Gay Bishops

Now that the Church of England has advised that it will allow homosexuals to become bishops, as long as they are celibate.  Where can we expect this to lead?

As a Roman Catholic, I hesitate to wander onto the Anglican patch and comment but.........

And yes, I realize that this will cause all of the stories of the failings of individual RC priests who have been unmasked as paedophiles to be thrown-up as evidence of 'pots and kettles'.  Personally, I don't think that the incidence of paedophile  priests is higher than in the general population.  I think, as a RC, that the most worrying issue (apart from the obvious breach of trust and the actual crimes committed against the children) was the action of some bishops in seeking to cover-up and  dodge the issue.

Anyway, so to the CofE. 

This has been on my mind for a few weeks and the latest announcement brings this forward.  What will be the CofE position on the marriage of homosexual vicars and now, homosexual bishops?  Will these be sanctioned and/or performed on holy ground? Who will verify celibacy, and how?  CCTV in the Bishop's bedroom?

How does the CofE, in its small minded and highly parochial desire to be 'in' with the latest fashion, think that its approach will go down with the wider Anglican community?  Do these foolish people think that the Anglicans in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa will simply accept this?  Just like they accepted the homosexual Episcopalian American bishop?

Say what you like about the Roman Catholic church, our Holy Father doesn't pander to special interest groups and rush to follow the latest social trends.  Yes, that may seem to make us 'old fashioned' or, to some 'reactionary' but better the certainty of that, than the moral decay that the CofE chases in following the latest mores. 

Opponents of Welfare Cap and Arsenal

Great to see former Archbishop of Canterbury speaking out and attacking those bishops that oppose the proposed cap on welfare benefits.

Writing in the Daily Mail, as quoted by the biased BBC, he said:

The bishops cannot lay claim to the moral high-ground.  Considering that the system they are defending can mean some families are be able to claim a total £50,000 a year in welfare benefits, the bishops must have known that popular opinion was against them, including that of many hard-working, hard-pressed churchgoers.


The sheer scale of our public debt - which hit £1 trillion yesterday - is the greatest moral scandal facing Britain today. If we can't get the deficit under control and begin paying back this debt, we will be mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren.


Lord Carey praised the efforts of Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith - whom he called a "committed Christian" - to overhaul a benefits system which, at its worst, "rewards fecklessness and irresponsibility".
He argued the cost of benefits was "increasingly stoking social division" among the "squeezed middle, who feel resentment at the 'handouts' given to the long-term unemployed".
And he said the welfare system, originally designed to tackle "want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness", had become an "industry of gargantuan proportions which is fuelling those very vices and impoverishing us all"

We have heard nothing further from the revolting Lib Dems nor from the flip-flopping Labour Party.  From the former I sense their comments and votes can be put down to posturing and from the latter, since they both support and oppose the cap, what else could we expect?

For Your Information - Lord George Carey is a lifelong Arsenal supporter, which is presumably why his great  intelligence leads him to come to the right conclusion regarding the welfare cap.  Now we just need him to see what he can do to get us a defence, in the transfer window!

English Bishops - questions to answer

An amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill, that is currently winding its way through Parliament, was passed in the House of Lords, last night.  This amendment, was tabled by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and was supported by other bishops, Labour peers, so-called cross bench peers (said to be independents) and Liberal Democrat peers. The amendment sought to exclude Child Benefit (a universal welfare benefit paid to all parents of children), from the total benefits cap of £26,000 that the government is seeking to set.

£26,000,  is the average gross pay of a UK worker - i.e. before taxes and national insurance (social security) are deducted!

One of the main reasons for a high cap is that 'Housing Benefit' is included.  This is where the rent for housing welfare claimants is also paid as part of their welfare package.  In certain parts of the UK, (particularly London and the South East)  this rent can run into more than  £1,000 (in some cases up to £2,000) per week.

Labour is in such a mess that it is not difficult to understand their peers voting for the measure and opposing the Government.  The Labour Party say they support a cap but don't want to hurt vulnerable people!  The reason they say they support the cap is that poll evidence shows that there is overwhelming public support for a cap on benefits.  So Labour saying two opposite things at once is to be expected.

The Lib Dem peers showed that their idea of participating in a coalition differs from what any sane or normal person would consider as right.  Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown said that the Bill, in its current form was 'totally unacceptable'.  So we can presumably expect more whining and disloyalty from that quarter.

The Bishops used to be called 'the Conservative Party at prayer'.  That was a very long time ago.  Some of them, having ditched God and the Holy Trinity have now also been joined by others and moved wholeheartedly to the Labour Party!

The Bishops represent the Church of England

• The same CofE that is a very large landowner in the UK.  
• The same CofE that  rents out a very large number of properties to private tenants and charges them market rents.  
• The same CofE that is said to pay the average parish vicar considerably less than the average UK salary of £26,000

Given that attendance at CofE services runs at less than 2% of the population it is not really a surprise that the they are so out of touch with how the UK people think. 

Surely now is the time for this irrelevance to be dis-established and put on the same footing as the other religions in the UK?

1. How can the Bishops fly in the face of overwhelming public opinion?
2. Will they and the Church Commissioners, use their ample resources to fill the gap that their actions have the potential to create?
3. Will they declare how much they receive in rents from tenants that are in receipt of housing benefit?

This week's YouGov poll, in the Sunday Times, showed that among the public, 88% of Conservative supporters, 69% of Labour supporters and 66% of Lib Dem supporters, support a cap on benefits.  Overall, the support for a cap was 76%, with just 9% opposing..

The same poll  found that 59% believe that the cap should be  £26,000 or less and 36% think it should be less than £20,000

The UK Sunday Times reported this week, on a family from Somalia that arrived in Britain, three years ago and have never worked.  They initially lived in Coventry, in the West Midlands, where house rentals are much less expensive than in the South East but then wanted to move to London 'to be nearer their extended family.'  So they were re-housed in the very chic and up-market West Hampstead suburb, in a six bedroom property, which is estimated to cost around £4,800 a month to rent.  This is the rent that is then paid as housing benefit on top of all of the other benefits that they receive  

Housing Benefit has increased, from the 2008/9 figure of  £15.6 billion to £20.5 billion in 2010/11 an increase of 31% - this when property values have declined! 

We are being taken for a ride and paying a very heavy price for the dubious privilege and the UK Bishops support our pockets being picked! 

Do remember!  The cap is at the level of Average UK wage.  Somebody on the Average UK wage, would simply not be able to live at the same standard as someone on the cap, let alone someone claiming more than the cap.  Now you can see why work doesn't pay!