YORK (UNITED KINGDOM)
BBC [London, England]
December 25, 2024
By Aleem Maqbool
The Archbishop of York, who will effectively take over as leader of the Church of England next month, has called for change in his Christmas sermon.
Stephen Cottrell delivered his remarks as the Church faces criticism over failures in its handling of various abuse scandals.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned last month after he was criticised for not doing enough to stop a prolific abuser. He will not preside over the Christmas service at Canterbury Cathedral.
Some victims directly affected by the abuse scandals have spoken about experiencing a difficult Christmas, saying they feel that they are still not being listened to.
One woman, who says she was sexually abused by a priest, told the BBC: “I just feel that Stephen Cottrell hasn’t really thought about how victims would feel [that he is] the voice of the Church moving into Christmas”.
Mr Cottrell, set to take over many of the Church’s leadership duties on 6 January when Mr Welby leaves his position, has faced calls to step down.
At York Minster on Christmas morning, he talked of the need not just to talk about justice and love but to “walk the talk”.
He spoke of “the inadequacies of those who talk a good game, but whose words are never embodied in action”.
Mr Cottrell also talked of helping the most vulnerable, saying: “Put the needs of others first – those who are cold and hungry and homeless this Christmas. Those who are victims of abuse and exploitation.”
“Right now, this Christmas, God’s Church itself needs to come to the manger and strip off her finery and kneel in penitence and adoration,” he said.
“And be changed. At the centre of the Christmas story is a vulnerable child; a vulnerable child that Herod’s furious wrath will try and destroy, for like every tyrant he cannot abide a rival.
“The Church of England… needs to look at this vulnerable child, at this emptying out of power to demonstrate the power of love, for in this vulnerable child we see God.”
However, Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley criticised the sermon, describing it as “empty words. I have no words more than that to describe their meaning.”
She previously said Mr Cottrell should resign as archbishop.
Mr Cottrell has been under scrutiny over his handling of a priest in his charge, David Tudor, who had been barred by the Church from being alone with children but who for years remained in his post.
In November, the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned following a report that criticised his handling of John Smyth who abused more than 120 boys and young men.
The Church said Mr Welby would be spending “private time with his family” this Christmas.
Other bishops have confronted the Church crisis head on in their Christmas messages.
The Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, who has faced his own calls to resign, spoke of “a crisis in confidence in many of our institutions, including in our own Church”.
Mr Croft said Christmas was a time to pause and take stock.
Churches around the country have focused on a gospel story of hope defying darkness, but this year with an unusually troubled backdrop, local clergy are hearing frustration from parishioners.
“It’s just a magical time for the community, but this month has been really hard to be in the Church of England because of all that’s going on. It’s an institution that’s probably in crisis really,” said Rev Matt Woodcock, vicar at St Stephen’s Church in York.
“There is a sense that people feel really confused and disappointed with what’s going on, and just longing for some leadership to get things sorted out,” he said, adding that he has often felt the need to apologise for the institution to which he belongs.
Rev Woodcock said that this Christmas he is focussing on reassuring people that the Church is still there to support them at the local level.
But one woman has told of her profound disappointment at the response of the national Church leadership to the abuse she says she faced.
The woman, who does not want to be identified, says she was sexually abused as a girl in the 1980s by the priest David Tudor.
She only discovered last year that Tudor had been allowed back into the Church after suspension and had served as a priest for nine years under Mr Cottrell.
“I will find it difficult to listen to [a Christmas sermon from] Stephen Cottrell and not separate the message that he’s putting across from what I know,” she says.
A BBC Investigation revealed that when he became Bishop of Chelmsford in 2010, Mr Cottrell was told about abuse allegations against Tudor, a priest who was banned from being alone with children.
Mr Cottrell was later told he had paid an alleged victim, and the Church also settled a six-figure sum with another woman who said she had been abused by Tudor, but Tudor was only suspended in 2019 when a police investigation was launched.
The archbishop said that that had been his first opportunity to act.
“All I see is a man that has let me and many victims down,” says the woman who adds that the Church failed to explain to her how Tudor had returned to the priesthood.
The woman talked of this being a particularly difficult Christmas for her because it was her first without her grandmother who died earlier this year.
“When she found out what David Tudor had done to me she never set foot in a church again. She knew what was right and wrong, she felt compassion for me and immediately knew what to do,” she says.
“It is in complete contrast to the actions of the Church.”
Tudor was arrested in April 2019 on suspicion of indecent assault but the case was dropped in August 2022.
He was sacked as a priest this October after admitting sexual misconduct to a Church of England tribunal.
Surrey Police said last month they would review allegations of “non-recent indecent assault offences” against a man in the light of the tribunal’s findings.
Tudor has not responded to any of the BBC’s requests for comment.