The General Synod has an item on Safeguarding scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 9 February.
Presentation under SO 107
Note: the Business Committee has determined under SO 107(3) that this presentation should include an opportunity for questions.
The Bishop of Rochester to move:
‘That this Synod do take note of this Report.’
There are two synod documents relating to this topic
A group of survivors has also published a briefing for synod members which can be found here. This is something that all synod members should also read.
Martin Sewell has written an article for Surviving Church which discusses this, see General Synod and Safeguarding Issues: Will the problems be faced?
The Church Times has published a detailed report on all this, see Survivors of abuse in the C of E still feel threatened — and so do church staff helping them.
See also a more recent post.
I have never met Alexander Kubeyinje, but if what he says is true – that members of the NST staff have received death threats from survivors and their advocates – then this is a very serious matter. I hope that any church staff who have been treated in this way will take their complaints to the police. It will also be important for the church to think carefully about what has brought survivors and others to a point where they feel they need to engage with safeguarding staff in these unacceptable ways. I am sorry that Mr Kubeyinje has chosen… Read more »
Were any such threatening communications made in contexts that require confidentiality?
If not, then shouldn’t any such communication have been reported to the police immediately?
If yes, then why is any such communication being publicly disclosed?
Item 14 on the Synod agenda, to follow the safeguarding ‘Presentation’, is a motion to be proposed by the Bishop of Rochester (the Rt Revd Jonathan Gibbs – currently the ‘lead’ bishop on safeguarding) that ‘Synod do take note of this Report’—i.e. paper GS 2293. Under the Synod’s standing orders (SO 105(3)) such a motion is not amendable, though there could be a ‘further motion’, and such a motion could “express approval or disapproval of the report in whole or part”: SO 105(6)(a). A glaring omission from the report GS 2293 (which, as Martin Sewell has commented in his article… Read more »
My guess is that the ISB is being allowed to wither on the vine. Its chair has had to “step back” and has not been replaced, and the remaining board members have started to ask awkward questions.
Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I left a comment on the internet (you will see this under the name “Christian” on the Surviving Church website). It was uncomfortable for me to do this and even more uncomfortable not to be transparent about my identity but my fear of retribution from Church of England made me feel justified in being so. I have not slept since reading Alexander Kubeyinje’s cruel and cowardly comments in his report to General Synod about survivors and victims of the Church of England. Since then I have been swinging between a sense… Read more »
Christian, I’m so sorry you are so low. There are many people who care. Could you contact me please. Or please call Samaritans. Twitter @tonycharman1
Christian, my heart pours out with and to you. I have a healing ministry for a particular bit of church trauma, and I would dearly love to offer you any help that I can – free. Let me allow you to check me out and, if you would like to contact me even just to visit for an hour, please do so. I genuinely look forward to hearing from you. I’m US-based, so not quite so embroiled in the CoE systems. That might actually be helpful. Yours, Alice. https://www.flock-of-shepherds.com