David Hope warns of "implosion" risk
The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has warned that the Anglican church is on the brink of “implosion” over the divisive issues of the ordination of homosexual clergy and women bishops.
In an interview with The Telegraph on the eve of his retirement as the second most important clergyman in the Church of England, Dr Hope, 64, said that the Church’s “fundamental Christian message” was in danger of being lost in the midst of disagreement over differences that were “neither here nor there”.
Here is the key passage from the interview:
“What I do worry about is whether or not by so concentrating all our hopes and energies on these two particular issues, we are imploding on ourselves,” he said. “If you take people back to the Christological controversies of the first five centuries of the church, there were huge fallings out. Have we not learned the lessons from that? At the end of the day, what is the business of the church? It’s about bringing people to Jesus Christ and about living the life of Jesus Christ. Whatever the divisions, those are the key issues.
“The infighting puts off both young and old people. If it [the Church of England] doesn’t see this in a much larger context of the whole Christian doctrine of creation, redemption and sanctification, it will allow itself to implode on these two issues. We need to turn ourselves outwards.
“If you go to a hospice where they’re working with the dying, they’re not asking you whether you’re in favour of women bishops or whether you’re gay or any of this, that or the other. The important thing is that the work of the persons there actually engages.”
The full article:
Church is imploding, says Archbishop of York
Press Association report based on this:
Church ‘About to Implode’ over Gays and Women, Archbishop Warns
Update
A good review of David Hope’s views on various topics can be found in this blog entry by Fr Jake.
Not knowing how else to do so, since postings to Simon Sarmiento’s web site are disabled, I wish simply to thank Simon and all his colleagues for the great service he and they provide to Anglicans worldwide with this carefully maintained and informative site. I read it regularly and am very grateful to its authors/managers. Thank you!
This may be an appropriate place to draw attention to the remarks made by the Bishop of Fulham, in his capacity as chairman of Forward in Faith International (which he refers to as ‘Fifi’) in his address to the Forward in Faith UK assembly in October. I note that no transcript of his remarks has been made, so that no permanent record of them exists. You have to listen to them: the link is still on the Forward in Faith web page, but will no doubt disappear soon. One is left with the clear impression that the Bishop, whether speaking… Read more »