Arguments over power and sex in Christian churches

"The archbishop of Canterbury is proposing to disolve the fractious and bitterly divided worldwide Anglican communion and replace it with with a much loser grouping - after conceding it has become impossible to hold together due to arguments over power and sexuality."

That's the opening paragraph in the lead story on the front page of yesterday's Guardian newspaper.

Archbishop Justin Welby said that the Anglican communion has for the last 20 years been completely dysfunctional.

An honest man. No doubt when he compares what he sees in the world of industry, where he has spent most of his working life, with what goes on in the church, he sees with sharp eyes what's going on.

Of course it is the same story in the Catholic Church, right across dioceses and within religious congregations.

Dysfunctional is a good word to describe the situation.

"Spending vast amounts of time trying to keep people in the boat and never actually rowing it anywhere," said a Lambeth Palace source.

It makes for good reading to compare what Justin Welby says with what papal nunico to Irealnd, Charles Brown was quoted as saying some weeks ago in The Irish Times.