Methodists’ shame as they say sorry for 2,000 cases of abuse
THE Methodist Church yester- day made an ‘unreserved’ public apology for failing to protect children and vulnerable adults after an investigation uncovered nearly 2,000 cases of abuse within the institution.
The independent inquiry revealed 1,885 cases of alleged abuse linked to the church in Britain, the largest proportion of which were of a sexual nature, dating back to the 1950s.
The 100-page report also disclosed that many serving church ministers and staff helped to protect colleagues who carried out abuse.
One case concerned the grooming of teenage girls on Facebook while another involved a minister allegedly making sexual advances to children. Methodist general secretary, the Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, said the cases of abuse would remain ‘a deep source of grief and shame to the church’.
He said: ‘On behalf of the Methodist Church in Britain I want to express an unreserved apology for the failure of its current and earlier processes fully to protect children, young people and adults from physical and sexual abuse inflicted by some ministers.’
He described as ‘deeply regrettable’ the fact that the church had not always listened properly to abuse victims and had not always cared for them.
Report chairman Jane Stacey, former deputy chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, called for a culture change in the church. Ministers of religion were in an almost unique position of trust at very vulnerable times in people’s lives, she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘Impossible to recover’
The church commissioned the review, which took three years to complete, because it said it wanted to be open about the past and to have stronger safeguarding procedures in the future.
It received 2,556 responses and identified 1,885 cases, including alleged sexual, physical, emotional and domestic abuse, as well as cases of neglect.
Complaints of sexual abuse accounted for 914 cases and ministers or lay employees were involved in 26 per cent of the alleged cases.
In 61 of these cases there was contact with the police and there are six ongoing police investigations as a result. There were 200 Methodist ministers identified as perpetrators or alleged perpetrators within the report.
It also identified that there was a problem with those working in the Methodist Church being unable to believe or act on alle- gations against their colleagues. Worryingly, the report revealed that the number of perpetrators has remained consistent over the past 12 years and shows ‘no sign of decline’.
One abuse survivor said: ‘I have learnt that it is impossible to recover from sexual abuse when no one recognises the seriousness of it. My church did not want a scandal, my parents did not want a scandal.
‘I was left to feel worthless and devalued, while the man was left to get on with his life and for all I know repeat the crime with someone else. I was emotionally and physically devastated.’