the most applauded. It was reported that more than 500 people attended the bilingual service. The empty seats in the nave shown in ITV News coverage suggests that most must have been stood around the West door! Dr Morgan paid tribute to the Church’s women clergy for “daring to trust and hope” during what had been a “long and hard journey” to ordination, ignoring others left with no hope.

Dr Morgan said he could not think of a nicer way to end his ministry - "it is fantastic" he said. Now he looks forward to further elections when women will be included 'equally' with men (ie, preferentially). Llandaff next while more people leave the church?

Empty seats visible at the Consecration service                                                                                                                                                            Source: ITV

Festive Charades: Welsh bishops

Bishop of Llandaff (Pritchard Hughes) Source: Wikipedia

Soon it will be time for the Electoral College of the Church in Wales to elect another bishop. This time the Bishop of Llandaff. Secrecy is the name of the game. An oddity when openness has become the norm, especially in matters of sexuality. The reason becomes obvious when the meeting in St Davids which resulted in Canon Joanna Penberthy becoming bishop-elect of St Davids is regarded as the biggest stitch-up yet.

Ignoring the specific requirement for a fluent Welsh speaker enabling the bishop to communicate effectively with all worshippers in a diverse, conservative diocese, the 'election' of someone who can conduct a service in Welsh parrot fashion was deemed to be sufficient.

The Archbishop keeps repeating that Canon Penberthy was elected not because she is a woman but because she is "the best person to be a bishop". This cannot be true if as reported, a fluent Welsh speaker was specified in the diocesan profile.

In a valedictory interview for BBC Radio Wales, Dr Morgan again repeats his assertion in an attempt to convince his listeners that the election was not a stitch up. Believe that if you will despite the fact that Canon Penberthy's name had been circulating as the next bishop for months before her election.

Dr Morgan's interview starts with a promise recorded fourteen years ago at his installation as Archbishop of Wales: Will you be faithful in your ministry in calling the dioceses of the Church in Wales to work in harmony together. And will you so guide us in our work ecumenically that all the churches of Wales may see in our ministry the work of fellow members of the body of Christ? 
Dr Morgan answers: With the help of God, I will.

Regrettably, harmony has turned to discord. Motivated more by politics than by the mysteries of faith Dr Morgan has steered a different course to all but like minded liberal primates in the Anglican Communion such as Katharine Jefferts Schori, the disastrous former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States.

People sitting on Dr Morgan's side of the fence will agree among themselves that he has much to be proud of but that is from a secular point of view. For others his tenure has been a disaster. His influence will linger on among those owing their 'success' to him so it is with little surprise that I learn that the options being considered for the see of Llandaff are close to Barry's heart, advancing the role of women in the church, homosexuality and same sex marriage (SSM).

One name which routinely pops up whenever there is a vacancy is that of the Dean of St Albans. His ministry has suffered greatly from church politics but he did himself no favours when he came Out4Marriage, bending scripture in the modern fashion to accord with personal circumstances. Many others, despite what Dr Morgan says in his BBC interview, have suffered more for their faith. Ignored or passed over because they have not gone along with Western Anglicans' obsessions with so-called women's rights, LGBT+ and SSM issues.

Thought to be the favourite candidate is a woman vicar serving in a parish in the centre of Cardiff. If elected she will of course have to accept that she is second best despite her superior CV because 'the best person to be a bishop' according to Dr Morgan is the Bishop-elect of St Davids regardless of her being a monoglot in a Welsh speaking diocese.

With a second female bishop in place, women on the bench will still lack parity so that will be the next feminist clamour dressed up as an equality issue. Parity could be achieved next year if the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon retires at 65. That would leave one male bishop, the Bishop of Monmouth, to cover the whole of South Wales under the flawed Code of Practice which was designed solely for the advancement of women in the church, hence the urgent need for some sort of Society similar to that operating in England to support faithful Anglicans who have been marginalised for their faith in their own church.

When feminisation of the Bench is complete there will of course be no male bishop to provide "appropriate sacramental episcopal ministry" under existing rules. But the provision is a nonsense anyway because none of the existing bench sitters shares the conscientious beliefs of those for whom provision was intended.

To provide some semblance of choice on this occasion a third name is in the frame, that of one of the Llandaff Cathedral canons so unless there is a translation the choice is gays v. wimmin so spare a thought for all those loyal, straight male priests who Barry says he listens to but has ignored like a backfiring bishops' consultation.

Striking a positive note for the New Year, as church attendance continues to shrink, at least Barry Morgan can be proud of his promise to work ecumenically. Thanks to his efforts, much of the Church in Wales is becoming indistinguishable from chapel so we are all in it together.

St David must be turning in his grave

Abp Barry Morgan's legacy: Desolation. Note the dual translations. Point made!

This video must rank as one of the most contemptuous of an organisation's membership ever made. The Archbishop of Wales speaks in Welsh with English subtitles in supposed deference to Welsh speakers while the 'Welsh speaking' bishop-elect speaks in English with Welsh subtitles for the benefit of those who do not understand what she is talking about. 

Forget the Landsker line and 'little England beyond Wales', this is about women in the church. The ability to communicate in Welsh has been marginalised to accommodate a woman of Barry Morgan's choice. He protests that his nominee has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman but that she is the best person to be a bishop. If you swallow that you will swallow anything. 

Postscript [15.11.2016]

‘Sacred Synod’ to confirm Bishop of St Davids’ election - Provincial News Press release:

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, said, "The Constitution of the Church in Wales requires all episcopal elections to be confirmed by the other bishops meeting in Sacred Synod. This will be a public meeting and, should any member of the Church in Wales wish to draw any matter to the bishops’ attention in relation to this episcopal election, they are invited to attend the meeting in person."

An opportunity for Dr Barry Morgan to wear a laurel leaf crown as the Church in Wales enters her death throes?

Numbed

St Davids Cathedral Pembrokeshire                                                                                                                        Source: BBC

If bishops are still supposed to be the focus of unity, disunity in the Church in Wales (CinW) is complete following the appointment of Canon Joanna Penberthy as the new bishop of St Davids, the first of the six diocese in the Province of Wales to have a woman 'bishop'.

St Davids is the site of the Holy shrine of St David who built his monastery on the Cathedral site c.589/601. Some 1400 years later faith counts for little in church politics which have more in common with congregationalism than the Holy Catholic Church when members believe that they know better than the Church fathers and Jesus Christ who set the Apostolic example for His church 2,000 years ago.

This politically motivated appointment completes Archbishop Barry Morgan's mission to turn the Anglican Church in Wales into another arm of nonconformity with shared 'bishops' and inter-communion. He can retire happy in the knowledge that he has dismantled the parish system in favour of ministry areas, seen the closure of of St Michael's Theological College in Llandaff and watched the relentless decline in Sunday attendance as he has pushed forward his liberal experiments based not on theology but on political correctness.

Those who have persevered with a Church that has done nothing for them other than take their money will be considering their position as no doubt will some Friends of St Davids but it would be a tragedy for St Davids if the Cathedral were to suffer as a consequence of this appointment.

The feelings of numbness and despair experienced when the CinW Governing Body decided to ordain women will have returned for many especially after watching Dr Morgan tell a BBC reporter that in a threefold ministry it would be wrong not to allow women to become bishops. That after assuring doubters that allowing women deacons did not mean that they would become priests and allowing women priests did not mean they would become bishops. The deceit of it all.

Postscript

Along with similar announcements the Church in Wales website announced, "History was made today as the Church in Wales elected its first woman bishop". Despite Archbishop Morgan's claim that Joanna Penberthy "wasn’t elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishop", few will believe him. As fellow Welsh person Mandy Rice Davies famously said when Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, "Well he would [say that], wouldn't he?"

Abp Morgan said that she [Joanna Penberthy] "has considerable gifts – she is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy". So she should as a bishop of the church but does "all sections of the community" include 'traditionalists' or exclude them as the Bench has done? Also, as one commentator has put it, what about 1 Timothy 3? Not that the Archbishop bothers with the Bible unless he wishes to misquote it.

Which ever way one looks at it, this is another smack in the face for faithful male clergy to be told that "she is the best person to be a bishop". As suggested when he brought in his Ass Bishop ["the ordination of women will rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones"] and the Archdeacon of Llandaff, none of the male clergy in Wales can match Abp Morgan's expectations. No wonder so many can't wait to see the back of him.

The witch, the crone, Christina Rees and others

The Rev Crone

Not satisfied with what Women and the Church (WATCH) has done to reduce the Anglican Church in Great Britain to a pale reflection of her former glory, its former Chair and "prominent Church of England campaigner", Christina Rees, will be among the speakers at a conference in Philadelphia later this year of the Catholic movement for women's ordination, Women's Ordination Worldwide. (H/T Ruth Gledhill).

The BBC's Religious affairs correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, recently posed the question: Is the UK still a Christian country? The answer was 'Yes'. But based on analyses by the US Pew Research Center, the conclusions suggest that in the UK, if current trends continue, the proportion of the population identifying themselves as Christians will fall from 64% in 2010 to 45% by 2050, while the proportion of Muslims will rise from 5% to 11%. The proportion of the population claiming no religion in the UK - the "unaffiliated" - will also rise significantly, from 28% to 39%.

One would have thought that alarm bells would be ringing but no, feminism, LGBT and what is absurdly labeled 'equality' is all today. Faith and regular worship have been sidelined.

Ruth Gledhill was reporting on the latest in the Westminster Faith Debates series at London's "liberal flagship church", St James' Piccadilly. Among the guest speakers was the Rev Kate Bottley, described as a 'Gogglebox tv' vicar. She amused her audience by relating a story about how she had told her hairdresser that she was coming to London to take part in the debate on women bishops and the difference they can make. "What's a bishop?" her hairdresser asked. After the vicar explained, the hairdresser said she did not know what the Church of England was either.

If the Rev Kate Bottley's hairdresser, or anyone else wants to know what a real bishop is like, they should watch this video as Bishop Mark Lawrence speaks to his text from Hebrews 12: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith".

But the event wasn't about traditional Christian values. Adam Dinham, the only man on the panel, and who is married to a Muslim man, and who was there as director of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths, which sponsored the event, said he had wanted the evening to celebrate and think about the contribution of women as faith leaders in the Anglican community as well as other religions and traditions".

Represented among these religions and traditions were a "leading witch and herbalist" who shared the Church of England platform with the Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori and Helene Mobius, who heads the prison chaplain ministry of the Pagan Federation who challenged stereotypes of women. She said, Paganism had a "deep reverence" for both the feminine and masculine, not in a partnered but in a "conjoined" sense. This was not to diminish the role of God because without His "fertile seed" the cycle of life could not continue. However, she criticised the debasement of women in society which had seen words such as "crone", which once meant "elder", used as a term to mean something quite different.

She explained: "The word crone does not mean wizened old cackling pagan". Instead it referred to a woman who had passed beyond menstruation. It was the "passage of the mother becoming grandmother, no longer able, thankfully, to reproduce." This led to some discussion about whether there should be an authorised liturgy in the Church to mark the menopause.

Given the number of menopausal women clergy that idea must have been received with some impact. Perhaps the honorific, the Rev Crone could be introduced to make the Church of England more relevant to paganism? And why not? There are calls for a service to meet just about every occasion, the most recent being for a service to "celebrate transgender identity like a Baptism" (here). In fact, there seems to be more of an appetite for celebrating the extraordinary than for the straight forward worship of Almighty God, particularly on a Sunday by "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith".

Which brings me back to the Googlebox tv vicar. She is "all for a mid-week church service" so that she can have a "Sunday lie-in" (here). A joke perhaps but many a true word spoken in jest. She added, "I don't think declining church numbers are down to a loss of faith rather increasing pressure on people's time. Perhaps the Church could recognise this." Or, as the Archdeacon of Norwich, Ven Jan McFarlane put it in response to the revelation that Norwich is the most godless city in England: the citizens of Norwich are "doing their churchgoing differently", ie, staying away.

In new Anglicanism the daily Eucharists have been eroded and Sunday Masses cut so busy people are less able to make their Communion compared with the Roman Catholic Church yet these women want to spread their brand of Christianity to do for the Catholic Church what they have done for Anglicanism.

For millennia the Word of God has been received through the Bible. It is being replaced by the opinions of feminists, LGBT pressure groups and any other so-called 'equality' groups obsessed with 'sameness', interpreting Holy Scripture to suit the latest 'equality' cause. Do they not know, or do they conveniently forget, that "for just as each of us has one body with many members, these members do not all have the same function"?

The Rev Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James', said that it mattered not so much that women were bishops and priests, as "how" they were bishops and priests. The authority held by a woman will be held "differently" from that held by a man. How true, but probably not what she meant. If she had been interested in biblical authority, she need only have referred to 1Timothy 3:2. The revisionists long argued that we were all the same but having achieved their aims, women now have to be seen as different.

A fuller report in the Church Times quotes Presiding Bishop Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori as saying that women could offer a "witness to the otherness of God" as could gay bishops, or those who were young, or old, or from BME backgrounds. "White, male, English-speaking bishops with degrees from Oxford or Cambridge are only one sort," she said. "They cannot image the fullness of God."

And there was me thinking that the 'otherness of God' was represented by mystery and holiness.

Perhaps the flavour of the event was best captured by another guest speaker, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner. She was "applauded for her moving acapella solo of The Lord's My Shepherd, sung with female instead of male pronouns"! That certainly is different.

Here is the panel:

The panel: (back row left to right) Adam Dinham, director of Faith and Civil Society Unit,
Goldsmiths, University of London;  Helene Mobius, Pagan Federation prison ministry manager;
 Saleha Islam, director of the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre; Ms Winkett; Dr Schori; Hilary Cotton,
chair of WATCH; Professor Linda Woodhead, director of the Westminster Faith Debates;
 (front row left to right) the Dean of the Diocese of Kootenay, British Colombia, Nissa Basbaum;
 Mrs Bottley; Bharti Tailor, executive director of the Hindu Forum of Europe; Laura Janner-Klausner,
senior rabbi to the Movement for Reform Judaism.                           Source: Church Times

And then there were three...

Amidst the back slapping, 'shock', 'surprise', 'delight', 'humbling', etc, etc, there must be a feeling among some of the male clergy who chose career over conscience that the game is up - if you're not a woman, forget it. They will experience the feeling of being sidelined as 'traditionalists' have been sidelined, although less in England than in Wales I should add in fairness.

The third woman bishop to be appointed will take her seat in the Lords but God forbid that she were the only woman bishop so she will need company in case she needs someone to hold the door when she goes to the loo. Then there is the more serious question of female representation. It will not matter one jot if better qualified males are passed over in the name of 'equality'.

Dave knows a thing or two about equality, or he thinks he does from his twit following the appointment of the Rev Libby Lane: "An historic appointment and an important day for equality"! Historic yes, another nail in the coffin of the Anglican Church in Great Britain but secular notions of equality are misplaced in the Church.

What the Church of England has become was exemplified by the ridiculous tourism enhancing event that the 're-burial' of the bones King Richard III became. He was not an Anglican. A Rosary was placed in his coffin as a token of his Catholicism. Carving out a new career for herself having done more than most to wreck the Church of England Christina Rees represented the CofE in the Channel 4 commentary box for the occasion. Asked about the Rosary she said that Anglicans do not use the Rosary. I think she meant feminists but an understandable mistake since the two have become synonymous.

When the circus came to York Minster

It is interesting that the BBC reports before and after the consecration of the Rev Libby Lane as the new Bishop of Stockport appear under the URL "bbc.uk.co/news/uk-politics" for that is what it is, politics. The pre-service clip in the first link is of a TV interview with 'Mrs Lane's friend and curate', the Reverend Georgina Watmore, on the BBC Breakfast show. It stops short of the point when she was asked how they would be celebrating her vicar becoming the first female bishop in the Church of England.

Here was a heaven sent opportunity to say that they would be celebrating the Holy Eucharist, the essential sacrament of the Church, injecting some Christian teaching at the culmination of their 'equality' campaign - a spurious claim if ever there was one. They were going to celebrate with a knees up - rather than knees down. Previously a commentator who had been speaking live from York Minster referred to the thousand or more 'spectators' including a hundred bishops from around the world who wanted to lay hands on the first female bishop to be consecrated in the Church of England. Surely she meant 'congregation' I thought but on reflection she was correct. 'Spectators' summed up the media event. - After all, it's all about equality, stupid!

When the Archbishop of York asked the spectators during the proceedings, "Is it now your will that she should be ordained?", there was one objection on the not unreasonable grounds that innovation was not in the Bible.  The objector was refused permission to speak. Instead Dr Sentamu read out a prepared statement assuring the spectators that the consecration was lawful under the Canon of the Church of England which is "part of the law of the land". Correct. It was legal, the Church of England having enacted it but it was not legitimate in the eyes of the wider Church, hence the objection.

A spokesman for the Church of England said the objector, the Rev Paul Williamson, a priest in charge of St George's Church, Hanworth, West London, had shown himself to be a "lone voice of protest in a sea of voices of affirmation". So he was but he gave an honest response, one which many others could have made had it not been for the agreement which enabled the consecration to take place. It is regrettable therefore that an objector voicing his response according to conscience was portrayed as a clown in the rite of feminist authentication in the same way that other objectors on grounds of conscience have been portrayed in the media.

Everyone who was anyone, or anyone who thought they were anyone in this charade was there. Around 100 bishops 'from around the world' pressed forward to be in front for the laying on of hands while exercising sufficient restraint to avoid the appearance of a Black Friday stampede. I say charade because in the view of the wider Church, Orthodox, Catholic and for most Anglicans the Church has no authority to ordain women. Hence it was a gross parody to answer "I do" to the questions:

• Do you accept the Holy Scriptures as revealing all things necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?

• Will you teach the doctrine of Christ as the Church of England has received it, will you refute error, and will you hand on entire the faith that is entrusted to you?

• Will you be faithful in ordaining and commissioning ministers of the gospel?

• Will you promote peace and reconciliation in the Church and in the world; and will you strive for the visible unity of Christ's Church?

• Will you accept the discipline of this Church, exercising authority with justice, courtesy and love, and always holding before you the example of Christ?

Nobody thought to question how these questions could be answered in the affirmative with complete integrity having changed the rules, thus putting themselves at odds with the the rest of the Church and creating a serious impediment to Christian unity. But what is that to commentators who appear to know less about Christianity than their understanding of Islam.

Commentators were stressing that women in the Church of England had waited twenty years for this moment as if a prejudiced minority had impeded their legitimacy. They were of course applying secular principles of equality of opportunity in the workplace. Claims that the ordination of women are about equality are totally spurious but who cares these days let alone understands? Typical Sunday attendances in the Church of England have halved to just 800,000 in the last 40 years. That is around 1.5% of the population of England, just slightly better than attendance in Wales. Most of those remaining will simply have played follow-my-leader without regard for the consequences while others have left, their faith destroyed.

Friends of Libby Lane may celebrate with a knees-up but it is a hollow victory for the Church of England given the damage the liberal invasion has caused. Writing in the Telegraph their Religious Affairs Editor, John Bingham, poses the question "Female bishops are go: What on earth will the Church row about now?" One has to ask if it really matters any more given the damage to the Church the innovation has caused.

Writing about the consecration of Fr Philip North, a 'traditionalist Anglo-Catholic', next week Bingham commented: For reasons which might charitably be described as obscure at best, there is 'acrimony'  because "the plan is - ironically - to depart from tradition for the central part of Fr North's consecration service". A Religious Affairs Editor who can refer to the Apostolic Succession as 'obscure at best' must surely be in the wrong job unless his main purpose is to denigrate the Anglican Church. If the deliberations of the Church are "tortuous and, to many people, simply incomprehensible" Mr Bingham would have been better employed explaining the genuine held beliefs of traditionalists rather than making a cheap buck out the misery inflicted upon them.

Loser

"Rev Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales at the vote for women bishops."      Photo: WalesOnline

According to media reports today (here) the Church of England’s first woman bishop has been chosen. That must be one in the eye for the Archbishop of Wales. The Church in Wales won the race in the vote for women bishops but Dr Morgan has lost the chance to appoint the first woman bishop in England and Wales.

To recap, the Archbishop expressed delight at the result when Church in Wales voted to accept women bishops adding ominously that "he now hopes the church will have the courage to embrace further change". From the WalesOnline report after the vote:

"This time, the bishops proposed a two-stage process – holding a vote on the principle of women bishops but not appointing any until the constitution was amended to establish provisions for traditionalists. But Archdeacon Peggy Jackson and Canon Jenny Wigley tabled an amendment which opposed this two-stage compromise. Under their proposal, women could be appointed a year after the vote and the bishops would establish a code of practice to ensure that “all members of the Church in Wales” have a “sense of security in their accepted and valued place. When asked if he tried to persuade them not to take this action, Dr Morgan said: “It’s not my job to persuade people to do things which are against their conscience." [My emphasis - Ed.]

It was suggested that the 2008 rejection of female bishops in the Church in Wales was one of the most disappointing moments in Archbishop Barry Morgan’s time at the helm of the Anglican church. Perhaps that accounts for his vindictiveness towards anyone who disagrees with him by simply excluding them.

Postscript

And the winner is.................................

Source: Getty Images

The Reverend Libby Lane who lists her main interests as being a school governor, encouraging social action initiatives, learning to play the saxophone, supporting Manchester United, reading and doing cryptic crosswords. Par for the course! Reports here and here.

Also said to be in the running for the post were the Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, 53, chaplain to the House of Commons and a chaplain to the Queen, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, 59, Dean of York Minster and the Very Rev Dr Jane Hedges, 58, Dean of Norwich.

One would have thought a mere suffragan post beneath them so a case for discrimination seems unlikely to arise.

The new Church Militant

The Triumph of Bazzer                                                                     with apologies to Cornelis de Vos

A tweet after the Synod vote to allow women bishops which ended centuries of tradition in the Church of England read, #ItisFinished. - But not quite what it seemed, apparently.

From this morning's Telegraph - "Women bishops: The hate mail was always from other Christians"! Having achieved their goal without the desired complete wipe-out of traditionalists, the chip remains firmly embedded on the shoulder of one said to have been "in the vanguard of campaigning for equal rights at the altar for 30 years". She complained: "It’s a huge journey that’s still unfolding, and there’s a very long way still to go,” she says of the protracted and bruising war that has raged within Anglicanism for decades. “There is always going to be some resistance, but then there always has been. There’s been resistance to me taking on every role I have ever taken on." Could it be that it is not her sex which is the problem? She is not alone in complaining.

Members of Synod hardly had time to lower their hands last week before a supposed contender for first woman bishop in the CofE, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin weighed in with "The truth":  There’s a "palpable feeling of fear about the struggles the first women bishops will face". Asked if, after all these years of bitter battle over the ordination of women, the Church is institutionally sexist she answered frankly. "It’s there, you can’t escape it. It’s not something I dwell on. You don’t give oxygen to that sort of behaviour."

Somewhat curiously the Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons added: "But it’s clear that whoever ends up blazing a trail will have a fight on their hands with the forces of conservatism within the Church if not with Anglican churchgoers themselves – three quarters of whom want female bishops. The public and Hudson-Wilkin’s parishioners in Dalston and Haggerston have shared with her a “real sense of joy and excitement” about the new development." [Note: The CofE is a tiny proportion of the Anglican Communion where the overwhelming majority of churchgoers definitely do not want female bishops - Ed.]

So they have the vote, liberals have all the power, 'three quarters of Anglican churchgoers' want female bishops but they still have a fight in their hands! I suspect that the fight she refers to is the fight hinted at by the Rev Canon Dr Alison Joyce in the Telegraph article:

Moreover, the gains that women priests have made, believes this 56-year-old mother of two grown-up daughters, have come with a high price tag – notably the “protections” built into the new legislation for the minority who continue to resist their advance. "What concerns me most is when the Church sets up structures so that people never have to be ‘contaminated’ by any glimpse of women’s ministry at all. I find that deeply disturbing. We have to encounter each other." So were the concessions made to traditionalists a step too far? "It’s tiresome,” she replies, “but one hopes eventually they will learn to grow in love and grace." Love and grace? Perhaps she could lead by example!

Back in the Church in Wales there is no pretence of showing love and grace following the triumph of Bazzer, the arch disciple of the Presiding Bishop of TEC, after succeeding in allowing women bishops with no meaningful concessions to anyone who remains faithful to the Holy Catholic Church. Over the weekend he and his Bench sitters moved on from playing snakes and ladders, joining delegates at a conference in Llandudno to play with cardboard boxes made for the occasion. The organizer, another "in the vanguard of campaigning for equal rights at the altar", spent some time in TEC country where she witnessed a woman bishop celebrating at the altar. That was enough to convinced her of the soundness of feminist theology despite the pleas to TEC by the then Archbishop of Canterbury not to split the Anglican Communion.

With no sign of love and grace from Dr Morgan or from his chief architect the Archdeacon of Llandaff who no longer has to pretend that she desires unity, their militancy has spread back across the border to the Church of England.

The three main sessions at the Llandudno Conference were: "Where are we?",  "Who are we?" and "Why are we?" They have their answer here:

From equality to mediocrity

Source: BBC

The end, on a show of hands.

The mighty Church of England reduced to a debating chamber making up their own rules contrary to the faith of the Apostolic Church and ignoring the wiser counsel of the majority of Anglicans, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

It is said that our Primus inter pares, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had 'worked hard for it'. He summed up his respect for the Catholic faith with the comment that "we rejoice that we have this opportunity to show a point"! He added that "there are some remarkable women - there are some very wonderful ones". An odd statement if one looks at the historic faith of the Church.

Some 'remarkable women' in the past would have been of the standing of Julian of Norwich. In its new, dumbed-down, secularised faith it is the likes of WATCH lobbyists and their supporters who can't tell the difference between faith and equality, basing their 'theology' on the availability of 'promotion' in their chosen careers who are the new remarkable women: "This is the culmination of many people's lifetime's work and we've got there and it's been hard and its been painful and all we've achieved is equality. We are not looking for superiority for women but we do now have equality". - Hence the coaching lessons for women and enthusiasm to appoint "a woman bishop" regardless of the qualities of male candidates, not to mention Apostolic guidelines!

The pain continues for many of us. I am particularly saddened by the attitude of clergy I have worked with who have compromised their faith for their careers, their attitude to those who have not, and by their lack of concern for the souls of the faithful in their parishes who have been led to believe that the Church today is mainly about coffee, tea and crumpet with a little worship to maintain the glue of togetherness.

While the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks for those with a liberal bent, to give him some credit, he has been true to his promise to ensure all are made to feel welcome despite members of the nasty brigade  who suggested to the vicar in the BBC clip that he should now consider his position - echoes of "there is no place for you in this church" (here). In contrast His utter (dis)Grace the Archbishop of Wales continues his exit policy for anyone who follows Him rather than him.

Isn't it remarkable that after two thousand years of teaching from the Apostles, through the Saints and Doctors of the Church that we had to wait for Christina of WATCH and Barry of Neath to open our eyes to what they would have us believe Christ intended in His plea for unity.

If I may borrow a phrase from a 'remarkable woman' in the economic sphere, Christine Lagarde, "It is time that we reconciled ourselves to a “new mediocre”.

As ABC News puts it (here), the Church of England ends centuries of tradition. The historic change was reflected in the Church's short message announcing the news on Twitter, which had the hashtags #Historic #Synod and #ItisFinished.