Dodgy legal advice leads to Eucharistic free for all

Source: New Directions

Readers of the March 2017 edition of Forward in Faith's magazineNew Directions (£) will have read the worrying conclusion by a leading law expert that the Pastoral Letter from the bishops of the Church in Wales authorising the reception of Holy Communion based on Baptism alone was based on dodgy legal advice.

This is the conclusion of the Rev'd Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin, a former Professor of Law at Cardiff and Bangor and former First Welsh Legislative Counsel to the Welsh Government. Between 1981 and 1998 he served as Legal Assistant to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.

Professor Watkin writes: "The interpretation placed upon the rubric  by the Legal Sub-Committee not only circumvents the Church's due processes for alteration to rites and discipline. In its consequences, it displays a scant respect for - or an inchoate understanding of - the rule of law in Church affairs."

Professor Watkin wrote at the beginning of the article: "In a letter to the Church Times on Friday, 27 January, His Honour Judge Andrew Keyser QC responded to my letter in the edition of 13 January concerning Confirmation and Admission to Holy Communion in Wales. In his lengthy and carefully-worded letter, he quoted the views of the Doctrinal Commission on the issues, but he revealed nothing of the reasoning behind the Legal Sub-Committee's conclusions. The two pieces of unanimous sah advice to which he refers, and the reasons why other interpretations were deemed "unpersuasivedanquot;, remain firmly hidden from scrutiny,

In a February blog entry,Church in Crisis, a letter from Professor Watkin to the Church Times was reproduced. In it he wrote, "The Church in Wales Book of Common Prayer, enacted by various canons, declares that confirmation is a rite, and its rubrics provide that confirmation is generally necessary to receive holy communion. The Church's constitution provides that alterations to rites and discipline may be made only by canon.

"The Welsh Bishops wish to allow those who have been baptised to receive the sacrament without need of confirmation. They are attempting to do this by pastoral letter, without any authorisation by canon. The Archbishop has written in this paper (Letters, 25 November) that the change makes confirmation 'a service of response and commitment to God's grace given at baptism and at the Eucharist for those who want to make such a commitment'.

"...The Welsh Bishops state that they have sah advice assuring them that the 'step does not require any change in the present Canon Law or Constitution of the Church in Wales'. A polite request to make public that legal advice met with an equally polite refusal. That the alteration is controversial is clear from recent correspondence in these columns (Letters, 14 October and 23/30 December)."

The Article Riding Buckleshod over Canon Law in New Directions gives a fascinating insight into how the Church in Wales under Barry Morgan seemed able to receive the advice they wanted to hear to justify their actions. Professor Watkin is not alone in his concern. Some of the highlighted text from a previous article in New Directions by the Venerable Martin Williams, the former Archdeacon of Margam: The Civil Law was all that mattered; Canon Law is swept away; These are existential concerns about our identity; Not once in the documents is "Eucharist" used; and, It is hard to imagine what the bishops have in mind. The Archdeacon concludes, "The Church in Wales is in a very deep crisis indeed."

The Church in Wales claimed to be "re-adopting the practice of the early church on admission to Communion ? The sharing of bread and wine ? In an effort to strengthen ministry to children and young people in particular". Ministry to children and young people will not be strengthened by making Holy Communion commonplace. It is the mystery and awe that counts. Something deeply spiritual. The 'otherness'.

The Doctrinal Commission's seal of approval was used to authenticate the former Archbishop's divisive views on same sex marriage. Always careful to implicate the bench with 'collegiality', Barry Morgan's views have prevailed by one means or another. Sadly I hear that he can be seen still lingering around Llandaff Cathedral like a bad odour, no doubt trying to exert influence on his form minions.

Much discontent is apparent from comments received under previous entries. If ever there were a time for a fresh start this is it, starting with the new Bishop of Llandaff, not tainted by political intrigue but steeped in holiness and righteousness. Someone the bench will look up to, not kowtow to.

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A joyous, solemn occasion

New priests for the Personal #Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, ordained yesterday at the Birmingham Oratory.          Source: Twitter@FrJamesBradley

Compare the above photograph of eight new priests ordained at the Birmingham Oratory yesterday with the selection of photographs of Church of England?S dabbing deacons and jumping bishops.

As a Guardian article put it prior to the Petertide ordinations, "the stern, decorous images that used to mark these occasions are being replaced by a animo for more frivolous action shots ? With dabbing deacons showing up alongside priests leaping, baring their knees and even wearing L-plates. Their defenders see the new informality as a sign of holy joy. But hardcore traditionalists, along with casual curmudgeons, are less than elated.

"Their ire was recently roused by a shot of six readers being licensed at St Alban?S Cathedral, showing clear air under the heels of a jumping bishop of Hertford, the Rt Rev Michael Beasley."

There is no dignity of office apparent in the St Albans photograph. The sacred ministry is made to appear comic. While the Anglican Church has become 'more relevant to society' it has lost its sense of 'otherness'.

Following a previousentry a commentator took exception to my reference to Messy Baptism which appears to be getting people out of church rather than in. When the Messy 'font' was revealed a child could be heard calling out, "That's our paddling pool!" Precisely.

Fonts are often placed at or near the entrance to a church's nave to remind believers of their baptism as they enter the church to pray, since the rite of baptism served as their initiation into the Church (Wikipedia). In bygone days there was a link with the past when generations of the same family may have been baptised at the same font.

Surely it is more important to get people into church and Holy Baptism is one of the main opportunities for doing so along with marriages and funerals.

But that is no guarantee of success. People can be easily put off as was a mother who complained to a friend about a modernised confirmation service in which the bishop invited all the candidates to stand around him in a semi-circle. He awkwardly negotiated his way between the vicar and the candidates in an informal, happy-go-lucky manner rather than having the candidates kneel individually in front of him to hear those memorable words: "Confirm, Lord your servant with your heavenly grace, and anoint him/her with your Holy Spirit; empower him/her for your service and keep him/her in eternal life.  Amen." A moment I still recall as one of deep spiritual significance, probably enhanced by the austere bearing of the bishop.

The lack of 'otherness' was not helped by the fact that the bishop first baptised one of the confirmation candidates inserting a few wisecracks. If holiness is next to Godliness the Almighty was conspicuous by His absence.

Familiarity is killing Anglicanism. On BBC Breakfast TV yesterday, the Chief Constable of Durham police shared his supposedly impartial views on the consecration of woman bishops.

Consecration of woman bishop                                                                 Source: BBC Breakfast TV

Struggling to explain what was happening he reached a consensus with the presenters that the consecration of women bishops had become 'normal', creating a 'balance'.

It may be 'normal' for the Church of England as currently informed by society, mainly non-churchgoing bystanders who feel free to voice an opinion from a position of ignorance.

It is definitely not normal in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

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Church in Wales bench of bishops in renewed push for same sex marriage

FiF National Assembly 2013

Bishop of St Davids celebrating in the Pride Cymru faith tent

Forward in Faith (left)

Backward in belief (right)

In biblical times priestesses were associated with pagan temples and fertility rites.

They and their sympathizers are now calling the tune in many churches, especially in Western Anglicanism.

Joining the homosexual obsessed bench of bishops which is hell bent on reflecting society rather than preaching the Gospel, the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales lost no time in identifying with LGBT campaigners. She was quickly followed by the second woman bishop who likewise flaunted her LGBT sympathies.

When the next vacancy arises the clamour will not  be for deeply spiritual man capable of steering the bench back on course but for parity resulting a half-and-half bench of women and men united in their desire to secularise the church.

The LGBT campaigning by the new women bishops made it clear where their main sympathies lay which explains their otherwise apparent lack of suitability for the office they hold, particularly so in the conservative Welsh speaking diocese of St Davids.

The same traits are evident in the Church of England and in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC). Appointments have become managerial rather than spiritual. Consequently same sex marriage has become a recurrent theme in the Anglican Church as a new breed of bishops reflect rather than inform society about Christian beliefs and values.

The former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, failed to force through gay marriage but his successor ('more of the same? But faster') is hell bent on forcing through this secular policy which is alien to Christian belief and out of step with Anglican teaching.

So desperate is the bench to ram through their secular policy that the Primus of the SEC, Mark Strange, has been invited to speak at the next meeting of the Governing Body to be held 12-13 Sept 2018.  He made headlines by calling for gay marriage in church in 2015 resulting in the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, threatening to ban the SEC.

Bishop Strange said: ?The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to change its canon on marriage. This decision was ours to take as a self-governing province of the Anglican Communion."

Strange indeed that the will of the Anglican Communion to remain faithful to the teaching of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church can be pushed to one side by manipulating a synod which is often dominated by activists and sycophants resulting in decisions contrary to the will of the membership.

In Wales the bench has developed a strategy of using 'advisory' consultations to supplement the heavily loaded 'advice' received from the Doctrinal Commission of the Church in Wales. This works only in the bishops' favour. It rubber stamps their decision if favourable to them but ignores results which they regard as unfavourable.

This procedure, contrary to the wishes of the majority, led to the silencing of many faithful Anglicans who felt bound by their faith rather than by GB decisions which merely reflect the whims of society.

Little surprise, then, that the latest (2017) Church in Wales regular attendance figures show a further fall of 3% to 27,359 representing only 0.8% of the population of Wales. Confirmations are down a massive 36% reflecting the ill-thought through policy of  'Confirmation no longer required for Holy Communion thrust on the church by the bench'.

Planned giving has also fallen for the seventh consecutive year, despite individual members continuing to "give sacrificially". The average giving per Sunday attender in 2017 was £9.65 per week.

Agendum 9 to be discussed at the next meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales is

Same Gender Relationships (continued)

Question and answer session with the Most Reverend Mark Strange, Primus of Scotland followed by discussion. Background paper, together with a procedural note (Word doc).

The introduction to the background paper is a pathetic attempt to justify pushing LGBT politics to the fore. The archbishop concludes his preamble with "Among the challenging issues currently facing the Church and its Bishops is that of the pastoral care of those, both lay and ordained, who are in same-gender relationships or who have same-gender sexual orientation."

In other words, pandering to a minority which is over-represented in the church in comparison with the total population of the UK.

At this point it is worth remembering that the bench could not care less for loyal, often cradle, Anglicans who have striven through all the problems put in front of them to uphold the faith of the Church handed down through the ages.

They are regarded as a dispensable minority. The former archbishop, Barry Morgan, signalled his intention to sideline worshippers who did not accept his plan to turn the Church in Wales into a sex-obsessed shadow of its former self in hisoutright refusal to appoint a replacement Provincial Assistant Bishop after the highly respected bishop David Thomas retired. He died a broken man after the way he was treated by the bench.

Continuing his duplicitous statement the current archbishop writes:

"As for the ways in which the Church should care for them there is clear division about the leadership which the Bishops can or should properly offer. There are those who call upon us to give a lead and make a change.  There are others for whom any such change would be seen as anathema.  But both groups are valued parts of our Church family which the Bishops are called both to lead and care for pastorally. And those whose lives, faith and loves are at the centre of this particular matter are to be found in our congregations, they are members of our Christian family and some are certainly serving members of the Governing Body.  They are not, in other words, people on the outside, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and in faith."

Having cast aside  the 'lives, faith and loves' of traditionalists, Davies is able to claim that "those whose lives, faith and loves are at the centre of this particular matter are to be found in our congregations, they are members of our Christian family and some are certainly serving members of the Governing Body."

That is despite the constant complaints that LGBT people are excluded!

In a one-sided statement of intent, the Primus of the SEC has been invited to address Governing Body. He has alreadyrevealed that he had been in love with a man - presumably the reason for his invitation to speak.

The SEC Primate represents a church in which the first woman bishop to be enthronedmade it clear that she is not interested in restricting herself to "prayers, pews and parochial parish life". She is focused on "fighting for social justice, sexual equality". Like the bishop of Llandaff  she was also appointed by bishops keen to get their secular message across.

There is no mention in the archbishop's note of the major row which erupted with half the paid clergy in one region of SEC rebelling over the appointment of their new bishop.

Neither is it mentioned that one of the largest churches in Edinburgh has voted to split from the Scottish Episcopal Church amid tensions over its decision to become the first Anglican body in the UK to endorse gay marriage.

If anything, the Scottish example is one of schism brought about by same sex marriage and appointments being made to increase the clamour for it.

By contrast there is no representative from the Church of Ireland Bishops who said there is "little appetite" across the entire island to redefine marriage.

In that regard, one priest has had the courage to stick his head over the parapet and put down the question:

"Are the Bench of Bishops able to explain why a Primate whose province upholds (and has reaffirmed) the doctrine of marriage as currently outlined in our prayer book, such as the Church of Ireland, has not been invited to speak on their processes for welcoming the LGBT community in the Church whilst not permitting same sex marriages, in order to complement the invitation of the Rt. Rev. Mark Strange and add to these important discussions?"

Bravo! But a lone voice crying in the wilderness.

Many people are drawing the conclusion that despite outward appearances the majority of Western Anglican bishops must be gay or have gay tendencies but that does not explain the urge to allow same sex marriage in church. Same sex partnerships have equal rights so why marriage, particularly marriage in church?

The Commandment 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' includes sex outside marriage. By permitting same sex marriage in church, mission accomplished having already re-written scripture to justify homosexuality.

Bishops may have no regard for their own souls but that is no excuse for putting the souls of their flock in jeopardy.

They have no business changing church doctrine on the basis that "the decision was ours to take as a self-governing province of the Anglican Communion". That attitude serves only to destroy the Communion that binds Anglicans together.

The church needs to clear out these impostors before all is lost.

Postscript [03.09.2018]

From a Church in Wales Provincial press release: Governing Body meeting ? September 12-13 2018

"Examples of how churches across Wales are reaching out and taking the Christian message to those around them will be seen in a film at the meeting of the Church?S Governing Body which takes places on September 12-13 at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

"The film features six evangelism projects, one from each of the Church?S dioceses, and will form part of a report on evangelism and church growth."

This is the contribution form the Diocese of Monmouth in a film that clearly scratches around for ideas but more importantly for the bench of bishops provides further propaganda designed to sway Governing Body members into voting in favour of their same sex marriage in church policy:

Inclusive church ? Promoting an open and welcoming church at Rumney, Cardiff

Bishop Andy John

"The film will be introduced by the Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, on Thursday morning (September 13). He says, 'We want to show the amazing work which churches all over the country are doing to take Christ?S message of love out to the communities around them. They are not stories we hear about in the news and neither are they reflected in our membership statistics. But they speak powerfully of lively and enthusiastic people, inspired by the love of God and a ?Can do? Approach that is making a difference and changing lives'.?

Actually Andy, when it comes to the church we hear about little else. Inclusive church, bonds with other faiths, regardless of their beliefs, but nothing about the thousands of faithful Anglicans the bench has displaced.

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