Hat tip to Dave Walker for highlighting a nice little Ship of Fools article comparing Santaism with Creationism.
Tag Archives: Ship of Fools
Trumpington Update
The Trumpington story that I commented on here and here continues to get press coverage.
Thanks to a link to my original posting from a discussion on the topic at Ship of Fools, I came across a posting by Etheldreda on the topic which links to another Cambridge Evening News article that includes a long statement by the Bishop of Ely, Dr Anthony Russell.
Interestingly, it does seem rather like the Bishop of Ely is attempting to combat the implied criticism of the potential waste of diocesan money that the current tribunal process will be by listing all the stages of the process up to this point. However Tom Ambrose, the priest at the centre doesn’t seem overly impressed:
“This has been going on for six years and in that time I have been treated abominably. I have asked the bishop again and again to talk about it, and have always been refused.�
He also adds:
“The people who want me out are no longer communicants at the church, they have removed themselves from the congregation, so I have not heard anything from them – nor has anyone else in the parish talked about it.â€?
Looking at the details in the statement from the Diocese however, back as far as 2003 the APCM voted by 58 to 7 against Rev Ambrose – a not insignificant vote. In 2004 the PCC passed a motion with a two-thirds majority to request an inquiry. After several attempts at mediation, in early 2005 the Archdeacon of Ely was asked to make a report to the Bishop as to whether an inquiry would be in the best interests of the incumbent and parishioners of Trumpington – something that he concluded was. Amazingly it has now taken more than two years to get from the decision to hold the tribunal to actually doing it.
To be frank, nobody seems to be coming out of this looking good, whether it’s the incumbent and parishioners of Trumpington, or the Diocese. Ultimately, the only way that a tribunal could be avoided would be for one side to back down. Rev Ambrose could resign – but then based on what he has said, and the increased support the press coverage has given him that would be unlikely. The PCC could back down, indeed four years is enough time for Ambrose supporters to have managed to get onto the committee given enough support at the APCM. The fact that this hasn’t happened does seem to imply that despite what has been said, Ambrose is fighting a loosing battle.
Whatever happens though, the congregation in Trumpington are the losers here. Lets be honest, what priest in their right mind would apply for a vacancy there after this?
Sock Puppets, Trolls, and Secretly Blowing Your Own Trumpet
Anyone who has been involved in any sort of online community will be aware of the problems of sock puppets and trolls – accounts that are set up to make anonymous comments, and which take advantage of the anonymity offered by online communities either for some sort of gain, or more often than not to cause trouble. Indeed one of the topics of conversation in the recent UK Channel9 video was trying to deal with precisely that problem on the Channel9 site.
However, there has been a lot of talk on Christian sites over the past couple of days over the news that the same problem has occurred on the Christian site Ship of Fools. Among other things the site includes a Mystery Worshipper feature, where people can review Church services which they attended. Suspicion has fallen on to two glowing reviews by the same person, one for Westminster Abbey commented on the exceptional singing of the priest taking the service, the other for St Marks in Reading commented on the fantastic quality of the preaching. Suspicion was aroused when a parishioner at St Marks e-mailed the site to complain that the review was a fake because of the flattering compliments it paid to the preacher. After some investigation it was found that the self same priest whose preaching had been complimented, Fr David Peters, had also reproduced the Westminster Abbey review in the St Marks Parish Magazine claiming to be the anonymous priest whose singing was complimented.
Initially Fr Peters, who in addition to officiating monthly at Westminster Abbey also travels the world to lead services at major Anglo-Catholic shrines, denied that he had posted the reviews, although with mounting evidence he has now apologised to both his parish, and the Archdeacon and Bishop. On top of that, the story is even now flying around the blogsphere, even being picked up by some of the national media. Another example of bad publicity going further than good? Perhaps. But certainly a salutary lesson in trying to anonymously blow your own trumpet – especially over the quality of your sermons…
As an aside, a little final note. St Marks in Reading is one of the local Churches that has passed resolutions A, B and C, and so is under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Ebbsfleet rather than Oxford. Indeed I knew that they were an Ebbsfleet parish already because when they hosted a Rockmass a few years back the Youth Group voted not to attend in protest at the fact that they wouldn’t accept women priests. However it seems that in disciplinary situations like this, responsibilities pass back to the Oxford Diocese. Probably a rather difficult situation if the local Archdeacon is a woman as it is in other parts of the Diocese.
So You Think Your Sermon Went Badly?
Ship of Fools has updated it’s regular selection of Church Blunders.
In amongst the usual selection of typos and reported slips of the tounge, is an example of the latest high-tech way to donate slip ups to Ship of Fools. Blake Bergstrom, a youth pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado, talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, and finding their influence slipping into his sermon rather unexpectedly.
Later on in the clip he rather prophetically says “I hope this isn’t on videotape as I’ve got no job now” – bad news there then… 😳