Bishop promises to make church ‘a safer place’
VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE HAD SENT AN OPEN LETTER CALLING FOR INVESTIGATION
THE Bishop of Huddersfield has vowed to make the Church of England (CofE) a “safer place for all” after a call for the church to be referred for investigation was made.
The Charity Commission has been urged to intervene over “safeguarding failings” in a letter sent by a large group of victims of abuse and members of the clergy.
The open letter, calling for complete reform, has been signed by more than two dozen clergy, survivors, academics, lawyers, and a former Scotland Yard paedophile unit chief.
It was also co-signed by Matthew Ineson, the Dewsbury born rape victim of Bradford priest Trevor Devamanikkam.
Mr Ineson, who trained at Mirfield Monastery, bravely revealed his abuse as a teenager to the Examiner a year ago. He said his rape claims were ignored by the church. He strongly criticised the conduct of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the independent review into abuse.
The letter to Chair of the Commission, Baroness Stowell, accuses the CofE’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) of “impaired transparency”.
The CofE’s Lead Safeguarding Bishop is The Bishop of Huddersfield, Jonathan Gibbs.
It says: “I do not believe that the Church has got to grips with the fundamental principles of adversary justice, one of which is that you must disclose the evidence that you have against someone, and give them an equal opportunity to be heard.”
The lengthy open letter says that “on the face of it” the CofE handling of safeguarding cases has been “unlawful”.
And it accuses senior clergy of prioritising “privilege and reputational management” rather than getting to the bottom of serious allegations of sexual abuse.
It adds: “Much of the discontent centres upon the secretive world of the National Safeguarding Team (NST) core groups, which acts in ways reminiscent of the Star Chamber, synonymous with the selective use of arbitrary unaccountable power, concentrating effective control of process in the hands of a very few...”
The Bishop of Huddersfield acknowledged that the Church has failed victims and survivors of abuse in the past and needed to take responsibility for that. He added: “Since I took up the lead safeguarding role in April I have been amazed at the number of issues that come into the National Safeguarding Team and must be looked into. It would be completely wrong if we failed to act when safeguarding concerns are brought to our attention.
“It is evident that about three-quarters of current national cases are about senior clergy failing to act rather than a direct allegation of abuse, but that can still have serious consequences.
“We always try to make that difference clear, and although the current guidance does not distinguish between those accused of abuse and those accused of failing to act properly on information received, the revised guidance will address this difference.
“Statistics about the number of cases involving senior clergy (currently around 30) can also be misleading as a significant number relate to concerns raised about the past conduct of nowretired clergy.
“While I do not deal with details of casework I am absolutely assured that the process is the same for all, but the evidence and the circumstances are not, and therefore outcomes are different. No one gets any special treatment.
“I came into this role out of my personal commitment to making the Church of England a safer place for all, and I hope that is a goal around which all of us can unite.”
I came into the role out of my commitment to making the Church a
safer place