Two top clergymen have announced that they will retire later this year.

George Austin: disillusioned by liberal element

They are the Archdeacon of York, the Ven George Austin, who moved to the city in 1988, and the Right Rev David Young, Bishop of Ripon since 1977.

Archdeacon Austin will retire at the end of August and the bishop, the second longest-serving bishop in the Church of England, will step down on September 2 - his 68th birthday.

Today the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, acknowledged the important role Archdeacon Austin had played within the diocese and said he admired his "stickability under difficult times for the Church".

He said he greatly appreciated him as a member of his staff team. He was grateful for the ministry he had exercised in the diocese and wished him well for his retirement.

Archdeacon Austin's retirement will take effect from the end of August. The often controversial clergyman was ordained in 1955 and became a curate in Blackburn, then in Notting Hill, London. In 1988 he was appointed Archdeacon of York and a Canon of York (Prebend of Riccall).

He was reported in national newspapers this weekend as marking his retirement announcement with a fresh attack on the Church of England for "marginalising traditionalist priests".

He was reported as saying: "I am all in favour of the existence of the liberal element in the life of the church, but they shouldn't ridicule and ignore everyone else."

The 68-year-old clergyman is one of the most controversial critics of church reform and is said to be increasingly disillusioned by the liberal element of the Church's leadership.

The Archdeacon has criticised the ordination of women and condemned senior religious figures for adopting a softer line on homosexuality.

Three years earlier he created a storm by saying that the Prince of Wales's adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles made him unfit to eventually become the supreme governor of the Church of England.

Taking the Church away from its traditional values was a key factor behind the decline of the institution, he said.

A Sunday newspaper quoted him as saying that the present state of the Church owed much to the primacy of former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Runcie "which emphasised the liberal culture of the 1960s".

A spokesman for the Church said the Archdeacon did not hold excessively outspoken views.

He said: "There are other people who have been far louder and more critical of the ordination of women. And I don't agree that it is early retirement, he could have retired at 65."

The role of Archdeacon includes inspecting church buildings, admitting churchwardens to office, dealing with some matters of ecclesiastical law, carrying out pastoral work with clergy, and overseeing pastoral reorganisation including boundary changes.

And if for any reason the Archbishop of York is unavailable, his role in the diocese can be taken on by the Archdeacon and the Suffragan Bishop.

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