Following the story in the Mail on Sunday (27 May 2019) and various comments on social media I would like to clarify the role of the Diocese and Bishop of Chelmsford in my resignation as vicar of the parishes of Fordham and Eight Ash Green.
- For the last few years I have met with the Deanery and with the Bishops of the diocese to express my concerns over the Church of England embracing unbiblical approaches to matters of sexuality and gender.
- To that end I met with Bishops Stephen, Roger and Peter in March 2017 and a further meeting with Bishop Stephen in September 2018
- Over recent years I, often together with others, have also entered into extensive and
sometimes lengthy correspondence (most recently in December 2018), setting out my
disquiet to Bishop Stephen. - In a letter of September 2018, after a meeting with Bishop Stephen, I declared myself to be in broken communion with him; no response was forthcoming.
- Despite the concerns that I and others presented and the biblical case we made, the diocese persisted in its approach.
- In my parish this culminated in the Diocese supporting unequivocally the ‘gender transition’ of a child in a Church of England primary school. As a governor of the school the welfare of that child and all the other children in the school was my responsibility and priority and I was deeply concerned.
- Obvious safeguarding issues were raised by this situation as well as it having clear implications for the Christian ethos of the school. The Diocese of Chelmsford was complicit in preventing any discussion of the wider issues and imposed the views and strategy of the lobby group Mermaids onto the school.
- Furthermore, at the instruction of its Director of Education the diocese refused to consult or engage in any way with the parents/carers of any of the other children in the school but instead attempted to bind the adults involved to a culture of secrecy through its advice to the head teacher.
- This situation, in its entire disregard for the Christian children and parents in the school, and those of other faiths and philosophies, presented the clearest possible instance of what Bishop Stephen had previously told me – that my Biblical views on sexuality were not welcome in the Church of England and that I “could leave”.
- In order to act with integrity and discharge my responsibilities for the welfare of the child concerned and wider school community, I had no choice but to resign. I did so with great regret having prayed earnestly that the diocese would not persist in actions which I considered to be profoundly detrimental to the children in our care.
- I cannot believe that Bishop Stephen was unaware of our case, nor the advice given by the diocesan head of education, as our school was not the first in the diocese.
- Accordingly, there can be no doubt that Bishop Stephen was at all times fully aware of my position.
If you are referring to Gavin’s quoting the reports that the bishop has said he hasn’t spoken to Rev. Parker in over a year, it should be a simple enough thing for the press to determine whether or not the meeting that Rev Parker describes as taking place in Sept. 2018 actually took place, and whether there was correspondence in September and December. From Rev Parker’s description, it does sound like the bishop seldom replied- which in itself is an abandonment of the bishop’s duty to provide pastoral support to all the clergy of the diocese. Of course, given the British press and its frequent inaccuracies, perhaps what the bishop actually said was more along the lines of not having met with Rev Parker THIS year (ie: in 2019).
If you meant us to glean something else from Gavin’s remark, or you were referencing a different remark altogether, it would be helpful if you would expand on your cryptic comment.
tjmcmahon, I think alphaTomega only meant that the contradiction between what Rev Parker has claimed and what Bishop Stephen has claimed needs to be cleared up. I do not think Bishop Ashenden was making accusations in either direction. But, I did sense from Gavin Ashenden’s remark that he wants to make sure he knows the truth before going out on a limb in defense of Rev Parker.
Does that make sense?
IoT, I cannot imagine that anyone reading Anglican Ink over the last few weeks could possibly believe you are “unresponsive.”
This was said by a bishop, “The Bible was written by men; it can be changed by men.”
?
“…in its plain and canonical sense…”
Actually, Bishop Charles Benison said “we [meaning the Church] wrote the Bible, and we can rewrite it.”
It’s an absolute sham how the Revd John Paker has been treated. This is a man of God who has stood in witness to the Gospel and the faith we’d received. He has permission from Heaven’s to be angry for the way in which he’d been treated and cornered by his bishop.
It is the bishop who has failed in this fiasco, and let John down. I would say to the bishop of Chelmsford: ”go and fly a kite!”
[…] Patriotism and a commitment to national sovereignty are now frowned on by millions in the UK as an American fetish – a position which is both ironic and absurd given the story of Britain. Entitled and ignorant university students totally alienated from their own history by the cultural subversion of progressive education demand the removal of statues and monuments of the great and the good. They ‘no-platform’ and seek to ban all opposition, even amongst their own professors, in the name of ‘safe spaces,’ whilst predictably demanding revolution. Common decency, respect, integrity and courtesy are endangered species in much of the country. Excepting Queen Elizabeth II herself, the Royals are largely irreligious people who have abandoned the Christian faith they are constitutionally bound to defend, whilst modeling adultery, fornication and family breakdown for the nation. While prisons are overflowing and taxpayers fund the recidivism of murderers, abusers and serial rapists who should have paid the ultimate price, the churches are largely empty, with the Church of England hierarchy leading the way in apostasy, decadence and limp-wristed surrender to radical progressivism and the endless extension of sexual revolution – its bishops often in the vanguard of anti-Christianity. Radical homosexual and gender identity activists like Mermaids and Stonewall call the shots, even in church schools, and often with church approval, like the Diocese of Chelmsford’s wholehearted support for transgender ideology and the silencing of dissenting clergy who are left little choice but to resign as in the case of the Rev. John Parker. […]