Local calls for institutional change in Church of England
Guernsey’s senior church officials are calling for institutional change in the Church of England in the wake of Justin Welby’s resignation yesterday.
The Archbishop of Canterbury resigned yesterday afternoon following mounting pressure to step down after it emerged last week that he did not follow up rigorously enough on reports of prolific child abuse associated with the church.
The Makin review looked into the decades of abuse by John Smyth – a barrister associated with the Church of England who died in 2018. It said Archbishop Welby failed to act properly when he first heard about the abuse in 2013.
In a joint statement, the Dean of Guernsey Tim Barker, vice-dean Penny Graysmith and deanery safeguarding officer Jon Honour said the response of the Church of England towards survivors and victims, as highlighted in forensic and graphic detail by the review, had been inadequate and, in some aspects, appalling.
‘The abuse perpetrated and orchestrated by John Smyth was horrendous and has done untold harm to his victims,’ they said.
‘While this is a complicated story, with multiple and overlapping failures and mistakes by many institutions and individuals, we believe that the Church of England must change for the sake of survivors and victims, for the protection of the vulnerable, and the good of the church and the people we seek to serve.’
The statement, which was issued soon after the archbishop’s resignation, did not make reference to Mr Welby himself.
St Peter’s rector Adrian Datta was one of those who had earlier called for Mr Welby to step down after reading the report. ‘This is the right decision and he has done the honourable thing, I hope some of the good things he has done will now not be overshadowed,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately we are talking about a systemic failure in the church and more people may have to step down.’
He added that positions of public leadership call for integrity, honesty and the courage to act in the right way even when difficult.
‘Sadly, Justin Welby has been clearly shown not to meet this standard by failing to act with appropriate rigour to ensure recognised safeguarding practices were followed when significant failures were brought to his attention.’
Former Synod member Jayne Ozanne said she first called for the archbishop to resign just over a year ago after a meeting at Lambeth Palace, due to his indifference to LGBT matters within the church.
‘Hopefully this will be a watershed moment for the church where we put survivors front and centre of everything we do,’ she said.
‘We need to look at the power structures within the church so they have the appropriate checks and balances in place so this can never happen again.’
