How to live, not how to die

"You matter because you are you.

You matter to the last moment

 of your life,

and we will do all we can,

not only to help you die peacefully,

but also to live until you die."

Dame Cicely Saunders

Long before she consented to become my wife, Mrs Briton worked in the Royal Marsden hospital. As we have experienced the trials of life she has told me many times how she admired the life and work of the late Cicely Saunders and that it was unnecessary for people to die in pain. She says: "There was a time when dying patients were put at the end of a ward, almost 'out of the way'. A patients death was regarded as failure on the part of the medical team. Thankfully and largely due to the wonderful Dame Cicely Saunders, times have changed. What she managed to do in her life was remarkable, she had her share of tragedy too but her deep Christian faith helped her continue her great work. She saw that while the body weakens so the spirit often becomes stronger. She wanted the dying to be cared for in physical and spiritual ways, pain needed to be managed and in fact she was instrumental in administering pain relief before severe pain took hold, therefore patients were kept comfortable and even alert; dying was not the taboo it had become. The hospice movement exists thanks to her. Talk of euthanasia would be unnecessary with properpalliative care."

I share this with readers not because I have any expertise but because I have witnessed the results of Dame Cicely's work in cancer care. The Commission on Assisted Dying has had to address wider problems associated with distressing incurable diseases but however well intentioned, the emphasis should be on assisted living, not assisted dying. People don't have to be ill to want to die in Britain today. Horrific reports about care of the elderly all too frequently highlight the misery of living, sometimes without illness but simply out of frailty with no-one to care for them. Whatever the so-called safeguards, it is a small step to seeing someone's life as worthless when proper care would transform their lives. Dame Cicely had a vision, one of CARE. Assisted living is what is required, not assisted dying.

Read More

Assisted killing of the Church in Wales

At their meeting later this month the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales (HT LNYD blog here) will discuss Assisted Dying and the Archbishop's current hobbyhorse, Same-sex Marriage - or the assisted killing of the Church in Wales as she has been handed down.

Mimicking the previous ruse used for admitting women to the Episcopate, cosy chats are being organised to discuss the blatantly loaded scenario:

"A couple of the same sex come to worship in your parish.   After a period of attendance, and enthusiastic participation in church life, they enquire if their relationship can be blessed.   How can the Church in Wales respond to same sex couples – theologically and pastorally?"

The Archbishop should know better than most how many gay couples are already in his Church with his blessing and have been worshiping without impediment for many years.

Read More

More embarrassing questions for the Archbishop of Wales

"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.

Read More

Lowlights (2)

More lowlights from "Highlights":

Assisted dying [killing]. "Following the group discussions, Bishop John Davies (Swansea and Brecon) asked GB to ‘take note of the debate and commend the issues to further prayer, study and consideration by members of the Church in Wales.’ “There are no easy, straightforward or slick answers, whether they be legal or theological. It is appropriate therefore to get this conversation out into a broader congregation.”"

From Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement: " You matter because you are you. You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die ."

"Bishop Wyn Evans (St Davids), in proposing the motion to move forward the process initiated in The Gathering, thought that the three elements of the motion were positive and full of hope." - That is, hope  only for the 'bishops' of the Church in Wales, seehere.

"The Revd Canon Dr Peter Sedgwick, Chair of the Doctrinal Commission, called on the GB in considering same-sex relationships torespect each other’s space, recognising the depths of feeling that are there, and totreat each other with courtesy".[My emphasis - Ed.]

The Venerable Peggy Jackson (Llandaff) said that all the bishops should be willing as necessary and as needed to assist one another in meeting pastoral or sacramental needs in each others’ dioceses. “This means that the concept of a Provincial Assistant Bishop should be resisted, as this role would set up a two-tier episcope.”

So it is perfectly acceptable in the Church in Wales to respect each other's space and treat each other with courtesy always provided that they are not faithful Anglicans with traditionalist views. Hence Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment blog entryhere.

Oh! St Michael's College, Llandaff ? - "Supporting, Sharing, Forming" - see here.

Read More

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.

Read More