The Archbishop of York has said some people struggle with the traditional Biblical phrase ‘our Father’.
The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell called the term – used for centuries at the start of The Lord’s Prayer – ‘problematic’ for victims of abusive parents.
He also said it was an issue for anyone who suffers in a male-dominated society during a speech to the Church of England’s governing body yesterday.
On Friday night, his comments to the General Synod were welcomed by some in the clergy. But they were criticised by traditionalists and risk triggering another row over woke language in the Church.
It emerged earlier this year that the CofE is considering referring to God in ‘non-gendered’ terms in services for the first time, which could see priests stop using the pronouns He and Him in prayers. The Archbishop, the Church’s second most senior cleric, devoted his presidential address in York to the importance of the word ‘our’.
Read more: Archbishop of York Rev Stephen Cottrell says ‘Our Father’ is problematic
