Jolly June's jollies

Source: Twitter @BishopJuno

The bishop of Llandaff is right keen on jollies. The latest announced is a diocesan clergy school in 2019. The venue, Santiago de Copostela to help equip clergy for "ministerial priesthood and leadership within the Diocesedanquot;.

From a note accompanying Jolly June's June Ad Clerum: " We are delighted to announce that the first Clergy School will be held in Santiago de Compostela from May 13th – 17th 2019. You will know that Santiago in Northern Spain is the location of the shrine of St James the Apostle and for many centuries has been the destination of pilgrimage routes known as ‘The Camino’. We see this Clergy School as equipping us as a Diocese for a Year of Pilgrimage, an expression of our Centenary celebrations in 2020."

June thought some may find it bizarre to go to Spain when we have so many magnificent pilgrim routes here in Wales. Spot on.

Jetting off toRome, a luxury retreat inDevon. Now she is taking her clergy to Santiago de Compostela.

As clergy become thinner on the ground with lay leaders taking up the reins, how kind of Jolly June to treat those remaining to a jolly in Spain. Paid for by savings on stipends?

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Commendable but...

"A Poor Upbringing?"                                                    Source: Church in Wales

Eisteddfod focus on child poverty. A Provincial press release from the Church in Wales draws attention to the issue of child poverty. "Church volunteers are stepping in to provide food and support for struggling families as cuts to public spending impact on child poverty."

All very commendable. - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27.

Also, "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ?Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.?James dua: 15-17.

The latter quote comes after "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment" in a section headed Favoritism Forbidden.

Another type of poverty has been created in Wales. Spiritual poverty. The process started by Barry and his bench sitters and carried on by Abp Morgan's successor, as they favour the ordained ministry of women and all the LGBT baggage brought with it above traditional, often cradle, Anglicans.

No mercy has been shown to former and existing Anglicans who who have clung to the catholic faith. No tolerance and no support after the position of Provincial Assistant Bishop was buried by Abp Barry Morgan in indecent haste at the earliest opportunity without discussion. Provincial episcopal visitors as enjoyed in the Church of England are banned from providing sacramental and pastoral oversight in Wales.

Too many career minded clerics 'saw the light' after it became clear that Governing Body decisions were to carry far more weight than scripture, tradition and reason. Wittingly or unwittingly, they have aided the bench of bishops in turning the Church in Wales into a pit of misery, soon to disappear down its own orifice.

Ministry areas are struggling. Clergy are in short supply. So much so that lay people are conducting services, including Communion by Extension where "the sacrament is taken to a church from another church within the benefice, where the Holy Eucharist has previously been celebrateddanquot;. A measure encouraged to keep the bishops in the style they mistakenly believe they are entitle to.

Further decline seems inevitable.

The bishop of St Davids followed by the bishop of Llandaff lost no time in advancing their secular causes while complaining that they had been discriminated against because people disagreed with them. Holding the view that the ordained ministry is not open to women is not discriminatory, it is the position of the Holy Catholic Church

Feminism and LGBT issues have become so dominant in the Church in Wales that traditional faith is seen as unacceptable, casting former loyal Anglicans into spiritual poverty.

Nobody cares, least of all the "chief pastors or shepherds" despite what is claimed:

What distinguishes the Church from other communities, at least in its own self-understanding, is that it is a ‘spiritual’ community – a fellowship/community of the Holy Spirit. That is, it claims to participate in the Spirit of God and to be established as the community it essentially is by the Spirit of God. -The Church and its Ministry

Surrender of the C of E to the ?Zeitgeist?

Pride is one of the seven deadly sins - "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a falldanquot; Proverbs 16:18) yet gay pride is being celebrated by the Anglican Church. Rainbow altar frontals have become commonplace and Cathedrals bless Gay Pride proclaiming ?Diversity? As the new gospel.

Gay Deans are in vogue. In the latest instance from the Church of England,Ely Cathedral redefines Christianity; ? Anglican Unscripted and the surrender of the C of E to the ?Zeitgeist?.

In Wales it is reported that "MajorPride" has been planned to "celebrate the diversity of the community in Llantwit Major  where the church are "happy to host events"

One wonders whatSt. Illtud, the founder-abbot and teacher of the divinity school known as Cor Tewdws, located in Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Major) would have made of that.

Already steeped in gay pride the first woman bishop in the Church in wales was shoe-horned into St Davids in a political move which caused much dissension while the second woman bishop with similar credentials continues to do her own thing.

The bishop of Llandaff intends to take all her licensed clergy, Stipendiary and Non-Stipendiary, on a charter flight pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in May 2019. She must be hoping that airline pilots, air traffic controllers and baggage handlers play ball and do not strand all Llandaff diocese clergy in Spain.

Worse still, God forbid, if the plane were lost, this carefully crafted plan would leave the entire diocese without clergy but by then most services may be conducted by the laity anyway.

As the bishops go about the country's business, faithful worshippers continue to be excluded in favour of men who prefer to be thought of as women and vice versa despite their biology, women who want to marry women and men who want to marry men using parcel-post to deliver the means of creation.

What a legacy.

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'Gif of God'

Orthodox worship                                                                                                                          Source: La France Orthodoxe

Latin worship                                                                                                                                          Source: CatholicEnfield

Anglican (CofE) worship                                                                                                                                  Source: Telegraph

These three photographs illustrate what, in part, has gone wrong with Anglicanism. Mystery and awe have given way to liberal secularism aided by technology.

The Church of England is encouraging clergy to embrace social media as it strives to make the church more relevant to society. In doing so it has lost its sense of otherness.

In church the focus of attention should be on the altar. In thisexample, which involves a presentation the Church of England'sLearning Labs Road Show, a screen becomes the focus, not for spreading the gospel but for 'practical advice on using social media'.

Information is spread at the touch of a button but frequently it is not the Christian message.

Justin Welby has beenenthusiastic about his 'pilgrimage' to India but it is all about politics. His performance is serverley put into context in the latest edition of Anglican Unscripted starting @28.50.

Liberal evangelist Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes recently shared the news on her Twitter account that she "Deleted slightly facetious last tweet. Read manifestos. Joined the Greens. Resigned from Labour. Let?S get changing the system not just tinkering with it, it?S the system that?S broken not just the individuals running it - unsurprising that they play the system. People do."

For others it is not so much politics but pride that matters as illustrated by this tweet about a visit to a neighbouring parish and the sharedwelcoming video.

Anglican clergy regularly tell us how 'very excited', 'thrilled' and 'proud' they are to share their daily experiences on Twitter as here:

"Very excited to be doing a placement at @ChesterCath as part of my curacy! So far I've met lovely people, seen parts of the cathedral that I didn't know existed  (and probably won't find again) and had some really interesting chats... And been to two services and held an owl!" - Wow!

Ex-Communard, the Rev Richard Coles, who has a habit of popping up everywhere recently shared this experience on Twitter:

"In a fit of conscience I told my host that I had to pee in his jug because I was trapped in my room this morning (due to his poor maintenance of the door handle). He now wants the jug destroyed rather than just thoroughly washed. I think this is an over reaction." He might have been advised to micturate elsewhere!

This passion for spreading personal experiences is part of the Gif of God initiative reported in the Telegraph in 2016:

"In the age of instant communications, when some people are thought more likely to venture into their parish church in search of Pokémon than pilgrimage, clergy are being advised - gently but firmly - to keep up with the tide.

The Church of England has issued new guidance to clerics and congregations to help them navigate the seemingly bewildering array of new apps and sites to incorporate into church life...

...clerics with time on their hands after visiting the sick, conducting services and writing sermons are encouraged to make their own Gifs – animated images – to spread the Christian message online."

Spreading the Christian message online would be a novelty.

#CofERoadshow                                                                                                            Source: Twitter

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Double standards

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has said to supporters of same-sex marriage:

‘Please leave us.’  Source: Guardian. Photograph: David Moir/AAP

The Bishop of Liverpool rebuked the Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, after he called for gay marriage supporters to leave church saying he ‘seems to want to exclude people rather than to engage with them’.

That's rich.

From the Guardian: "Archbishop Glenn Davies said last week that those who supported same-sex marriage should abandon the church. If people wish to change the doctrine of our church, they should start a new church or join a church more aligned to their views ? But do not ruin the Anglican church by abandoning the plain teaching of scripture,? He said. ?Please leave us.?

The Australian Newcastle Herald reports that "Anglicans have joined two other Australian dioceses to support same-sex marriage church blessings at a Hunter Synod where Bishop Peter Stuart said he had "spoken frankly" to a Sydney archbishop against the move. Newcastle Anglicans strongly supported changes to church rules that could allow clergy to bless same-sex marriages and protect clergy in a same-sex marriage from church discipline."

The Dean of Newcastle, the Very Reverend Katherine Bowyer supports the diocese's move to bless same-sex marriages. She rejected comments by the Archbishop of Sydney that supporters of same-sex marriage should leave the church, saying differing views deserve respect.

Her views and those who side with the Bishop of Liverpool have nothing to do with traditional Church teaching.

The Archbishop of Sydney is correct. If Western Anglican leaders had adopted the same approach many of us would still have a church to attend.

Dean Katherine Bowyer's attitude typifies the double standards of liberal Anglicans amply illustrated by Mae Cymru the Welsh offshoot of the feminist organisation Women and the Church.

Mae Cymru recently tweeted an article from cruxsolablogAn Open Letter to John MacArthur (re: Beth Moore). The author states:

"Recently John MacArthur commented that Beth Moore (Christian leader and teacher) should ?Go home.? As I have pondered this over the last few days, I wondered what Paul would say to John. So, I wrote an open letter.

It is not my intention to comment on the letter's content. Readers of the letter can draw their own conclusions but I was drawn to the double standards of the new breed of Anglican.

The membership secretary of Mae Cymru the Ven Peggy Jackson, Archdeacon of Llandaff and scourge of  orthodox, often cradle Anglicans is a late convert to Anglicanism. Their idea of engagement is exclusion dressed up as inclusion.

Before Barry Morgan imported her from the Church of England as his hatchet woman the then Rev Canon  F A Jackson wrote in a paper for GRAS (Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod):

"New individuals with conscientious difficulties over women?S ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can ? Just as many already have to do over a host of other current issues, some very uncomfortable, where people find themselves representative of a view which is not that sanctioned by the ?Church? As a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament."

Ten years later with attendance figures still plummeting, thousands of often cradle Anglican women and men have been abandoned by their Church.

Far from relenting Jackson has attempted to turn the screw ever tighter by seeking to exclude from ordination anyone who does not conform to her wishes, misrepresenting genuine theological doubt about sacramental assurance as misogyny.

The concept of twin integrity has been all but abandoned. As Sir William Fittall said in response to a complaint:

"To expect someone whose theological conviction does not enable him to receive the sacramental ministry of women routinely to turn up to a celebration of Holy Communion when he cannot discover in advance whether he will be able to receive Holy Communion seems to me to be asking too much."

Following the appointment of a third woman bishop in the Church in Wales half the bench will be female.

The diocese of St Davids has been quickly feminized after the appointment of the first woman Bishop. She lost no time in appointing a woman Dean. Two female minor Canons have also been appointed. If the Canon in Residence is a female cleric the sub-Dean is the sole male priest at Wales' premiere place of pilgrimage.

There is no indication for pilgrims who will be celebrating yet the Cathedral onlineWorship Sheet merrily quotes St David's last words to his followers, “...Be Joyful, Keep the faith and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do...”

The Bishop of Liverpool should have looked closer to home before whinging about the Church in Australia.

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False start for Llandaff 2020 Year of Pilgrimage

Church in Wales primary school children's "insightful visit" to South Wales Islamic Centre "learning

 about  the mosque, the Islamic faith and how light is important to Muslims."  Source: Twitter

Click here to see Barnaby Bear gazing in awe at the 'beautiful stained glass' windows on display in the mosque, identifying ways light is important/displayed in the Islamic faith, ie, that for Muslims, Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

Re-tweeted by Llandaff Diocese: "A multi faith Pilgrimage! This is exactly what the Year of Pilgrimage is all about! Have a great day." Really!

Jesus also said, ?Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.?

Does Jolly June and her sycophants not understand that Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the Cross in the greatest act of redemptive love? Clearly not.

Stained Glass in Wales lists numerous churches and cathedrals with stained glass windows illuminating the Christian pilgrimage so why take impressionable young children to a mosque rather than to a cathedral or a parish church?

The Diocese of Llandaff launched its Year of Pilgrimage with a special service in Llandaff Cathedral on Sunday 12 January, 2020. It was claimed that 'Llandaff?S Year of Pilgrimage aims to celebrate Christian heritage and reinvigorate church life across South Wales'.

Christian pilgrimage is generally regarded as a journey to a Christian shrine or a sacred place to enrich one's faith so not the best start for theLlandaff 2020 Year of Pilgrimage, helping young school children to identify ways light is important in the Islamic faith.

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Year of Pilgrimage - not

Social distancing was not required at the Llandaff diocese clergy 'pilgrimage' school in Santiago de Compostela                                            Source: Twitter

The Diocese of Llandaff 'sYear of Pilgrimage has fizzled out. The Coronavirus lock down saw to that.

In what she described as an 'ambitious' plan, the bishop of Llandaff flew all diocesan clergy, plus various hangers-on, to Santiago de Compostela as a precursor to the Year of Pilgrimage which was designed to 'reinvigorate its work and worship' as part of the Church?S 2020 centenary celebrations.

Some hope.

With extra time on their hands during the pandemic clergy could read about the depressing pilgrimage of the Church in Wales from birth to death in a book edited by Professor Norman Doe under the titleA New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society.

At ?74.99 for the hardback edition if anyone is still interested in the Church in Wales a paperback version is available at just over ?25.

Chapter summaries can be found here.

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