"Every day more cases were coming across the desk that had been in the past, hadn't been dealt with adequately, and this was just, it was another case - and yes I knew Smyth but it was absolutely overwhelming" J Welby, 2025
There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe
There were so many perverts
He didn’t know what to do
So he busied himself
With the wine and the bread
And let them off lightly
And went back to bed
ND
15 comments:
It rather damages what I always thought was a CoE strong point - that celibate priests are both unnatural and unBiblical.
The upper levels of British society are full of useless money grabbing chancers - politicians, FDA civil service, charity CEOs, cultural organisations, etc so why not the CoE also?
A chap shamed by his own gutlessness and a fear of the lawyers that is greater than his fear of eternal damnation.
He could have made a good martyr, sacrificing all his worldly wealth in prosecuting errant priests and being sued to kingdom come by lawyers working for the opposition. But he wasn't a good martyr - or a good anything really.
The mums at the school gate generally knew who the dodgy priests were but never the authorities or the bishops. I wonder why.
Will no one rid me of this invertebrate priest?
Applause for BQ.
You can learn to form sound judgements about Bishops and Archbishops by two means. Either (i) Read Trollope, or (ii) Be raised in the Kirk.
There was a joke once, where a family of church people got older, and the youngsters got a bit fed up with the constant 'religion' being thrust down their throats.
The punch line was that the youngest of the family complained that he was very cold, because he couldn't see the fire for bloody bishops...
Can anyone remember what the story was, because I can't...
It was something along the lines of one of the youngsters saying that he'd dreamt of being sent to Hell.
Parent: "What was it like?"
Son: "I couldn't see the fire for bloody bishops."
As one of many boomers, my parents were devout Atheists, both born in 1919; privately educated, this unbaptised Christian without a Church, has always rather liked the ambiguity of the C of E, and adore both the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. And Miles Coverdale's translation of the Book of Psalms.
But the thought of joining the C of E as it stands is impossible. RC? Or Orthodox? We shall see. Have been on a few retreats at Benedictine monasteries the past year, and am off to Buckfast for Holy Week. Not to mention their wonderful choir, and being able to swim in the River Dart which runs through the Abbey's grounds.
Our local association of five parishes hasn't had a Vicar for two years. State of the country....
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/03/31/the-liberal-order-cannot-defend-itself-which-is-why-it-needs-christianity/
OT, but in la belle France le Pen has been found guilty of something so she can be barred from standing as a candidate... it started in Moldova and now it's just over the water, ain't democracy great?
Another version has a chap going into his club. "It's like Hell in here" he exclaims.
He's asked for an explanation.
"Can't see the fire for bloody bishops."
My brother once said he'd like to found a group "Atheists for Evensong".
"ain't democracy great?"
Aye, I'm missing it already.
OT again, but I assume everyone's read this NYT story. Doesn't really tell us owt we don't know, but it's nice to have the t's crossed and i's dotted.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/29/world/europe/us-ukraine-military-war-wiesbaden.html
"a New York Times investigation reveals that America was woven into the war far more intimately and broadly than previously understood. At critical moments, the partnership was the backbone of Ukrainian military operations that, by U.S. counts, have killed or wounded more than 700,000 Russian soldiers. (Ukraine has put its casualty toll at 435,000.) Side by side in Wiesbaden’s mission command center, American and Ukrainian officers planned Kyiv’s counteroffensives. A vast American intelligence-collection effort both guided big-picture battle strategy and funneled precise targeting information down to Ukrainian soldiers in the field. One European intelligence chief recalled being taken aback to learn how deeply enmeshed his N.A.T.O. counterparts had become in Ukrainian operations. “They are part of the kill chain now,” he said. The partnership’s guiding idea was that this close cooperation might allow the Ukrainians to accomplish the unlikeliest of feats — to deliver the invading Russians a crushing blow. And in strike after successful strike in the first chapters of the war — enabled by Ukrainian bravery and dexterity but also Russian incompetence — that underdog ambition increasingly seemed within reach."
Anyone coming to Evensong at our church wouldn't be an atheist for long.
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