The Church of England was left isolated in the UK in its opposition to women bishops after the Church in Wales voted yesterday to ordain women bishops.
The first woman could be consecrated in Wales in just over a year.
The bill was passed by a two-thirds majority in the houses of laity, clergy and bishops. A code of practice will now be drawn up to safeguard the place of traditionalists. The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, said that it made “no theological sense” not to ordain women as bishops when the Church already ordained them as deacons…
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Hilarious – but the real story is the collapse of the Church in Wales which according to its latest figures from here has managed in 2012 to build an average Sunday Attendance of 32,000, down 5% from 2011 and down from 64,000 in 1990. On current predictions based on the straight line decline over the last 22 years, the figures for this year for the entire province of Wales will be or shortly will be equal to or below those for the Diocese of South Carolina, notwithstanding having six dioceses and diocesan bishops, a Primate and the entire superstructure of a so-called province. 22 years of ‘leadership’ from Rowan Williams and Barry Morgan has led this province to collapse, halving Sunday attendance, but what does Gregory Cameron offer? Not much for traditionalists, but the oratory of the cock pit.
I know the blessed Ruthie has Welsh connections and it is wonderful to hear her hollering over the Times pay wall, but shall we take this seriously, except as a cautionary tale to take note of in the CofE?
No I think not, nor should we pay any attention to the Scottish Episcopal Church which is collapsing even faster [we talk to the [presbyterian] Church of Scotland in preference anyway].
Ruthie is right in one way though – if we carry on with our unfit-for-purpose Inclusive Church founder now dominated House of Bishops leading the way and the OE left heading twits Justin and Nicky calling the shots then we will be following the Celts into the abyss of unfitness for purpose if we lose people through driving through women bishops without proper provision, gay bishops and gay blessings which all the indications are that some are attempting to steer us towards [see Justin’s ridiculous hectoring and impertinent lecture to Synod this year and subsequent lecturing].
Never fear, GAFCON is here – how far are you prepared to push yourselves into division, oh arrogant irrelevant bishops? One sees the push led by +Gloucester coming before Christmas, notwithstanding all your shrill shrieks and squeals of ‘unity’ ‘unity’.
One more thought – Christianity is booming in Wales. There are a whole series of new churches such as Victory Church in Cwymbran which are packing them in. The Welsh, as they always have been are open to the Gospel, but you have to preach it, and live out in your lives what you preach with your lips. That is something we have not seen from the CinW leadership for many years – oh that they would wake up and get some proper leadership.
Come to think of it, that is something we could take note of.
#1, quite right, of course.
From the GAFCON perspective, the entire Church of Wales is smaller than the average diocese in Nigeria or Uganda, so one bishop would be quite sufficient. For that matter, might already also be smaller than the TEC diocese of Haiti (which is larger than any diocese in the US, IIRC). Perhaps Haiti should be its own province, which would release it to some degree from the huge financial pressure being put on it by 815 to force it to accept gay marriage and other innovations.
It will be interesting to watch the coming division of the Churches in the British Isles. These are unavoidable at this point, since “codes of practice” are not workable, as there is no possibility within them of maintaining traditional seminaries or male Apostolic Succession within the Catholic meaning of the term. To accept a code of practice is to allow the Church (the real one) to die within a generation in the various British provinces.
Will CoE, Wales, Scotland allow those who are opposed to leave in peace, with enough property to have a workable parish structure, allow them provincial status within the Anglican Communion, perhaps allow them rental use of a church here and there where their numbers do not justify the conveyance of the deed? Granted, at least in England, the CoE owns all the churches, and can throw people out at will, perhaps to make arrangements with local Catholic or Evangelical parishes for space. Clean break and all that, and none of the legal mess that TEC has gone through to deprive people of places of worship, CoE can do it with a stroke of a pen the day they install the first woman bishop and the parishes declare independence.