THE Bishop of Hereford has criticised a new video aimed at putting the Church of England in touch with younger people.

The Rt Rev John Oliver described the £25,000 film, Restoring Hope in Our Church, as being "old hat" and comparing it unfavour-ably with a video produced by the Hereford Diocese.

The video shows the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, saying that that Church of England needs to be honest about the fact that it is not appealing to youngsters.

"It is interspersed with endless shots of Victorian stained-glass and statuary with some even worse modern art, some quite unspeakably awful images which are used unfortunately more than once," said the Bishop, who has announced his intention to retire later this year.

He also raised concerns about the video's title, which has been sent out to every vicarage in the country.

"It begs the question of whether we have actually lost hope in the church."

A spokesperson for the Restoring Hope project defended the video, saying the aim was to help people ask questions, not supply the answers.

"We have had far more praise than criticism and the imagery we used is deliberately aimed at the more traditional churchgoer," she said.

This morning, Annie Holden, communication officer for Bishop John, said he felt that their video, Local Ministry, was more in tune with the younger generation.