Updated again Wednesday
See report of previous meeting here.
There is a further meeting this week, from Monday to Wednesday, of the Church of England College of Bishops, to discuss what actions to take in relation to Living in Love and Faith. See here for the programme of meetings, leading up to the General Synod meeting in February.
“Bishops will gather for two days to draft the outcomes of the discernment process.”
Several articles have appeared in the past few days. (The first two items are behind a paywall.)
Steven Croft was interviewed in the Telegraph on Saturday: The Bishop of Oxford: ‘The Church is seen as unjust because of its treatment of LGBTQ+ people’
Justin Welby was interviewed in The Times on Monday: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby chooses silence on gay marriage
Marcus Green wrote this on his blog: Patiently
Jayne Ozanne wrote this on Via Media.News: An Open Letter to Bishops – Your Pastoral Charge
Equal has published Vigils for Equal Marriage while the bishops meet
Christian Today Welby staying quiet on LGBT views
Religion News Service Catherine Pepinster Church of England bishops head for showdown on marriage for same-sex couples
ViaMedia.News Charlie Bell Unity and the Myth of Neutrality
Premier Christianity Christopher Landau Welby won’t give his opinion on gay marriage. Perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer can help
I will update this article if other items appear.
41 CommentsThe House of Lords debated UK Asylum and Refugee Policy on 9 December. The Archbishop of Canterbury moved
That this House takes note of the principles behind contemporary United Kingdom asylum and refugee policy, and of the response to the challenges of forced migration.
Several other bishops also took part in the debate. The full Hansard record can be found here, or more conveniently perhaps as a PDF file over here.
The Church of England in Parliament website provides links to the speeches of each bishop:
The House of Lords Library had prepared a briefing note for this debate which is worth reading.
The Church Times has published a report of this debate here: UK’s treatment of asylum-seekers is wasteful and cruel, says Welby.
The Archbishop of Canterbury referred in his response to the debate to a document which had been mentioned, from Policy Exchange. Here is a link to that document. (Three essays on the morality of asylum by Nigel Biggar, John Finnis and Richard Ekins. Foreword by Dr Michael Nazir-Ali.)
Updated 25 November
Clergy Discipline Measure – Penalty
The following is a record of a penalty imposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury with the consent of the respondent bishop under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003:
Name: The Right Reverend Peter Hullah
Penalty: Prohibition for life
Date Imposed: 1st August 2022
Brief Summary: Sexual misconduct involving two different women on two separate occasions.
———
This story has been reported in the Mail, and Times, and Telegraph so far. And now also the Church Times (scroll down).
The two offences occurred (according to the Mail) in 1985 and 1999. Peter Hullah was Bishop of Ramsbury (suffragan in Salisbury) from 1999 to 2005. From 1992, he was headmaster of Chetham’s School in Manchester, where there were multiple complaints of sexual misbehaviour by staff, but not by Hullah.
The new complaint, regarding these offences, was dealt with in the Province of Canterbury, during the summer of this year, but was not made public at that time.
The Telegraph reports
A spokesman for Mr Hullah said he had agreed to the sanction in August instead of contesting the allegations before a Church tribunal.
And:
A Church of England spokesman said: “We can confirm that Peter Hullah has now been prohibited from ministry for life following a complaint under the clergy discipline measure brought by the national safeguarding team.
“We would like to acknowledge the courage and offer an unreserved apology on behalf of the Church to those who came forward to share their experience; support has been offered to all involved.
“The Church expects the highest standards from those in leadership and there can be no excuses when this does not happen.
“We will continue to listen to all those who come forward and to work together to make the Church a safer place for all.”
It. is very disappointing that this decision was not published at the time, as the relevant procedures were amended only this July at the General Synod, to ensure this would happen. However, even before this change, the procedure said
“Where a penalty by consent has been agreed with a bishop brief particulars of the misconduct should be made public by a notice placed on the diocese’s website.”
GS 2281X (dated May) contains the following:
Publishing Penalties
9. All penalties imposed under the CDM are made public. Penalties imposed by a tribunal are published on the Church of England tribunal webpage, administered by the NCIs.
10.The current guidance provides that where the respondent admits misconduct and the bishop imposes a penalty by consent brief details of the case should be placed on the diocesan website. Further, it states that penalties imposed other than by a tribunal – i.e. under sections 30 and 31 CDM 2003 – should be made public.
11.To ensure a consistent approach to the publishing of penalties the proposed amendments to paragraph 312 provide that publishing penalties by consent and penalties imposed under sections 30 and 31 will no longer be the responsibility of the diocese or province. Upon a penalty being agreed the diocesan or provincial registrar will send the relevant details to the President of the Tribunals, who will cause them to be published on the Church of England website. The name of the respondent, the date penalty was agreed or imposed and the statutory ground of misconduct (e.g. “doing an act in contravention of the laws ecclesiastical”, “neglect or inefficiency in the performance of the duties of his office”, “conduct unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders”) -but not any details of the particular misconduct – will be published.
12.Paragraph 311 is deleted as being no longer being necessary consequential upon the amendments to paragraph 312.
Further update
The Church Times reports this explanation of the delay (emphasis added):
28 CommentsOn Thursday, a notice of the sanction was posted on the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In July, the General Synod voted to amend the CDM Code of Practice to require that “brief particulars” of a penalty against a bishop that is agreed by consent are posted “on the Church of England website” (News, 15 July).
Before this, only penalties by consent against a lower-ranked cleric were required to be published, not sanctions agreed between a bishop and an archbishop.
Because the case against Bishop Hullah was settled after the Synod had voted to amend the Code of Practice but before the Clergy Discipline Commission rubber-stamped the changes, it was unclear whether, when, and where, the notice had to be posted.
Last Saturday the Diocese of Oxford diocesan synod discussed (in a Zoom meeting) its response to the Christ Church Independent Governance Review.
Updated Monday 21 November
We reported on the terms of reference for this review last April and on Dominic Grieve’s appointment last June.
There are two papers:
These papers had been prepared well before last week’s announcement from the Charity Commission.
At the time of writing, there has still been no mention of the Charity Commission’s Official Warning on the Christ Church website.
Surviving Church has published this critique of the college by Martin Sewell: The Christ Church Malcontents gambled “The House”, they should bear the loss.
Update
And now also this critique, by the same author, of the Church of England: The Church of England has a case to answer for its role in the institutional bullying at Christ Church
Updated again 15 November
Press release from Charity Commission:
Charity regulator issues Official Warning to Christ Church, Oxford
The Charity Commission has issued an Official Warning to Christ Church, Oxford, after finding that the trustees failed to manage the charity’s resources responsibly
Christ Church has been involved in long and costly disputes involving its former Dean, who left his role earlier this year following a mediation process. In 2020 the Commission had told the parties to the dispute to enter into formal mediation.
The Commission has found that trustees failed to act on its previous advice, given between 2019-2020, to continue to have “close oversight of costs” in the dispute. In December 2021, the Commission asked the trustees to provide information about the costs of the actions connected to the former Dean and how these costs were being managed. The trustees were unable to provide the information in a timely manner. The Commission was later informed that the trustees had not set a fixed budget for the costs associated with the dispute, and instead that the full trustee body agreed expenditure retrospectively. Between August 2018 and late January 2022 the college had spent over £6.6m on legal and public relations fees in various actions related to the former Dean, of which over £5.3m appears to have been approved retrospectively.
The regulator is also critical of the trustees’ failure to ensure the college was accountable for its expenditure on legal and public relations fees during the dispute. The Commission has found that the charity’s published accounts (for years ending 2018-21) categorised costs associated with the charity’s actions involving the former Dean as “other direct costs – teaching, research and residential”. The Commission says that this has the potential to mislead the readers of the accounts. The trustees had been advised by the charity’s auditors to consider reporting on actions related to the dispute specifically, and to seek advice on its reporting.
The regulator has determined that these failures and omissions amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the charity’s administration.
The Official Warning sets out the actions that the Commission considers should be taken by the charity to rectify the misconduct and/or mismanagement and to address its concerns, including:
Failure to take steps to remedy the misconduct and/or mismanagement may lead to further regulatory action being taken against the charity’s trustees.
Helen Earner, Director of Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission, said:
These long and protracted disputes risked undermining the reputation of Christ Church and harming wider trust in charities.
It is not for us as regulator to take sides in disputes. Our role is to ensure that charities are governed effectively and that charitable funds are properly accounted for. All trustees must demonstrate sound financial stewardship, regardless of the level of resources available to them.
We consider that the actions of the trustees at Christ Church amount to mismanagement and/or misconduct, after they failed to manage the charity’s resources responsibly or ensure that the charity is accountable in the context of a costly dispute.
The Commission welcomes the fact that an independent governance review is now underway at the charity, led by the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve KC, and we expect the trustees to keep us updated on its progress.
94 CommentsGood governance should be a priority for all trustees, especially those involved in important national institutions such as Christ Church, Oxford”
Updated again 15 and 17 November
See earlier post concerning his statement on same sex marriage.
Church of England Evangelical Council: Bishop of Oxford: A CEEC response to ‘Together in Love and Faith‘
Oxford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship: Statement on the Bishop of Oxford’s “Together in Love and Faith”
Latimer Trust – Vaughan Roberts Together in Love and Faith?
Psephizo – Ian Paul What is the Bishop of Oxford thinking?
Bishops of Worcester and Dudley Living in Love and Faith – A letter from our bishops
Church Times news reports:
Updates 7, 8, 10, 15, 17 November
Martin Davie Why the bishops have an option
Archbishop Cranmer Same-sex marriage: should the Church of England affirm culture, or confront it?
LGBTQ Faith UK Living in Love and Faith and Fear
Andrew Lightbown Speaking of Together in Love and Faith; a short reflection.
Guardian The Guardian view on LGBT+ Anglicans: finally grounds for hope?
Fulcrum Joshua Penduck A Letter in response to the Bishop of Oxford
Anglican Network in Europe A Safe Harbour for Faithful Anglicans
Premier Christianity Ian Paul The Bishop of Oxford’s surprising case for same-sex marriage is flawed
I will add further items to this list as I discover them.
158 CommentsUpdated Saturday evening – Kindle version available, see below.
Diocese of Oxford press release: Clergy should have the freedom to bless and marry same-sex couples, says +Oxford
Church of England clergy should have the freedom to bless and marry same-sex couples, says Bishop of Oxford.
The Bishop of Oxford has published a 52-page essay, Together in Love and Faith, to be released on Friday 4 November, setting out the ways his own views have changed on same-sex relationships over the last decade.
In the light of ten years of reflection and massive changes in the society we serve, many in the Church, including Bishop Steven, now believe it is time to enable local churches and clergy to offer public services of blessing for same-sex relationships and remove the legal barriers to the solemnisation of same-sex marriage in the Church of England. Clergy should also be given the freedom to order their own relationships according to their conscience and to marry a same-sex partner…
Bishop Steven writes:
“I need to acknowledge the acute pain and distress of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church. I am sorry that, corporately, we have been so slow as a Church to reach better decisions and practice on these matters. I am sorry that my own views were slow to change and that my actions, and lack of action, have caused genuine hurt, disagreement and pain.”
Bishop Steven also reflects that many Christians in the Church of England hold and will continue to hold a traditional view of marriage and this should be honoured and respected by those who are seeking freedom to change. This is the majority view across the worldwide Anglican Communion at this time, although some Anglican Provinces have already made the decision to allow the blessing of same-sex relationships. Clergy and parishes will need the freedom not to opt in to any new arrangements. Some clergy and parishes may need the oversight of bishops in the Church of England who hold to the traditional view…
Read the full press release for more detail.
Church Times: Bishop of Oxford calls for an end to ban on same-sex marriage in Church of England
THE Church of England should lift its ban on the marriage of same-sex couples, the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, has said — even if this means setting up an alternative episcopal structure for conservative priests and parishes.
At stake, he says, is the Church of England’s claim to serve the whole of society. Its anti-LGBTQ+ stance “is leading to a radical dislocation between the Church of England and the culture and society we are attempting to serve”…
And also this extract from the booklet: Extend goods of marriage to all
Update – electronic copies now available via Kindle
Follow this link for further details. You will need an Amazon account, but the document is free of charge.
148 CommentsCofE press releases:
Living in Love and Faith at the College of Bishops Full text copied below the fold.
Programme of the College of Bishops, 31 October – 2 November 2022
Church Times report: Bishops debate next steps on sexuality
THE College of Bishops has concluded three days of debate about how the Church might solve its differences over sexuality.
Although no decision has been made about what formal proposals will be presented to the General Synod in February 2023 — these will be finalised at the next College of Bishops meeting, 12-14 December — it is understood that the bishops acknowledge that simply to restate the existing ban on same-sex blessings or marriage in church is not an option.
During the bishops’ discussions at the High Leigh Conference Centre, in Hertfordshire, largely in small groups, it is said to have been clear that many bishops recognise that a change of policy is needed — whether a national shift or some form of pastoral accommodation is not yet clear. Even those who wish to see no change in the C of E’s policy, which also bans clergy from marrying same-sex partners, accept that the case would need to be freshly argued…
Do read the full article.
26 CommentsPublication of the IICSA final report was reported here, along with initial responses from the Church of England.
Other religious bodies:
Church Times news reports:
Earlier in the month, the Church of England announced this: Further work on Seal of Confessional:
The House of Bishops has commissioned further work on the Seal of the Confessional, building on the report and interim statement from the previous working party published in 2018/2019 and originally set up in 2014.
The new working group will take account of relevant findings, if any, that there may be in the final report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), due to be published on October 20.
The group which will meet over the next 12 months will bring together theologians, Church leaders and safeguarding professionals along with other advisers as part of the wider reference group. The voices and experiences of survivors will be critical to this work and will be included, but not named, in the group…
Forward in Faith also issued a Statement on IICSA’s final report and the Seal of Confession.
15 CommentsChurch of England press release
IICSA statement from National Safeguarding Director
25/10/2022
I have read the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report and it makes for harrowing reading. The report contains recommendations for 15 major institutions which have clearly failed children; this includes the Church of England and I welcome the initial response from our lead safeguarding bishop, Jonathan Gibbs.
I have been in post now for 38 days and as the new National Director for Safeguarding it is my role and responsibility to drive and support the many programmes of work that are currently underway, to make the Church a safer place where the voices of our most vulnerable are not only heard but valued. The voice and participation of all victims and survivors of abuse are paramount and should be the golden thread in everything we do to improve our safeguarding policies and practices. We are committed to the development and implementation of a survivor engagement framework with victims and survivors.
I am extremely sorry for the hurt and mistrust caused by the Church’s lack of safeguarding, we know that we need to learn from these lessons and ensure that we have stringent preventive measures in place to avoid these terrible experiences happening to others.
In the coming weeks dates will be provided by engage.safeguarding@churchofengland.org to offer survivors and victims an opportunity to meet with me to raise concerns and give their views on the National Safeguarding Team, NST and wider safeguarding improvements in the Church.
I would be particularly interested in hearing from young people about how we may improve the voice of the child in the Church. If you would like to take part or provide your views, please do contact the same address above. (Please note parental consent would need to be provided for those children/young people under the age of 18)
Should you need to discuss any matters with me directly, I would ask you to email. My social media is not monitored daily, and while an important awareness tool, I do not use it for direct engagement, so you may not receive a response. But I would like to ensure that all comments or complaints are recorded and tracked so please do email me on the address above or via the form at the bottom of this page A Safer Church | The Church of England
I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the near future, particularly survivors and victims of any type of abuse and relevant groups and/or organisations.
Updated Wednesday
On 2 September we reported in Living in Love and Faith – Listening on the publication of several voluminous documents containing the collation of the 6000 responses that the LLF project had by then received. We included links to three items which attempted to place these reports in some context.
More recently, Church Society has issued a strongly worded critique: Response to Listening With Love And Faith. This page is an executive summary of their criticisms, and the full 20-page report is available separately as a PDF. Copies have been sent to all members of General Synod.
Helen King has written this in response: Living in Love and Faith: some thoughts on the Church Society’s report.
Update
The LLF team has replied to Church Society. You can read the responses from both Brendan Research and Church Army’s Research Unit here: LLF Response to Church Society Analysis (total 6 pages). This also has been sent to all General Synod members.
7 CommentsThe Anglican Network in Europe which describes itself as “an authentic expression of Anglican church life and mission, authorised and supported by the Archbishops of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon)”.
We have reported on this several times in the past:
GAFCON announces its “missionary bishop”
GAFCON consecrates a Bishop for Europe
The ANiE now has two constituent units: the Anglican Mission in England and the Anglican Convocation Europe.
More recently, it announced an intention to consecrate four additional bishops, two for AMiE (Lee Munn and Tim Davies), and two for ACE (Ian Ferguson and Stuart Bell). See GAFCON’s Europe Branch to Consecrate 4 Bishops.
Three of these men were consecrated bishops on Friday 21 October, at a service held at the Vineyard church in Hull (East Yorkshire). The chief consecrator was ACNA primate Foley Beach, the preacher was Rwanda primate Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, and Nigerian primate, Archbishop Henry Ndukuba presided at Holy Communion. (The consecration of Stuart Bell has been deferred until March next year.)
Andrew Atherstone was present, and has written a very detailed account which is well worth reading in full: New Anglican Bishops for England and Europe
There is a video recording of the service.
The official ANiE press release is here.
59 CommentsThe Church Times reports: New Dean of Canterbury comes under fire from GAFCON Primates
PRIMATES allied to the Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) have condemned the Archbishop of Canterbury for “refusing to prevent” the appointment of the Very Revd David Monteith as Dean of Canterbury Cathedral (News, 14 October). They have urged Archbishop Welby to repent. Lambeth Palace has responded by saying that the statement is inaccurate.
The subject of Dean Monteith’s appointment takes up a large section of the communiqué issued by the Primates of North America (ACNA), Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, All Nigeria, and the Indian Ocean after a meeting of the GAFCON Primates Council meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, which ended on Wednesday…
And it concludes:
…A spokesperson from Lambeth Palace on Friday described the statement as “inaccurate in a number of ways including the nature of the Anglican Communion, the appointment of the Dean of Canterbury, and the understanding of civil partnerships in England”.
Lambeth also confirmed, in answer to a question from the Church Times, that the Archbishop was engaged in ongoing WhatsApp conversations with Primates. These are described as “closed and private groups and as a matter of policy, all conversations remain private and confidential”.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has published its final report. There are three documents:
And a very short press release which links to a media pack which in turn links to a one page summary.
I will add links to media reports, and responses from other organisations as they become available.
The UK Government has responded:
The Church of England has responded:
There are two press releases about this. The first one, copied immediately below, is on the Safeguarding pages. The second, much longer one, is on the general news pages, National report on Church of England’s second past cases review published.
I have put the additional text into a PDF file, available here.
And there are separate press releases relating to the National Safeguarding Team, Lambeth Palace, Bishopthorpe Palace, and each diocese (follow the links below).
Press Release from Safeguarding pages:
Past Cases Review 2
The Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) was run in all Church of England dioceses between 2019 – 2022.
Past Cases Review 1 (PCR1) was commissioned because of several Church of England clergy and church officers being charged with sexual offences against children. PCR1 was conducted between 2007 and 2009. In May 2016 concerns were raised regarding the judgements presented from PCR1. An Independent Scrutiny Team concluded that whilst the review was well motivated and thoughtfully planned, limitations existed in relation to its execution. As a result, Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) was commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council in 2019 as part of the overall commitment to improving the way in which the Church responds to allegations and concerns.
The National Report was published in October 2022.
Read the National Report
Published in October 2022 by the National Safeguarding Steering Group
Other reports
Diocesan reports
The reports of findings in Dioceses are published on local diocesan safeguarding pages.
Key Documents
Please see our FAQs section for more information on PCR2.
PCR2 follows a report in 2018 into the original PCR (2007-2009) which revealed shortcomings both in the process and final result.
29 CommentsUpdated Wednesday 5 October
Our most recent report on this was published on 2 September: Living in Love and Faith – Listening.
The Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England has recently posted these articles:
Helen King has posted these items at Shared Conversations:
Colin Coward has posted at Unadulterated Love:
The Church Times reports: Bishops say meetings with LGBTQ reps at Lambeth Palace were fruitful
I will add links to any further relevant articles that are published.
The LLF Roadmap currently (updated 5 October) says [plus exact dates as reported to TA]:
| Sep-Oct | Next Steps Group | Members of the Next Steps Group of bishops are holding meetings with representatives of 21 organisations and networks representing a wide possible range of views relating to identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. The organisations are listed below. * |
| Sep | College of Bishops | This meeting, which was to initiate the bishops’ process of discernment and decision-making, was cancelled because of the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Instead bishops are doing some reflective work individually ahead of the meeting in October. |
| Oct | College of Bishops | Bishops will gather for two days to begin the discernment process, including considering proposals for a way forward, the implications for formal decision-making, and how this will be communicated to members of General Synod and the wider Church. [31 October – 2 November] |
| Dec | College & House of Bishops | Bishops will gather for two days to finalise proposals and reflect on what is needed to support the decision-making processes in General Synod. [12 -14 December] |
| Jan 23 | College of Bishops | Bishops will finalise proposals to bring to Synod in February. [17 January] |
*The list of organisations and networks is:
| The Society | Mosaic | Affirming Catholics |
| Society of the Holy Cross | Church Missionary Society | CEEC |
| New Wine | USPG | The Church Society |
| HTB Network | Changing Attitude (England) | Living Out |
| One Body One Faith | Campaign for Equal Marriage | Evangelical Group of GS |
| Diverse Church | Ozanne Foundation | The Junia Network |
| GS Human Sexuality Group | Society of Catholic Priests | Inclusive Church |
24 Comments
Updated yet again, Wednesday 28 September
Numerous recent news reports have described how The Revd Mpho Tutu van Furth, the daughter of Desmond Tutu, was not allowed to officiate in a Church of England building at the funeral of her godfather, Martin Kenyon. Here is a selection of such links:
Monday’s newspapers contain letters to the editor about this, see
Tuesday’s Church Times contains a lengthy report, Hereford bar on Canon Tutu van Furth over marital status sparks widespread reaction. Note this paragraph:
Lambeth Palace refused to comment, and directed all press enquiries to the diocese.
The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation has issued this press release:
Tutu Legacy Foundation dismayed at the callous position of the Church of England
A message from the Bishop of Hereford to his diocese has been published on Twitter by The Campaign for Equal Marriage in the CofE, which has also posted this article: “Churlish and hurtful”. This message is also copied below the fold.
The procedure for clergy outside the British Isles obtaining the relevant archbishop’s permission to officiate is described in detail on this CofE web page: scroll down to the heading Overseas (“Archbishop’s”) Permissions to Officiate (OPTO)
The Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967 can be found here.
The House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage dated 2014, can be found here.
167 CommentsUpdated Saturday and Tuesday
Church of England press release
As part of the church-wide engagement with the Living in Love and Faith resources, everyone who took part was invited to share their learning, insights and reflections. Over 6,000 responses were received, through questionnaires, focus groups, creative responses and a variety of other forms. These responses have been gathered into a report, Listening with Love and Faith. This is accompanied by a more detailed technical report and a reflective essay entitled, Friendship and the Body of Christ. These and the LLF resources will support the bishops in their ongoing discernment process as they seek to discern what they believe God is saying to the Church of England today.
Updates
Three articles that provide some context for these documents:
Nic Tall Living in Love and Faith – What the Church of England Really Thinks
Updated 20 August
The letter reported below was discussed in this article dated 12 August, from Surviving Church: Martin Sewell writes further to the Charity Commission about Safeguarding failures.
We have reported previously on the issue of whether the Independent Safeguarding Board is indeed an independent body in any meaningful sense. See below for links to earlier articles.
Martin Sewell has written a Letter to the Charity Commission setting out in comprehensive detail (13 pages) the relationship between the Archbishops’ Council and the Independent Safeguarding Board. This has now been copied to the Secretary General (William Nye) and all members of the Council.
It is well worth taking the time to read the whole letter, which urges the Charity Commission to investigate further the operations of the Archbishops’ Council. The letter also notes (para 34):
I am sharing this letter with some aggrieved parties and think you will see the full extent of the problem when those who have written to me share their stories with you on a private and confidential basis. I am inviting them to do so, so that you can better understand the widespread and deep malaise of which Archbishops’ Council has long been aware, but as yet has been indecisive or evasive in its response.
Previous articles (which include links to many of the documents mentioned in the letter):
We reported on this previously here: London diocese: Update on fraud investigation.
Today, the Birmingham Mail reported this development: Former church official from Dudley accused of ‘defrauding charity of more than £5million’
36 CommentsA former church official from Dudley accused of clocking up “more flights than globetrotting broadcaster Alan Whicker” has appeared in court charged with defrauding a charity of more than £5 million. Martin Sargeant worked as operations manager for the Church of England’s Diocese of London from 2008 until his retirement in 2019 and was clerk of the City church grants committee.
The 52-year-old is accused of defrauding the charitable trust – set up by an Act of Parliament in 1891 to support and fund the restoration of churches and chaired by the Archdeacon of London – of about £5.2 million over 10 years. Sargeant is also charged with money laundering after allegedly spending the funds on gambling and flying more than 180 times with British Airways..
…The fraud charge alleges Sargeant abused his position as operations manager to make a gain of about £5.2 million between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2019. He is accused of fraudulently requesting grants for funding for dysfunctional churches to steal the money by transferring funds through church bank accounts he controlled as part of his job.
The money was then allegedly moved into accounts he controlled and that were in his name, before Sargeant spent it on “personal entertainment or frivolous things like gambling,” said Mr Packenham. Magistrates decided the charges were too serious to be dealt with in the magistrates’ court and sent the case to Southwark Crown Court, where Sargeant will appear at a later date.