Yates’s years as Bishop of Gloucester, 1975-91, showed him to be a leader who could persuade people to think for themselves and face the reality of a changing world. He would not allow members of staff meetings, diocesan synods or parochial church councils to get away with pious platitudes. His own faith was well tested and he was convinced that the divine was at work in the world as it is. It was significant that when the ordination of women came to be decided in the General Synod in 1992 the lay vote from Gloucester was the highest in favour for any English diocese. He was not a campaigner, but an intelligent persuader. This was noticed when he later presented church views to Douglas Hurd at the Home Office.
The lay people of the diocese found him accessible, willing to listen, ask questions, argue and reach agreements. In 1991 he set out his policy in a visitation charge, Treasure in Earthen Vessels, that was witty and well researched. He delighted the parishes by saying: “Whenever I come back to the diocese from some meeting in London the feeling I have is that I am coming from the less real to the more real Church.” He likened its middle-of-the-road Anglican attitudes to “the back wheel of a bicycle: it does not wobble about as much as the front wheel, but it gets there almost as quickly”.
He did not hesitate to criticise and his comments, firm though tolerant, were shrewd and compelling. He noticed especially the “massive if slow and silent slide . . . especially among the young, away from the Christian words and images through which most of us learnt our Christian faith”. He pleaded that the parochial church councils should not lose touch with the realities of national, local and personal life, or be taken over by money or administrative questions. He criticised churches that had no access for the disabled, gave warning against excessive rigidity in doctrine and commended the saying “we should believe more and more about less and less”. He aimed at an ecumenical and less authoritarian Church. He urged the Church “to travel light, unencumbered as far as possible by dogmatic or liturgical baggage acquired centuries ago”. He sought a more human Church that proclaimed a gospel of costly self-giving on behalf of the poor and powerless.
[i] Comment edited by elf because of unnecessary sarcasm. [/i]
Reading Yates the Christlike God right now. An excellent read.
‘He noticed especially the “massive if slow and silent slide . . . especially among the young, away from the Christian words and images through which most of us learnt our Christian faithâ€.’
And Yates’s own liberalism, including his promotion of the acceptance of homosexuality and ‘demythologization of the Bible’ at the dreary liberal seminary he led (since closed) was all part of that departure from the biblical faith as well, though he could not see it. Theological liberalism can only end up in liberal moralism, after the uncomfortable bits of the faith have been jettisoned.
I know nothing of him other than what is written here, but it sounds like he was a died-in-the-wool reappraiser who bears a chunk of responsibility for the decline in the C of E. Typical well meaning but misguided liberal.