Welby warns on the dangers of radical change

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that the Church risks “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” with radical change that ignores traditions.

In a speech to General Synod yesterday, the Most Rev Justin Welby warned that to call for “radical change without being aware of the traditions that underpin and secure the structures to which we belong is likely to lead to disaster”.

He added that such change would lead to “division” and “stirs fear rather than hope, and encourages a bunker mentality rather than a willingness to see transformation”.

The Church has faced division over issues such as its teaching on sexuality and provisions for gay and transgender people. Last July, the Synod passed resolutions calling for a new liturgy for transgender people.

Conservative Anglicans have been dismayed by the developments, with some clergy threatening to break away and form rival denominations. In December, the conservative Anglican Mission in England, effectively a rival Anglican church, ordained its first nine clergy at a ceremony in east London.

The archbishop also appeared to defend the slow pace of change in the Church, which has been criticised by supporters of reform.

Last month, liberal members condemned a decision by the House of Bishops not to create a new liturgy, but instead to recommend the use of existing services for someone who has changed their gender.

In his speech, the archbishop told members that “we do not invent or create patterns of worship and action, we respond to the prompting of the spirit. It is a collaborative process”.

He said members of the Church have “boundaries and limits set by God himself ”.

However, he added that the Church should not cling to traditionalism.

“Any tradition that is incapable of adapting is also one that is doomed to death,” he said, adding that the Church must “look afresh at our structures and our habits”.

The Synod will today address proposals calling for greater oversight of pre-natal testing for Down’s syndrome, and focus on safeguarding in the light of a series of sexual abuse scandals.