LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
January 7, 2025
By Bess Twiston Davies
New peer says issue of children and religious institutions is at centre of public debate
A Catholic expert on social care appointed a life peer in the New Year Honours believes “we have never listened properly to children.”
“That is the heart of the problem of abuse and much else,” Gerard Lemos, who is the Chair of English Heritage, told The Tablet.
Lemos launched his book Childhood and Contemporary Catholicism in November in Rome 24 hours before Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury after a crisis triggered by his mishandling of the abuser John Smyth,
“The issue of children and religious institutions is once more at the forefront of public debate,” said Lemos, who is Chair of National Savings & Investments (NS&I), and Chair of London Institute of Banking and Finance.
He told The Tablet: “Sometime after I enter the Lords in February parliament will debate assisted dying. On grounds of conscience and conviction I am deeply troubled by legislation that permits assisted dying. My Catholic faith obviously influences my views tremendously as does my experience having worked in hospice care when I left university.”
For seven years, Lemos was chair of the prison and probation service and spoke of his hope for “fundamental reform” following the review of sentencing by David Gauke, the former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
Other Catholics to receive New Year Honours included Andy Keens-Down, the chief executive of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) who has received a CBE. Keens-Down told The Tablet prisons were “in crisis,” saying, “they are overcrowded, under-funded, and hold many people who are mentally ill, and in need of hospital care, and others on short sentences who would be better paying back their debt to society in the community.”
He added: “Our courts are backlogged and our probation service is struggling. The UK incarcerates a higher percentage of our citizens than any other democratic European nation. Change is urgently needed.”
Keens-Down has been director of PACT for 20 years. Originally founded as Catholic Prisoners’ Aid Society in 1898, it was later known as the Bourne Trust and now delivers services to 90 prisons on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
The charity supports tens of thousands of men, women, and young people in prison, as well as their children and families, and people on probation. “Our work is needed more than ever,” said Keens-Down who described his CBE as a “great” and “unexpected honour” he hoped “would help raise awareness” of PACT’s work.
Other prominent Catholics to receive New Years’ Honours include Dr Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery. He has received a knighthood for services to Art and Culture. Sue Gray, former chief of staff at Downing Street known for her role in investigating “partygate” has also been made a Labour peer.
Margaret Yates, a former headteacher who is now chief executive at All Saints Catholic Collegiate, in Stoke-on-Trent also received an OBE for her services to education.Childhood and Contemporary Catholicism is available to read free at www.lemosandcrane.co.uk