Archbishop of York 'deeply ashamed' at church's handling of child abuse allegations

By Mike Laycock
York Press
October 22, 2014

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11551219.Archbishop_of_York__deeply_ashamed__at_church_s_handling_of_child_abuse_allegations/?ref=rss

Dr John Sentamu

A REPORT on the Church of England’s handling of child abuse allegations against a former cathedral dean has strongly criticised a former Archbishop of York.

It says Lord Hope struggled with the conflict between his responsibilities for both the pastoral care of clergy and discipline, and says his concern for the welfare of Robert Waddington seemed to have been paramount in his response to the allegations against the former Dean of Manchester Cathedral.

The report, published following an independent inquiry set up by current Archbishop Dr John Sentamu, also identifies ‘systemic failures’ in the church’s failure to implement or follow its own procedures and guidelines on the reporting of incidents.

It makes eight recommendations for future handling of allegations, including policies that decision-makers should not have a pastoral responsibility for the alleged perpetrator, child protection should be approached on a national rather than diocesan basis and record keeping should be national.

Dr Sentamu said he was ‘deeply ashamed’ that the church was not vigilant enough to ensure such things did not happen, adding: “Any act of abuse committed by someone in a position of authority in the Church is a matter of shame and requires deep repentance.”

He also revealed that one person who reported abuse to the inquiry had asked him to raise the question of The Confessional. “His view is that disclosures made in the context of a formal the confession which give rise to safeguarding concerns should not enjoy absolute confidentiality, “ he said, “I have every sympathy with this view.”

He said he therefore welcomed the fact that the Archbishops’ council had decided to commission theological and legal work to explore whether the current position in relation to admissions of abuse during confessional should be changed.

The report says Mr Waddington, who died from cancer about six years ago, was alleged to have abused a chorister in Manchester in the 1980s and a schoolboy in Australia.

It says that in 1999, Lord Hope failed to take any advice from his own child protection advisor, conducted an interview with Mr Waddington alone, risking the contamination of evidence, failed to consider current risks to children and failed to attach weight to guidance that people who abuse are practised in deception.

In 2003, he failed to take any action at all over allegations, and further breached policies again in 2004.

“The consequential result of those failures were that by once again acting independently and not asking advice from anyone, he failed to appreciate the consequences for anyone other than Robert Waddington, and in particular failed to consider the effect on any of the potential victims and on children who may be at risk,”it says.

Lord Hope said in a statement today that as someone who had always taken safeguarding extremely seriously, he was ‘obviously disappointed’ that the inquiry had raised concerns about how the two cases were dealt with during his time at Bishopthorpe.

“I always took great care and acted in, what I believed to be, an appropriate and effective manner in cases where the abuse of victims was brought to my attention,” he said.

“I note that the inquiry itself is clear that no allegations of abuse in the Diocese of York were ever made during my time as Archbishop.”

He said it was a matter of ‘great regret’ that when non-specific anonymous allegations were first made in Manchester, the church and himself were not more pro-active in seeking out or assisting a reluctant complainant.

“Nor is it any comfort that other organisations were no more diligent at that time when dealing with similar situations.”

He also said: “If any of the two persons concerned feel in the light of this report they have been denied the justice they deserve then, on behalf of the church, I offer my personal and profound apology.”