"Former Llandaff Cathedral choir members question £4,000 payment to former Dean" says a report in WalesOnline. That is Barry's old mate Dean John Lewis who was paid £4,390 as an “Easter gift” despite the Cathedral's desperate financial position which resulted in "the slimming down of the Cathedral Choir in order to save nearly £50,000 which would significantly cut down the anticipated deficit of £81,000" (see 'Morgan's organ'here). Dean Henderson left with nothing other than "an apparent discrepancy in diocesan documents"!
Another WalesOnline report says that "Wales is no longer a nation of churchgoers but faith is alive"! Between 2011 and 2012, the number of adults attending Church in Wales Sunday services fell by 5%, from 33,783 to 32,171. Easter attendance dropped by 8% from 60,924 to 56,063. Research by Tear Fund in 2007 showed Wales had the lowest level of regular church attendance in the UK at 12%, behind England (14%), Scotland (18%), London (22%) and Northern Ireland (45%). The 2001 census showed 71.9% of the Welsh population were self-described Christians but this fell to just 57.6% by the time of the 2011 survey.
The Archbishop's response? - "Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan is also intrigued by the continuing self-identification of so many people with the faith, saying: “It’s interesting, lots of people who are not regular worshippers claim to be Christian and they want that label for themselves. It’s not something people put on them.” Regardless of the low ranking of the Church in Wales in attendance figures the Archbishop likes to give the impression that he is leading world opinion. Concluding his Presidential Address to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales he said of blessing same-sex unions: "Much as some people may want to do so, the rule is the same as was the case over the re-marriage of divorced people – we need to wait for the Church, as a whole, to decide the matter – and we are beginning that process at this GB".
A law unto himself, there was no "waiting for the Church as a whole" to decide the question of the ordination of women. He did his own thing. This process is continuing at the Governing Body. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" sounds pretty unequivocal to me so why is Assisted Dying being discussed? The official position of the Church is that marriage is between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others but the Governing Body is being dragged through the same process used to see women ordained to the priesthood so that it appears unremarkable despite being contrary to the faith of the Church as a whole.
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