If we needed any fur ther evidence of the Church of England’s susceptibility to the ”˜culture wars’ we need look no further than the withdrawal of Philip North from the bishopric of Whitby.
If we needed any fur ther evidence of the Church of England’s susceptibility to the ”˜culture wars’ we need look no further than the withdrawal of Philip North from the bishopric of Whitby.
I have been impressed by Fr Philip North for a long time. He is innovative, thoughtful and comes across as extremely able and mission-minded with young people. People on all sides like him very much. He was formerly the Administrator of the Anglican Shrine at Walsingham.
What a pity that a churchwarden in Whitby decided to organise a petition against him, more of a pity that being a decent man, Fr North decided to withdraw. He is not a man to force himself on anybody, and it is testament to his mettle that he did not just brazen it out, just as some ambitious uber-liberal bishop appointees including Nick Holtam have recently.
He remains a treasure, and I hope he will be called upon to serve the church in another capacity before long. John Richardson comments and there is a sad note from the Archbishop of York whose suffragan he would have been. It looks as if for the moment Whitby will be left fallow as no replacement is envisaged.
Like the Dr Giddings case, we are seeing another instance showing TEC-style liberal intolerance has arrived on our shores. It is an extremely ugly thing and not a good thing for us to import from our morally and demographically imploding cousins.