Head of Church of England resigns amid failure to report sexual abuse – National
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned on Tuesday after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about a series of sexual abuse committed by a volunteer at a Christian summer camp as soon as he became aware of it.
Pressure on Welby has been mounting since Thursday, when the release of the inquiry sparked outrage over a lack of accountability at the top of the church.
“It is very clear that I must commit personally and institutionally to a long and traumatic period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby said in a statement announcing his resignation. “I believe the retreat is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I love so much and have been honored to serve.”
Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, said on Monday that Welby’s position is “untenable” after some members of the church’s national council started a petition for him to step down because “he no longer trusts his pastors.”
But the loudest outcry came from the victims of the late John Smyth, a prominent lawyer who abused teenage boys and young men at Christian summer camps in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa in the fifties. Andrew Morse, who was beaten repeatedly by Smyth over a five-year period, said the resignation was an opportunity for Welby to begin to repair the damage caused by the church’s handling of widespread abuse cases.
“I believe it is now his turn to resign,” Morse told the BBC before Welby stepped down. “I mean an opportunity in the sense that this could be an opportunity to stand with the victims of Smyth’s abuse and all the victims who were not treated the way the Church of England was in their cases of abuse.”
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Welby’s resignation comes after widespread sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that respect for the authority of priests, a lack of acceptance of gender discussions and a culture that favored those accused of offending more than their victims helped make the Church of England “a breeding ground for abusers.” hide.”
Welby’s supporters have pointed out that he has been instrumental in changing the culture of the church since becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.
But it was a criminal investigation that began long before that day that eventually led to his downfall.
The church on Thursday released the results of an independent investigation into Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa since the 1970s.
The 251-page report by the Makin Review concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to the authorities when he was told of the abuse in August 2013, shortly after he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Welby last week pledged to ensure the allegations were pursued “vigorously” as they should have done after learning of the abuse, but said he had decided not to resign.
On Monday, Welby’s office issued a statement reiterating that position and expressing its “shock at the level of John Smyth’s appalling abuse.”
Church officials were first made aware of the abuse in 1982, when they received the results of an internal investigation into Smyth. The recipients of that report “engaged in an active cover-up” to prevent the findings from coming to light, the Makin Review found.
Smith moved to Zimbabwe in 1984 and later moved to South Africa. He continued to abuse boys and young men in Zimbabwe, and there is evidence that the abuse continued in South Africa until his death in August 2018.
Smyth’s abuse was not made public until a 2017 investigation by British television station Channel 4, which led to an investigation by Hampshire police. Police were planning to question Smyth at the time of his death and were preparing to bring him home.
Stephen Cherry, rector of King’s College Cambridge, said Welby could no longer represent the people.
“There are situations where something happens where someone in a key leadership position loses trust and confidence and the ability to do that wonderful thing that someone like an archbishop does, representing everybody at some point in public,” Cherry told the BBC before Welby resigned.
“And the pain in the community of the victims and the history of not listening to the people and not responding to the people who were hurt the most by those in positions means that he is no longer a person who can represent that office.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
