Rotten rafters break, roof collapses: Church of England in ‘unprecedented crisis’ over sexual abuses as Canterbury archbishop quits

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Justin Welby (left), formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury who heads Anglican churches worldwide, is seen with Sudan Primate Ezekiel Kumir Kondo at the inauguration of the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion, in Khartoum, Sudan on July 30, 2017. — Reuters file pic

LONDON, Feb 10 — The Church of England’s elected governing body will gather Monday at a time of “unprecedented crisis” following a number of sexual abuse scandals.

The meeting of the General Synod will see members debate the Makin Review, a damning report which set out a series of failings around a Christian camp leader and serial abuser, John Smyth.

On Tuesday, a debate on a new way to handle safeguarding will also be held.

The meeting comes a month after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stepped down as head of the world’s Anglicans over failures in the Church of England’s handling of the Smyth case.

“There’s never been anything like this in our lifetime, because the Church is in an unprecedented crisis,” Synod member Ian Paul told the domestic PA news agency.

Paul said “the crisis we’re facing now is a result of gradual erosion over years of trust and confidence and lack of openness, lack of transparency.

“And suddenly the rafters, the rotten rafters, break, the roof collapses.”

Paul was one of the people behind a petition last year calling on Welby to resign.

Welby announced his resignation in November after an independent probe found that he “could and should” have formally reported decades of abuse by Church-linked lawyer Smyth to authorities in 2013.

‘Prolific’ abuser

Smyth, who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for “prolific, brutal and horrific” abuse of up to 130 boys and young men, according to the independent Makin Review.

It concluded the Church of England – the mother church of Anglicanism – covered up the “traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks”, which occurred in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over several decades.

Stephen Cottrell, who became Archbishop of York in 2020, has temporarily replaced Welby while also tainted by scandal himself.

In December, the 66-year-old faced calls to stand down over claims he mishandled a sexual abuse case during his time as the Bishop of Chelmsford, in southeastern England.

Priest David Tudor remained in his post despite Cottrell knowing that the Church had banned him from being alone with children and had paid compensation to a sexual abuse claimant, the BBC reported.

Cottrell has said he is “deeply sorry that we were not able to take action earlier” but defended his actions.

In a fresh blow last month, the Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, said he was stepping down after a broadcaster aired allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him.

Perumbalath denied wrongdoing but said in a statement a “rush to judgment and my trial by media... has made my position untenable”.

He said a church safeguarding team had investigated the allegations and had found them “unsubstantiated” and the first allegation was investigated by the police who decided to take no further action.

Ahead of the synod meeting, Andrew Graystone, an advocate for abuse survivors, called on church leaders at the four-day meeting in London to show “radical humility”.

“No one wants another hand-wringing apology; no one wants another ‘lessons learned’ review; no one wants another reminder of how hard it is to be a bishop.

“We don’t want any more words at all. Instead, we want radical humility from the Archbishop (Cottrell) downwards.”

The Anglican Church is the established state church in England and dates back to King Henry VIII’s split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.

King Charles III, its supreme governor, appoints archbishops on the advice of the prime minister. — AFP