The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, side-stepped a resignation call from an abuse survivor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, as the Church of England faced mounting criticism following the publication of a damning report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
The IICSA report, published on Tuesday, 6 October 2020, declared: “Convictions of sexual abuse of children by people who were clergy or in positions of trust associated with the Church date back to the 1940s. The total number of convicted offenders associated with the Church from the 1940s until 2018 is 390. In 2018, 449 concerns were reported to the Church about recent child sexual abuse, of which more than half related to church officers. Latterly, a significant amount of offending involved the downloading or possession of indecent images of children.”
Cases examined by the inquiry demonstrated the Church’s failure to take seriously disclosures by or about children or to refer allegations to the statutory authorities, said the report.
It said that the culture of the Church of England “facilitated it becoming a place where abusers could hide”, adding that “alleged perpetrators were treated more supportively than victims”.
The Report went on: “The Church’s neglect of the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of children and young people in favour of protecting its reputation was in conflict with its mission of love and care for the innocent and the vulnerable."
Recommendations in the report include proposals that:
- The Church of England should improve how it responds to safeguarding complaints, by, for example, reintroducing a rule to expel any member of the clergy found guilty of child sexual abuse offences
- Responsibility for safeguarding should be taken out of the hands of diocesan bishops and given to safeguarding officers employed by the central hierarchy of the Church
- The Church of England and the Church in Wales should share information about clergy who move between the two institutions
- The Church should introduce policies for funding and support of survivors of child sexual abuse whose perpetrators had a connection to the Church.
IICSA chair, Professor Alexis Jay, said: "Over many decades, the Church of England failed to protect children and young people from sexual abusers, instead facilitating a culture where perpetrators could hide and victims faced barriers to disclosure that many could not overcome.
"Within the Church in Wales, there were simply not enough safeguarding officers to carry out the volume of work required of them. Record-keeping was found to be almost non-existent and of little use in trying to understand past safeguarding issues."
Archbishops Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell had promised to "listen, to learn and to act" upon the report's findings. In an open letter, they wrote: "We are truly sorry for the shameful way the Church has acted. We cannot and will not make excuses and can again offer our sincere and heartfelt apologies to those who have been abused, and to their families, friends and colleagues. We make an absolute commitment to taking action to make the Church a safe place for everyone, as well as to respond to the needs of survivors for support and redress."
But survivors say that they have heard apologies and regrets before, and that the Archbishops have still not apologised specifically to particular survivors they know, depsite having been asked to do so on numerous occasions.
Gilo, co-editor with the Rev Janet Fife of Letters to a Broken Church, which draws on the personal experience and expertise of survivors of abuse and their allies, told BBC Radio 4's PM programme yesterday afternoon that the Archbishop of Canterbury should now consider his position, given the IICSA verdict that his Church had failed dismally in its duties to abuse victims.
Meanwhile, one church, St Margaret's in Rainham, has purchased 200 copies of Letters to a Broken Church for all its members, and is encouraging other parishes and dioceses to do likewise.
The Rev Nathan Ward explained: “Nationally the church has systematically failed when it comes to safeguarding and its duties towards victims of abuse. Here at St Margaret’s we too need to own the failures of the past and the hurt which has been caused. We need to find ways of genuine repentance which implicitly holds the notion of ‘never again’.
"One of the first things I did when I became Vicar here was undertake a thorough safeguarding audit and we continually seek new ways to strengthen our systems and procedures relating to safeguarding. One new initiative is to recruit local professionals to sit on our safeguarding committee (which is a sub committee of the PCC) to ensure external scrutiny of all our work.
"Members of the congregation and Parish need to understand the devastation caused when things go wrong. To help this process we have ordered 200 copies of the book Letters to a broken Church. The book draws on the personal experience of survivors of abuse and their allies, and speaks directly into the existential abuse crisis facing the Church of England and other Christian denominations right now.”
* Information and purchase link for Letters to a Broken Church (Ekklesia Publishing) here
* For bulk order discount enquiries, please use the form here
* Download the IICSA Anglican Church Report here
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