Purification

Today, dua February, the Anglican Church celebrates Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is an opportunity for clerics to preach about impurity and the unclean as the Archbishop of Wales did in his address in St John's Church Cardiff last Sunday.

The sick, the poor and women in childbirth were mentioned when physician heal thyself would have been far more appropriate. Under a previous entry a comment was made that "the Bench is still behaving like a Medieval papacy and treating the rest of us like we don't matter". It referred to a letter to the Church Times in which it was stated: "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 bishops of the Church in Wales decided 'after receiving legal advice', perhaps from the canon lawyers sat on the bench, that the change could be implemented by pastoral letter without any authorisation by canon.

This is the latest example of how the bench of bishops in the Church in Wales are a law unto themselves. Previously clear signals have been given to the bench by church members after expensive consultations that same sex marriage in church would not be approved and that a Code of Practice should make provision for loyal members of the Church in Wales who are unable in conscience to receive the sacramental ministry of women, a matter of theology, not equality. Both were ignored. The bishops simply did as they desired.

So where does the Church in Wales go from here now that Dr Morgan has retired? The presumption is that the next archbishop will be one of the canon lawyers on the bench. While Dr Morgan has taken a great deal of stick for placing his own interpretation on scripture he has been careful to explain that his views were those of the bench making the bishops complicit.

How can the bench have any credibility in their leadership of the Church in Wales without radical changes? They can start with an act of contrition in a process of purification of themselves.

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Llandaff stalemate

Llandaff Cathedral with, inset, the Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans

After three days of deliberations (note the link comes under 'Politics'), the Electoral College of the Church in Wales failed to produce a bishop-elect or, as the Rev Peter Ould tweeted, the Church in Wales "couldn't quite bring itself to elect Jeffrey John as Bishop of Llandaff".

With Barry Morgan retired to his bunker his bench sitters were left to their own devices. They will have known that Jeffrey John's preferment had long been high on Morgan's political rencana and no doubt the facilitator would have been well aware of the former Archbishop's preference. His daughter is diocesan Registrar and his wife a former priest at the Cathedral. But which preference? The advancement of feminism or the acceptance of homosexuality on a par with God's plan for procreation?

The Dean of St Albans has had a rough time. With little or no honour in the Church today, Jeffrey John decided not take up the post of Bishop of Reading because of the "damage" his consecration might cause to the "unity of the Church". With hindsight, what unity? As an open, celibate pastor he fulfils the requirements of the Church of England when others have blatantly ignored the rules. The recent defeat in Synod of the motion to take note of the House of Bishopsreport,Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations (GS 2055) and subsequent commentary provide testimony to that.

The former Archbishop of Wales made it quite clear many years ago that he saw no objection to someone in a homosexual relationship becoming a bishop in the Church in Wales (CinW). The first divorcee, part of the CinW 'mafia', was appointed by Barry and his bench sitters. If he were still Archbishop no doubt he would have engineered his hat trick after the appointment of 'the best person to be a bishop' despite her obvious failings to the see of St Davids. My only reservation is that Dean John came Out4Marriage, ie, same sex marriage offering so much baloney in the Barry mould that one wondered if his judgement had become impaired.

The Church has moved on, as the establishment sees it, so John's treatment looks increasingly harsh. If he were willing to take on Llandaff, the best of luck to him. Anyone willing to sort out the mess created by Dr Morgan deserves praise and prayers.

The duduk perkara for the bench sitters is that spirituality has become secondary to political correctness and business management as they struggle to keep the ship afloat. Should they opt for the gay agenda or continue to advance the feminist cause? We can be assured that in the forthcoming "wide-ranging consultation of both the laity and the clergy from across the Church in Walesdanquot; MAE Cymru women will be screaming the loudest.

Like Violet Elizabeth Bott they can scream and scream until they are sick. The bench sitters will no doubt ignore the consultations and do as they please, just as they did with previous farcical consultations. Pray that they get it right for once.

Postscript [24.02.2017]

An interesting report has appeared in Christian Today:Leading Gay Cleric Jeffrey John Narrowly Rejected As Bishop In Wales.

Despite the secrecy of the locked-doors policy it has emerged that Dr John was "narrowly rejected" for the post of Bishop of Llandaff. Dr Morgan's final address as Archbishop to "urge the Church to rethink its stance on LGBT couples" increasingly looks like an election address. Both John and Morgan have attempted to re-interpret our traditional understanding of the Bible to justify their cause.

Llandaff has the reputation of having a strong gay presence so the "strong support he received among local clergy and parishioners in the largely liberal diocesedanquot; comes as no surprise.

Being a celibate gay cleric is one thing, trying to change people's attitude to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony is quite another.

One mistake in Llys Escob is enough. The diocese doesn't need another.

Postscript [02.03,2017]

Bishop of Llandaff – appointment process.Provincial press release here.

Llandaff Diocesan Profile and Person Specification for Bishop of Llandaff, and a note on the provincial perspective, may be found here.

In addition to the Diocesan Profile and Person Specification, interesting reading on the state of our diverse society can be found here.

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More rank hypocrisy from the Bench

"The Archbishop of Wales and the Church in Wales?S four serving diocesan bishops are calling on the UK?S political leaders to commit to the rule of law and work together to secure the prosperity of our country."

- Provincial press release

Full statement HERE.

It is a bit rich when the Bishops of the Church in Wales place on record their "evident concern for the well-being of our democratic processes and constitution in the United Kingdomdanquot; when the Bench of bishops regularly ignores democratic processes.

Consultations in the Church in Wales have been regularly ignored when the results have not accorded with the wishes of the Bench.

Extract from an entry on 9 August 2016:

"Diocesan meetings were organised at considerable expense to discuss a Code of Practice designed to cater for faithful Anglicans who, on theological grounds, were unable to accept the ministry of women bishops. The wishes of the majority were ignored, see True to his word: "Over my dead body!". Then there was the farcical taking of opinions about allowing same sex marriages and/or blessings in church, see Marriage: Dodgy discipleship?. Barry and his bench sitters simply did what they wanted when the result did not fit their secular rencana, see Bishops' rank hypocrisy. So why should anyone expect other than a predetermined outcome this time?"

Physicians, heal thyselves springs to mind again.

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