Archbishop of York Orders Review of Dead Clergy Files in Child Abuse Inquiry

By Sam Jones
The Guardian
August 16, 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/17/archbishop-york-review-files-child-abuse-inquiry

The archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, centre, has ordered a review of all files on dead clergy who served in the diocese from 1950 to the present. Photograph: Rex Features

The archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has ordered a review of all the files on dead clergy who served in the diocese from 1950 to the present so that an independent investigator can determine whether they may have sexually abused children.

The move comes five weeks after the Church of England's General Synod apologised for its failure to listen to abuse victims, and a month after Sentamu launched an independent inquiry into the church's handling of reports of alleged child abuse by the late Robert Waddington, a former dean of Manchester.

Announcing the review, Sentamu acknowledged the "immense damage" done to children who are sexually abused and said the passage of time did not automatically bring healing.

He said: "Where young people are shown to have been betrayed by individuals in a position of trust and by the institution's failure to protect them, it is for the church to acknowledge the hurt which has been done, to offer a full apology, and to prove, so far as is possible, that policies and practices are improved such that the same systemic failure could never be repeated."

Although the church conducted a national review of past cases of child abuse four years ago, it did not extend to the files of deceased clergy. The C of E says it has now recognised the importance of such files to the church and the agencies that may receive reports of abuse by clergy who have since died.

The archbishop's chief of staff, the Rev Malcolm Macnaughton, said the church's priority was now to listen to those who had shown the courage to come forward.

"We want them to know that their story will be listened to, and that where the church has been at fault this will be acknowledged," he said. "Because of policies now in place we believe that today's young people are in a much safer position – but there is no room for complacency. So the message is – if anyone has information about known or suspected abuse – please do not hesitate to come forward."

Macnaughton added that any allegations relating to sexual abuse by living members of the clergy should be reported directly to the police of the local safeguarding children panel.

Waddington, who was dean of Manchester Cathedral between 1984 and 1990, is alleged to have abused several boys in Britain and abroad. He died in 2007.

It has been alleged that in 1999 the then Archbishop of York, David (now Lord) Hope, was told that Waddington had abused a pupil while he was the headteacher at a school in Queensland, Australia. And in 2003, a former choirboy at Manchester Cathedral claimed he had been abused by Waddington in the 1980s.

Lord Hope has strenuously denied allegations that he acted negligently by failing to report the complaints against Waddington to the police and insisted that he always adhered to the Church of England's safeguarding guidelines.