The Church was in danger of being overwhelmed by the issue of homosexuality, the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, warned the General Synod at the weekend.
He used a Bible exposition to argue that the controversy, which threatens to split the Church, was seriously distracting it from its main aim of spreading the Gospel. "What I plead for is not that we shall not have opinions and views, but that the tenor and tone of the way we both handle and debate deeply disputed issues ought to be such that honour the Saviour in our midst," he said.
The archbishop said the Church had been torn by seismic disputes since its early days, some of which threatened its very existence, and they had eventually blown over. But he rebuked members of the Synod for what he characterised as a breakdown of trust between people and groups who should be united by their common purpose.
While trust seemed to work well within dioceses it seemed to take "a nose-dive" for no apparent reason when it came to the Synod and its committees and groups, he said. "Why is it, I wonder, that we seem to be so suspicious, to be ready to think the worst rather than the best of each other?" he asked.
His comments, which disclosed a frustration with Synod squabbles, referred not only to the divisions over homosexuality but also to internal rows over finance and reorganisation.