Archbishops at war over child abuse inquiries
Carey ‘has no faith in Welby’
THE HEAD of the Church of England yesterday faced extraordinary criticism yesterday from one his predecessors over the handling of child abuse allegations.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey declared he had no confidence in the ability of the Church’s present leader, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, to carry out investigations into historic abuse cases.
Lord Carey said: ‘I understand from the testimony of victims and survivors of clerical abuse that this lack of confidence is widely shared.’
The unprecedented spat between two archbishops followed the removal of Lord Carey’s right to conduct services. It is the second time he has been stripped of his ‘permission to officiate’ in three years.
The row comes at a time of deepening difficulties for Archbishop Welby. There is anger over the shutdown of all churches during lockdown, and a growing financial crisis in the Church.
Lord Carey’s right to lead services was removed after a meeting of a secretive ‘ core group’ to examine the allegations against John Smyth, a conservative evangelical who ran camps for boys in the 1970s and 1980s. A later inquiry found he had given sadistic beatings to the boys.
Lord Carey is thought to have been drawn into the case because he was principal of a Bristol theological college when Smyth attended for a brief course in 1983. He says he does not recollect meeting Smyth and he has not been told why he is thought to be involved.
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, he was given back his right to conduct services in 2018. It had been denied him following a scandal over Peter Ball, a former Bishop of Gloucester jailed in 2015 for abusing boys.
Lord Carey said yesterday that Archbishop Welby had failed to deliver on an agreement to allow him to take safeguarding training and meet survivors of Ball’s abuse.
The Diocese of Oxford, which holds Lord Carey’s permission to officiate, said it had been revoked on the recommendation of the ‘core group’.