Archbishop of Canterbury Criticises Local Failures to Protect Children from Paedophile Priests

Brighton and Hove News
August 30, 2012

http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2012/08/30/archbishop-of-canterbury-criticises-local-failures-to-protect-children-from-paedophile-priests/17043

The Church of England diocese that includes Brighton and Hove and the recently retired Bishop of Chichester have been criticised in an official report.

The report was commissioned by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to investigate repeated failures to protect children in the area from paedophile priests.

The archbishop said that his office would oversee child protection in the diocese of Chichester for the foreseeable future.

His staff will also take over responsibility for decisions about the appointment of clergy, deciding who has “permission to officiate”.

Archbishop Rowan Williams

He said: “There have been many and longstanding failures in implementing a robust and credible safeguarding policy in the diocese of Chichester.

“The flaws in safeguarding practice have put children and others at risk.

“In the last couple of years much has been done to improve the situation but there remain several areas of concern.”

The official report by the retired Bishop of Chelmsford John Gladwin and Chancellor Rupert Bursell criticised the recently retired Bishop of Chichester John Hind.

It described the diocese as dysfunctional and said that the way that the church is run in Sussex needed to change.

The report said: “We were deeply concerned to be told by the outgoing diocesan bishop, speaking of the year 2010, that the diocese was ‘dysfunctional’, a description with which others within the senior team have agreed either expressly or by implication.

“Moreover, we have no doubt that this dysfunctionality continues to impinge upon the adequacy of safeguarding within the diocese.

“In our view the combination of the change of person and approach of the last bishop from his predecessor (whose long episcopate had profoundly shaped the diocesan culture), the dysfunctionality that subsequently arose within the diocese as a whole, and the breakdown of relationships with the safeguarding group have together proved to be disastrous.”

Bishop Martin Warner

The newly appointed Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner, said: “I am deeply grateful to the commissaries for their work in producing such a detailed, honest and wide-ranging analysis of the current situation concerning safeguarding in the diocese of Chichester.

“I have not yet officially begun my work as diocesan bishop and so, in many respects, their report comes at an apposite time as the diocese also looks forward to a new phase in its ministry and mission.

“This interim report reinforces for all who read it how the damage caused to each survivor is unique and intensely personal. Let us never forget that.

“Nor can we ever imagine that words of apology, deep and sincere though they might be, take away the damage and wicked shamefulness that survivors of abuse carry as a destructive burden.

“I am particularly grateful to the commissaries for their suggestion that I meet with all known survivors of abuse and will seek to do this as soon as my public ministry begins.

“It is very clear that there is absolute determination in the diocese of Chichester that we should engage fully and seriously with the recommendations that relate to us locally.

“This builds on the request by my predecessor, Bishop John Hind, for the archbishop to undertake a formal visitation.

“We shall also be resolute in drawing to the attention of the national church those recommendations that arise out of this visitation and that affect us institutionally at national level as the Church of England.

“In particular, we welcome the recommendation that complete transparency is needed concerning any abuse that has already taken place.

“Although it is as yet too soon to outline any strategy for our response to the report’s recommendations, I would like to draw particular attention to the following issues that the commissaries raise

We will aim to address head on what this report describes as disastrous ‘dysfunctionality’ resulting partly from ‘cultural variations’ in different parts of the diocese. We shall ensure that our diocesan-wide policy of safeguarding is implemented rigorously and evenly across the diocese in all aspects of our life.

The observation that the new Bishop of Chichester must exercise episcopal ministry across the whole diocese is apposite and helpful. Such an understanding of leadership and responsibility must not dilute the value of collaboration between bishops, priests, deacons and laity: that is essential. But the commissaries’ observation clearly indicates that ‘a radical change of culture in the Diocese’ will only come about through radical changes in our structures. We must address that challenge urgently.

The report refers to the effective use of resources for achieving the level of safeguarding properly expected by all, concluding that ‘the history of safeguarding in the diocese of Chichester has fallen woefully short of what should be expected of any institution with a ministry and care for young people and children’. It goes on to call for more resources and the better use of already available material and practices to avoid reinventing the wheel. We shall seek to respond to this and to build in to our implementation a process of ongoing review.

This report also poses challenges for the church nationally and I will be raising these with my fellow bishops. We need to ask whether our provision and are our national structures are sufficient to deliver the standards of action that our statutory and voluntary partners rightly expect of us in the arena of safeguarding?

“Since my appointment as bishop earlier this year I have heard, time and again, that the diocese has been buffeted by a seemingly never-ending saga of episodes that have, in the minds of some, called into question our ability to act decisively in response to instances of abuse.

Bishop John Hind

“Together with all who exercise the responsibility for leadership, we shall work across the diocese of Chichester to ensure that we are able to act, and seen to do so, whenever the issue of a child’s protection is at stake.

“This will be fundamental to building trust in our working relationships with statutory and voluntary partners.

“We have much to learn from all that has happened and must be humble in doing so, accepting our failures, responding with honesty and penitence, and demonstrating proper and appropriate engagement with those who are the victims of criminal and sub-Christian behaviour.

“But the future of the diocese cannot be determined by the failures of the past.

“Review and vigilance will be required of us at all times in the matter of safety and welfare for those who are young and vulnerable.

“This is vital if we are to recognise and sustain the invaluable contribution that Christians in the diocese of Chichester make to enriching the lives of children and young people in many important and hugely valuable ways.

“We are determined that this is a diocese in which the vulnerable will feel safe and will be safe.

“A new era has begun. I welcome the commissaries’ initial report as a mandate and encouragement for its growth.”