Bishop responsible for safeguarding says she cannot guarantee abuse has been stamped out, after the Archbishop of Canterbury quit over a church cover-up scandal
The Church of England is “not a safe institution” and it cannot be guaranteed that abuse has been stamped out, a bishop has said.
Julie Conalty, the deputy lead for safeguarding, was speaking after the Archbishop of Canterbury quit over a church cover-up that allowed a child abuser to continue his cruel attacks. Justin Welby, 68, told of his “sorrow” for the victims and “a profound sense of shame” after John Smyth beat boys at Christian camps. A report found if he had told police about the abuse, the sadistic attacker could have faced justice before he died aged 75 in 2018. There are now increasing calls for more senior members of the Church to face questions about what they knew about abuse.
Ms Conalty, the Bishop of Birkenhead, said on Wednesday: “It is frustrating for me because in many ways we have been working really hard at making churches safer places. No institution, nothing, can ever be totally safe but there has been loads of really good work going on. We still have this institutional problem where we are not putting victims and survivors at the centre. In some ways, we are not a safe institution.”
But the second most senior figure in the Church of England has said he does not think any more bishops should resign in the wake of the independent Makin Review. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said: “Those who actively covered this up [should resign], which was not bishops. When people speak about the Church of England, we need to remember we are speaking about literally thousands of branches, parishes, chaplaincies.”
Ms Conalty, speaking on Wednesday, said while Mr Welby has “done the right thing” in resigning, that alone will not solve the Church’s problems. She said: “This is about institutional changes, our culture and a systemic failure, so there must be more that we need to do. Very possibly some other people should go. I’m not here to name names.”
Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, the only bishop who had publicly called for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign, echoed this view. The Bishop of Newcastle said Mr Welby was “right” to step down, but that it “does not solve the church’s profound failure” on safeguarding “nor does it excuse others whose neglect of their duties is exposed by the Makin report”. In his resignation statement, Mr Welby said he was quitting “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse”.
Across five decades in three different countries and involving as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa, Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual and psychological attacks, permanently marking their lives.
