Feminizing of the Church in Wales to accelerate?

The launch of MAE Cymru, a 'Charitable Incorporated Organisation' to promote gender equality in the Church in Wales                         Photo: Church in Wales

Mae Cymru's 'charitable' aim along with gender parity and the advancement of all things gay are high on the list of priorities of the first women bishops of Llandaff and ofSt Davids where the Dean of St Davids has announced that he will retire at the Friends Festival on 9th September.

The Canon Residentiary will also be leaving St Davids to become the next Archdeacon of Carmarthen in November leaving two key Cathedral vacancies to be filled with serious implications for attendance on current feminizing trends.

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All change at the Cathedral

#RedWednesday, Epstein's Majestas,  Llandaff Cathedral                                                                                                                    Original Source: Cool Places

It is "all change at the Cathedraldanquot; according to a Diocesan press release in which the bishop of St Davids announced more appointments at St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire.

The first woman bishop in the Church in Wales followed her own appointment by appointing the first woman Dean of St Davids. She continues her feminizing by appointing another woman to be Canon Treasurer.

Thankfully there will still be a male presence at the holy shrine of the Patron Saint of Wales, Dewi Sant because Bishop Joanna has appointed Canon Leigh Richardson to be the next Canon Residentiary.

From their diocesan website: "The history of the present diocese of St Davids is long and varied. Celtic saints and Welsh princes, mediaeval bishops and Victorian legislators, Reformation scholars and Puritan divines, ascetic monks and Georgian parsons ? All have left their mark on an extensive sacred landscape."

But it is all change at the Cathedral. Only now have past 'errors' been realised by the new elite who presumably regard Christ as sexist for not appointing a woman apostle.

Scripture and tradition are being swept away. Just like many faithful Anglicans who have been sacrificed to appease a few vocal feminists and disproportionate numbers of homosexuals who, from the security of the vestry and pews, claim to be excluded from the church. The lights are going out. For many they went out years ago but not in the candle-lit world of their progressive liberal bishops.

Worshippers who attended church twice or three times on a Sunday have shrunk as change has been forced on passive congregations by ambitious clerics led by the likes of Archbishop Barry Morgan and his bench sitters. One wonders what beliefs they hold with no apparent fear of judgement day when they will have to account for their actions which have resulted in losing many as they compromise on sin to satisfy the desires of the few.

Traditionalists are often accused of misogyny but from my own experience more women than men have been driven to the conclusion that their church has left them. Read a Church of England accounthere.

St Davids is not alone in making changes. I have seen no formal announcement but I understand that the second woman bishop to be appointed in Wales, the bishop of Llandaff, has appointed the former bishop of Monmouth Dominic Walker to be her assistant bishop representing her at confirmation services in parishes which request a male bishop.

Clearly they don't get it. A male bishop whose beliefs resulted in the appointment of women priests and bishops, who stands in, or preferably sits, to confirm dwindling numbers in her place reduces a theological objection to one of sexism.

Similarly in St Davids, the new Canon Residentiary will serve as Sub Dean of the Cathedral, the Dean's assistant with only delegated authority from Dean Sarah. Canon Richardson will be licensed at the Cathedral on 2th February 2018 leaving a considerable gap before the new Dean & Precentor, the Rev'd Canon Dr Sarah Rowland Jones is licensed, collated and installed in the Cathedral on 5th May 2018.

Wednesday, 22 November 2017 is Red Wednesday when we are asked to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and all who suffer for their peacefully held beliefs:

"Red is the Christian colour of martyrdom. Christians are the most persecuted faith group in today’s world and #RedWednesday will honour all Christians who suffer and die for their faithfulness to Christ’s message of peace and love."

The campaign calls for respect and tolerance for people of faith and between different faith traditions.

Anglicans who have been effectively excluded from their own church cannot compare their suffering with those we seek to honour tomorrow but many in their own church have suffered for their faith, tragically at the hands of those who were supposed to be their shepherds. Is it any wonder that Anglicanism is dying in England and Wales.

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A Call to Persevere

The bishops of St Asaph, St Davids, Monmouth, Llandaff (Abp), Swansea & Brecon and Bangor.

Credit: South Wales Argus

The Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Church in Wales to "all the faithful" concerning admission to Holy Communion of all the baptised "by virtue of their Baptism alone" has been published on the Diocese of St Davids web site. It can be read here. Its contents remained secret until it was introduced at the recent meeting of the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales raising some suspicion that another round of duplicity might be expected from the Bench of Bishops.

Fine details have yet to emerge but whatever one's views on the subject one thing is clear, the Bench of Bishops has been inconsistent. They hark back to history and tradition to support their case in this instance while scripture and tradition have been confined to the bin on just about every other matter under Archbishop Barry Morgan's guidance.

Dr Morgan's final GB Presidential Address provided an excellent opportunity to sum up the current state of the Church in Wales as he prepares for hisretirement as the longest serving primate in the Anglican Communion. That, instead, he chose to bend Holy Scripture to support his views on the divisive issue of same sex marriage rather than address the decline in membership of the church under his leadership suggests that his political agenda always takes precedence over the spiritual well-being of his flock.

Rumour has it that Dr Morgan wants one more liberal feather in his hat before he retires in January, the appointment of the first woman bishop in Wales. The diocese of St Davids will become vacant when Bishop Wyn Evans retires in October. Originally a monastic community founded c. AD 589 by Saint David, the Patron saint of Wales, St Davids has been a centre of pilgrimage since the Cathedral was built the 12th century. The shrine was regarded as so important that it was decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome, three were equivalent to one to Jerusalem. St Davids remains an important centre of pilgrimage to this day.

When David died in the year 589 the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'.  St David'sfinal words to his followers were: 'Be Joyful.  Keep the Faith.  Do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.'

If a political gesture is allowed to take precedence over faith in the appointment to the See of St Davids it will be the final nail in the coffin for the faithful.

A Call to Persevere

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

FromThe Letter of Jude

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The Welsh language, same-sex and the Church in Wales

Outside St Davids Cathedral "Another First for Canon Joanna, Bishop-elect."  Source: Church in Wales

"From the beginning, the Welsh language was given equality with English in the constitution and liturgy of the Church in Wales, and throughout the twentieth century some of its priests were prominent in Welsh literature." - The Church in Wales, Facing Difficulties

One hundred years after disestablishment, the Church in Wales' 2020 Vision is to "re-imagine itself in order to serve its communities more effectively... We need a cultural change in the kind of church we are". That is what the Archbishop of Walestold theThe Time Is Now conference in 2014.

For the bishop elect of St Davids the kind of church she wants is based on what has been rejected by the Church in Wales, most strongly by the good people of St Davids. Her stated priority is "To encourage us that we are not simply trying to keep the show on the road but we are trying to live out our gospel of the risen Christ and the reality of God’s Holy Spirit and to live that out in our real communities, encouraging people to live out their faith in surprising and different ways, not feeling guilty that the future may look different from the past but feeling encouraged that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and is as relevant to Wales in the 21st century as he has been through the centuries until now. But how that plays out may look very different".

Listening to Canon Penberthy on Radio 4 [@12.30] "our gospel" is the gospel according to Dr Barry Morgan. Women clergy, gay blessings and working towards same sex marriage in church. When interviewed Ed Stourton asked what sort of discrimination she had suffered. She replied it was "blank incomprehension" that she would want to exercise her own ministry rather than help her husband. Not the sort of aggravation implied by her earlier "prejudice and discrimination" claim. The implication is that lay ministry was not good enough which hardly fits with the ideas of '2020 Vision'.

So the bishop elect of St Davids, the most conservative diocese in the Province, is a liberal minded woman who on her own admission is not a fluent Welsh speaker either:

"Improving my Welsh is a priority for me now. I was in Welsh-speaking parishes in north Carmarthenshire before and people were very generous and I did learn to take services in Welsh which were received well. But I was always a bit cowardly about the conversations and I think I’ll be looking for money to go on a Welsh immersion course where I will have to take the bull by the horns and have the courage to speak the language. I really want to do it  – we are a bilingual nation and the Welsh language is one of our jewels, if not our life blood."

To quote further from 'Facing Difficulties': "The Church, as ever, wishes to see the Welsh language survive and flourish, but it can do nothing without the support of its members. The Welsh language is a gift from God to all who live in Wales. It is our privilege and responsibility to use and promote it in our future mission and ministry". Surely that should have been uppermost in the mind of the facilitator for the diocese of St Davids.

'Facing difficulties' ends with the question: "How can you promote the use of the Welsh language in the Church in your area?" For a start the facilitator should have ensured that the bishop elect was a fluent Welsh speaker familiar with the diocese which is the spiritual home of the Church in Wales and a place of pilgrimage drawing people from around the world.

Disestablishment was born out of dissatisfaction with English-speaking landowners and "anti-Welshdanquot; attitudes within the Church. Based on the appointment of the bishop elect of St Davids, heritage clearly counts for nothing. Moving forward, or "re-imagine itselfdanquot;, is based not on scripture and tradition but on sexual licence and equality of opportunity in the workplace where secular attitudes to 'equality' count more than theology.

The Electoral College meets behind closed doors so that everything can be done in secret leaving regular churchgoers unaware of how the President stage manages the proceedings in a situation where many members hold their positions under his patronage especially the bishops.

If this candidate matched the diocesan profile either profile was way off the mark or it was prepared to fulfil the requirements of the President who is on record as claiming that "she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishopdanquot;. If the sacred synod had any spunk they would not confirm this election.

Postscript [08.11.2016]

From Western Mail letters: Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Not quite the successors of St David

When the new woman bishop-designate of St David?S was on Radio Four on Sunday morning being interviewed she had at least the decency to admit that the Church in Wales blesses gay marriages.

When the male bishops deviously introduced such prayers, they claimed they were not blessings!

She also unequivocally stated that she is in favour of full same-sex marriage. Well, she is entitled to her beliefs, but if she seriously thinks she (and her male colleagues) are the legitimate actual successors of St David, they deceive themselves.

They may have the medieval cathedrals, the episcopal props and the endowments but they are self-evidently not bishops in the Church of God, pledged under sacred vow to banish away strange doctrines.

Robert Ian Williams

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Deception

Archbishop Barry Morgan

"They also apologised to gay and lesbian people

for the persecution and mistreatment they have

endured at the hands of the Church and they

committed themselves to providing a safe place

within the Church for all gay and lesbian people."

So said the bench of bishops at the Governing Body of the Church in Wales in April 2016 when they introduced their 'Pastoral Letter to all the faithful concerning gay and lesbian Christians'. It was the precursor to the dangerouslyabsurd conclusions Dr Morgan advanced in his final Presidential address in September when he claimed that ‘Biblical stories can reveal a new understanding of same-sex relationships’.

In February 2015 Christian Today reported that Jayne Ozanne, a founder member of the Archbishops' Council in the Church of England (CofE) and one of the CofE's most influential evangelicals had come out as gay. Formerly from the orthodox wing of the Church she held strictly conservative views on sexuality but Ms Ozanne came out after 'falling madly in love' and starting a relationship with a another woman. (Video interviewhere).

A 'LGBT activist', Ms Ozanne commissioned aYouGov poll which purported to show that 45 per cent of Anglicans (of over 1500 surveyed) believe that same-sex marriage is right, while 37 per cent believe it is wrong. Ms Ozanne and others "hailed this result as indicative of a shift in public opinion, as compared to a YouGov informasi lapangan three years ago. At that time, 38 per cent of Anglicans said they supported same-sex 'marriage', while 47 per cent said they believed it was wrong".

A priest in the Church of England and consultant statistician, the Rev Peter Ould, questioned the way that the results of the poll were represented and has given a detailed account of how the findings are the opposite of those claimed by Ms Ozanne and her supporters.

His analysis of the figures indicate that Church of England is regarded as welcoming by a margin of 7:1. A majority of C of E members also said that the church was welcoming to the LGBT community by a margin of two and a half to one. For unclassified Christians the majority was 2:1. Only those of 'no religion' took a negative view. Read what Peter Ould had to say about the poll on Facebook (here) and listen to his explanation on Periscope TV (here). You can also find him onTwitter.

Rather than apologising to gay and lesbian people for the alleged "persecution and mistreatment they have endured at the hands of the Church", on this evidence the bishops should have congratulated members of the Church for providing a safe place for all gay and lesbian people. The new analysis helps to explain the number of gay and lesbian people among the clergy and the laity.

In anotherrecent article for Christian Today the question is asked, Why Do People Stop Going To Church? Ms Ozanne said: "The Church of England needs to have the courage to look decline directly in the face and have the humility to ask 'Why?'. She repeated her assertion, "As my recent YouGov poll clearly shows many - even within the Church - do not believe it is there for everyone, as the Secretary General so confidently asserts. Indeed the young and those of 'no religion" - who we need to reach most - have the most negative perception of the Church. Growth will only come through a honest assessment of the mistakes we have made and a humble admission of the pain we have caused to so many."

We have been deceived. For too long we have been cowed by false assertions for fear of being thought uncharitable while pressure groups use every tactic to get their own way. Deceit has been used to damn the faithful and change the Anglican Church into a pale shadow of her former glory, often by trendy bishops who have taken the lead in this shameful process. One has to wonder what is in it for them. Cheap popularity or the hope of 'respectability' for those in the closet?

At last in the Church in Wales there are signs that people have had enough. The bench have not had their way on same sex marriage and at their last meeting the Governing Body refused simply to 'take note' of the relentless decline resulting in less than 1% of the population regularly attending church each Sunday. They passed this revised motion:

That the Governing Body

(i) Do take note of this Report with a heavy heart; and

(ii) Request that the Standing Committee, as a matter of urgency, identify the minority of parishes which are growing, investigate the factors behind this, and suggest what we might learn and implement from this good practice.

As an example of the blind attempting to lead the formerly blind, the Ass Bishop of Llandaff claimed that "much more was happening than could be recorded by statistics. We are beating ourselves up and I am sorry about that. There’s a lot going on – God does not depend on our contribution to thrive. We need to joyfully let down the nets and go fishing at His command." He and the Archdeacon of Llandaff were appointed by Dr Morgan from outside the Province to advance Dr Morgan's political objectives at the expense of the church and many faithful worshippers. He should go fishing and take the like minded with him.

Ordinary members must stand their ground and return the church to the Apostolic faith into which we were baptized, not a variant of nonconformity.

In a final flourish before he retires Barry and his bench sitters have decided that anyone who has been baptised will be able to receive Holy Communion in church regardless of whether they have also been confirmed, thus opening the door to the Uniting Church in Wales. In pursuit of their ambition the bench calls us to look to the tradition of the Church. So we should, not to become nonconformists but to return to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The liberal experiment has been an absolute disaster for the Church of England and the Church in Wales using deceit and deception to mask the truth. We must return to orthodoxy. Pray that the appointment of the new Bishop of St Davids will aid the church in that mission.

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Numbed

St Davids Cathedral Pembrokeshire                                                                                                                        Source: BBC

If bishops are still supposed to be the focus of unity, disunity in the Church in Wales (CinW) is complete following the appointment of Canon Joanna Penberthy as the new bishop of St Davids, the first of the six diocese in the Province of Wales to have a woman 'bishop'.

St Davids is the site of the Holy shrine of St David who built his monastery on the Cathedral site c.589/601. Some 1400 years later faith counts for little in church politics which have more in common with congregationalism than the Holy Catholic Church when members believe that they know better than the Church fathers and Jesus Christ who set the Apostolic example for His church 2,000 years ago.

This politically motivated appointment completes Archbishop Barry Morgan's mission to turn the Anglican Church in Wales into another arm of nonconformity with shared 'bishops' and inter-communion. He can retire happy in the knowledge that he has dismantled the parish system in favour of ministry areas, seen the closure of of St Michael's Theological College in Llandaff and watched the relentless decline in Sunday attendance as he has pushed forward his liberal experiments based not on theology but on political correctness.

Those who have persevered with a Church that has done nothing for them other than take their money will be considering their position as no doubt will some Friends of St Davids but it would be a tragedy for St Davids if the Cathedral were to suffer as a consequence of this appointment.

The feelings of numbness and despair experienced when the CinW Governing Body decided to ordain women will have returned for many especially after watching Dr Morgan tell a BBC reporter that in a threefold ministry it would be wrong not to allow women to become bishops. That after assuring doubters that allowing women deacons did not mean that they would become priests and allowing women priests did not mean they would become bishops. The deceit of it all.

Postscript

Along with similar announcements the Church in Wales websiteannounced, "History was made today as the Church in Wales elected its first woman bishopdanquot;. Despite Archbishop Morgan's claim that Joanna Penberthy "wasn?T elected because she was a woman but because she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishopdanquot;, few will believe him. As fellow Welsh person Mandy Rice Davies famously said when Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, "Well he would [say that], wouldn't he?"

Abp Morgan said that she [Joanna Penberthy] "has considerable gifts ? She is an excellent preacher and communicator, can relate to all sections of the community, is a warm, charismatic, caring priest and someone who is full of joy". So she should as a bishop of the church but does "all sections of the communitydanquot; include 'traditionalists' or exclude them as the Bench has done? Also, as one commentator has put it, what about1 Timothy tiga? Not that the Archbishop bothers with the Bible unless he wishes to misquote it.

Which ever way one looks at it, this is another smack in the face for faithful male clergy to be told that "she is the best person to be a bishop". As suggested when he brought in his Ass Bishop ["the ordination of women will rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones"] and the Archdeacon of Llandaff, none of the male clergy in Wales can match Abp Morgan's expectations. No wonder so many can't wait to see the back of him.

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Something fishy?

The assembled throng outside the West Door of St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire                                  Source: Twitter @DavidGrundy

As far West from the great West Door as they could manage without joining the rest of the tiddlers in River Alun, the Canon Residentiary at St Davids Cathedral appears to have been delegated to lead the applause in appreciation of Archbishop Barry Morgan's 'historic' announcement that the bishop elect of St Davids is the first woman to be made bishop in Wales, Canon Joanna Penberthy.

A video of this damp squib of an occasion can be seen on Twitter and on the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) website.  While small in size the number of people gathered is the same size as many dwindling congregations in the Church in Wales but clearly a great embarrassment to the Archbishop as the video link in the Press Release has been edited so that only the applause is heard after the Dr Morgan gives the nod.

Most of the news coverage followed the same theme: First woman bishop Joanna Penberthy 'faced prejudice', a strategy used to stain orthodox views as being negative. This theme is often used to condemn anyone who disagrees with the latest liberal fashion and was much used by the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) which has been superseded by Women and the Church  (WATCH), a feminist organisation currently insisting that God should to be referred to as female. In a similar vein, opponents of gay marriage are condemned as homophobic while anyone searching for the truth about Islam's attitude to non-Muslims is regarded as Islamophobic.

After the announcement of her election Canon Penberthy commented: "As someone who in the early years was at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination, I have absolutely no intention of dishing that out so I think it's important that everybody feels free to be honest about their opinions and about their misgivings." That is a welcome change from the view of the bench of bishops as currently constituted and a welcome change of heart from her Newnham days when as a young evangelical student she was more inclined to the view that Anglo Catholics should leave the Church of England because they were not real Anglicans.

When interviewed a BBC Reporter put the question to Canon Penberthy,Ordaining women is still controversial to some people. How do you reach out to those who are not happy with the idea? Her reply was far more encouraging than the Archbishop's 'over my dead body' policy. She said:

"I was very encouraged to be on a conference recently organised by Credo Cymru, which is an organisation for people who don?T wish to receive the sacramental ministry of women. It was a very positive gathering of how we can learn to live together in a world where women are priests and at that point where women might take episcopal ministry. It was about how do we live together in honesty, kindness and out of the values of that one shared gospel."

Following theLiving with Diversity conference it was refreshing to hear from the bishop elect that everyone should "feel free to be honest". Since Bishop David Thomas retired there has been no place in the Church in Wales for people who remain unable to recognise the sacramental ministry of women as bishops and priests on grounds of theological conviction and conscience although officially remaining "within the spectrum of teaching and tradition within the Anglican Communion". Credo Cymru's statement can be readhere.

With such lavish praise heaped upon her by the Archbishop and the bishop of Swansea and Brecon one wonders why Canon Penberthy had not previously joined the ranks of senior clergy as Dean or Archdeacon. Is it merely a coincidence that the bishop elect happens to be the right age as specified by the former bishop, Wyn Evans, to complete the work he started as Dean? Some fishy business on the Alun!

Fishy or not, this episode has all the appearance of a jigsaw puzzle coming into place except for one piece which just does not fit but he will be retiring soon when all should be much clearer, hopefully putting an end to prejudice and discrimination in the Church in Wales.

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St David must be turning in his grave

Abp Barry Morgan's legacy: Desolation. Note the dual translations. Point made!

This video must rank as one of the most contemptuous of an organisation's membership ever made. The Archbishop of Wales speaks in Welsh with English subtitles in supposed deference to Welsh speakers while the 'Welsh speaking' bishop-elect speaks in English with Welsh subtitles for the benefit of those who do not understand what she is talking about.

Forget the Landsker line and 'little England beyond Wales', this is about women in the church. The ability to communicate in Welsh has been marginalised to accommodate a woman of Barry Morgan's choice. He protests that his nominee has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman but that she is the best person to be a bishop. If you swallow that you will swallow anything.

Postscript [15.11.2016]

‘Sacred Synod’ to confirm Bishop of St Davids’ election -Provincial News Press release:

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, said, "The Constitution of the Church in Wales requires all episcopal elections to be confirmed by the other bishops meeting in Sacred Synod. This will be a public meeting and, should any member of the Church in Wales wish to draw any matter to the bishops? Attention in relation to this episcopal election, they are invited to attend the meeting in person."

An opportunity for Dr Barry Morgan to wear a laurel leaf crown as the Church in Wales enters her death throes?

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Sacred Synod?

Archbishop Barry Morgan                                 Source: Daily Post

The newspapers in Wales have been full of it since the naming of the bishop elect. For example, the Western Telegraph has: "Sacred Synod to confirm election of new Bishop of St Davids".

In reality there is nothing sacred about it other than that the event takes place at Evensong in a place of worship, Archbishop Barry Morgan's trouble prone Cathedral in Llandaff.

On video [@1.19] and in the press, the bishop elect constantly advances the feminist cause telling her audience how she has broken new ground in the Deaconate and in the Episcopate being "one of the first women" despite the fact that according to Dr Morgan her 'election' had nothing to do with her being a woman. He said she was the best person to be a bishop, presumably based on his criteria written to fit her profile. Given her inexperience at a senior level it is difficult to believe that there is no person better qualified. Chosen from a secret shortlist we are expected to accept Dr Morgan's word despite years of deception to ensure that he gets his own way from the ordination of women to his LGBT agenda to his same sex marriage ambitions.

If so sure of his ground why the precedent of the Archbishop's promotional video produced to convince viewers that the process was not another stitch up? Some analysis is called for.

Sacred:

devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.

Pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to secular or profane)

Secular:

of or relating to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal

profane:

characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles or things; irreligious.

It is difficult to conceive that anyone other than a Morgan acolyte could consider the confirmation of the election of the new bishop of St Davids to be sacred. It has Barry Morgan's secular politics written all over it. Her name as the bishop elect had been circulating for months. She attended the Credo Cymru 'Conference to Preserve the Breadth of Anglicanism in Wales' when more deserving members were excluded. Interestingly the view from England after the event was that Anglo Catholicism in Wales is finished.

There were reports that the archbishop deferred entering hospital for essential surgery so that he could preside over the electoral college. A call for prayers in an ad clerum from the Bishop of St Asaph indicates that Dr Morgan has deferred treatment until December, thus enabling him to stage manage the synod as well as the 'election'. Nothing it seems is to be left to chance. No price is too high in ensuring that a woman bishop is in place before Dr Morgan retires, even the desolation of the Church in Wales. A relativeminnow in the Anglican Communion and minute in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church but for the 1% or so of the population of Wales who still attend regularly it is stilltheir church, nominally. The dwindling few have responded to calls over many years to give sacrificially while receiving nothing but politics in return. How will they feel when left with nothing but the bill?

Whilst the whole process reeks of cronyism I would be surprised if there were any objection to the election at the synod. Dr Morgan has successfully crushed all opposition in his re-modelling of the Church in Wales as a career opportunity for sycophants and a refuge for sexual licence.

Based on fifteen year's experience covering Church of England politics and witnessing the death throes of the Episcopal Church in the United States,  George Conger has been talking on Anglican Unscripted about the decline of the Church of England into a church that is "already all but dead". What he says can be applied equally, and more so, to the Church in Wales. When a bishop is elected, he says, the candidate loses his backbone to a process calledcollegiality, a well used weapon in Dr Morgan's armoury along with 'canonical obedience' when the Church in Wales has been anything but obedient to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The installation of a woman bishop at Wales' most holy shrine is all about Women and the Church (WATCH). It is profane.

Postscript [30.11.2016]

BBC News: "First woman bishop appointment to be rubber-stampeddanquot;. - Exactly!

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It's such a laugh being a bench sitter

The bishop of St Asaph, an ecstatic Archbishop of Wales, the bishop of Monmouth and the bishop of Swansea and Brecon with Joanna Penberthy,

a monoglot in the conservative, bilingual diocese of St Davids but claimed by the Archbishop to be "the best person to be a bishop"!

Archbishop Barry Morgan is seen in the above BBC clip preparing for his crowning glory, his consecration of the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales. Not that her election had anything to do with her being a woman he insists, something believed only by his fawning functionaries. The blanket coverage of the event confirmed that it has everything to do with the 129th bishop of St Davids being a woman putting politics before religion.

Making his place in history regardless of the consequences has been Morgan's mission. After the ceremony he admitted that the occasion had been "a particular honour for him as he ends his ministry". It was "the icing on the cakedanquot;.

Reminiscent of the absurd claim by the Ass Bishop of Llandaff that 'the ordination of women will rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones', in this video Dr Morgan links violence against women with Crossing the Threshold, theSt Deiniol’s Group campaign for promoting women bishops.

Ironically it is these same women who have caused so much misery to a far greater number of women and men who have been trampled on by them while claiming to be called by God. They have called themselves. If God were going to call women, Jesus Christ would have done so 2,000 years ago. No matter how they twist scripture to make it appear more relevant to society, He didn't. The cost to Christian unity has been immense but that is irrelevant to them.

The Church in Wales is a tiny little Province in the Anglican Communion which makes its own rules yet supporters of the ordination of women claim that 'the church' has accepted it. The vast majority of Anglicans and the wider Apostolic Church have rejected the innovation. Dr Morgan suggests picking biblical textsselectively to support his view that the decision empowers women. At the same time he disregards all those women who have been cast aside because they have not succumbed to his political point scoring.

An embrace for the woman bishop.  Source: ITV

It is odd that the antics of the Church in Wales receive so much attention in the media given that churchgoing has become so depleted under Archbishop Barry Morgan's administration. His ministry has been dominated by embracing the ordination of women and LGBT issues. It has not encouraged the growth suggested. Instead, people have simply left in droves. Currently around 0.8% of the population regularly attend Sunday services. Decline continues at a staggering 5% a year. But the bench appears unconcerned in their cosy little cocoon.

In the run up to the consecration the BBC dutifully turned up "at the church's pembinaan collegedanquot; to record the proceedings for posterity. Formerly Wales' own St Michael's Theological College it was forced to close on Barry Morgan's watch as have many churches.

The BBC headline was History will be made tomorrow. A woman will be made a bishop in the Church in Wales for the first time. Unfortunately the iPlayer recording is not currently available but here are the recorded comments of the bishop-elect of St Davids with Barry and the bench sitters showing their true intentions, particularly with regard to the Code of Practice which the bench deliberately put in place to deprive traditional Anglicans of acceptable sacramental oversight as provided in the Church of England.

Asked how she responds to people who still can't accept women bishops the bishop-elect said:

It's strange that people find it so difficult to see the full humanity in women as well as in men and why men are seen as the person that God calls and women are sort of slightly on the side. People are entitled to their consciences but I think the time for rehashing the argument is over.

It is understandable that she thinks that rehashing the argument is over because on further investigation the duplicity of the bench would be exposed.

I thought the bishop-elect's choice of words was rather odd given the circumstances the Church in Wales find herself in.

Humanity = The quality of being humane; benevolence.

Humane = showing kindness, care, and sympathy towards others, especially those who are suffering.

But who cares? The bench doesn't.

Note also the change of tone having joined the bench. Previously the bishop-elect claimed:

"As someone who in the early years was at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination, I have absolutely no intention of dishing that out so I think it's important that everybody feels free to be honest about their opinions and about their misgivings."

Asked by Ed Stourton about the nature of the alleged 'discrimination' she had suffered it amounted to no more than "blank incomprehensiondanquot; that she would want to exercise her own ministry rather than help her husband. If disagreement amounts to discrimination, Barry and his bench sitters have been exercising discrimination against fellow members of their church for years.

Asked how the bishop-elect would manage opposition to women bishops in practical terms she said:

The genius of Anglicanism has been the way we have held people of all sorts and different opinions so there is a code of practice that enables us to make place for people who don't wish to receive my sacramental ministry.

No mention of course that the Code of Practice was written to be inclusive only on terms acceptable to the bench.

An ecstatic Dr Barry Morgan said: She's a woman and women always change things, for the better usually.

Is changing her mind to that of the bench an example of what he had in mind?

The bishop of Swansea and Brecon wryly observed:

It may change the way in which the rest of us behave at bench meetings because we can be quite robust.

Referring to 'Bishop Jo' in her new role, Bishop Dick of Monmouth said:

"The Church in Wales still hasn't got many senior posts with women in and I think 'Bishop Jo' coming along now will be a very clear signal", contrary to the Archbishop's claim that the appointment had nothing to do with Joanna Penberthy being a woman.

Oblivious to any mendasar conscientious objection to the ordination of women, the bishop of Bangor added:

As people see that she will do a wonderful job they will be won over.

But it was the bishop of St Asaph who rather candidly let the cat out of the bag when he said:

The Church needs to be the sort of place which says, this is how to disagree well. The real problem I think is that those who can't accept women bishops want more than we feel able to give.

With that revelation Dr Morgan concluded the gathering by engaging in some light-hearted banter directed towards bishop Jo. He said:

To the Archbishop they say Your Grace if they want to be terribly formal, to bishops they say my Lord, and I was just saying to John, she could be like the Queen, Ma'am.

It's all such a laugh for bench sitters.

The bishops of St Davids and Gloucester share a laugh.  Source Wales Online

Bishops in the Church in Wales have their own way of seeing things. Dr Morgan expressed his delight that out of the nine consecrations he has performed, that of Joanna Penberthy was the most applauded. It was reported that more than 500 people attended the bilingual service. The empty seats in the nave shown in ITV Newscoverage suggests that most must have been stood around the West door! Dr Morgan paid tribute to the Church?S women clergy for ?Daring to trust and hope? During what had been a ?Long and hard journey? To ordination, ignoring others left with no hope.

Dr Morgan said he could not think of a nicer way to end his ministry - "it is fantastic" he said. Now he looks forward to further elections when women will be included 'equally' with men (ie, preferentially). Llandaff next while more people leave the church?

Empty seats visible at the Consecration service                                                                                                                                                            Source: ITV

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Inaugural address

An address by "an excellent preacher" and "the best person to be a bishop".

- Archbishop Barry Morgan

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Women in the Church

The 'dark' side.

"Women bishops would humanise the priesthood" said the then Archbishop of Canterbury in 2011. Dr Rowan Williams warned the Church hierarchy to prepare for the “culture change” that would come with the “full inclusion” of women. Not the full inclusion the Archbishop would have expected. Instead it is inclusion to the exclusion of anyone with views not in accord with Women and the Church (WATCH) and their fellow travellers as highlighted by the "Sheffield controversy".

At the time Ann Widdecombe was closer to the truth when she said,  "Christianity in Britain today is under severe persecution. And it will get much worse. I do not resent this persecution. I welcome it. For it will weed out the pseudo-Christians, the wimpish bishops and the caved-in Synod. By persecution we discover who our true friends actually are." In 2017 that has come to pass.

Feminists have mercilessly used the Church for their own political ends. On the face of it WATCH ran a legitimate campaign, as they saw it, for the ordination of women. But, as with the world wide web, there is a dark side. A deception which has been gnawing away at the soft underbelly of Anglicanism. Say anything, do anything to gain the advantage. Thus the five guiding principles were agreed allowing women to become bishops in the Church of England. Perhaps they were crossing their fingers behind their backs as they voted but either way, they have reneged on the agreement rendering the whole procedure untenable.

Critics of WATCH were accused of misogyny from the earliest days when Canon Lucy Winkett said in a keynote speech, "Never mind Gordon Ramsay, we have in modern society a new F-word: Feminism." Extracts from her speech can be read here, eg,

Now women are on the inside, are exercising authority in

state and church, although the power is not yet equally

shared and the pay is certainly not equal. We are in a

new situation; I am not here to make a case for women

to be bishops ? That case is obvious...

From the historical perspective of exclusion, women are

able to speak with authority from long centuries of marginalisation,

to bring these perspectives into the decision

making structures of society and church.

In the West, we live in a half changed world. There are

now very few areas of public life not open to women ?

Except those protected by organised religion."

In their campaign WATCH have used Christian values as a weapon to secure an advantage over their target audience, secularists and Anglicans who have been brought up on 'love thy neighbour', 'turn the other cheek', etc. Many have been bullied into submission for fear of being branded un-Christian while the majority outside the Church either do not care or have become so secularised they no longer understand the issues. When Bishop Philip North withdrew from his appointment as Bishop of Sheffield a BBC News reader said it was because 'his congregation' had complained.

Similar tactics, including false accusations, are being used by LGBT campaigners to bully the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales into appointing the Dean of St Albans to Llandaff. In an undignified campaign Members of Parliament have become involved. They have been led to believe that Dr John has suffered discrimination because he is in a civil partnership.

The MPs wrote "We understand that Dr John, a fluent Welsh speaker, was born in Tonyrefail in 1953. He grew up there and went to Hertford College, Oxford where studied both Classics and Modern Languages and was awarded a First. He was ordained to a title at Holy Nativity, Penarth. From Penarth he went back to Oxford to study for a DPhil and became Dean of Divinity to Magdalen College."

Many Welsh Anglicans have been asking themselves why, as a fluent Welsh speaker, Dr John was not appointed to St Davids in what looks more than ever like the politically motivated appointment of the first woman bishop in Wales. A gay priest and friend of Dr John?S for 40 years said "There?S homophobia everywhere but that?S no reason to stop a gay person from becoming a Bishop."

It is not homophobia and not because Dr John is gay and living in a civil partnership. The reasons why Dr John was rejected are open to speculation but for Church members who have been alerted to the controversy it is because he has campaigned for same sex marriage in Church which was rejected by the Governing Body. Moreover, he has used anunorthodox interpretation of the Bible account of the healing of the centurion?S servant in Luke 7 to justify his stance.

Looking to feminism, to gay rights or any other secular cause to swell congregations is not what the Church is about. That has failed. Decline continues. False claims by campaigners are leading astray a politically correct audience for selfish, political ends. That is not the Way of the Cross.

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Caption Corner 28 July 2018

Source: Twitter@StDavidsCath

As usual suggested captions will appear as comments.

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Errors

Revd Sarah Jones                                                                                          Source: Church in Wales

From a Llandaff Diocesan press release "Cardiff’s new city centre vicar the Revd Sarah Jones is to be licensed tomorrow (October 18) in a special service at St John’s Church".

She takes over at St John?S from Canon Dr Sarah Rowland Jones who left the diocese in the Spring after four years in the post to become "Dean of St David?S [sic] Cathedraldanquot;. That is after extensive, expensive refurbishment of the deanery which had satisfied the requirements of numerous male Deans before her.

St David's should be St Davids (Communications Officer please note) but that is not the only error.

According to the press release: "Hailing originally from London, where she lived until her mid-twenties, the keen musician worked in sales and management and pelatihan roles before returning to education as a mature student to study Experimental Psychology. After university she ran a consultancy in addition to playing on the acoustic music scene before finally putting herself forward as a candidate for ordination".

Actuallyhe lived in London. By her mid twenties she was "a married man, working in industry". The Rev Sarah Jones spent more than half her life as a man before becoming the Church of England?S first gender-change priest, something of which she claims to be proud.

Wanting to raise awareness her blog is headlined "Transgender Priest; Singer-Songwriter".

Odd, then, that the Church in Wales should be so coy about an aspect of the Revd Sarah Jones' life of which she claims to be particularly proud.

Could it be that she has come 'Out4Marriage' which is not the policy of the Church in Wales despite the efforts of the bench of bishops to make it so?

Ignoring the facts the bishop of Llandaff is in error as she thumbs her nose at the wishes of the dwindling number of Anglicans in Wales, pursuing her feminist agenda instead of spreading the Gospel of Christ.

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Dear John letter

"Mr Jones' licence is due to be revoked at the end of the year"                                       Source: BBC

LMAs are not a brilliant idea according to the bishop of St Davids. Well, she has her sponsor Barry Morgan to thank for that.

In her address to the St Davids diocesan conference she said, "Unfortunately we do not have the money to keep our normal, proper, well-tried, well-loved and best way of being local church which is having paid stipendiaries as near as possible to a few churches where they can get to know and love everybody. If we could do that. If God would supply us with the money then that is what I would do."

I don't know what the good people of in Cilcennin, Ystrad Aeron, Trefilan and Cribyn will make of that statement.

Their beloved priest, an 82-year-old retired vicar has been told that he can no longer carry out church services because he is "too old to be covered by insurance".

He has been voluntarily conducting services in the Aeron Valley because of a shortage of vicars. He believes the ruling will affect rural churches. "Two churches every Sunday will be short of a Minister to take a service" he said. "There are two of us that help out every Sunday. They will have to rely on lay people to take the service. I'm convinced it will close certain churches if they don't have a regular Minister."

The Rev'd John Emrys Jones who has already held 36 services this year said he was "disappointed" there was not a meeting between the Diocese and retired clergy affected by the decision.

One parishioner said churchgoers were "shocked" and "horrified" by the news. "We don't understand it. We feel they are one of us she said".

The Church in Wales has issued a statement saying: "There has now been further advice giving us hope a solution can be found, thereby allowing these people to continue their ministry within the Diocese."

St Davids is one of six dioceses in the Church in Wales with no sign of reduction as recommended in the Church in Wales (Harries) Review. All make use of retired clergy which makes the decision by bishop Joanna look personal. It has been suggested that it was her way of getting rid of traditionalist clergy.

Busily backpedaling after adverse publicity Joanna should have sought advice from her feminist friend in Llandaff. Bishop June is taking all her clergy on a jolly to Santiago de Compostela with all the insurance implications that involves.

Update

In an abrupt about turn the Church in Wales now says it is "confident" clergy are sufficiently insured "regardless of agedanquot;.

BBC News reports that after receiving sah advice the church issued a new statement stating it was confident all clergy were sufficiently insured and would be able "to continue their valuable service, for which we are extremely grateful".

"We are writing to all those affected and we apologise for the upset and confusion caused," it said.

The Rev'd John Emrys Jones responded graciously. "I don't blame anybody... But there should have been a consultation by the diocese before sending out the letters," he said.

Quite right. A public relations disaster although it must be remembered that when the bishops consult they ignore the results if they don't like what they hear.

Without adverse publicity no doubt there would have been no change.

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Pilgrimage

Source: Fr Michael Fisher, New Directions

In the October issue of Forward in Faith's magazine,New Directions Fr Michael Fisher pays homage at the windswept chapel of St Non in Pembrokeshire - 'In the steps of pilgrims'.

Pilgrimage is a hot topic in the Church in Wales, particularly in Llandaff where Bishop June has decided that the Llandaff Clergy School in 2019 will take the form of a no expenses sparedpilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.

Perhaps +June was unaware that much closer to homeSt Davids Cathedral has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In the twelfth century Pope Calixtus II declared that the shrine was so important that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome and three were equivalent to one to Jerusalem.

The extract from Michael Fisher's article illustrates the harsh reality for traditionalist pilgrims in Wales. Given the increasing number of women clergy the chances are that pilgrims who are unable on grounds of conscience to receive the sacramental ministry of women will be denied the opportunity of receiving Holy Communion when visiting St Davids Cathedral.

Elevating secular issues above theology, Joanna Penberthy has said she finds ithard to take that a group of people see women as "that different". Either she has no grasp of the issues involved or she simply lacks any sense of charity by ignoring them.

If, as a bishop, she thinks it is hard for her she  should spare a thought for those in her care who are suffering the results of feminist ambitions in the Church in Wales. Faithful women and men, often cradle Anglicans, have been left with absolutely nothing after years of Anglican devotion.

As bishop-elect of St Davids, Joanna Penberthycommented:

 "As someone who in the early years was at the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination, I have absolutely no intention of dishing that out so I think it's important that everybody feels free to be honest about their opinions and about their misgivings."

When challenged Joanna was forced to admit that the alleged discrimination amounted to nothing more than a difference of opinion. Whether she has a short memory or has had a change of heart, the evident misandry in her attack on faithful, elderly male clergy under her care illustrates the 'couldn't care less unless you are one of us' attitude of the bench of bishops and many of the newly ordained clergy, echoing the infamous claim ?There is no place for you in this church?.

If Joanna Penberthy is, as archbishop Barry Morgan claimed, "the best person to be a bishop" that doesn't say much of the rest of the bench. By their fruits you will know them!

The bench of bishops appear to be completely ignorant of the fact that within a generation there will be no Church in Wales for anyone to find a place in according to expert opinionhere which confirms a conclusion reached back in 2015here.

Doubters among the few remaining Anglicans who still regularly attend diminishing services should look around at the aging faces with no young families to provide future congregations for the new merk of clergy who committed to change, usually for their own benefit.

Whether they see it or not, former bishops have been heard to say that the Church in Wales is finished.

A sad end for faithful pilgrims.

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A dysfunctional family

Rowan Williams preaches at Eucharist during a Sept. 24 clergy day in the Diocese of Los Angeles.                  Source: Diocese of Los Angeles/Janet Kawamoto

Addressing a gathering of clergy and laity in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the Anglican communion is "fractured but still a family":

“I am saying ‘Anglican family’ rather than ‘Anglican Communion’ because we’re a very fractured communion but we’re still family – like so many families, quarreling till the cows come home. What gives us our family solidarity is, of course, that dependence on God’s call, God’s welcome. We are, at the moment, in the middle of a period of colossal uncertainty in the life of our Anglican family. There is uncertainty, division, a measure of suspicion still and a sense that our conventional and inherited ways of being Anglicans together across the world have come under almost unmanageable strain."

In fewer words, we are no longer a body of Christians with a common faith and discipline. Our Anglican family is dysfunctional. It is dominated by expressions of intolerance and vengefulness. As the Archdeacon of Llandaff bluntly put it, anyone who could not accept the new order would have to make their own arrangements.

Wikipedia describes Anglicanism as "a Western Christian tradition which has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation."

In recent times the Church of England, instead of leading by example, has followed the 'madness' of the Episcopal Church of the United States ((ECUSA) endeavouring to make the Church more relevant to society's perceived needs, liberalism has replaced tradition as described in my previous entry.

Abp Williams acknowledged that as Archbishop of Canterbury he had to make 'uncomfortable adjustments at both ends of the spectrum, liberal and conservative, north and south' to keep everyone at the table but he believes a duduk perkara-solving-by-committee approach no longer effectively addresses current challenges.

Too late anyway. The damage has been done. Self governing Provinces like the Church in Wales have voted for disunity. Family members who, in common with the vast majority of Christians, strive to remain loyal to the faith of the Anglican Church as received have been marginalised or excluded, divorced from the Church they lovingly cared for before it was ripped from them.

The bride of Christ has been torn apart by those who would stand in the person of the Bridegroom. Rowan is right when he compares Western Anglicans to families, quarreling till the cows come home. But the quarreling is now amongst the liberal rump deciding how far the revisionists can go.

There are parallels with society. The nuclear conjugal family traditionally comprised a family class consisting of a (female) mother, a (male) father and their children. As a consequence of formalising same sex relationships and the acceptance of genders differing from the biological sexes of male and femaleprimary school children are to be taught that some children have two mothers or two fathers.

This has gone so far as to compel a transgender man who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment to attempt to register himself as the child's father. Although he lost his court battle the ruling was attacked by campaigners and lawyers including the judge as a blow to the rights of trans parents and their children with calls for legislative reform.

In another case a Christian doctor has been told that his belief in the Biblical view of what it is to be male and female is "incompatible with human dignity" .

An NHS A&E doctor for 26 years, he was forced out of his job working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender instead of their biological sex as explained in this video:

One might have thought that the Church would stand for truth but Western Anglicanism has confounded the truth by supporting divergence. The family is fractured.

Not content with fracturing our own family, feminists are intent on fracturing the Roman Catholic Church to advance their political agenda.

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. Traditionally the Cathedral Church of St David in Pembrokeshire has been a place of pilgrimage but it has been turned into a feminist enclave making it difficult for orthodox pilgrims to participate fully.

ThisWomensOrdinationConf tweet was 'liked' by St Davids Cathedral staff:

"They don't just want a seat at the table. They want to rearrange the seating, in sense, by reducing clerical privilege, by focusing on ordination as more a call to serve than a pathway to power". The Women's Ordination Conference describes itself as "A voice for women's equality in the Catholic Church".

Mutual flourishing in the Church goes out of the window after women take power. The Bridegroom and His bride become tools for revisionists to help overturn convention no matter who is hurt.

When mutual flourishing is allowed the results can be remarkable as illustrated by a tweet following a recent Confirmation service at Llandaff Cathedral presided over by the Bishop of Burnley, Philip North: "Standing room only in the Cathedral for a Diocesan Confirmation @LlandaffDio and the most candidates I think I have ever seen. What utter joy. Thank you @BishopJuno and @BpBurnley. God is good!"

Rowan Williams is reported to have said that as it is the Church in Wales has no future. The Church of England is not far behind.

Postscript [08.10.2019]

'Pick your own sex' plans are shelved: Equalities minister Liz Truss abandons drive to relax laws around changing gender.

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