Church in Wales takes a back seat

Three faiths and more                                                                     Source: BBC

A tweet from the Church in Wales contributor to the BBC documentary series Young, Welsh, & Pretty Religious, no doubt forgetting that pride is one of the seven deadly sins: "I'm proud to have had the opportunity to share a platform with @SaharAlFaifi in the making of #YoungWelshAndPrettyReligious. #MoreInCommon"

Sahar Al-Faifi responded with: "I am honoured to share it with you too father Ross ... God bless you :)". That would be her god not his. Job done.

Not to be outdone @LeanneWood for Plaid Cymru "congratulated the young Welsh people featured in the @BBCOne  programme #YoungWelshAndPrettyReligious - in particular work of anti-Islamophobia activist @SaharAlFaifi."

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Perhaps with an eye on voting intentions Plaid Cymru "adopted @RunnymedeTrust definition of Islamophobia and want to see people of colour and religion that face 'daily abuse' protected. As if to prove the point, in the first episode of the documentary the victim card is played but only at face value. There is more to follow in episode 2, hopefully with hard facts rather than opinion.

The UK government rejects racial definition of 'Islamophobia' , a catch all invention designed to ensure that Islam has protection not enjoyed by other beliefs but the protection campaign continues.

Unfortunately for him his pride earned the Church in Wales curate only a bit part in the first episode but he was up against Krishnas, pagans, Jews and Muslims, an anti anti-Islamophobia campaigner and a fashion designer for Muslim women's clothing. Evangelical Christians had a better showing due to their increasing numbers. 

The series introduction explains that three quarters of the 1,000,000 under 30's in Wales are not religious. Since the year 2000 religious belief has halved but as some beliefs are plummeting others are rising, doubling, trebling their following. 

"Since the millennium the number of Muslims has doubled to over 50,000 and is the fastest growing religion in Wales. [The average adult Sunday attendance in 2017 was 27,359.] In this century Muslim and Hindu numbers have risen in Wales but Christian numbers have plummeted. Out of a population of 3,000,000 people less than 1% regularly attend Church and if the current decline continues Christians will be a minority in Wales by 2050." 

In the next episode a Hare Krishna monk pays a visit to his parents, we meet bisexual Christian Will and Sahar "faces religious intolerance head on".  I can hardly wait.

Ashamed of the Gospel

 'Dhimmi Bishop' Source: 24/6 Mag                       St Paul’s Cathedral hosts iftar celebration in London     Source: Twitter @anglicanink

Former midwife, now Bishop of London, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, defers to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Kahn, in St Paul's Cathedral where "different faiths and none" gathered to celebrate an interfaith iftar.

The bishop also covered her head with a hijab-like garment at a secular meeting at Regent’s Park Mosque in London. Perhaps surprisingly she did not tuck her pectoral cross into her cassock for fear of causing further offence to Muslims who find the symbol of salvation offensive.

It could be worse. In fact it was at a Durham Church which offered to cover crosses while hosting Muslim prayers.

The Vicar, Lissa Scott, has been described as a “liberal” who uses “gimmicks like Café Church to offer a gospel-less diet of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

Whilst it is understable that simple good manners might indicate a particular course of action out of courtesy and respect for the faith of others it has become a one-way traffic.

Rebel Priest Jules Gomes, wrote: "A parish church in the Diocese of Durham has been criticised for 'being ashamed of the gospel' after saying it would cover crosses and other sacred images in order to host Islamic prayers and an Iftar meal for the local Muslim community. The Church of St Matthew and St Luke, Darlington, also agreed to provide separate worship space so men and women could offer segregated worship."

As another blogger commented, "Is this repugnant surrender of female church leaders to a misogynist creed really what 'interfaith' understanding has come to?"

Postscript [26.05.2019]

The bishop of Bangor has tweeted:
"Last night Dean Kathy Jones led a group of us to the shared meal in Bangor's mosque in this season of Ramadan. We were welcomed and the hospitality was so generous. We can listen and learn when we make time for each other."

Monmouth and St Albans joined in. What would they have learnt from their hosts? It is unlikely that they would have referred to the impassioned address in London by the Rt Rev Bashar Warda who said that Iraq's Christians now faced extinction after 1,400 years of persecution. They certainly would not have referred to the "approximately 270 million non-believers who died over the last 1,400 years for the glory of political Islam."

How is it that Church in Wales bishops can readily engage with a supremacist political ideology that contradicts Christian beliefs and regards women as inferior to men but are unwilling to engage with orthodox Anglicans?

Rounding off Compostela

Llandaff clergy dancing the pilgrim dance after the final Eucharist of their clergy school in Santiago de Compostela                      Source: Twitter @Gould2Jan

Jolly June rounded off the Llandaff clergy school in Santiago de Compostela with the tweet: "Michael Sadgrove teaches about pilgrimage and the brilliant story of the Emmaus Road -seeing with hope. Are we dealers in hope?"

Hope for what?

Chief cheerleader among pilgrim commentators was Pilgrimprogress who looked forward to spending even more money on clergy schools making them annual events.

In a comment on Llandaff clergy school off to a flying start Pilgrimprogress wrote: "Happy to support them and hope they make it an annual event. I note that Michael Sadgrove is leading them in teaching - he's an amazing speaker and they are sure to receive some great input. I recommend his writings.

Later the Cardiff University Anglican Chaplain added a similar tweet: "It has been an absolute delight to have @MichaelSadgrove with us at our clergy school delivering three very thoughtful morning addresses. Like a good meal, you might not remember all that you have been fed, but you certainly know that you have been well fed!"

Amazing speaker he may be but what he has been feeding in some of his writings, particularly on his blog Woolgathering in North East of England, is a million miles from the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church.

In a gushing endorsement of women's ordination The Ordination of Women as Priests - 25 Years On he wrote: "But I knew on that day that this was a ceremony that would not just live on bathed in a kind of generalised afterglow. I knew that it would be unforgettable in its detail as well. Such as singing 'Be still for the Spirit of the Lord is moving in this place' and, for once, truly recognising that she was."

If 'she' were the only reference to the spirit of the age one might put it down academic argument but it happens to be part of "his friend" June Osborne's revisionist theology, an inclusive church leading to same sex marriage in church

The Campaign for Equal Marriage in the CofE   Source: Twitter

On his Twitter account Sadgrove pledges his support for the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the CofE and for the Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain who launched a campaign for the rights of LGBTQ Christians claiming that his same-sex marriage cost him his ministry.

In a previous comment on Llandaff clergy school off to a flying start Berty wrote of the absurdity of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: "Also odd that clergy of a reformed protestant church who sign up to the 39 Articles should go on pilgrimage to a major ‘Romanish’ shrine which is only open during its rebuilding work for pilgrims to venerate the relics of St James? Is that not contrary to Article XXII?

In another blog entry A Day of Wisdom Sadgrove wrote: "I've just got back from leading a study day for clergy and readers in Llandaff Diocese where my friend June Osborne is bishop. They had asked me to reflect with them on wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible with the tasks of leadership, ministry and preaching in the church today especially in mind."

The whole episode is so incongruous and a colossal waste of money when the study days could have been held in Llandaff as Sadgrove did last year when speaking about leadership.

To cap it all Michael Sadgrove tweeted: "At the conference dinner last night, @BishopJuno is given a standing ovation by her clergy. So well deserved. But remarkable all the same."

Remarkable indeed but as Pilgrimage Fatigue quipped in Caption corner: "What you need to do is engineer a standing ovation at the end of the conference dinner. That'll have them all eating out of my hand."

You can read what Michael Sadgrove thought of the jolly in his glowing blog entry A Pilgrimage to Santiago.

Caption corner 16 May 2019

Llandaff  pilgrims, Cardiff Airport        Source: Twitter #LlandaffInSantiago 

As usual captions will appear as comments.

Thought for the day

Bishop June  prepares for a stroll in Santiago de Compostela  Source: Twitter      Bishop Joanna prepares for Christian Aid Week at GB   Source: Church in  Wales 

Wales’ bishops have joined in the call to support mums in Sierra Leone this Christian Aid Week (12-18th May 2019) and to draw attention to the stark reality that women in Sierra Leone are 150 times more likely to die in childbirth than those in the UK.

This year’s Christian Aid Week campaign draws attention to the high maternal death rate in Sierra Leone – the most dangerous place to become a mum. 10 women die giving birth every day and one in nine babies do not reach their fifth birthday. An estimated 15,000 mothers have died during childbirth since the Ebola crisis in 2014.

£300 could provide a delivery bed for a new health centre giving mums a safe place to deliver their babies. A sum of £60 raised could buy a starter kit for community health workers, which includes a bicycle, torch, rain coat and rain boots. Just £15 could buy a stethoscope or a bucket of paint for a community health clinic.

Bishop Joanna Penberthy (pictured right) said, “This is a such an important appeal. In the UK we take good antenatal care and medical support in childbirth for granted. As someone who almost died giving birth, I know first-hand how important it is to have all the right help and care in place. In supporting Christian Aid’s work, we can make a difference. Please give today.” (Press release here)

The Bishop of Llandaff is taking time out with all her clergy during Christian Aid week for a compulsory clergy school in Santiago de Compostela.

How many lives may have been saved in Sierra Leone this Christian Aid Week if the Llandaff clergy school had been held in Llandaff and the savings donated to the Appeal?

James 2:14-17

Llandaff clergy school off to a flying start

The Llandaff Diocese of the Church in Wales  is embarking on an 'ambitious' Year of Pilgrimage to 'reinvigorate its work and worship' as part of the Church’s 2020 centenary celebrations.

The 2019 clergy school is being held during Christian Aid Week in Santiago de Compostela, the location of the shrine of St James the Apostle, to 'train and equip priests to teach and lead pilgrimages in their own communities'.

In a novel twist the school suggests a cunning plan designed to demonstrate how not to organise a pilgrimage, even by plane, when the main attraction, the pilgrimage Cathedral, is closed for renovation. Brilliant!

As a bonus the 'misunderstood' Archdeacon of Llandaff may provide her personal insight on how not to do things after her failed attempt to hoodwink the Governing Body into believing that female ordinands in the Church in Wales are persecuted by the few surviving traditionalists.

Follow on Twitter: #LlandaffInSantiago

Hostility

Ven Dr Joanne Woolway Grenfell, Archdeacon of Portsdown                               Source: Premiere

The Ven Dr Joanne Woolway Grenfell, Archdeacon of Portsdown, is one of three new women bishops appointed on the same day last week bringing the total number of women bishops in the Church of England to 22, four years after Rt Rev Libby Lane was named Bishop of Stockport in the Diocese of Chester.

Dr Grenfell was appointed Bishop of Stepney, which covers Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

One of her first utterances following preferment sounds like another female cleric playing the victim card to hide the truth about the ordination of women. 

Islington's first female bishop said "she feels the pressure not to 'mess up' as she talked about her years spent building relationships with churches that are 'hostile' to women’s ministry."

Churches are not hostile to women's ministry, only to their standing at the Altar in persona Christi. Women do not have to be ordained to have a ministry.

The secular press constantly implies unfairness by referring to employment practice and equality of opportunity without any knowledge of the Church.

Writing about a "Sydney reverend", from ABC Newcastle News: "If you are a woman with hopes of becoming a priest within the Anglican Church of Australia there are a number of dioceses across the country that will allow you to climb the ranks and hold this leadership position." Commenting "Reverend Sawyer" said "there is more work to be done to achieve equality among church leaders."

Unusually there is an explanation of the problem from Archdeacon of Women's Ministry, Kara Hartley, who believes women have plenty of opportunities within the Anglican Church: "It comes down to our understanding that the leadership of priests and bishops in the church is given over to men, it's a reading of theological understanding, a reading of the Bible and so we continue to hold to that," she said.

Kara said she cannot predict what will happen in the future but there is no appetite for this to change. "That doesn't lessen or create inequality between men and women and I think that's an important distinction to make — we don't see a rising through ranks of church life as somehow making people more or less equal," she said.

Latest figures for the Church of England show that more than half the total of people recommended for training as clergy (54%) are women. Nearly a quarter (23%) of paid clergy in senior posts, Bishops, Cathedral Deans or Archdeacons were women in 2017, compared to 12% in 2012.

In the Church in Wales where a third of the diocesan bishops are women with early hopes of parity despite the dismal performance of the first two women bishops, the hostile Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Peggy Jackson, claimed in a debate designed to rid the Church in Wales of 'traditionalist', orthodox Anglicans that women ordinands were treated badly. 

Expecting to be taken at face value, an ordinand rebutted Jackson’s claim that women had to suffer for their calling because their vocation was disputed and dismissed by traditionalists. He had spoken to every current female ordinand in the Church in Wales and reported that all had told him that they had never experienced discrimination claimed by Jackson.

This is where hostility exists in the Church. Despite all the promises, constant efforts are made to exclude traditionalists by any means possible, including deception.  

A sense of pressure, then. is not confined to women's ministry. If they are confident that they are right in their calling they should have the courage to be honest and present the facts, not emotive words such as hostility, prejudice, misogyny, etc, designed to influence supporters of their 'equality' campaign when they have little or no interest whatsoever in priestly ministry.