CANTERBURY (UNITED KINGDOM)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
November 12, 2024
By Sarah Einselen
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned today, following the release of a long-anticipated report concluding that Welby, the Church of England’s highest spiritual leader, covered up serial physical abuse.
The independent review, commissioned in 2019, revealed that Welby knew by 2013 at the latest that the late Anglican leader, John Smyth, had been accused of abuse.
As The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported, John Smyth subjected young men to sadistic physical abuse starting in the 1970s, when he ran a system of evangelical boys’ camps in England and later in Zimbabwe. Some of the boys reportedly suffered thousands of beatings over the course of many years.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby wrote as part of a statement announcing his resignation.
The review, conducted by Keith Makin and commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, was released last Thursday. It states that Welby became aware of allegations against Smyth in 2013 in his role as the archbishop. The abuses became public in 2017, and Smyth died in 2018.
“. . . The conclusion that must be reached is that John Smyth could and should have been reported to the police in 2013,” the review states. “This could (and probably would) have led to a full investigation, the uncovering of the truth of the serial nature of the abuses in the UK, involving multiple victims and the possibility of a conviction being brought against him.
“In effect, three and a half years was lost, a time within which John Smyth could have been brought to justice and any abuse he was committing in South Africa discovered and stopped,” the Makin review adds.
Welby reportedly apologized last week after the Makin review’s release, but said at the time that he wouldn’t resign.
However, a petition calling for Welby’s resignation gathered more than 13,000 signatures. Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley was reportedly the most senior church leader to call for Welby to step down ahead of his announcement.
“I think rightly people are asking the question ‘Can we really trust the Church of England to keep us safe?’ And I think the answer at the moment is ‘no’,” Hartley told the BBC on Monday.
Lee Furney, a survivor advocate who was abused by another Anglican leader, noted before the resignation that Welby “failed to safeguard the young people of South Africa from enduring abuse.”
Furney added that Welby also failed to call senior leaders, who enabled the acknowledged cover-up to account. Plus, Welby ensured that “Smyth’s long overdue prosecution did not, and can no longer, take place.”
Furney also pointed out in an emailed statement to TRR that Welby promised to meet with Smyth’s victims in 2017. But Welby refused to schedule the meeting until he was confronted about it in 2021, Furney stated.
Others have noted Welby’s personal connection to the Smyth scandal. Welby attended the camps Smyth ran and became archbishop months before a report of abuses reached the church’s highest leadership, according to the Makin review.
Given his connection to the camps, the Makin review concluded, “(I)t was unlikely that Justin Welby would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding John Smyth in the 1980s in the UK.”
The review added, “(Welby) may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse, but it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”
Furney lamented the impact Smyth’s abuses have had, noting that victims “have lost homes, wives, health (and) even their minds.”
“The church has lost confidence in the leaders involved,” Furney continued. “The public has lost confidence in the church. It’s now time for those responsible to lose their jobs in order to begin the process of restoration and renewal.”
Furney added that Archbishop Welby’s resignation should not be the “end of the matter” but “the start.”
Leaders at the camps Smyth ran knew as early as 1982 about Smyth’s alleged abuse. An internal investigation at that time found that the “scale and severity of the practice (spiritually abusive beatings) was horrific,” with some victims having been beaten 14,000 times.
Yet, instead of reporting Smyth to police and publicly exposing him, other leaders at the camps allowed Smyth to go to Africa to minister, where his abuse reportedly continued.
“The can has been kicked down the road for 42 years since a secret internal report in 1982,” Furney said. “The Makin Report is the end of that road. Finally, some people need to take responsibility and resign, or get the can.”