(UNITED KINGDOM)
Lancashire Telegraph [Newport, Wales]
February 12, 2025
By Sarah McGee
The Bishop of Blackburn said it has been “an incredibly difficult period” for the Church of England after allegations of sexual assault and poor handling of abuse cases within the wider church.
The Right Reverend Philip North said Bishops “need to act quickly” to restore trust within the church, which will begin at the Synod (a gathering of church officials to address issues of administration, doctrine, or discipline) this week.
The Synod has met for the first time since the resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, after safeguarding failures.
He quit after pressure following a review which found Christian camp leader and prolific serial abuser John Smyth might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police five years before the barrister’s death.
In standing down, Mr Welby also noted his “long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England”.
The safeguarding debate in the Church has been a long-running one, and calls have also been made in recent months for Mr Welby’s temporary stand-in, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, to stand down.
Mr Cottrell has refused to quit after disclosures that a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse case was twice re-appointed under him while he was serving as Bishop of Chelmsford.
He has acknowledged things “could have been handled differently” but, appearing to reject calls to resign, has pledged to “do what I can” to bring about independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church.
He has also said it was “not possible” to remove the priest in that case from office until fresh complaints were made in 2019.
Other alleged ‘scandals’ include the resignation of The Bishop of Liverpool, who resigned as bishop last month following media coverage of sexual assault and harassment allegations against him, which he denies.
Bishop Philip said his heart “goes out to victims and survivors of abuse” adding that there is a “crisis in leadership” of the religion.
He said: “This has been an incredibly difficult period for the Church of England and my heart goes out to all victims and survivors of abuse. The bishops need to act quickly to restore trust and this will begin at Synod this week when we consider proposals for greater independence in safeguarding.
“Bishops also need to model a different approach to leadership, one that shows greater humility and places the child and the victim at the centre.
“Whilst there is a crisis in the leadership of the national church, the heroic work of our local churches in serving their communities continues and recent reports demonstrate the huge strides that parish churches have made in building a strong safeguarding culture.”
Synod members will debate and vote on a new safeguarding model for the Church of England today (Tuesday).
One model, known as model four, would see all safeguarding officers currently working in dioceses, cathedrals, and the national church transferred to work for a new independent organisation.
A different option, known as model three, would see most national staff move to a new outside non-church body, but other diocesan and cathedral officers remain with their current Church employers.
Both options would see safeguarding work scrutinised by a second external body, but papers published last month say it would take “a minimum of two years to legislate for a scrutiny body as a statutory body”.