Updated Thursday noon
Statement on Matthew Ineson case
Due to a BBC report this week and comments on social media the National Safeguarding Team has issued a statement to clarify details of the case.
Matthew Ineson’s case has been taken very seriously since it came to our attention. The account of the abuse he suffered as a teenager is harrowing and we are aware that the death of his alleged perpetrator, Trevor Devamanikkan, before he could stand trial, was extremely difficult for Matthew Ineson. We were not aware of any previous attempts by Trevor Devamanikkan on his own life; had we known we obviously would have commissioned a risk assessment. Once the Church was aware of the criminal investigation, the Church made offers of support to Trevor Devamanikkan, which he refused.
We can confirm that the Archbishop of York responded to a letter he received from Matthew Ineson in June 2013, in which Matthew Ineson enclosed a copy of a letter to him from the then Bishop of Sheffield and his own response to the Bishop. The Archbishop did not fail to act on any disclosure made. As the Diocesan Bishop has responsibility for matters such as these in their diocese, this is a matter for the Diocesan Bishop to inform the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser (Protecting All God’s Children – the Policy for Safeguarding Children in the Church of England, section 4.5). For this reason, the Archbishop acknowledged Matthew Ineson’s letter and assured him of his prayers.
As regards to a memo addressed to the Archbishop of York in June 2017 which refers to survivors in the plural, the Archbishop of York’s Office have already explained this was simply human error. We have worked closely with the police throughout and we have only ever dealt with one victim. This was double-checked with the police last week.
As we have said before there are currently complaints from Matthew Ineson himself, which are being investigated under the Clergy Discipline Measure. Once these complaints have been dealt with, the Core Group, which is the Church’s response to any allegations of abuse, has already decided that an independent review of the case will be commissioned.
It is not possible to go into any further details of this case.
Update The statement above was issued by publication on the CofE website (with a notification on Twitter) at around 2 pm on Wednesday. Matt Ineson has reported on Twitter that he was not told about this statement by the National Safeguarding Team, and indeed has not been contacted by them for about two months.
The Archbishop Cranmer blog on Thursday published this article by Martin Sewell: Abuse victim: “The cruel and inhuman treatment I have received from the National Safeguarding Team in Church House, and others in the Church of England hierarchy, makes what Peter Ball did to me pale into insignificance”.
It has not been a good week for the Church of England. We were warned as much by our Lead Bishop for Safeguarding, Peter Hancock, when he led the safeguarding presentation to General Synod in February. Indeed, he predicted a rocky path for the next two years. Although he did not say so, we probably deserve it after years of institutional neglect and lethargy. This week is perhaps the start of the purging of complacency.
The opening of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) into the deficiencies of the Established Church will take the headlines, but other stories have also arisen. The poor handling of Fr Matt Ineson’s complaints against five bishops was featured in the BBC Inside Out programme, and the substance of it appeared on the BBC website. It was covered by Christian Today, and, as so often, His Grace offered a strong and incisive contribution…
Read the whole article, please.
13 CommentsUpdated
The transcript from Wednesday’s hearing is now available here.
The only witnesses today were former bishop John Hind and former archdeacon Philip Jones.
An index of the documents adduced today is available here. They include
Bishop John Hind’s witness statement
This document is not now available on the website – reason as yet unknown
Media reports:
Church Times Bishop Hind apologises to IICSA hearing over Chichester diocesan safeguarding practices
THE former Bishop of Chichester, Dr John Hind, has apologised for not giving the diocesan safeguarding officers full access to the “blue files” — containing safeguarding concerns about individual clerics in the diocese — at an earlier time in his tenure.
Dr Hind was giving evidence on Wednesday morning to the public hearing conducted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), in London, on the extent to which the Anglican Church has failed to protect children from sexual abuse.
Christian Today Is this the Achilles heel in the Church of England’s safeguarding approach?
4 CommentsConcerns about the possibility of abuse in the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe are being raised following analysis of an independent report into its safeguarding practices.
An anomaly in that it operates outside of England, the Diocese in Europe covers 42 countries across three continents. However it is still governed by the Church of England and an independent audit published last November laid out concerns about the possibility for abuse to go unreported…
Updated Thursday noon
Olivia Rudgard reports in the Telegraph that ‘An attack on Lord Carey is an attack on us all’, say Church of England figures
A criminal case against Lord Carey would be an attack on us all, conservative Church of England figures have said.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, 10 signatories including the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, former bishop of Rochester, suggested that the former Archbishop of Canterbury was being targeted for his involvement in the Bishop Peter Ball case because of “what he represents of biblically faithful Christianity”.
The letter, also signed by Simon Rufus Isaacs, Marquess of Reading, who is a friend of Prince Charles, former bishop of Woolwich Colin Buchanan, and campaigner Andrea Williams of Christian Concern, says that similar high-profile cases have not resulted in prosecutions for misconduct in public office…
The same story is also reported at Christian Today. And Mark Woods has written this comment article there: Why conservative Christians should stop defending George Carey.
…The signatories to the letter – among them the Marquess of Reading, who chairs the Barnabas Fund, former bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali and Christian Concern chief executive Andrea Williams – represent a particular strain of conservative evangelicalism.
This kind of evangelicalism is fundamentally oppositional. It divides the world into those who hold the right beliefs and those who don’t. But doctrinal orthodoxy is not enough: it’s also a mindset that sees modern society as deeply opposed to the gospel, with culture and church locked not in dialogue but in conflict. Everything from gay marriage to judgments against Christians at employment tribunals – usually, when all the evidence is read, richly deserved – is seen as evidence of a ‘war on Christianity’…
The text of the letter is copied below the fold.
Update
Richard Bartholomew has published a further analysis of the letter: Conservative Christians Denounce “Bizarre” Consultation Between CPS and Police on Lord Carey.
Richard Peers Quodcumque New Wine: a gift for the whole church
David Ison ViaMedia.News Divine Headship Meets Woman Bishop
[The ceremony referred to at the start of this article is the confirmation of Sarah Mullally’s election as Bishop of London which will take place on 8th March at 4.00 pm at St Mary-le-Bow.]
Updated again Thursday
The transcript of the second day of Anglican Church hearings can be found here.
Update: a number of additional documents referred to in Tuesday’s hearings are now available on the IICSA website. There is now an index available. They include witness statements from
Shirley Hosgood 1
Shirley Hosgood 2
Media reports:
Church Times
IICSA hears calls for independent safeguarding body to hold Church to account
Survivors tell IICSA hearing of child abuse by Church of England clerics
Christian Today
Paedophile priests passed vulnerable teenage boys between them, inquiry hears
Did the Church of England’s divisions over homosexuality contribute to child sex abuse cover-up?
The Times
Church hit by 48 child abuse claims in one diocese, inquiry told [£]
In relation to the other story reported yesterday, there is this blog article: Sentamu ordered ‘no action’ against paedophile priest – leaving him to abuse again and commit suicide.
0 CommentsUpdated Tuesday morning
The transcript of the first day’s proceedings is now available here. It contains opening statements by:
Alexis Jay, Chair of the Inquiry
Fiona Scolding, Counsel to the Inquiry,
Richard Scorer, representing survivors
David Greenwood, also representing survivors, and also MACSAS
Nigel Giffin, representing the Archbishops’ Council
Rory Phillips, representing Ecclesiastical Insurance
Richard Smith representing Peter Ball
The Church of England has issued this: Opening statement in IICSA hearing
Media reports:
Witness statements have been published by IICSA from numerous individuals, all listed by name here and accessible (but only by reference number) over here.
They include written statements from these Archbishops’ Council staff:
In a separate development, the BBC’s Yorkshire regional news programme Inside Out has broadcast an interview with Matthew Ineson who says senior clergymen ignored his disclosures of sexual abuse by a parish priest. Link to the TV programme here, is available for 29 days only.
See also BBC news article, Police look at bishops’ ‘failure to act’ over sex abuse claims.
Other media reports on this:
Archbishop of York could face police investigation for failing to act over abuse allegations
Church of England sex abuse victim to tell his story on TV
IICSA has published the timetable for the first week of hearings.
The CofE has published this page, with links to material about the IICSA hearings. Those links includes this Q and A for parishes. This in turn links to another document: Church of England Safeguarding Overview.
Earlier, the CofE published this Church of England statement on IICSA‘s Child Migration Report. The IICSA press release about that report is here.
Mandate Now is a pressure group that seeks the introduction of law requiring staff who work in ‘Regulated Activities’ to report concerns about the welfare of children [and vulnerable adults] to the Local Authority. Mandatory reporting of suspected or known child abuse is a vital component of a functioning child protection system in institutional settings.
Mandate Now is supported by the largest coalition of survivor charities in England, Wales and Scotland which are members of ‘The Survivors Trust’.
Mandate Now has issued a critique of Church of England safeguarding: Church of England Safeguarding is Dysfunctional and Can Have No Reliance Placed Upon It | A Review by Mandate Now.
The full text of the review (224 pages) is available here.
The BBC regional television programme Inside Out for Yorkshire will broadcast an item tomorrow evening, Monday, which relates to the IICSA hearings:
1 Comment…Inside Out hears from a man who says senior clergymen ignored his disclosures of sexual abuse by a parish priest.
Anna Norman-Walker ViaMedia.News Disgrace by Association
Mark Clavier The Living Church Schools for the Imagination
Church Times God’s gift, not priest-lite cherry-pickers
Self-supporting ministers do not receive the recognition or status that they deserve, says Jenny Gage
Church Times Women in ministry: the next steps
In response to Women’s History Month, Johanna Derry looks at issues faced by women clergy
Sarah Mullally Contemplation in the shadow of a carpark Accelerating Change – Safe and Open Churches
2 CommentsThe Church Times has a report this morning, which mentions (scroll to end) that:
Ongoing safeguarding allegations. It was revealed this week that The General Synod was misinformed last month about the number of safeguarding allegations being handled by the dioceses, it was revealed this week.
There are in fact about 2600 cases ongoing, not 3300, as previously reported by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Revd Peter Hancock, in a written question to a Synod member, Kat Alldread, last month (News, 16 February).
More than half of these 2600 cases involved children, and more than a quarter related to church officers — not 18 per cent as previously reported, the clerk to the Synod, Dr Jacqui Philips, confirmed in a letter to Mrs Alldread this week.
Harriet Sherwood in the Guardian today has a news report: Church of England faces ‘deep shame’ at child abuse inquiry which includes a link to the full text of the letter from Dr Jacqui Phillips, Clerk to the Synod, which corrects the statistics:
…At the General Synod on 8 February 2017 the Lead Bishop for Safeguarding answered your question no 47 about the scale of safeguarding casework. I very much regret to say that part of this answer was incorrect, owing to a human error in compiling the data from which the answer was drawn. The Lead Bishop has asked me to convey his apologies to you for this error and to express his hope that neither you nor other members of Synod will have been misled by this incorrect information…
The corrected answer reads:
“Each diocese is asked to complete an annual self-assessment circulated and collated by the National Safeguarding Team for the previous year’s activity. Our current data relates to 2016 activity. Reporting methods used by the dioceses may vary so the numbers given are an approximate figure.
“In 2016 dioceses reported that they were dealing with around 2600 safeguarding concerns or allegations. Concerns are different from allegations of actual abuse and may cover less serious matters but may include raising issues of neglect or potential vulnerability of children or adults. 53% of concerns or allegations relate to children, and 47% to adults. Around 27% of concerns or allegations raised relate to a church
officer.“The National Safeguarding Team has commissioned further work to analyse data for safeguarding concerns or allegations. The results of this analysis will be reported to the National Safeguarding Steering Group in due course.”
The main part of the Church Times news article by Hattie Williams, which is headlined IICSA hearing likely to prompt more disclosures of abuse, C of E safeguarding officials say previews the IICSA hearings that start next week, as does the Guardian article. The latter contains quotes from survivors Graham Sawyer and Gilo and from Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon.
3 CommentsThe Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will start three weeks of hearings into the Anglican Church [in England and Wales] on Monday 5 March.
There is voluminous information about IICSA, its other strands of investigation, and its other work, on its website.
IICSA summarises this investigation on its website thus:
An inquiry into the extent of any institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Anglican Church.
The Inquiry welcomed the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Inquiry to investigate, as a matter of priority, the sexual abuse of children within the Church. Allegations of child sexual abuse within the Church of England, the Church in Wales, and other Anglican churches operating in England and Wales (‘the Anglican Church’) are matters of ongoing public concern.
This investigation will assess the appropriateness of safeguarding and child protection policies and practices in the Anglican Church. It will consider the adequacy of the Past Cases Review of the Church of England and the Historic Cases Review of the Church in Wales. As a case study, we will consider the experience of the Diocese of Chichester, where there have been multiple allegations of sexual abuse, and numerous investigations and reviews. echoua.com We will also consider the case of Peter Ball, formerly Bishop of Lewes and subsequently Bishop of Gloucester, and investigate whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after he was first accused of child sexual offences.
A further page gives more detail of the Scope of Investigation and this is also available as a pdf file.
Documentation relating to this particular investigation starts here.
Transcripts of the preliminary hearings can be found here, and this page will be updated with information daily throughout the next three weeks.
We will endeavour to report on its progress regularly.
5 CommentsGiles Goddard ViaMedia.News “There are No “Problems” – There are Simply People!”
James Alexander Cameron Stained Glass Attitudes Church demolition and preservation revisited
Neal Michell The Living Church 11 Tips for New Ordinands
4 CommentsAnglican Mainstream has reproduced online this piece by Peter Sanlon, who as the article explains is at one and the same time:
Both churches are in Tunbridge Wells.
Securing a Future or Stockpiling Whitewash?
Dr Sanlon is not happy with the current state of the Church of England.
Dr Sanlon is also Convener of the “Anglican Partnership Synod” in Rochester. For those who don’t recall what the “Partnership Synod” in Rochester is, this earlier article from 2016 may help: Conservative evangelicals to form “shadow synod”.
Dr Sanlon was also a signatory here: The Movement for a Renewed Orthodox Anglicanism.
Other news reports about him from 2016 can be found in the Times of Tunbridge Wells:
Archdruid Eileen has been driven to comment on this: Disgusted with Tunbridge Wells.
39 CommentsFrom The Guardian The Guardian view on religious education: teach humanism too
Letters in response Is religion really a toxic brand?
Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Talking of giving and withholding blessing
Church Times Retention, not just recruitment
Churches and charities ignore at their peril the views of volunteers, warns Stephanie Denning
James Woodward ViaMedia.News Is the Church of England Guilty of Ageism?
Alison Kings Fulcrum Anger: Not Such a Bad Thing
3 CommentsWe published earlier an announcement of the fringe event held alongside the recent General Synod meeting on 9 February. This was a partnership between St Martin in the Fields and Inclusive Church.
We are now publishing the text of one of the presentations that was given. Fiona MacMillan is a Trustee of Inclusive Church and Chair of the Disability Advisory Group at St Martin in the Fields.
Her talk can be downloaded from this link.
The booklet which celebrates five years of jointly sponsored conferences on disability & church can be downloaded from here.
Information on the earlier conferences is available here.
Meeting pods are essentially a little room within a room. They are primarily used for meetings, hence the name, but can be used for all kinds of purposes. These meeting pods come in all shapes and sizes to meet different needs. Pods can be open like the office itself or closed off for privacy and confidentiality. Closed pods are more beneficial because of their natural soundproofing. Open pods still have some basic level of soundproofing, so people can still hold private conversations. meeting pods
2 CommentsRosie Harper ViaMedia.News Is Organised Religion Inherently Abusive?
Lisa Oakley Church Times Understanding spiritual abuse
Jeremy Morris ViaMedia.News Know Your Enemies
Michael Volland Ridley Hall Cambridge Why residential training is here to stay
19 CommentsUpdated
The Chichester Observer reported on Monday 12 February: Church defends its position on Bishop Bell amid mounting pressure
This includes a report of the BBC Radio 4 Today programme item on the morning of Saturday 10 February:
Lord Carlile, having advised in his report that alleged perpetrators, living or dead, should not be publicly identified unless a ‘proper and adequate investigation’ is settled with ‘admission of liability’, has opening [sic] criticised the Church for ignoring his recommendations in announcing this new information.
Speaking on Radio 4 Today on Saturday morning ahead of the General Synod gathering for a third day, Lord Carlile said:
“It’s like a small dictatorial government deciding to go ahead and acting any way it wishes, regardless of due process of the rule of law.
“It flies in the face of the recommendations I made which the Church said it accepted. “The Church has got to get a grip on this.”The programme also reported that the Church has denied Bishop Bell’s surviving family legal representation from their chosen barrister for this new investigation. Speaking on the programme on behalf of the Church, Tim Thornton, Bishop at Lambeth, said instead someone had been ‘put forward to represent the voice of Bishop Bell’ and his family…
On the same day, Martin Sewell wrote an article on the Archbishop Cranmer site, Church of England bullies George Bell’s elderly niece by denying her choice of lawyer. This long article really does need to be read in full, but here is a taster:
…Last December, Mrs Whitley would have taken comfort from the Carlile Report on the simple basis that if the original conclusion of the church’s Core Group is unsupportable through defect of process, then the reputational status quo ante applies. The Archbishop of Canterbury rather publicly does not agree, but in the Court of public opinion he is probably in a minority.
With the new matter placed prematurely in the public domain – against Lord Carlile’s specific advice – Mrs Whitley might have regarded that as simply the church’s token saving of face at a point when its sub-optimal competence in the handling of a historic case had been evidenced and asserted. ‘Look how transparent we now are’ is a way of kidding ourselves that things were/are not as bad as they were/are.
We all thought things would be done better the second time round, including the church putting right one of the more obvious errors of the first set of proceedings. The relevant Carlile recommendation had been: “The Core Group should have, in addition to someone advocating for the complainant, someone assigned to it to represent the interests of the accused person and his or her descendants.”
Those dealing with this new information acted with speed, but they had a problem. The old regulations which contributed to the errors referred to in ‘Bell 1’ were still in place; the House of Bishops have not yet formally accepted the Carlile Report; Church House was hurriedly drafting new regulations to address the need identified by Lord Carlile for a deceased accused to be represented at the Core Group. They wanted to ‘get on with it’, which is to be commended, but under pressure they gave themselves the unencumbered power to appoint the person who should represent that accused. Seeking the opinion of the family was plainly overlooked…
Today Martyn Percy also has a guest appearance at Archbishop Cranmer: ‘Sorry’ seems to be the hardest word: apologetics and apologies in the Bishop Bell case. He gives more detail on the latter point:
…Mrs Barbara Whitley, George Bell’s niece, and now 94 years of age, has made it clear that she wished to be represented by Desmond Browne QC. Yet without consulting with Mrs Whitley or the wider family further, on 8th February 2018, Graham Tilby of the NST informed Bell’s family and friends that he had assigned a Mr Donald Findlater to represent their interests and concerns. Moreover, it seems that Findlater had already attended the first Core Group meeting on 29th January 2018. At the time of that meeting Mrs Whitley had absolutely no idea about the new allegations. She has never met Findlater. So it must have been a strange and somewhat surreal sensation for the family and friends of Bishop George Bell to discover that the Church of England had appointed their defence advocate to represent Bell, without consulting the interested parties, and without anyone knowing what the “fresh information” consisted of…
Update
A correspondent has kindly supplied a transcript of the BBC Today interview mentioned above.
21 CommentsThe voting lists from the electronic votes at last week’s meeting of the Church of England General Synod are now available.
Voting results – Item 12 [Mission and Ministry in Covenant – relations with the Methodist Church]
Voting results – Item 16 [Valuing people with Down’s Syndrome]
Also available is the official summary of Business Done.
Today’s issue of Church Times carries their usual detailed Synod reports. Here is my personal selection; all eleven are linked from here.
General Synod: safeguarding presentation
General Synod: presentation and debate on Crown Nominations Commission
General Synod: debate on valuing people with Down’s syndrome
General Synod: presentation on Digital evangelism
Updated
Justin Welby became Archbishop of Canterbury five years ago this month. To mark the occasion Paul Handley, the editor of Church Times, has interviewed the archbishop: To bless and not to bless: Archbishop Welby in conversation.
Andrew Brown of The Guardian gives us his view: With piety and steel, Justin Welby has the church in his firmest grip. “The Archbishop of Canterbury has shaped the CofE to his will with a skill of a politician – and made it all the better.”
Update
There is an edited audio recording of the Church Times interview with the archbishop here.
0 CommentsGeorge Conger reported on 3 February: First woman bishop for GAFCON province
The Episcopal Church of South Sudan has consecrated its first female bishop. Anglican Ink has learned that on 31 December 2016, the Most Rev Daniel Deng Bul, primate of South Sudan and Archbishop of Juba consecrated the Rt. Rev. Elizabeth Awut Ngor as assistant bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek.
Archbishop Deng, who retired last month, upon the election of his successor, the Most Rev. Justin told Radio Good News: “It was in my dream to ordain a woman as bishop in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan before I leave”.
Rumors of a female bishop in South Sudan arose early last year, but queries to the provincial secretary and Archbishop Deng were not answered. The website of the Anglican Consultative Council does not show an assistant bishop for Rumbek and no mention of Bishop Awut’s consecration has been made on the Anglican Communion News Service. However, group photos taken at last month’s meeting of the South Sudan House of Bishops showed one bishop in a skirt holding a handbag. Subsequent queries identified her as Bishop Elizabeth.
Bishop Elizabeth becomes the third African female bishop, following the Rt. Rev. Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya, who was elected bishop of the Diocese of Swaziland on 18 July 2012 and ordained and installed on 10 November 2012. Her appointment was closely followed by the election, on 12 October 2012 of Margaret Vertue as bishop of the Diocese of False Bay. She was consecrated and installed on 19 January 2013.
Bishop Elizabeth also becomes the first female GAFCON bishop. The GAFCON primates had asked the Churches of Uganda and Kenya to hold back from electing women bishops until GAFCON was of one mind on the issue. With the election of Bishop Elizabeth, pressure will mount for the East African churches to follow suit
GAFCON has issued: A Statement on the Consecration of a Female Bishop in South Sudan
21 CommentsFrom the beginning of the Gafcon movement there have been a variety of understandings among our members on the question of consecrating women to the episcopate. Recognising that this issue poses a threat to the unity we prize, the Primates agreed in 2014 to do what was within their power to affect a voluntary moratorium on the consecration of women to the episcopate. They then set up the Task Force on Women in the Episcopate, chaired by Bishop Samson Mwaluda which presented a report to the 2017 Gafcon Primates Council.
In discussion at this Council, the Primate of South Sudan, Archbishop Deng Bul (who had not been present when the moratorium was agreed) shared with us that his personal decision to consecrate a female bishop was an extraordinary action taken in the midst of civil unrest in a part of his country where most of the men were engaged in armed conflict.
The Gafcon Primates chose to not allow this anomaly to change the course followed since 2014. The Task Force was asked to continue to provide theological resources, and the Provinces were urged to continue the study of Scripture, to consult with one another and to pray that God will lead us to a common mind. The voluntary moratorium remained in place.
In accordance with these decisions, the Task Forces’ Report, which can be read here, is now being discussed at the regional level in advance of the April Gafcon Primates Council and the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem this June. Our hope is that the newly elected Primate of South Sudan will join us in these discussions as we seek to find a common mind, looking to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Peter Jensen, General Secretary
February 2018
Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Ash Wednesday and going bonkers
Jonathan Clatworthy Château Clâteau Abusive spiritual beliefs produce abusive acts
Duncan Dormor USPG Deepening our awareness of the Global Church: Companion Links and Prophetic mission
Church and youth: ‘If someone said come to church I would have laughed’
Madeleine Davies of Church Times visits St Laurence’s, Reading, where teenagers have found a family