Just about Eve

Creation of Eve, Sistine Chapel ceiling                                                                          Michelangelo

At its meeting on 4 December the Dioceses Commission unanimously agreed with a proposal received from the Archbishop of Canterbury to fill the vacant see of Maidstone. The see, which had been vacant since 2009, had been identified by the Archbishop as one that should be filled by a bishop who takes a conservative evangelical view on headship. - CofE News Release; see also Ruth Gledhill on 'headship' bishophere.

One small step after the Church Society hadcalled for the appointment of 12 Conservative Evangelical Bishops given the proportion of worshippers attending evangelical parishes in the Church of England.

A report in The Economist in 2012 claimed "The rise of evangelicalism is shaking up the established churchdanquot;. But not proportionately according to these figures:

"As the number of people who are actively committed to the Church of England falls, the proportion of churchgoers who are serious about their faith?And its implications for private and public life?Is growing. Peter Brierley, a collector of statistics on faith in Britain, reckons that 40% of Anglicans attend evangelical parishes these days, up from 26% in 1989. That is against a background of overall decline; he thinks the number of regular worshippers in the Church of England will have fallen to 680,000 by 2020, down from about 800,000 now and just under 1m a decade ago. The lukewarm are falling away, leaving the pews to the more fervent."

Given the calls for so-called equality in the Church one would have thought that an established movement based on scripture and reason would take priority over a religious novelty based on feminism and relativism. But not so. The feminist movement has seen its rise to dominance in a steady progression through the deaconate to the priesthood and now the episcopacy while a sizable chunk of the Anglican Church is left marginalised and largely ignored.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, predicted that in 10 years, half the Church of England?S bishops might be women. "Ten to 15 years would be reasonable. It depends when people retire," he said after the vote. Abp Welby said the church was working to train women as potential bishops. "The aim is that you end up with a big pool of people where gender is irrelevant. We are going to take this very, very seriously." - Working to train women as potential bishops, then fast-tracked into the House of Lords. Seriously indeed - but only on terms acceptable to the ruling liberal elite!

Gender may be irrelevant in the new Church of England. So too it seems is belief when 40% of Anglicans are not properly represented. But it is not really about equality. It is just about Eve.

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The crunch

Original picture Tony Wills

For some days now, looking out of our kitchen window around breakfast time I have been watching the antics of a couple of male blackbirds. A female is busying herself around the garden but soon she will make her choice of mate. One of the males will have to leave. There is no way they will be building a nest together.

Liberal Anglicanism sees things differently. The ramifications of the House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage (here) rumble on. A summary of the various reactions can be found on Anglican Mainstream (here). According to the Telegraph (here) the authority of the House of Bishop is going to be tested by a vicar of two large parishes in north-west London who said that he would not be “frightened” into cancelling his wedding to his long-term partner by any prohibition. They have been together for fourteen years and not only will they "press ahead" with their plans but they expected "at least two bishops" to be among their guests.

Across the pond the 'marriage' of 2 lesbian Episcopal priests made the headlines in 2011 adding "a  new twist to gay issues" (story here). The Episcopal Church in the United States has now moved so far from traditional Anglicanism that it should be a warning to anyone in Great Britain who values any claim of continuity with the Apostolic Church. Read Anglican Curmudgeon's account (here) of the fate of faithful Anglicans in TEC. The author A. S. Haley concludes with the words: "Anglo-Catholics sought to travel the via media of Anglicanism on a path toward the ultimate reconciliation of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The modern crop of identity-liberals have no common goal other than to celebrate their own individuality, and to make others respect (and even honor) it."

The purpose of nest building is for the continuance of the species. God made male and female. If males or females want to live together in civil partnerships that is fine by me but the notion of same sex marriage goes beyond the protection of assets. Marriage is the joining together of a man and a woman. To demand that same sex couples should be allowed to marry on grounds of equality is an abuse of the word. It has more to do with expecting others to give their stamp of approval to a misguided concept of equality or as the Curmudgeon puts it, to celebrate their individuality and to make others respect (and even gaji) it.

Liberals constantly push boundaries by exploiting tolerance and understanding until all are expected to bow to every fad or endure the consequences as members of the Episcopal Church have discovered (here). The following video illustrates the manipulation of public opinion which has aided the acceptance of women first as deacons, then priests and soon to be bishops while the LGBT lobby has moved from pleas of acceptance to threatening demands:

Reports are coming in of diocesan synods giving "the green light" to women bishops (here and here). No surprises there given that synods have become councils of the like minded and few in the Church of England and nobody in the Church of Wales gets anywhere unless they accept the liberal agenda.

Women expecting to be bishops because they think they should be bishops and men wanting women to  be bishops because they are women is based on an erroneous notion of equality of opportunity. But soon that will be yesterday's news.

Claiming 'equality' to justify gay marriage is altogether a different ball game. Men and women are not the same, deliberately so in terms of continuance of the species. Same-sex marriage cannot be justified. That is the crunch.

Postscript [07/03/2014]

From The Christian Institute Gay marriage: Law changes backed in Commons vote. Centuries-old laws changed by MPs ahead of this month’s gay marriages.

“These changes cover legislation going back nearly 800 years, affecting legislation covering inheritance, taxation, social security and children.” The amendments mean the terms “husband” and “wife” will be replaced in many pieces of legislation. If Dukes, Earls and other male Peers marry other men, their ‘husbands’ could not be made Duchesses, Countesses or Ladies. A gay King’s ‘husband’ is prevented from becoming Queen.

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Feminists of faith

 The Ministry of the Sacrament shall be covered with a fair white linen cloth

- subject to LGBT limitations?

In November 2012 the Evening Standard published a piece "God girls: who'll be the first female bishop?" The author wrote: "One of the first problems facing the new Archbishop of Canterbury is how to end the battle in the Church over women bishops. In the ultimate boys’ club, feminists of faith long to see a woman wearing a mitre". She went on to list the four top contenders as the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Rev Lucy Winkett, Rev Jane Hedges and in fourth place, "Canon Rosie Harper, vicar of Great Missenden and Chaplain to the Bishop of Buckingham, opera-lover". She continued. "Harper is media-savvy, writing for the Guardian and tweeting regularly. On the issue of female bishops, she has said that women are 'spoken about as the problem and not really valued for what they contribute' ".

That is not surprising given the dishonesty with which she and other campaigners, particularly members of Women and the Church (WATCH),  misrepresent their opponents as 'men who are afraid of women' ignoring the fact that significant numbers of women bitterly regret what these campaigners have done to the Church.

Canon Rosie Harper at York General Synod in 2012

Guardian Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA Canon Harper explained her attitude to those who disagree with her in a piece in the Guardian in February 2012: "In Buckinghamshire, where I live, the sort of folk who feel they need protecting from women are only 3% of all churchgoers. ... the synod patched together a dirty little compromise which gave the anti-women brigade a ghetto clause [my emphasis - Ed]. If she were to look at the Anglican Communion worldwide she would find that her views are in the minority but that hinders ambition.

The suggestion that opponents to their scheming are afraid of women continues on Twitter:

This must be great fun for feminists who have no regard for the feelings of ordinary women and men whose faith rises above false claims of inequality. But do people who are taken in by these false claims fully understand the liberal agenda in which they have become pawns? Cranmer has taken Canon Harper to task for her attitude to assisted dying (here), a position which is contrary to the view of the Church. He wrote: "His Grace tweeted about this yesterday, because he found the final paragraph astonishing in its starkness and cruelty. Here is a Canon of the Established Church telling Peers of the Realm that should they oppose Lord Falconer's Bill, they are 'requiring people to suffer extreme agony', and so voting in a manner which is neither moral nor Christian."

With scant regard for synodical governance, the Ten Commandments or anything which stands in their way it was no surprise that Canon Harper was the chosen one to preach at the recentordinations in the Diocese of Llandaff where Barry their bishop is busy ensuring that his Governing Body is eased towards assisted dying and same-sex marriage using the same process which saw the realisation of his ambition to see women consecrated as bishops in the Church in Wales before he returns to his nonconformist roots as senior bishop in the Uniting Church in Wales.

In her Guardian piece Rosie Harper wrote "Out in the normal world, Christians around the country have voted loud and clear for female bishops. Full stop. But in the Hogwarts world of synod it feels more precariousdanquot;. So what is "the normal world" today and what does it hold for the Church? In Great Britain most Anglicans are nominal Christians who have been conned into believing that scripture and tradition must reflect society, misusing 'equality' as their byword.

In the  Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland where nearly half the church's clergy are women, so called "equality" now reigns. The majority of their pastors are more tolerant to same-sex unions than the General Synod. From the Helsinki Times: "A survey conducted by the Academic Church Professionals shows that as many as 60 per cent of pastors believe they should be able to bless the union of same-sex couples living in a registered partnership.The survey also shows that in this respect female pastors are more tolerant than their male colleagues, with nearly three in four prepared to bless the union of same-sex couples."

"Feminists of faith" are changing the Church for their own ends. In doing so they demean true women of faith and wound the Body of Christ. Where is the equality in that?  Next -Judith of Nazareth.

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More of the same

"Thank you for your kind applause", as Madame Edith used to say in 'Allo 'Allo! after her star turn                                                          Source: Church in Wales

No altar cross or candles on the nave altar when the appointment of the Bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, wasconfirmed in Sacred Synod last Friday. Instead the altar was used as a microphone stand. Apt for another political rally!

The first reported utterance of the new bishop on the occasion of her consecration the following day was to urge "sexuality-row" Llandaff diocese to move on, again drawing unwelcome attention to the Electoral College row after the Western Mail re-hashed the Jeffrey John self-promotion story on 11 July, an episode the bench had been trying to bury with their appointment of the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne as bishop-designate.

More successfully buried had been the Church of England Osborne Report on homosexuality which should have been published in 1989 but surfaced in 2012. Some believe this report damaged Osborne's chances of preferment in the Church of England. Not so in the Church in Wales.

Pursuing another pet theme, bishop June offered her view of the church as a secular institution given over to the advancement of women in a BBC interview which formed part of their coverage of her consecration. She said:

"Isn't it fantastic, Wales becomes the Province of the Anglican Communion that has the highest percentage of women bishops in it and that has to feel right because one woman is great but more than one woman in an organisation, people know this, really begins to make a change for the better because gender parity, gender equality, women feeling that their voice is respected just as the men's voices. It's what the Church in Wales has been working on for some years now and so I just think that bishop Jo in St Davids will be a fantastic colleague but it will also mean the the workings of the bench of bishops and the whole church will just become more normal. It's what people know in the normal life is mixed gender teams."

Yet more of the same in a radio interview here (advance to 51.12).

Rather than the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ has become the stepping-stone for women to pursue their careers in the church, demanding parity rather than spirituality.

Stand by for more of 'what the Church in Wales has been working on for some years', substituting politics for faith when bishop June and her 'fantastic colleague' bishop Jo 'make normal the workings of the bench of bishops and the whole church'.

What bishop June failed to mention when she referred to the 'whole church' was that she had in mind the Church in Wales, one of the smallest provinces in the Anglican Communion, and possibly the Church of England. The vast majority of the world's 80 million Anglicans, along with the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, regard provinces such as the Church in Wales and the Church of England as being in error which puts her views into context.

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Is there any point in being a traditional Anglican, particularly in the Church in Wales?

The joy of the Christian faith is simply expressed in this rendition of the Te Deum (H/T Anglican Pastor). There is a far more stirring, majestic examplehere. It is punctuated by loud blasts on the organ which echo my feelings of exasperation and probably that of many other traditionalists at having been left by the Church.

Exhibiting their profound ignorance of matters spiritual, the response of New Anglicans to traditionalists  has been "Go to Rome if you don't like it" or, from the mainly menopausal feminist brigade, "Get used to it, we are in charge now". There have been no concessions in Wales. The only message is keep giving. For what? While the Church of England genuinely valued all church members as true Anglicans when binding provisions were made for faithful worshippers who, in common with most Christians, cannot accept the ordination of women on theological grounds, the attitude of the Church in Wales (CinW) has been take it or leave it. Theology is rejected while the latest secular fads are adopted by the bench of bishops for dissemination to congregations through largely compliant clergy.

Sunday by Sunday we are served with helpings of the latest Christian Response from an Anglican Perspective (CRAP) heavily laced with a misguided view of equality that has everything to do with political correctness and nothing to do with Christianity as the Gospel is bent to accommodate the latest alleged injustice. It is indeed very odd that the Bible can be taken literally in circumstances which threaten our very existence while bending other parts to suit a fashionable political stance.

Led by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Wales with the Archbishop of Westminster often in step, Christianity is continually being sold short to its owndetriment with misapplied views on neighbourliness while giving succour to Islam as Muslims abroad continue to convert non-Muslims by the sword if necessary and in the UK demand more and more special privileges to enhance their status such as opting for Sharia, a legal code that systematically discriminates against women, children, apostates, blasphemers, non-believers (infidels), adulterers, and homosexuals. Imagine the outcry if Christians espoused such discriminatory values.

The CinW is fast reaching the end of the road with extinction predicted in a generation. The possibility of the first woman bishop in Wales draws ever closer making it even more difficult for traditionalists who have remained in the Church to continue their membership. Not that there should be a woman bishop in Wales. Better that the measure be rescinded as a breach of faith since the promises of care evaporated as soon as the bishops had their way with their ultimate plan unfolding.

Moving from feminism to their next PC project the bench of bishops has made it perfectly clear that the CinW is to fully embrace the LGBT agenda en route to the acceptance of same sex marriage, again under the guise of 'equality', while the Church of England talks her way into it with 'Facilitated Conversations' concluding with this mumbo-jumbo. If LGBT people are having such a hard time being accepted, how are there so many openly gay and lesbian people in the Church with clergy very much in evidence promoting their particular life style and often viciously condemning anyone who dares to hold a contrary view to theirs? Women deacons were not enough. Women priests were not enough. Civil Partnerships were not enough. What next? The slide is endless.

True Anglicanism is expressed here in a Pastoral Letter by the Most Revd Nicholas D. Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman, the GAFCON Primates Council, making all those pennies we saved in little cardboard boxes in Sunday School worthwhile. Too late for many, there are now just 'empty boxes, empty gestures, empty words'. Read the sorry tale of the final straw for an ex-CinW worshipperhere.

For many traditionalists the final straw has been drifting in the breeze while searching for that crumb of comfort but there has been none, nor will there be. The Church in Wales is going from bad to worse with Credo Cymru apparently impotent. As Dr Morgan approaches retirement he will have much on which to reflect having brought the Church in Wales to her knees, not in prayer but in desolation. What a legacy.

So is there any point in being a traditional Anglican? Unless you are exceedingly fortunate I think not. But Christianity is not dead. "Be joyful and keep the faith!", even if your church has left you.

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