Tag Archives: Church of England

I agree with Peter Tatchell

Posted on by
5

This once.

Peter Tatchell has threatened to expose Church of England bishops who have same-sex partners themselves yet discipline clergy who do the same. Not a bad idea providing it doesn’t become gay bishop McCarthyism.

From here:

Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has put together a list of Anglican bishops he believes are in same-sex relationships and is threatening to out them publicly if they discipline homosexual clergy for marrying their partners.

The warning comes after hospital chaplain Jeremy Pemberton had his license to preach revoked last month by the acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham Richard Inwood after marrying his partner Laurence Cunningham earlier this year.

Mr Tatchell’s decision to compile a dossier of evidence echoes the tactic his campaign group OutRage! carried out 20 years ago when it exposed 10 Anglican bishops as being gay at the 1994 General Synod. He said his aim now, as it was then, is “self-defence” and that he wants to expose church hypocrisy and defend the homosexual community against bishops who endorse anti-gay discrimination.

Although he has not decided whether to reveal his evidence, the veteran campaigner is preparing the groundwork.

“There are names on the list already,” Mr Tatchell told The Independent  on Friday.

Church of England is underpaying its employees

Posted on by
Reply

The Church of England is keen to point out to employers that they should pay their employees a living wage:

The Living Wage is a voluntary undertaking by employers to pay their lowest paid staff more than the statutory minimum wage, which is currently £6.19 per hour for workers aged 21 and over. This covers contracted and sub-contracted workers, as well as directly employed staff.

The current Living Wage is £8.55 per hour in Greater London and £7.45 per hour in the rest of the UK.

It is much less keen to follow its own advice, though:

The Church of England, is paying more than 70 of its own workers less than the living wage – despite lecturing employers about their duty to pay higher salaries.

The care and cleaning staff, employed running sheltered housing schemes for retired clergy, earn less than the ‘living wage’ which the Church urges all companies to pay.

The living wage is supposed to ensure that families can afford food, clothes and rent.

What is more, the CofE believes that executives who are too well paid are threatening to disrupt societal harmony:

The church, which has £8bn invested in some of the world’s biggest companies, said executive pay had become so excessive it was a risk to maintaining a harmonious society.

If the executive in question works for the Church, then the rules the church would like to sanctimoniously foist upon secular capitalists don’t apply:

The CofE’s highest paid staff member is General Synod Secretary-General William Fittall, who is on over £150,000 a year, more than the Prime Minister. Since the Church is a charity, this salary puts Mr Fittall among the very best rewarded charity executives.

There is no hypocrisy so grossly conspicuous as religious hypocrisy; in spite of all its other bumbling, the Church of England is doing at least this one thing well.

The reason the Church of England will have women bishops

Posted on by
12

It has nothing to do with theology, God, revealed truth, what the Holy Spirit is saying, justice, what the Bible says or what the rest of the Anglican Communion thinks.

It is very simple: the Church of England will have women bishops because it has caved in to the Spirit of the Age. What is more, it wants to make conspicuous its obeisance to the zeitgeist by observing the fashionable pieties of equality, inclusion and feminism with maniacal enthusiasm.

Whatever the theological rightness or otherwise of women bishops, the CofE has decided in favour of them for the wrong reason. Next, for the same wrong reason, will come openly same-sex partnered bishops, followed by redefining marriage to include same-sex couples, accelerated decline and final oblivion. RIP CofE.

The Church of England to have women bishops

Posted on by
4

Career minded lady clergy-persons are rejoicing:

Yippee

The Diocese of New Westminster’s Melissa Skelton, in a convenient vision of beatific liberal-fundamentalism, sees “the movement of the Holy Spirit in this decision”, while others see yet more conforming to contemporary culture.

I’m inclined to the latter view. The question is, will this component of the church’s ceaseless quest for relevance make any difference? Does anyone, other than lady vicars wanting more power and money, much care?

To answer that question, one has but to consult the oracle of societal trends, Facebook.

The Church of England’s Facebook announcement about its eagerness to embrace that most hideous invention of the 20th and 21st Centuries, equality, has, since yesterday, garnered 81 comments.

Coincidentally, while the Church of England was soberly pondering women bishops, Marvel Comics was plotting to turn Thor into a woman. The announcement was made today on Facebook and already has provoked 1120 comments; Thor even has her own Twitter hashtag, #thor.

Since depicting a hitherto male fictitious comic book character as a woman is generating more interest than making a real woman an Anglican bishop, you would be forgiven for thinking that perhaps the church should concentrate on competing on its own turf, not the world’s. But that would hardly be relevant.

Anglican vicar marries an atheist

Posted on by
4

Normally you would think that 2 Corinthians 6:14 (do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers) might be a consideration for a Christian (yes, I know he’s a vicar, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt) getting hitched but, in this case, Rev Andrew Cain is marrying another man, so 2 Corinthians 6:14 is the least of his worries.

priest_2837639bFrom here:

Vicar marries atheist in same-sex wedding

Rev Andrew Cain has defied Church of England rules banning its clergy from marrying same-sex partners.

He is one of only two vicars to have had a same-sex wedding since the law allowing gay men and lesbians to marry came into force in England and Wales in March this year.

Rev Cain told Jeremy Vine that he found the service “surprisingly moving” and the day was “very special”.

Church of England bans clergy from BNP and National Front

Posted on by
4

Short of doing something both heinous and illegal, it is almost impossible for a Church of England vicar to be defrocked; until now. Vicars who join either the BNP or National Front political party will be sacked. There is little doubt that both parties are a blot on the landscape of British politics – but, then, so is the atheistic Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and there is nothing preventing a vicar joining that party; in fact, Rowan Williams would probably have approved.

The reason given for the prohibition is that the parties are “incompatible with the teaching of the Church of England”, as if all the others are compatible. Come to think of it, a male vicar marrying another man is incompatible with church teaching, too, but the vicar in question is still employed.

Once again, the church of tolerance and diversity demonstrates that it is no more tolerant that the most fundamentalist Biblical literalist it takes such delight in despising.

From here:

Church of England clergy face being defrocked if they are found to be members of the BNP or National Front after bishops ruled that their views are un-Christian and promote the “sin of racism”.

It is the first time Anglican priests have formally been banned from membership of any political party.

Bishops declared the two groups to be “incompatible with the teaching of the Church of England” because of their respective stances on “equality of persons or groups of different races”.

Vicar who disagrees with same-sex marriage sacked for having affair with a parishioner

Posted on by
2

From here:

Rev Howard, who is his 40s, publicly defended the sanctity of marriage last year after he displayed a poster at his church condemning gay marriage.

The fluorescent green sign, posted outside the St Mary’s Church in Ferndown, Dorset, stated: ‘Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman’.

At the time, he said: ‘The Government has no mandate to change the definition of marriage, and civil partnerships already give equal rights to same-sex couples.

‘Changing the law would leave clergy like me open to charges of discrimination if I refused on principle to take a same sex wedding. Is that really the tolerant society we want to create?

‘In displaying our poster, we hope marriage as we have received it will be maintained.’

And in the face of criticism from equal rights groups, he preached that ‘society is much stronger when marriage is promoted, honoured and protected’.

But he was exposed as a hypocrite after the church found out about his affair with a married woman.

He was handed a five-year ban by the Diocese of Salisbury, the seventh largest Church of England area covering Dorset and most of Wiltshire.

It’s interesting to note that, while Rev Howard is not allowed to minister for five years because of his affair, other vicars who are in active same-sex civil partnerships – some of whom will soon marry – are allowed to continue their ministry unimpeded even though they, too, are breaking the rules of the Church of England.

I’m not arguing that Rev Howard should not be suspended but it would be at least consistent if we saw the same enthusiasm for disciplining same-sex transgressors as has been demonstrated in the Howard case.

As most will be delighted to point out, Rev Howard is a hypocrite. The difference between his succumbing to the call of his lower nature and the Anglican gay lobby who do likewise is that he doesn’t seem to be trying to justify his fallenness by asking the church to bless it.

Church of England House of Bishops makes a statement on human sexuality

Posted on by
2

From here:

The House also discussed the next steps in the process for conversations around Human Sexuality. In its discussion the House noted that the process of shared conversations needed to demonstrate primarily how the Church of England could model living together with issues of tension, where members took opposing views whilst remaining committed to one another as disciples of Jesus Christ – members of one church in both unity and diversity. The House agreed to a proposed process and timescale for the conversations with regional discussions taking place over the next two years. The House also authorised its Standing Committee to sign off the final arrangements and materials.

Canadian Anglicans should have a feeling of déjà vu reading this; the mindless repeating of empty clichés while “living together with issues of tension” doesn’t work. Conversations about same-sex blessings will lead to many dioceses performing them as a generous pastoral response. Then, after the initial strenuous assertions that this is all about blessings and not marriage have been largely forgotten, further conversations will begin about altering the marriage canon to include same-sex couples.

The liberal juggernaut is in motion and conversations are not going to stop it.

African bishops concerned about clergy flouting a ban on same-sex weddings

Posted on by
1

From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was last night facing mounting pressure to crack down on clergy who marry their gay partners – as the threat of a split in the Anglican Church grew.

A powerful group of conservative African Archbishops said they were ‘deeply troubled’ by liberal Western attitudes towards homosexuality and that Church of England clerics were flouting a ban on same-sex weddings.

The Archbishops said it was ‘very concerning’ that the ban was being ‘openly disregarded’ and added: ‘We look to the Church of England to give clear leadership as moral confusion about the status of marriage [in England] deepens.’

I’m sure the GAFCON bishops know this already, but looking to the Church of England to provide moral leadership on the nature of marriage is going to be as fruitful as asking a madam to elaborate on the virtues of chastity.

Church of England decline halted

Posted on by
3

And that is the reason the CofE is considering blessing same-sex unions and allowing clergy in a same sex relationship to marry: to get it going again.

From here:

Official statistics issued recently suggest that attendance at C of E churches may have levelled out after decades of decline.

A report by the Archbishops’ Council, Statistics for Mission 2012, released on Friday 21 March suggests that, on an average Sunday in 2012 (the latest year with available data) about 859,000 people attended a C of E church. This compares with 901,000 in 2003.