A BISHOP is advocating a “tough love” solution to Church of England clergy whose flocks refuse to put their hands in their pockets or do good works: refuse to bless them at the end of the service.

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev David Stancliffe, said such a radical step was justified as a way to help congregations to leave church with a renewed sense of mission, purpose and commitment.

Traditionally, the leader or “president” at a Eucharist will make the sign of the cross as he or she says at the end: “And the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always, Amen.”

Withholding the blessing would be one of the most severe sanctions a cleric could impose on a congregation. It would be guaranteed to invoke a sense of guilt that would not be removed until absolution were pronounced after confession the following Sunday.

The Bishop said: “I do not think it is responsible to send people out of worship without having charged their sense of mission, even if it is to go out and put into practice something that was trailed in the sermon.

“For example, in Christian Aid week it is perfectly proper at the end of the sermon to say, ‘There are three streets in the parish that need visiting and, my dears, you are not going to get God’s blessing until someone sticks up a hand’.”

The Bishop is from a sacramental, Anglo-Catholic background but is not averse to innovation. He has a love of music, especially Classical and Baroque.

As chairman of the Church’s Liturgical Commission he is the bishop responsible for prayer books. He was speaking on publication of his first book, God’s Pattern: Shaping Our Worship, Ministry and Life, in which he criticises the standard of worship in the Church.

In the book, the Bishop says: “In an age when the standards of public performance are so high, how do worshippers manage to keep on going to church faithfully when the way worship is prepared and offered is often so dire; when it is frequently confused with entertainment; and when it is led by those who apparently have no idea about what they are doing or professional competence in doing it?”

He compares Anglican services with a baptism he went to recently in Greece.

“Every detail of what was done was watched intently: the priest, followed by the father, blowing away the Devil in cross-shaped puffs; the pouring of the oil on baptismal waters; the oiling of the infant, appropriately named Herakles, for the struggle with the forces of evil ahead like any athlete preparing for the contest.”

The Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Colin Slee, said: “Whose Christmas is he trying to make happy? I always say to my congregation that the collection at Christmas should rustle because we do not want to wake the baby Jesus.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• An officer and a gentle woman
• Dame Helen Mirren is worthy of the Epidaurus
• Foods that can help to prevent swine flu