UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post
Jack Sommers
When a church leader was accused of a serious crime, Simon Bass was the man on the police speed dial.
Ordinarily, the softly-spoken Bass is robust in talking about the successes of himself and his devoted colleagues, who work for a charity that helps safeguard children in religious institutions that are sometimes slow to act to protect them. But this time he has to be careful.
Thanks in part to his success as a mediator, there is a court case imminent. Bass hints it is a “very insular” church that is wary of outsiders. A woman has accused one of the church’s senior members of abuse. A detective and a Local Authority Delegated Officer (Lado) met with other church leaders seeking more information, fearing there could have been more victims, but made no progress.
“They were concerned there were other victims out there but concerned they weren’t going to get anywhere, because it’s very much a closed shop, and felt frustrated,” Bass says.
He was invited to attend a second meeting to see if he could be of any help. “I spent time with two of the other leaders. They didn’t want to talk to me about what we were there to discuss. They wanted to know about my churchmanship. What church did I go to? What did I believe? What’s my understanding of what they believe? We engaged in that conversation. They then felt confident in that meeting – this is where that bridge is – to defer to me, to ask questions.
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