Latest news with #RicThorpe
The Age
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Anglican Church can't grow if it fails to accept gay reality
The other day a friend showed me photos of her friends' same-sex wedding. Such joyful scenes as family and friends celebrated with the happy couple. It wasn't a church wedding, and certainly not an Anglican wedding – not even a wedding blessing. While the Anglican Church's highest court has said it is not against the church's constitution to bless same-sex weddings, only a handful of Australian dioceses have permitted that. And now Melbourne Diocese – once the progressive capital of the Australian church – has elected an archbishop firmly opposed to same-sex weddings. There will be no wedding blessings here. He is quoted in last Sunday's Age as saying that church must welcome people in same-sex relationships. But that rings hollow. How can you welcome people while damning their relationships as sinful? The newly elected archbishop, Ric Thorpe, a bishop from London, is first and foremost a church planter. That is why his Melbourne supporters have chosen him. The church is in decline in Melbourne, with numbers of worshippers dropping and many small parishes struggling for survival. His supporters want to see significant growth in the church, and think that means planting lots of new congregations. But will those brave new plants be attractive to Australians in the 21st century, when presumably they will be preaching against same-sex marriage, given the core group of Melbourne Anglicans who campaigned for his election hold the same view? When more than 60 per cent of Australians voted in favour of same-sex marriage in the 2017 plebiscite? Bishop Thorpe claims the Scriptures are clear that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that cannot be set aside. Many significant scripture scholars read the Bible differently. They say the very few Bible verses that are claimed to prohibit same-sex relationships actually prohibit only promiscuous, predatory relationships. But conservatives have latched on to same-sex prohibition as their line in the sand. Some would argue they took up the cause when they lost the debate in the 1990s about ordaining women. It has given them a stick to knock progressive Anglicans into the ground. The election of Bishop Thorpe shows they are winning. The debate has echoes of the nasty debate that raged in the Anglican Church over divorce last century. Divorced people could not remarry in church, and often were made distinctly unwelcome in congregations. It was Melbourne Diocese in the 1970s that overturned that, and pushed the national church to change. And in 1972, Melbourne Diocese called for homosexuality to be decriminalised, eight years before the state government agreed. How sad that Melbourne has now joined the conservatives. Bishop Thorpe is quoted as saying that the same-sex debate is 'a distraction' from the message of the church. No, it is harming the church's message. The church's message is that God is love, and loves all people unconditionally – and that includes gay people, their spouses and their families.
Sydney Morning Herald
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Anglican Church can't grow if it fails to accept gay reality
The other day a friend showed me photos of her friends' same-sex wedding. Such joyful scenes as family and friends celebrated with the happy couple. It wasn't a church wedding, and certainly not an Anglican wedding – not even a wedding blessing. While the Anglican Church's highest court has said it is not against the church's constitution to bless same-sex weddings, only a handful of Australian dioceses have permitted that. And now Melbourne Diocese – once the progressive capital of the Australian church – has elected an archbishop firmly opposed to same-sex weddings. There will be no wedding blessings here. He is quoted in last Sunday's Age as saying that church must welcome people in same-sex relationships. But that rings hollow. How can you welcome people while damning their relationships as sinful? The newly elected archbishop, Ric Thorpe, a bishop from London, is first and foremost a church planter. That is why his Melbourne supporters have chosen him. The church is in decline in Melbourne, with numbers of worshippers dropping and many small parishes struggling for survival. His supporters want to see significant growth in the church, and think that means planting lots of new congregations. But will those brave new plants be attractive to Australians in the 21st century, when presumably they will be preaching against same-sex marriage, given the core group of Melbourne Anglicans who campaigned for his election hold the same view? When more than 60 per cent of Australians voted in favour of same-sex marriage in the 2017 plebiscite? Bishop Thorpe claims the Scriptures are clear that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that cannot be set aside. Many significant scripture scholars read the Bible differently. They say the very few Bible verses that are claimed to prohibit same-sex relationships actually prohibit only promiscuous, predatory relationships. But conservatives have latched on to same-sex prohibition as their line in the sand. Some would argue they took up the cause when they lost the debate in the 1990s about ordaining women. It has given them a stick to knock progressive Anglicans into the ground. The election of Bishop Thorpe shows they are winning. The debate has echoes of the nasty debate that raged in the Anglican Church over divorce last century. Divorced people could not remarry in church, and often were made distinctly unwelcome in congregations. It was Melbourne Diocese in the 1970s that overturned that, and pushed the national church to change. And in 1972, Melbourne Diocese called for homosexuality to be decriminalised, eight years before the state government agreed. How sad that Melbourne has now joined the conservatives. Bishop Thorpe is quoted as saying that the same-sex debate is 'a distraction' from the message of the church. No, it is harming the church's message. The church's message is that God is love, and loves all people unconditionally – and that includes gay people, their spouses and their families.
Sydney Morning Herald
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Anglicans vote for change with new archbishop
Melbourne Anglicans have voted for 'massive change' in their new archbishop, Bishop Ric Thorpe from London, a specialist in 'church planting' and revitalising congregations, who will take up the post later this year. Thorpe, who describes himself as a low-church Anglican influenced by the charismatic movement, seems to tick most of the boxes for an archbishop in post-Christian Australia – although not on the topic of same-sex marriages. He is intelligent, personable, articulate and media-savvy, with a clear vision of both the challenges ahead and some potential ways of meeting them. The problems include declining congregations, large numbers of unviable parishes, a financial crisis that if unchecked will see the diocese run out of money in 2028, the need to reshape the diocesan centre ministry, and running a huge property portfolio. However, the diocese is more unified than the one Thorpe's predecessor, Archbishop Philip Freier, encountered when he arrived from Darwin in 2006. Thorpe, 59, says he is up for the challenge. 'The church in general has always got to be on the front foot of change, and institutionally we find change hard. We have to honour the past, navigate change in the present, and build for the future,' he says. He has spent much of his time on the edge of the institutional church, where there is space to try new things and not everything will work. 'At the centre there are some risks you can't take because it would lead to catastrophe. But if something takes root on the edge, it can change the centre of gravity. 'There are two kinds of institutional change, revolution and evolution. And revolution involves a lot of blood and pain, not good things. Evolution involves change at different paces.' Melbourne's election synod last month took only three ballots to give Thorpe the necessary two-thirds majority in both houses, laity and clergy. Not all Anglicans are delighted, however. Many in the shrinking but still influential wing of high-church Anglo-Catholics are unhappy at the election process, in which the nominations committee presented four candidates: Bishop Thorpe and three others from the evangelical wing, who are emerging leaders but not bishops. ('Evangelical' in the British and Australian context is not the deeply conservative, politically active, Donald Trump-supporting US version, but has kept its older meaning of favouring the Bible over tradition and emphasising making disciples.) Popular assistant bishop Paul Barker, considered acceptable to all the main factions, did not make the short list. 'What an indictment of the church in Australia that not one bishop was considered worthy,' said one Anglo-Catholic, pointing out that Thorpe has never been a conventional bishop with a region. As bishop of Islington in London, his role has been task-oriented, overseeing and mentoring church planters – those who establish new churches. But Thorpe clearly impressed during several long visits to Melbourne in recent years to work with church planters here, and his supporters see considerable strengths. One told The Age: 'He's smart, godly, and understands the complexity of the job, both spiritually and managerially. He has a really good understanding of what's needed to run a complex organisation, though that is secondary to spiritual importance.'
The Age
14-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Anglicans vote for change with new archbishop
Melbourne Anglicans have voted for 'massive change' in their new archbishop, Bishop Ric Thorpe from London, a specialist in 'church planting' and revitalising congregations, who will take up the post later this year. Thorpe, who describes himself as a low-church Anglican influenced by the charismatic movement, seems to tick most of the boxes for an archbishop in post-Christian Australia – although not on the topic of same-sex marriages. He is intelligent, personable, articulate and media-savvy, with a clear vision of both the challenges ahead and some potential ways of meeting them. The problems include declining congregations, large numbers of unviable parishes, a financial crisis that if unchecked will see the diocese run out of money in 2028, the need to reshape the diocesan centre ministry, and running a huge property portfolio. However, the diocese is more unified than the one Thorpe's predecessor, Archbishop Philip Freier, encountered when he arrived from Darwin in 2006. Thorpe, 59, says he is up for the challenge. 'The church in general has always got to be on the front foot of change, and institutionally we find change hard. We have to honour the past, navigate change in the present, and build for the future,' he says. He has spent much of his time on the edge of the institutional church, where there is space to try new things and not everything will work. 'At the centre there are some risks you can't take because it would lead to catastrophe. But if something takes root on the edge, it can change the centre of gravity. 'There are two kinds of institutional change, revolution and evolution. And revolution involves a lot of blood and pain, not good things. Evolution involves change at different paces.' Melbourne's election synod last month took only three ballots to give Thorpe the necessary two-thirds majority in both houses, laity and clergy. Not all Anglicans are delighted, however. Many in the shrinking but still influential wing of high-church Anglo-Catholics are unhappy at the election process, in which the nominations committee presented four candidates: Bishop Thorpe and three others from the evangelical wing, who are emerging leaders but not bishops. ('Evangelical' in the British and Australian context is not the deeply conservative, politically active, Donald Trump-supporting US version, but has kept its older meaning of favouring the Bible over tradition and emphasising making disciples.) Popular assistant bishop Paul Barker, considered acceptable to all the main factions, did not make the short list. 'What an indictment of the church in Australia that not one bishop was considered worthy,' said one Anglo-Catholic, pointing out that Thorpe has never been a conventional bishop with a region. As bishop of Islington in London, his role has been task-oriented, overseeing and mentoring church planters – those who establish new churches. But Thorpe clearly impressed during several long visits to Melbourne in recent years to work with church planters here, and his supporters see considerable strengths. One told The Age: 'He's smart, godly, and understands the complexity of the job, both spiritually and managerially. He has a really good understanding of what's needed to run a complex organisation, though that is secondary to spiritual importance.'
