ENGLAND
The Telegraph
March 5, 2018
By Olivia Rudgard
Clergy are resigning from the Church of England rather than face criminal record checks for child abuse, the inquiry into child sexual abuse has heard.
Opening three weeks of hearings into abuse in the Chuch, lead counsel Fiona Scolding said that priests in some parishes resigned their roles rather than face “criminal records and vetting and barring checks”.
“You will hear of parishes where individuals resign rather than face such checks, not because they have perpetrated any criminal offending, but because they consider that it is a slur on their character to even be asked such questions,” she told the inquiry.
The hearing also detailed a series of concerns about the Church’s past handling of abuse claims, including naivety, amateurism and an “excessive emphasis” on forgiving predators.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.