Lord Carey said Anglicans needed to ‘get their house in order’- warning they risk break-up under the burden of trying to keep up with political fashions.
The Archbishop spoke out as the CofE prepares for a fresh round of internal conflict over gay rights.
He said in a sermon at Chester Cathedral that the Church is being ‘shaken by seismic shifts and changes as a result of disagreements on ministry, marriage and human sexuality’.
Lord Carey said: ‘We must not allow ourselves to fracture under the colossal weight of dancing to the world’s agenda.’
Church of England leaders are vulnerable to the charge that they are willing to be flexible in the face of political pressure since the ignominious collapse of their efforts to appoint women bishops last year.
After David Cameron warned that the Church needed a ‘sharp prod’, the CofE soft-pedalled its opposition to the Government’s plans for same-sex marriage. At the end of last year it published proposals to end the official ban that prevents clergy from conducting blessing services for same-sex couples.
Lord Carey, an opponent of the gay rights lobby in the Church, said non-churchgoers recoil from the Church of England when they see infighting and division.
He said that Church leaders should be concentrating on achieving unity rather than meeting the expectations of politics.
He told the Daily Mail following his sermon: ‘What I’m talking about with the world’s agenda is what this Government has now set up,’ he said.
‘This puts pressure on the Church to offer rites of marriage to those who are in same-sex relationships,’ he said. ‘Obviously, I would disapprove of that - but the pressure is on so many churches to do that.
‘I am actually saying let’s keep our gaze on true unity, let’s share what we have in common, let’s not be so tempted to dance to the world’s tune that we forget that unity and mission are indissoluble, one affects the other.’
He added: ‘I think outsiders would say “you talk about reconciliation but it is an empty word if you are not reconciled yourselves so put your own house in order”.’ The former Archbishop added that the apathy shown by the Government to Christianity was sometimes ‘far worse than persecution’.
We live in very difficult times for the Church,’ he said. There may be very good will for our churches and our service is deeply appreciated but the message is ignored. You know it and I know it too.
‘Rarely has it been harder for the message to get a welcoming home. But this is not the time for self-pity or regret.’
Lord Carey made his comments in a sermon in Chester Cathedral in a service dedicated to unity between different Christian denominations.
They follow his warning last autumn that the CofE’s failure to attract young followers means it is just ‘one generation away from extinction.’
The current Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justice Welby, has been struggling to repair the damage caused by the failure of the CofE’s leaders to secure enough support for women bishops, despite 16 years of preparing the ground.
They lost a Synod vote to a blocking minority of conservative evangelicals in November 2012, a defeat that provoked aggressive criticism from politicians at Westminster.
A new attempt to allow women to the senior ranks of the clergy is now under way, with opponents apparently ready to give way in order to protect the Church from political interference.
Lord Carey, who stepped down from Lambeth Palace in 2002 but remains an active and influential figure, was the Archbishop of Canterbury who secured the first ordinations of women as CofE priests in 1994.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543000/Church-risks-break-says-Carey-Former-Archbishop-warns-Anglicans-stop-dancing-worlds-agenda.html
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