GP Taylor, bestselling author and an Anglican priest, has an interesting post in the Yorkshire Post. Interesting both in its content and its perspective, given Graham Taylor’s background.
An excerpt:
. . .To me it showed how the Church of England had sunk into a liberal pit that was no earthly use and offered no hope, no love and no grace. It was going through the motions of faith and was largely irrelevant to the people it once thought it served.
In all my years as a Christian and as a priest, I never thought I would ever contemplate leaving the good old C of E and becoming a Catholic. My former Bishop told me that it was the best boat to fish from. “Think of it, Graham,” he said in his neat office. “All those people – baptisms, weddings, funerals. People in need, people in joy and a chance to share the love of God with them.”
They were powerful words and helped me through my time as a priest in Whitby and beyond as I held the hands of parents who had lost their children and those who wanted some kind of hope and future. “Preach Grace, love and everlasting life and the people will come to you,” the Bishop said as he waved me off to my new parish. He was right, they did. But how things have changed.
. . .In this rising and damaging age of secularism, this country needs a strong moral compass to be a guide through some very troubled waters. The politicians are not the answer as we have seen with their morally bankrupt attitude to expenses.
I, for one, see a need for the Church to again be prophetic to the nation and not be afraid to stand up for what it believes. Heartbreakingly, I am no longer sure the Church of England can do this. . . .