From Australia-
Most often when we see our church leaders in the news, they're usually being criticised by people outside the church.
However in the Anglican Diocese of Ballarat the criticism is coming from within.
Bishop Michael Hough is being attacked from within his own diocese by some parishioners who aren't happy with his leadership.
He spoke for the first time about the criticism with ABC Ballarat presenter Dominic Brine.
Bishop Hough says some Anglicans in his diocese are resisting the change he's wanting to implement - namely, taking the church beyond the pulpit in the cathedral to the community at large, in keeping with his background as a missionary and as a former Franciscan Catholic priest.
"It's difficult to be a member of a church in the modern world today.
"As we often say the world's become very secular, very individualistic; and being part of a church is a message that seems to be opposed to the world.
"I think Christians are under siege a bit: we Anglicans in particular, and we struggle.
"We only have 2,000 Anglicans in the whole of the diocese with an average age of 67, so we are a diocese in crisis; and we're wondering is this the last generation of believers, and there's a tendency when we're in difficult situations to circle the wagons and hold on to what we've got.
More here-
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/05/05/2890849.htm?site=ballarat
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