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'Tribal and divided': Church of England faces turbulent times

The Church of England has become “tribal and divided”, the new archbishop of York has said, while warning that it faces “turbulent times and challenging decisions ahead”.

Stephen Cottrell, who was confirmed as the C of E’s second most senior cleric on Thursday, said the church would need to reshape itself in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The archbishop is leading a review of the C of E’s “vision and strategy” for the next 10 years. Speaking at a virtual meeting of the general synod, the C of E’s governing body, he said: “The hard thing will be working out what we can and should do with the time and resources at our disposal, and therefore also what we might have to stop doing.”

Cottrell told the synod he plans to build a “safe, loving” church. “As we enter some turbulent times and some challenging decisions, we are just going to have to learn how to love one another, love the world, and love God, so that both individually and collectively we can be the place where God is revealed,” he said.

“We’ve not always been very good at this. We have allowed ourselves to become tribal and divided. We have allowed secondary things to obscure our belonging to each other.”

Cottrell said he would bring a series of proposals to synod next year after consulting with people from across the church, particularly younger Christians whose voices are not usually heard in a church that is “overly dominated” by those “usually white, usually male, usually with a certain sort of education, usually over 60”.

Cottrell – who is white, male and aged 61, although state educated – took over as archbishop of York from John Sentamu, who fled Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda in the 1970s. Following Sentamu’s retirement, there are now no senior BAME bishops in the C of E, although there are five suffragan, or junior bishops.

The C of E has set up a commission on racism in the church to implement “significant cultural and structural” change. In answer to a question, Cottrell told the synod that further details of the commission’s composition and work would be announced in September.

He said he was “personally extremely committed” to the work. “It’s really important that the leadership of the church reflects the communities we serve.”

In his earlier address, he said: “I am very sorry for the mistakes I have made, and for the ones I will almost certainly make in the future. But I will be honest about them. I will seek to learn from them. I will try to build a safe and loving church that is merciful and just.”

Ten days before he was confirmed as archbishop, Cottrell admitted he had failed to take proper action relating to allegations of domestic abuse by a priest 10 years ago, saying he was “deeply distressed and extremely sorry”.

The C of E leadership faced criticism from members of the synod over guidance during lockdown that churches must close, even to clergy. Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, told the meeting: “We recognise this caused hurt and anger for some, whereas for others it was reassuring and a relief.”

The synod, normally held in York over five days, was reduced to a one-day Zoom session because of the Covid pandemic. As well as two question-and-answer sessions and a discussion about the church’s response to the crisis, it featured barking dogs, slamming doors, off-screen whispers and a number of technical glitches.