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Wednesday 14 February 2018

The cost of change



View enjoyed by Church in Wales Representative Body staff                                                                                                                                  Source: Twitter


The revelation that the former Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion’s first woman primate, Katharine Jefferts Schori, is acting as mentor to Two Church in Wales bishops, Joanna Penberthy, bishop of St Davids and June Osborne, bishop of Llandaff, suggests that the Church in Wales is awash with money.


I hear that the annual rental of their new HQ at 2 Callaghan Square, Cardiff is £500,000 but the lease is for just one year.

Perhaps that explains the letterhead stuck on the nameplate (illustrated) signifying a temporary arrangement as the blind continue to lead the blind into extinction. The departure of the architect of destruction, the former archbishop, offered the opportunity for real change, to right former wrongs. An opportunity lost.

Rumour has it that the staff are not happy in their new home, preferring their previous accommodation in Cathedral Road but no longer at the heart of the nation the Church in Wales continues the pretence that it is a force to be reckoned with, regardless of cost, so it needs to be at the hub, perhaps giving them closer access to BBC Wales following their relocation to the centre of Cardiff.

Some thought that the demise of St Michael's College, Llandaff, Wales' only Theological College, now a conference centre, would have provided the opportunity to relocate there since half the bench will have very fond memories of their leisure time there. 

There has also been a rash of senior appointments under the umbrella of the never popular Mission Areas designed to keep the chiefs happy at the expense of the indians. As the Parish share goes up perhaps some of the indians will go on the warpath but many congregations are either too old or too compliant to make a fuss. Hence the expectation that they will dig deeper, compensating for all those who have lapsed on discovering that their Church has left them.

Archbishop John Davies promised more of the same - but faster. His Llandaff appointee obliges by choosing change as the theme for her Lenten addresses. That is unlikely to be for the better, rather, as the bench chooses.

So far that has led only to decline and disillusionment while those who speak up are constantly accused of prejudice and discrimination without any supporting evidence. When the first woman bishop to be appointed in Wales was challenged she admitted that it amounts to nothing more than holding opposing views rather than nodding compliantly.

No theology is offered, only appeals to secular values of equality of opportunity in the workplace, advancing feminism in the church regardless of the consequences. There is more of the same in the bishop of Llandaff's 'Wales Online' interview: Victim, prejudice, discrimination, inequality, parity, barriers, unwelcome, change, battle, etc, etc.

Spiritual leadership was mentioned without any evidence of its presence. Quite the contrary. The constant decline in people attending church is not helped by women bishops and their admirers droning on about how beastly men are, particularly in the church.

Bishop June said "You can talk about it as a story of decline but actually what it is about is change." How very convenient.

I wonder what she makes of the many remarkable women who have left the church because they do not share her politically motivated, limited views.

70 comments:

  1. KJS as mentor? Beware of her. She claims that "salvation is attained by many ways – Jesus Christ is a way, and God has many other ways as well. . ." (Interview, Time Magazine, July 10, 2006). That along with her approval of same-sex "blessings" means that the ersatz oceanographer will do nothing but help sink your CiW.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There's no shortage of cash in the Church in Wales or Llandaff Cathedral as we all know.
    There's so much spare lolly splashing around that the mere trifle of £735,000 missing from the Organ appeal is of no concern to anyone in a position of authority, least of all Calamity June.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I suspect that the Charlady has as much trouble reading a balance sheet as modern clergy have in reading the Bible Dick.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is alarming to read Bishop June's thoughts that numbers in church don't matter as the Church is now in the community. I suggest that Christians have always been good neighbours and served their communities without fanfare. If numbers shrink surely there are less folk to serve the community?!? We also these days never hear of serving our African/Indian brethren, as everything is local.
    In other news C of E is asking people to give up plastic for lent! They really fail to understand that church is there to preach the gospel and spread good news!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really alarming Danny, its like the Football manager saying that fans coming to see the match in the ground doesn't matter because they are watching on the television. One thinks it is a device so that when their tenure is up and they have been seen to preside over a collapse in attendance they can wring their hands and ride off into the sunset.

      As you said preach the gospel and spread the good news, until the bench start to seriously focus on this and do it themselves instead of promoting the cult of popular secularism then we are going to struggle. The RC church must look at us with contempt as they stand firm on their beliefs and are seeing their churches do comparatively well.

      Delete
  5. KJF as mentor. What a disaster! Whoever dreamt this up? Her record in America speaks for itself and now we have her influence being brought to bear on the already dying C in W. This must herald the final death throes of a once noble institution.
    Nemesis

    ReplyDelete
  6. Christ is the cornerstone, if we let that go, the whole edifice falls. I have often wondered if the daily office is still a clergy norm? We never seem to see a Bible study group in Churches either. The anglo catholic tradition always set up in run down areas, thrived on helping the Parish to connect with a priest who taught the Gospel through liturgy and action. Sadly we see such Parishes on the tracks to demise, such a said state of affairs. Even Evangelical parishes find it different. I have to agree that Church is not a building, but, a community of the faithful. But, if the faithful are not pastored too, in word and deed, what is the point? There is a distinctive and perhaps even divisive silence from those who lead, and fail to feed strong meat or even milk, if the teaching/preaching of late is anything to be proud of. The root cause, is forgetting our first love, Christ the cornerstone. PP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bible study you say?
      That's SO last year dearie!
      How could you be so far behind the times?
      Llandaff is so much more progressive and 'with it'.

      http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/11-02-18-11am.pdf
      "Another Story Must Begin: As a part of our Lenten observance, we will be theologically exploring the film ‘Les Misérables’ as a Lent Course.
      We will meet on Tuesday evenings in Lent at 6.30pm in Prebendal House and all are very warmly invited.
      Our first session will be on Tuesday 13 February, where we will watch the film before we explore it in the weeks that follow.
      As part of our first session we will have a ‘bring and share (with a bottle)’ supper as part of our fellowship.
      If you might be interested in coming, please do call or email Fr Edward on fredward@llandaffcathedral.org.uk or 029 2056 8842."

      Delete
    2. How absolutely lovely..... Shut that door.

      Pont Cana Fields for ever.

      Delete
    3. You have to ask the question – will the morons in Llandaff never learn?

      From the weekly notes of 4th February 2018 at
      http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/04-02-18-11am.pdf
      “YOUTH3:16: We are very excited to announce the launch of Llandaff Cathedral’s Youth Group (YOUTH3:16) on Sunday 11 February at 4.30pm in Prebendal House with a Pizza & Film Night, where we will watch ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’. Our Youth Group, which will meet monthly, is open to ages 10–14. For more information, please contact Fr Edward on fredward@llandaffcathedral.org.uk or Mark Woods on markdanielwoods @yahoo.co.uk. Please keep our launch in your prayers.”

      From the weekly notes of 11th February 2018 at
      http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/11-02-18-11am.pdf
      “Another Story Must Begin: As a part of our Lenten observance, we will be theologically exploring the film ‘Les Misérables’ as a Lent Course. We will meet on Tuesday evenings in Lent at 6.30pm in Prebendal House and all are very warmly invited. Our first session will be on Tuesday 13 February, where we will watch the film before we explore it in the weeks that follow. As part of our first session we will have a ‘bring and share (with a bottle)’ supper as part of our fellowship. If you might be interested in coming, please do call or email Fr Edward on fredward@llandaffcathedral.org.uk or 029 2056 8842.”

      Which part of the word “Copyright” don’t the ****ing idiots understand?

      At the beginning of every VHS tape, DVD or BluRay disc is the following WARNING (usually in BIG red letters), or similar:

      “The copyright proprietor has licensed this programme (including, without limitation, its soundtrack) for private home use only, unless otherwise expressly licensed by the copyright proprietor.
      All other rights are reserved.
      Use in other locations such as airlines, clubs, coaches, hospitals, hotels, oil rigs, prisons, schools and ships is prohibited unless expressly authorised by the copyright proprietor.
      Any unauthorised copying, editing, EXHIBITION, renting, hiring, exchanging, lending, PUBLIC PERFORMANCES, diffusion and/or broadcast, in whole or in part, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
      Any such action establishes liability for a civil action and may give rise to criminal prosecution.”

      Never mind obtaining the required authorisation from the copyright proprietor(s), Gerwhine and the Chapter won’t have even applied for it but they’re ADVERTISING they’re planning to break copyright law!

      Is it any wonder they have the same disregard for Charity law as Oxfam?

      Caiaphas, you have been warned.
      This IS being reported to the relevant copyright protection and performing rights societies!

      Delete
    4. Breathtakingly nasty and petty even by the low standards of this blog. Don't you want young people to come to Church? It is totally acceptable to use all kinds of material to stimulate discussion. Do you think that visitors to this blog are attracted by the attitudes you demonstrate especially towards women, people of other denominations and faiths?
      Adarynefoedd

      Delete
    5. All you need is a Church Video Licence from CCLI to be able to show films, and permission is not needed directly from the copyright holder, as with PRS (which only covers music).

      Delete
    6. Do I want young people going to an organisation that teaches and demonstrates good principles, morals and ethics?
      Yes.

      Do I want young people going to an organisation that is actually teaching them the opposite by demonstrating a complete disregard for various laws?
      No.

      Whether it's Employment law, Charity law, Copyright law or any other laws, they all exist for very good reasons, often to prevent the abuse of others.

      The casual manner in which the Bishops, Deans, Chapter and staff of Llandaff Cathedral have been, and continue to, regularly flout various laws bring them, the Cathedral and the Church in Wales into disrepute.

      Anyone that has tried to warn them or get them to change their behaviour has been ignored, ostracised, subjected to a shower of abuse and labelled "subversive" or worse.
      The clergy and Cathedral would entirely deserve to be on the receiving end of massive financial penalties and maybe worse.
      It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

      Delete
    7. Cheering for Janet17 February 2018 at 19:30

      Hear hear, well said Ruth.
      You are absolutely right in saying that those who have "tried to warn them or get them to change their behaviour has been ignored, ostracised, subjected to a shower of abuse and labelled "subversive" or worse." but may I remind everyone that for some it was even worse and even more devastating.
      Let's not forget that her refusal to sign dodgy accounts led to the premature departure of Llandaff's first woman Dean.

      Delete
    8. @Bourdon
      Are you sure?
      Would you bet your house on it?
      Did they apply for Church Video Licences?
      Did they get them?

      Delete
    9. I didn't say they had them, I am merely pointing out that it is easy enough to arrange should it wish to be done within the law

      Delete
    10. There's the rub Bourdon.
      "Within the law".
      This blog has revealed time and time again over many years that Llandaff Cathedral and the RB have not been operating "within the law".
      When anyone has tried to raise concerns and correct matters they have been disposed of - Janet Henderson, the Lay Clerks, David Lambert, David Jones, Ceirion Gilbert perhaps?
      What if Ceirion had unexpectedly shown up early one Monday morning and stumbled upon or seen something he shouldn't have?

      Delete
    11. Your remarks raise an interesting point Mr Pickles.
      If the £735k hadn't gone missing Peggy the Pilate and the Moron Masson wouldn't have needed to make the Cathedral Choir and assistant Organist redundant!

      Delete
    12. But do remember Harold, it's much easier to commit cultural vandalism and destroy a tradition than to get the Chartered accountant to admit that like bully boy --Bazza she too didn't spot the small matter of the missing fortune

      Delete
  7. "Bible study, so last year ..."? How sad, seems that many of the thriving Churches and mega churches are out of step then. With huge congregations. Back to basics is the only way back from the brink, film ring and share nights have a place in the social fabric of the church, but should not replace good "old fashioned" staples, as the basics. PP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, but sadly we have a bench that no longer believes the Bible so why study it. Their left wing leanings have become more important, so studying Les Mis (all about oppression) must seem the only way forward. But people can get left wing politics at a number of places and don't need to get out of bed on a Sunday for it. (and of course they forget that not everyone in the CiW is left wing, so are excluding those of us who disagree with them.)

      Delete
  8. Meanwhile, back at the bullshit farm.....

    https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2018/02/university-chaplain-is-new-church-director/
    A university chaplain has been appointed to a new key post in the Church in Wales.

    The Revd Dr Ainsley Griffiths will be the Church’s first Director of Faith, Order and Unity, responsible for developing all aspects of its work relating to doctrine and theological reflection, liturgy, and ecumenical and interfaith relations and advising the Bench of Bishops. Dr Griffiths takes up the role having spent the past 13 years as Chaplain of the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (previously Trinity College, Carmarthen) and Continuing Ministerial Development Officer for the Diocese of St Davids.

    Does anyone know what "Director of Faith, Order and Unity, responsible for developing all aspects of its work relating to doctrine and theological reflection, liturgy, and ecumenical and interfaith relations and advising the Bench of Bishops." even mean in simple plain clear English?

    I mean to say, we've managed for 2,000 years without a "Director of Faith, Order and Unity, responsible for developing all aspects of its work relating to doctrine and theological reflection, liturgy, and ecumenical and interfaith relations and advising the Bench of Bishops." so does ANYONE have ANY IDEA why we suddenly need one now????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    The cost of change my sweet fanny Adams.
    Stop your giving now and help stop this profligate horse manure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The new post seems to be following the "fit for mission" moves in England, started in other denominations. But, like everything in Wales, the title has to be big and wordy.
      Interesting also that the new Archdeacon posts in two of our dioceses, are to head mission, so one can only assume that this new provincial post links into some strategy for mission.
      But in days gone bye, each of our bishops held a portfolio for a specific area of expertise in the province, and took the lead in that domain provincially, like: mission, education etc. So, why has such change occurred now? PP.

      Delete
  9. I would love to stop giving to Llandaff and direct my contributions to much needed church repairs but would be afraid of my church being closed by those in Llandaff who do not care..
    Pew Sitter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is another option. For example, if I disputed one of my bills, it would be in order to stop paying, but hold the money, in another account, informing the creditor, that while disputing the issues, one is still saving the funds, to be willingly paid over once the dispute is concluded satisfactorily. So, informing a treasurer/Church officials, that you are debating a funds spent issue ...you are holding back your tithe, but still saving it to be paid once the funds spent issue is concluded. PP.

      Delete
  10. PP My church is part of a ministry area covered by two priests and one non-stipendiary. Between us we pay the fixed amount of £10,000 for three priests,,not two, I.e. £30,000. Is this cause for dispute ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would suggest that you certainly do have righteous cause for dispute Anonymous.

      But I regret to inform you there are far bigger fish to fry.
      I am looking forward to hearing what Caiaphas (and her independent sleuths carrying out the latest Llandaff review) make of a letter His Darkness Morgan wrote to her Dean & Chapter on 21st August 2015.

      After Morgan opened his big mouth at the Friends' AGM on 27th June 2015 claiming the Organ appeal had cost Llandaff Cathedral a cool £3/4 million, he subsequently tried to deny mentioning that amount but was quickly caught out by the existence of a tape recording of his speech.
      Now the lid on the can of worms had popped open.

      You see, despite having taken over from his old chum Bonaparte and imposing himself as acting Dean, he wasn't very bright or very diligent.
      It entirely slipped his notice that in 2008 Bonaparte had cashed in the Cathedral's last nine trusts held by the RB for £100k without telling the rest of the Chapter.
      The gophers in the RB neglected to carry out the necessary due diligence, allowed Bonaparte to cash in the chips and Bazza didn't find out until 2015.
      Add to that the proceeds of £635k from the sale of 9 The Green and lo and behold £735k of the Cathedral's assets have gone walkabout.

      Thanks to David Jones we now know how much was raised by the Organ appeal fund raising efforts and of course the Organ appeal had been declared a success.

      So Bazza finds himself between a rock and a very hard place and writes to his Golf caddie on 21st August 2015 basically asking 'where the hell is the £3/4 million?'.
      Suffice it to say, Bazza is still waiting for a reply but the Organ appeal cover-up continues.

      Follow the money.

      Delete
    2. I am sure everything will come out in the ecclesiastical wash, PP.

      Delete
    3. Thank you @Subversive Canon for posting your recollections of the letter from Barry Morgan above. This would appear to fit with a sequence of statements made by him and others about the Cathedral’s finances from 2012 onwards.
      I searched for the original thread on this blog where these were recorded and found it here:
      https://ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/accountability.html
      The thread is from Monday, 31 August 2015 – “Accountability”

      Statements reproduced in that thread show:
      1) the Cathedral’s finances were in deficit when Barry Morgan took over as Acting Dean (from his letter in The Bell of Oct 2012);
      2) this had been the case for five years (i.e. since 2007) according to the Eleri Jones Report of Dec 2012 (“in round number terms that it had spent £300000 over and above its income over the previous five years”)
      3) in Dec 2013 David Jones revealed in The Bell that the appeal had been launched for £1.5 mil although the original Nicholsons costing was no more than £1.2 mil, and the sale of No.9 The Green had been approved in order to refund the loan of £400,000 provided by the Representative Body to tide over the Organ Appeal, with the balance going to the Cathedral’s general account.

      Each of these statements, including the Chapter letter of Aug 2015, is interesting in itself but taken together they reveal some curious contradictions. For instance, why was the Appeal launched for a target of £1.5 million when the maximum amount required by Nicholsons was £1.2 million?

      Also, if the loan amount of £400K were subtracted from £1.2 million, that would be £800K, and total fundraising for the Organ was at least £1,022,000, thus 50% of the loan amount could have been covered from fundraising alone.

      As David Jones also states, the removal of the Solo Organ from the first phase of building saved £109,000 and VAT was taken off as well, so the cost of first phase of the organ was likely in the region of £1 million. If so, the fundraising on its own would have been sufficient to cover the loan.

      If the above deductions are combined with the former Archbishop’s plea for more funds in 2012, plus his statement in 2015 that “the Cathedral itself at the minute is quite poor in terms of cash reserves”, one must ask where the balance of the sale of No.9 ended up.

      I return to the three questions I posed in the previous thread about David Jones’s recent letter:

      1) How was the Appeal income recorded in the accounts?
      2) If it was not spent on the organ, what were the funds used for?
      3) Why did Llandaff Cathedral record a significant deficit when Archbishop Barry Morgan took over as Visiting Dean in 2012 on the departure of Dean John Lewis?

      Delete
    4. Thank you Bursar, on the money as ever.
      With AB's permission as ever and since the theme of this thread is costs, it might be useful to remind ourselves precisely what His --Darkness had to say for himself on Friday 27th June 2015 to the AGM of the Friends of Llandaff Cathedral.

      The Archbishop:
      “Mr President, thank you very much. My apologies for being late. As some of you may know we had an ordination here this morning and I had to entertain the preacher to lunch and that went on for some time, so I apologise for coming late.
      I just really want to pick up on one or two things that have been said. I thoroughly endorse what the Professor has said [about buying new chairs]. Lest you think that the Bishop's seat is any more comfortable than the seats here, it has no back at all and I try to sit in it as infrequently as possible. So when you're thinking of the general fabric of the Cathedral perhaps you could do something about that seat as well.
      I really just want to pick up on what Sir Donald has said, what our President has said, and what the Dean has said, and that is that I've looked up the document for the foundation of the Friends in 1943 and of course it is there simply and solely to maintain the fabric and the services of the Cathedral And as Sir Donald has just said to us, the Friends have been generous to us in the past but of course they haven't been in the position of having so much money as they have at the present time: £¾million, which is quite a huge sum of money.
      Now we can say that the fabric does need repair; it is looking tired and I suspect that when we get the Quinquennial Report there will be a great deal of work that will have to be done.
      I don't think that people generally are going to give money if they know that there is an organisation meant to support the Cathedral that is sitting on a big sum. It's a bit like filling in grant forms you know - the first thing they ask is: to apply for this grant, how much money are you yourselves going to put in?
      The money in the Cathedral, a great deal of it – £¾million in fact - has gone from the Cathedral's coffers on the new organ, in terms of the sale of the house and in terms of the trust money that it had. So really the Cathedral itself at the minute is quite poor in terms of cash reserves.
      And so we have the Friends who are sitting on this sum of money, we have the Cathedral that is in need, and so I just really want to urge the Friends through the Council to spend a considerable amount - to give this considerable sum of money to the Cathedral, because as I said, it can't be used for anything else. And I know from other funds of which I'm trustee that the Charity Commissioners don't look very kindly on organisations that have a lot of money and don't spend it. :they force you in the end to say: these are your objects, please get on with it.
      So it's a plea, really, from me, as Vice-President and as Bishop of the Diocese, who comes to this cathedral church very frequently, to urge the Friends through the Council to be as generous as it can be. It's been generous in the past; it's now got the opportunity of being far more generous than it's ever been before, simply because it's got more money than it's ever had, and there's no point in having money when the object for which you've been set up is really in need of that money. That's all I've got to say."

      Delete
    5. Is one to believe that bully boy --Bazza writes in The Bell, October 2012
      (http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/documents/BELLOct2012.pdf)
      "I am sorry to be so blunt about all this but I am told by the Treasurer that by March next year, unless our giving improves, we will have used up all our reserves of money."
      but doesn't notice or find out until some time shortly before the Friends' AGM on 27th June 2015 that £750k is missing?

      Delete
    6. Gentlemen my apologies if this sounds like a stupid question but since the former Archbishop has asked where the missing £735,000 has gone ,the Dean & Chapter not answering and the inability to identify it in any accounts, is it possible the money is missing because it has been stolen?

      Delete
    7. @ LP & @SC
      If I’ve understood right, Barry raises the question twice within 2 months (27/6/15 and 21/8/15), the first time to the Friends, where he says the missing money is £750k, then in writing to his glove puppet et al, now formally asking where it has gone and detailing more accurately the total as being £735k. Is that right?

      If so, rather a lot to have mislaid???

      “Follow the money” indeed.

      Delete
    8. @Subversive Canon

      Are we to understand that the then Dean & Chapter managed to liquidate a sum of £735,000 from the RB by telling the RB that all the proceeds were required to pay for the new Organ because essentially the fund raising appeal was failing?

      Are we also to understand that the RB simply went along with this without carrying out it's own checks and balances to see if the proceeds were indeed required to pay for the new Organ?

      Are we to further understand that once having been fooled into agreeing to liquidate the £735,000 of Cathedral assets the RB simply paid the money over to the Cathedral's general funds rather than insisting on paying the money into a RESTRICTED fund specifically for paying for the new Organ?

      If the answers to all the above are 'Yes' then it is patently obvious that as early as 2008 the RB knew the Dean & Chapter were breaking charity law by not keeping the Organ appeal monies separate from their general Cathedral funds!
      It is equally obvious that as soon as Janet Henderson threatened to bring in outside auditors she had to go, simply because the fallout would extend far beyond the Cathedral as the RB was itself implicated, and, if not complicit, then utterly and possibly criminally negligent.

      If David Jones and David Lambert identified the same problems and were also drawing them to the attention of senior clerics, it is obvious why they too just had to go, hence David Lambert's sacking as deputy Chapter Clerk by Gerwhine in 2015.

      Little wonder ++John Davies wrote in the emails leaked by Jeffrey John that the scale of the Llandaff problems were still to emerge.
      Of course, Davies never thought his emails would emerge and see the light of day any more than --Morgan ever thought details of his letter of 21st August 2015 would emerge.


      Well played sir, well played indeed.

      Delete
    9. Does anyone still have a copy of the Cathedral's accounts for 2008?
      If so, could you please publish them here.
      I would like to see if the £100,000 of liquidated trusts held by the RB ever actually arrived in the Cathedral's accounts.
      If it did, and if Subversive Canon is correct that Bonaparte liquidated those trusts funds without the knowledge or authorisation of the Chapter, then why didn't any member of the Chapter, PCC or anyone at the Easter Vestry meeting ask the question "Where has this £100,000 come from?"

      Delete
    10. @Lux Et Veritas
      Yes.
      Yes.
      Yes.

      Delete
    11. @Ruth
      Having given some thought to your question, one begins to wonder if it is closer to the mark than you might think.

      It's not that long since Linda Quinn suggested engaging G4S to handle all the Cathedral's cash by means of secure drop boxes, so one also wonders if you are not alone in asking that question?
      Suffice it to say, Linda Quinn was shouted down, ignored and subsequently side-lined, just as she was at the recent Friends' meeting following the death of Sir Donald Walters and the Capon's unseemly haste in taking control of the Friends' cheque book.

      One sincerely hopes the Friends' are keeping a VERY VERY close eye on their bank balance and recall that it was their money His --Darkness was trying to get hold of when he let slip about the missing £3/4 million of Cathedral assets.

      Delete
    12. If any of this is documented and not speculative, which I do not doubt, then their is a huge probable level of fraud. Lets hope the candid and timely action of the Bishop, in setting up the audit, will spring the lock on the hidden box of tricks. PP.

      Delete
    13. Episkopos, perhaps the next questions should be who were those shouting down Linda Quinn and what reason/s did they give for ignoring her emminently sensible suggestion?

      Delete
    14. Good comment in today's Evening Standard from Laura Weir in the wake of the Oxfam scandal:
      https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/more-charities-need-to-clean-up-their-act-and-fast-or-risk-becoming-social-pariahs-a3771276.html

      "Public opinion is at a level of deep intolerance of the charity sector — the most recent case of widespread rot set in when Kids Company, the children’s charity founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh, collapsed in 2015 amid allegations of misspending public money and mismanagement.

      "And a word of advice to the charity sector: hold a mirror up to Caliban. Audit your working practices, tighten your ships, sack who you need to, clean up your PR. Be aware of how your work looks like to the outside world. You operate in a perceived “right on” bubble — and it could be about to burst."

      Let us hope Bishop June heeds this timely advice.

      Delete
    15. There is a shamefully long list of concerned, responsible and professional individuals who have been offering valid, reasonable, timely advice for years.

      Without exception they have been ignored, ostracised, subjected to verbal and written abuse, labelled subversive, resigned or sacked, prevented from volunteering and been falsely accused themselves.

      Calamitous Caiaphas made the mistake of jumping into the Llandaff swamp with --Bazza's antique-dealing Deanery squatter months ago.

      As Auden wrote "The bad are exposed and shown that crime doesn't pay, but they can't be made to give up their ambition...... You can hold the mirror up to a person, but you may make him worse", manifested by her lashing out at the wrong people.

      I estimate the odds of June turning about, apologising to those she has wronged and sacking those who she needs to, as a 1,000-1 against.

      Delete
    16. @Ruth, Episkopos & Simple Simon
      Once the questions of who shouted down Linda Quinn and what reasons did they provide for refusing to employ G4S have been answered you might have a shortlist of potential suspects.
      Then asking who had the
      a) motive(s), b) means and c) opportunity(ies) should whittle down the shortlist rather neatly.

      Keep following the money (cash).

      Delete
    17. Do insatiable appetites for pink gin & Prosecco cocktails and expensive antiques count as motives?

      Delete
    18. Oxfam have now lost at least 7000 donors since the revelations about Haiti. Large corporate sponsors are also reviewing their giving.

      I'm sure the charity's bosses are ruing the day they turned a blind eye to the scandal and fired the whistleblower instead of those responsible.

      https://news.sky.com/story/oxfam-loses-thousands-of-regular-donors-amid-sex-scandal-11259156

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    19. So what is it about the Cathedral's cash handling arrangements that caused Linda Quinn to suggest paying G4S for their professional services to handle the cash?

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    20. Two possibilities come to mind immediately Teilo.
      Either Linda believed she had identified a significant weakness in the Cathedral's cash handling method that is open (and presumably remains open) to criminal exploitation or she had cause to believe cash was going missing but lacked sufficient evidence to take the matter to the Police.
      Either way, the refusal to adopt what is obviously 'best practice' again, is entirely typical of the incompetent way the Cathedral has been run since John Rogers retired.

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    21. The way Linda Quinn was ignored and shouted down on more than one occasion is entirely in keeping with the demeaning and chauvinistic manner in which professional women are diminished or dismissed by the old 'rugger buggers' and the gay cabal running the place.

      If you're a shrinking violet prepared to make the tea, coffee and sandwiches for social events, or a fag hag making the Capon lots of canapes for his private social functions, that's all perfectly acceptable.
      But when you're a professional woman with your own career, a degree or hold a MBE medal, if you dare question their judgement, query their conduct or challenge them publicly, you are ignored, shouted down, labelled as 'subversive' from the pulpit, receive nasty letters, threatened with legal action, prevented from volunteering, told to leave.
      Sometimes a combination of several or all of the above.

      If Linda Quinn was running the place there would be no question of even £1 going missing, never mind £3/4 million!

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    22. I like the direction in which Subversive Canon is taking us.
      With reference to b) means.
      How many people had/have a key to the Cathedral safe in the Chapter House?

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    23. You might be surprised 1662, more than you might imagine and certainly more than is secure.

      Keep following the cash.

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    24. This is turning into serious sleuthing. If all this is true, then surely, the end game is in production? PP.

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    25. By what possible means could significant sums of cash go missing and remain undetected for so long?
      How incompetent would a Cathedral treasurer, Chapter and PCC need to be?
      Does anybody have a set of the Cathedral's accounts for 2008 please?

      Delete
    26. How it SHOULD be done26 February 2018 at 12:44

      All envelopes, cheques & cash put into the collection are taken to the high altar, blessed, and left there in public view. At the end of the service, at least TWO responsible members of the congregation (usually one of the Church Wardens with another member of the PCC but definitely NOT employees like Vergers) take the money together in full public view directly to the Vicar's vestry or Chapter House where the safe is located. The money is counted into appropriate piles and a record made on a piece of paper that states the date and time of the service along with the means of giving and the total amounts given.
      The Vicar returns to the Vestry/Chapter House, verifies the details and amounts, enters them into the Church register, signs the register which is then countersigned by the two responsible members of the congregation. Likewise, the separate piece of paper is signed & countersigned.
      Then the coins are bagged up into £1, £5, £10 or £20 see-through polythene Bank bags, the cheques, opened envelopes and banknotes are placed flat together then rolled into a tube held together by an elastic band.
      Then the coins, rolled banknotes etc and signed piece of paper are all placed together in a cloth bag.
      All is recorded, counted, observed, signed for, counter-signed for and ready to go straight to the bank with the Church/Cathedral Treasurer for banking on the next working day.

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    27. How it SHOULD NOT be done26 February 2018 at 12:56

      All envelopes, cheques & cash put into the collection are taken to the high altar, blessed, and taken by a Verger out of sight to the Vestry/Chapter House and put into the safe. At the end of the service, the money is neither counted into appropriate piles nor a record made on a piece of paper that states the date and time of the service along with the means of giving and the total amounts given.
      The Vicar neither returns to the Vestry/Chapter House nor verifies the details and amounts nor enters them into the Church register nor signs the register nor has the register countersigned by two responsible members of the congregation.
      Likewise, the separate piece of paper is not signed & countersigned.
      Then the coins are NOT bagged up into £1, £5, £10 or £20 see-through polythene Bank bags, the cheques, opened envelopes and banknotes are placed flat together then rolled into a tube held together by an elastic band.
      Then the coins, rolled banknotes etc and signed piece of paper are NOT all placed together in a cloth bag.
      Nothing is recorded, counted, observed, signed for, counter-signed for and is NOT ready to go straight to the bank with the Church/Cathedral Treasurer for banking on the next working day.
      Instead, the safe is emptied on the next working day and all monies sent to the bank uncounted with whoever just happens to be hanging around, paid in, receipted by the bank and the values of the bank receipt only then entered into the Church/Cathedral registers.

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    28. No prizes for guessing which way cash is handled in Llandaff Cathedral then?

      Delete
    29. Who needs to guess?
      Perhaps there was a £3/4 million prize for someone.....?

      Delete
    30. It is obvious the SHOULD method is just about as secure as it could be (without bringing in G4S drop boxes) and the SHOULD NOT method is patently open to abuse and cash pilfering from the Church/Cathedral safe by anyone with a key at any time between cash being placed in the safe and it being counted by a bank Cashier.
      Remind me someone, exactly how many individuals have a key to the safe in the Llandaff Cathedral Chapter House?

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    31. The SHOULD method was definitely in use at Llandaff Cathedral in the late 1960s and early 1970s duting my time there as a Minor Canon.
      Eryl Thomas, Gordon Phillips and J.F. Williams would not have tolerated anything less.
      Ask again who had the
      a) motive(s), b) means and c) opportunity(ies).
      Keep following the money (cash).

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    32. So, if the SHOULD NOT method was, and is, in use in Llandaff for normal collections each weekend, what was going on when the Llandaff Festival was putting £1000s in cash into the safe?
      Did the resurrected Llandaff Festival have a separate bank account and who was the Llandaff Festival treasurer?

      Delete
    33. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    34. @Ruth
      No it did not.
      Alan Williams

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    35. What about accounts for the Festival, were any produced each year?
      Or were the donors and patrons expected to just accept someone's word on that too?

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    36. The ears in the walls have confirmed the SHOULD method was definitely in use throughout the time of Alan Radcliffe Davies too.

      As Llandaff Cathedral was in a good financial situation and running a surplus during John Rogers' incumbancy, it is highly likely the SHOULD method was also in use then, but since John Rogers is still alive and well, Caiaphas' chaplain the Rev Dr Sarah Rogers can pick up the phone and ask "How was the cash handled in your day dad?" and do us all the favour of publishing his reply here or on Facebook.

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  11. This really is creative accounting. Surely when the accounts for the friends and like any other charity reg body are audited and submitted to the Charity Commission, annually, these missing threads would be seriously investigated and if not proven or, accounted for, then its a fraud issue simple as that until the matter is resolved or, passed to the Police.
    Regarding a charity sitting on a huge sum and not spending it all in one transaction as implied above, is normal practice of good trustee management. The CC dont have issue with charities carrying reserves. I speak as a trustee of a charity.
    Then this cathedral missing or unaccountable large sum and the organ fund. Again, as the Cathedral is a not for profit charitable organizations, it to has to publish annual audited accounts.
    In both cases a member of the charity, church or whatever, can in fact ask to see all accounts and the actual books, or computer files, if refused, you can apply to the Information Commission to alert them.
    Regarding whatever one thinks about the new bishop is immaterial she has real capacity for getting things done. It is not unreasonable that she has appointed a commission to audit the Cathedral. Obviously,she must have her cathedra in good shape and to sit on what I stress, may be tantamount to hearsay, in episcopal circles, needs to be scrutinized. Therefore, having very strong credentials in the auditors, looks like a team who will go over the Cathedral with a find tooth comb and albeit, a good dose of salts, which will certainly have some flushed out and heading for cover. So waiting on the outcome will be worth the speculative blog comments, if its all true, and I for one dont dispute, then the wheels will indeed come of some ones gravy train.PP.

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  12. Subversive Canon and Ruth. I have followed your thread concerning the 'cash' handling matter. I take it no one has the bottle to submit any evidence to the appropriate body, ie , the police. All that remains to date is unhelpful speculation.

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    Replies
    1. Evidence has been submitted to the appropriate body, the Charity Commission.

      Similarly to the 2015 Kids Company and more recent Oxfam/Save the Children scandals, the Charity Commissioner doesn't want to know, until it hits the headlines of the national press.

      Llandaff Cathedral Organ appeal: no separate bank account used, no accounts published.

      Llandaff Festival: no separate bank account used, no accounts published.

      Llandaff Cathedral accounts: on-going and outstanding questions for at least a decade over annual deficits, property re-valuations, loans from the RB, sale of property to the RB at less than market value, liquidation of nine Cathedral trust funds without the necessary authority, assets liquidated "to pay for the new Organ" which were subsequently obviously not used to pay for the new Organ, an Organ Appeal launched to raise £1.5 million for a new Organ quoted at £1.1 million, a public statement and a later letter from the then Archbishop asking where a missing £735k has gone which remains unanswered to this day..............

      The small clique in Llandaff Cathedral that know what has been really been going on are intent on perpetuating the cover up.
      Those that want to know what has been really going on will get nowhere because deliberately, either records and accounts were not kept or they have since been shredded and there is no trail to audit.

      The new Bishopette Caiaphas doesn't really want to know because, like everyone else, she suspects the trail leads to the RB, the DBF, --Bazza and ++Davies.

      How does one take accounts that don't exist or bank statements relating to accounts that never existed to the Police?

      How does one force the Charity Commissioner to pull his/her finger out and do his/her job?

      Why does one think Janet Henderson got out as quickly as she could?

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  13. Suggestions Episkopos. Find out the names of those who sit on theses 'cliques' trusts in particular those members of the judiciary who have sworn an oath of allegiance to the Crown or to any bishop within the Church in Wales, for instance, as church wardens,or, any of its courts. Then alert the Home Secretary whose already aware of the 'Welsh problem'. If so, this will prove to be an effective laxative. Providing the 'D' notice of 1997 doesn't still exist. Don't waste a good malt on the Charity Commissioners at this stage.

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  14. I should add Episkopos. "One cannot serve God and Mammon." No public servant should swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown and another of canonical obedience to a bishop of a disestablished church at the same time. If you have evidence of fraud you should complain regardless of rank or office. Get off the fence before it falls down. Stop rearranging the furniture - if the house is on fire as you claim it is.

    Don't seek legal advice locally otherwise you'll require someone to taste your coffee. The police are not going to welcome you with open arms, because they are just as nervous of taking action as others are on this blog, so you must drag them also with you through the mire of professional standards and the IPCC and beyond to wherever that takes you. If what you claim above is true then for the sake of "all things honest and lawful" do it, or else withdraw.

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    Replies
    1. The Lady is not for turning Enforcer.
      Or withdrawing.
      The figures that have been gleaned from various sources - some previously in the public domain but now deleted, and others leaked by Subversive Canon, David Jones & David Lambert - simply do not add up.
      They do not add up to such an extent that even --Bazza couldn't bear the stink any longer to the extent that he felt it necessary to ask about £735,000 missing in 2015 and still missing to this day.
      Unless and until the Dean & Chapter open up their books and produce the Nicholson's invoices to public scrutiny then long may their trial by ordeal in the Court of public opinion continue.

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    2. But the Lady is doing more than ' refusing to turn' Ruth. She is in a head long 'spin'. In such a tizz that she really is 'serving God, Mammon, and now, Bazza. It's an old trick of his to play innocent pretending to ask about the £735.000. Always blame someone else - that's Barry boy. Court of public opinion my foot- please stop laughing everyone.Remember you've sworn an oath of obedience.
      You're simply doing in your hair net luvy. I have known the Grand Mufty for over 40 years. Where's there a 'trust' or a 'pension account' you'll find Bazz.

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  15. Sounds like in the recent commission into Cathedral affairs, enacted by the bishop, that preliminaries and queries have justifiably found some rather deeply disturbing sticky finger prints. A visit from Dino Rod is imminently viable, the very, the venerable and the ++ of late, are flushed with a modicum of .... The + is no fool, the broom cupboard primed and ready. Dio Rod

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