A Two-Fingered Salute to the Bishop & the Board, Vicar?

A sequel, in pictures, to my previous post. 

However:

 

By one of Sizer's Facebook friends, who runs a scurrilous anti-Israel/anti-Zionist blog (admittance long since by invitation only!):

Update:
It would be remiss of me not to link to John Bevan's post here which provides the answer
Do read the comments beneath the post too!

A Parson Without Honour: Stephen Sizer Suspended

It seems that our old friend the Vicar of Virginia Water has been prescribed a rest cure by his diocesan overlord prior to taking leave of his pulpit and his parishioners on Easter Sunday.

Readers will recall that following Sizer's infamous Facebook post regarding Israel and the 9/11 atrocities he undertook, in the words of his superior Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford:

"to refrain, with no exceptions, from attendance at or participation in any conferences which promote or are linked to this agenda; from all writing, tweeting, blogging, emailing, preaching and teaching on these themes, whether formally or informally – a prohibition which of course includes posting links to other sites; and from all background work in this area which may resource others to act as spokespeople in Stephen’s stead.

"Should Stephen be deemed by the Diocese to have broken this agreement, in letter or in spirit, he has pledged to offer me his immediate resignation, which I will duly accept. He has also agreed to desist from the use of social media entirely for the next six months, after which he and I will review that prohibition.

It is fair to say that Stephen seems relieved to be working within this clear new framework, and would now like to redirect his energies into his work as a parish priest...."

By the president of the Board of Deputies

As we now know, Sizer has been redirecting his energies into "Peacemaker Mediators" as I revealed here.

To quote John Bevan on the well-known British blog Harry's Place:

'....[B]etween 28 February and 6 March 2017, Rev Sizer  – in four separate ways – broke his February 2015 undertaking not to write or speak “on any theme that relates, either directly or indirectly, to the current situation in the Middle East or to its historical backdrop”. He did this by linking to two other sites; by preaching on a theme directly related to the current situation in the Middle East; and by then linking to that sermon.

It would seem that Rev Sizer is trying to get away with breaching his February 2015 undertaking. He appears to have calculated that his Bishop won’t now go to the fuss of requiring him to resign, since he will be retiring on 16 April anyway. Yet the Bishop of Guildford’s November 2016 statement was (and remains) clear and unequivocal: the undertaking is to run until the end of Rev Sizer’s tenure of office; and any further breaches will result in that tenure ending with immediate effect.What happens next could be very significant.

No decent person – and certainly no Christian – should want anything to do with “Peacemaker Mediators”, a charity whose CEO will be Stephen Sizer and whose International Board of Reference will include Jenny Tonge. Yet if his Bishop now takes no action, Rev Sizer will retire after Easter, like the soldier who is discharged with honour. He will then, no doubt, trade on that relentlessly in his fundraising and future work. Yet if the Bishop upholds the twice-stated agreement, Dr Sizer will be forced to resign his parish ministry prematurely and with dishonour. This would have well-deserved negative effects on his future activities.

And so Bishop Andrew Watson once again faces a challenge. Will he now act on his strong and unequivocal warning of last November? Or will he meekly retract it, now the time has come for enforcement? Let’s hope he has the courage to do the right thing.' [Emphasis added]

And to quote a new statement (10 March) by the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson:

“I have become aware that Dr Stephen Sizer has again contravened the agreement he made in February 2015 just five weeks before his planned retirement on Easter Sunday, 16 April 2017. Needless to say I am very disappointed by Dr Sizer’s actions.

“Dr Sizer admits that material shared on his Facebook page in the past two weeks has breached our agreement, and so I have required him to cease all preaching, teaching and leading of services with immediate effect. He will also desist from all use of social media until his retirement takes effect. 

“To allow the parish of Virginia Water to say a proper goodbye, I have conceded that Dr Sizer leads ministry over the Easter weekend.”  [Emphasis added]

(I notice, incidentally, that Sizer's sermon concerning the Temple, which I mentioned here and which was one of the factors in the bishop's decision to suspend Sizer, is present in video format on the Christ Church Virginia Water website.)

As a commenter on John Bevan's article remarks, "Sacking Church of England ministers is really very difficult. I wouldn't envy the Bishop trying to get him dismissed in the few weeks he (Sizer) has got left in post."

But as Mr Bevan observes, "No decent person – and certainly no Christian – should want anything to do with “Peacemaker Mediators”, a charity whose CEO will be Stephen Sizer and whose International Board of Reference will include Jenny Tonge."

To read click here

Will the launch of "Peacemaker Mediators" take place at Christ Church as planned, I wonder, or in view of Sizer's latest breach of faith will the bishop order him to find another venue?

Sadly, Sizer, in breaking his agreement, has given Bishop Watson the proverbial "two-fingered salute".   More sadly still, this latest suspension, though morally justified, is only likely to make Sizer more popular in the eyes of the Israel-haters who have jumped on his bandwagon.

I can just imagine the grin on the turbulent priest's face.

Sequel here

Stephen Sizer Chastised By His Bishop

It seems especially appropriate that, on the 99th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, has issued the following statement respecting the Vicar of Virginia Water's attendance at the Israel-demonising event chaired by Baroness Tonge (see my post here):

"In February 2015, Dr Stephen Sizer undertook to refrain from writing or speaking on themes relating to the current situation in the Middle East and to its historical backdrop for as long as he remained a parish priest in the Diocese of Guildford. Until now, this agreement has been upheld in letter and spirit, however Dr Sizer recently attended an event which clearly engages in these themes, and around which there has subsequently been understandable controversy. Additionally, Dr Sizer published a social media post relating to the event, also contravening his agreement.

 Dr Sizer has already given notice of his resignation as vicar of Virginia Water from Easter 2017, and said that he attended the event in question on the understanding that our agreement no longer stood now that his resignation had been tendered. This is certainly not the case. I have spoken with Dr Sizer to make clear that I am disappointed by his actions and to clarify that our agreement categorically must run until the end of his tenure of office.

 Dr Sizer is aware how seriously I view this and has stated to me that it was not his intention to break the agreement which he has upheld until now. However, with its terms now clarified beyond any doubt, Dr Sizer has been warned that any further breach of the agreement must result in his tenure of office ending with immediate effect." [Emphasis added]

Time to de-friend John Hannah and Harriet, vicar.

 The Board of Deputies of British Jews has responded:

"Stephen Sizer has breached the terms of the undertakings he gave to the Church of England by attending and publishing a social media post about a particularly ugly and inflammatory event with Jenny Tonge in the chair. Tonge was subsequently suspended from the Liberal Democrat Party as a result.

The terms of Sizer’s agreement – drawn up after he repeatedly shared antisemitic material on social media – required him to refrain from writing or speaking on themes relating to the current situation in the Middle East and to its historical backdrop for as long as he remained a parish priest in the Diocese of Guildford. By attending an event where the audience is alleged to have applauded the suggestion that Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, he clearly flouted the agreement, earning him a stinging public rebuke from his bishop in the Diocese of Guildford. The Bishop’s statement makes it clear that while Sizer intends to leave his post in 2017, his ability to reach that date by his own accord now hangs by a thread.

Board of Deputies Vice President Marie van der Zyl said: “A repeat offender in the trafficking of antisemitic slurs, the ‘soon-to-be-ex’ clergyman Stephen Sizer has spectacularly flouted his written undertaking to the Church of England by attending an event filled with toe-curling antisemitism. If he had any shred of decency, Sizer would have fulfilled the terms of the agreement and tendered his resignation with immediate effect. He now guarantees that he will end his clerical career under a cloud. The sad irony that this divisive figure is moving on to a charity called ‘Peacemaker Mediators’ is not lost on us.” [Emphasis added]

I guess that until his resignation on Easter Sunday the vicar will stop pressing the "Like" button on other Israel-bashers' social media posts, then, as in this "Like" regarding a comment from Baroness Tonge disparaging pro-Israel commenters who have taken to countering her anti-Israel observations on Facebook:

"Having Now Met Stephen [Sizer], In My Brand New Role As Bishop of Guildford, I Do Not Believe That His Motives Were Antisemitic" (updated: video)

"Having now met Stephen, in my brand new role as Bishop of Guildford, I do not believe that his motives are antisemitic.  But I have concluded that, at the very least, he has demonstrated appalling poor judgment on the material he has chosen to disseminate, particularly via social media, some of which is clearly antisemitic."

That's the newly-appointed Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Andrew Watson talking.  He has rapped Stephen Sizer hard across the knuckles for the despicable "9/11 Israel Did It"Facebook post link Sizer made on 20 January.

Sizer is a keen "photo journalist"

The Jewish News, which while its competitor the Jewish Chronicle ('the organ of Anglo-Jewry') was napping, broke the news of Sizer's link on January 30 and sent the story viral, reports that this morning (Monday, British time), the bishop has:

 'told a Press conference at Guildford that Dr Sizer had agreed to a prohibition from using social media for six months and from commenting on Middle Eastern issues while he remains in the employment of the diocese.

He said:

“It is my view that Stephen’s strong but increasingly undisciplined commitment to an anti-Zionist agenda has become a liability to his own ministry and that of the wider church.

Many who more moderately support the Palestinian cause and share his critique of a particular brand of Christian fundamentalism, themselves find Stephen’s actions to be increasingly unhelpful and counter-productive, a fact he himself now recognises.

It is therefore my decision that Stephen’s work in this area is no longer compatible with his ministry as a parish priest.

In order for Stephen to remain in parish ministry, I have therefore asked for and received from him a solemn undertaking, in writing, that he is to refrain entirely from writing or speaking on any themes that relate, either directly or indirectly, to the current situation in the Middle East or to its historical backdrop.”

(Press conference reported more fully here; update:see more particularly here)

All praise to the British Board of Deputies, in the person of vice-president Mr Jonathan Arkush, for pursuing this matter so determinedly, and to the newly-appointed Bishop for dealing with it so promptly.

As one Christian organisation noted of Sizer's apology for the post (see right; when at length caught out, and following an initial show of defiance to the Jewish News),

 'This apology appears to show no genuine remorse, and is instead reminiscent of the child forced into apologising because he has been caught out. While the suspension of his blog is a step in the right direction, it seems too little, too late. His anti-Israel views and his questionable theology now pervade much of the UK and American church.

While 'anti-Israel' does not necessarily equate to 'anti-semitism', and clergy are entitled to air their political views, Mr. Sizer's actions have frequently been highly regrettable. Through the regular negative mass media coverage he has attracted, much damage has been done both to the Church of England’s reputation and to its witness, especially among the Jewish community. The media attention also reflects badly on the wider Church. It is to be hoped that the Diocese of Guildford will take this into account and plan to deal decisively with Dr. Sizer.

It is to be hoped that the Diocese of Guildford does not merely to settle for this inadequate apology and hope for the end of matter, but deals decisively and justly with the recurring problem that clearly exists. Through negative publicity, and his links and associations, Dr. Sizer raises serious questions about whether his occupations and habits befit his calling as a Clerk in Holy Orders. His actions have, on many occasions, been the cause of offence to others, and cannot be said to set a wholesome example and pattern for those in his care'

Should Sizer offend again, then one would expect more serious consequences.  It would seem that if he doesn't shape up he'll be shipping out, as the phrase goes:

 "If he is not repentant, if he continues working in this way I've made it very clear that he will go." 

Sizer's letter of 4 February to the bishop can be read here  

Meanwhile, in face of increased antisemitism in the UK, an All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism has just published its report and recommendations.
Full report here
BBC synopsis here