The Bishop of Warrington issued a Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Liverpool yesterday, and this is now available on the diocesan website. It is copied below.
A Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Liverpool from The Bishop of Warrington
My dear sisters and brothers
Many of you will be aware of the Channel 4 investigation which has now led to the retirement of the Bishop of Liverpool. Whilst the report did not name the bishop as myself, I can now confirm to you that I am the second complainant.
In March 2023, when, as your acting diocesan bishop, I was advised of a complaint raised against the Bishop of Liverpool and a subsequent investigation by the National Safeguarding Team, I raised what I believe were significant concerns, which included my own disclosure. The focus of my concerns centred around due process. Throughout these past 510 days I have remained consistent and persistent in my pursuit of proper and appropriate ecclesiastical judicial process. A bishop cannot be above the law. A bishop cannot be dealt differently from a priest. If anything, a bishop must be held to greater scrutiny. This is a biblical imperative.
I do not hold to the media serving as prosecutor, jury and judge. For these reasons, I have with intention distanced myself from the recent media activity. However, I regret we as a church have not properly and satisfactorily addressed concerns that have been raised. My prayer is that now things have been brought into the light, there will be no more defendedness but an honest scrutiny of what we are doing, how we are doing it, where the gaps sit and how we address them. Our aim as an institutional church should be to work together across disciplines and departments to ensure our church is a safe, grace-filled, Christ-centred, flourishing environment/workplace for all.
There are many questions that I have as a result of this very difficult experience. These are now being raised and I trust, will be listened to and engaged with by senior leaders from within the national church. This, I hope and pray, will be a kairos moment for the church – a time of honesty, humility, repentance, unity, hope and blessing – a time when we can tear down the idols that have disoriented us and raise up again the incarnate God, who was crucified, is glorified and who is the Lord of the Church – the Lord of all.
I am only too mindful of the turmoil, shock and bruising that you will be reeling from as a result of these past days and as you have tried to make sense of this and my long and terrible absence. For my part, I am deeply sorry for my absence and silence. It has been excruciating.
I would like you to hear from me that you have remained in my constant prayers and in my care and concern throughout. It has been like looking through an opaque window observing but unable to reach you. I would like you to be reaffirmed in your identity: Liverpool is unique, beautiful, colourful and precious.
Through these past 510 days, I have been so proud of the work and ministry you have remained committed to, seeking faithfully to serve the Lord, to sing his praises and daring to try new initiatives for the sake of the Gospel. I have shared your gratitude for the friendship and inspirational leadership of colleagues who have served this diocese so faithfully and sacrificially. I have shared the joys and losses involved in pastoral ministry in Liverpool.
I want you to know how much I admire and respect the ministry of clergy and laity, alongside our ecumenical and interfaith partners – so evident at the time of and since the Southport tragedies. And for the outstanding leadership of the Dean, the archdeacons, the chairs of House of Laity and Clergy and significant others. As a bishop and pastor, I thank you and I thank God for you.
I regret at this time I am unable to advise you of what the future holds for me. This will become clearer in the days ahead. What I know is God’s will be done.
I am also confident that considered excellent support will now be put in place for you. Please be confident that the eye of the Lord is upon you and his love surrounds you. Stay under his blessing. Please hold to the unity and in all things may the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shine through you.
Goodness and truth will always prevail… and light shines into darkness for which we must not be afraid.
Throughout these past 510, a song that has given expression to my prayer and worship has been ‘The Goodness of God’. I hope it may be a source of comfort and blessing for you – maybe one day, we might sing it together.
Pray for Bishop John. Pray for each other and those with particular leadership responsibilities and please continue to pray for me.
With my love and constant prayer for you.
Bishop Beverley A Mason
The Bishop of Warrington
Could I ask whether +Bev approached Channel Four News to cover her story, or did they approach her and she consented, or did she effectively have no choice and is now trying to take back some control of the narrative by ‘outing’ herself before anyone else does. Given that she says in her letter ‘I do not hold to the the media serving as prosecutor, jury and judge’ and ‘I have with intention distanced myself from the recent media activity’ I’m going to assume, unless someone who knows tells me otherwise, that it’s not the first of those. If she’s… Read more »
I would be very surprised to discover anyone who is naive enough to think the media in its entirety is a friend to anyone except itself. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a convenient partner in the task of bringing wrongdoing to light, when all other avenues offer nothing, though. I am not going to engage in speculation over how and why Bishop Bev has broken her silence. As a survivor, that’s her story to tell. But I do notice, Jane, that in your rush to point the finger at the media and identify the suffering exposure can cause to… Read more »
Jane Might I suggest that, although you wish to have more information, the appropriate course is not to open this up. Bishop Bev is a brave person. May we all just reflect quietly on the situation and let her resume ministry in due course. Shalom
You slay me, Alistair, you really do. Did you just say that ‘the appropriate course is not to open this up?’ Survivors and their supporters with the eager assistance of the media have worked tirelessly to ‘open this up’, to unearth as many examples of potential wrongdoing as they can find and give them the widest possible publicity. By far the majority opinion on this site and elsewhere is that this is a right and necessary course of action and is in the best interests of survivors and of the church. Through their efforts this information about +Bev has made… Read more »
Jane. Briefly – Bev has shared as much as she wishes. Suggest you do not understand this is a wounded person who could have shared more. Final comment in this thread. Shalom
Somehow it was put in the public domain that one of the complainants was a woman bishop. As Bishop Beverley is the only woman bishop in the Liverpool diocese, people doubtless assumed/ suspected she was the complainant. It may be they in the circumstances she thought it as well to confirm the position.
That sounds very likely. I can only hope that she’s glad it’s been made public but even if she is she may not be for long once social media gets going.
Hmm…. not at all sure what the purpose of this missive is……..
Quite. The Bishop of Warrington’s letter, while heartfelt, does nothing to clarify any matters of fact nor process.
What a tender, human and very moving statement Without naming names I contrast her language with that of her male colleagues who have recently been in the spotlight.
The Church of England is in crisis but I have no doubt that our female clergy are our greatest strength. Over and over again I sense very powerfully that God is speaking to us urgently and powerfully through the mouths of our female priests and bishops. I believe God is showing us a path out of the current mess and I pray we are going to take it.
In the thread below another contributor thanks Cathy Newman for her search for truth, in contrast to Jane’s concern that Channel 4 has done a very irresponsible thing and is not a friend of survivors I come from a totally different diocese but I would imagine that the absence of the bishop for well over a year must have been noticed, especially as she had been the acting Diocesan for a while. So what has been the story? What sticks in my memory is her phrase of waiting steadfastly for 510 days for a proper ecclesiastical judicial process as her… Read more »
I have to disagree strongly David. I think the Church of England has, in its efforts to demonstrate diversity, rapidly promoted many women clergy with much haste. While a strong supporter of women’s ministry, my wife being an ordained minister, many “ liberal “ woman clerics have filled the ranks in recent years and this has, in my view, presented the Church of England as a strongly feminist institution. Apart from a handful of very good female priests in leadership roles I don’t look to many of the new intake to turn things around I’m afraid.
Geoff, ‘turn things round’ to where? I can’t imagine that you meant to echo the new US administration in its disparagement of DEI. But it looks a bit like it. There is a hint that all these second rate, possibly liberal, whatever that means, women are diluting a first rate male institution. I must be misreading you.
Or perhaps in the past the church was a strongly patriarchal institution, and having the ranks filled with many more women will have brought the church more into balance.
If the church has been “presented” as a strongly feminist institution, it has not been the women that have done it – the WATCH campaign at the moment is “Not Equal Yet” – the “feminists” do not accept the proposition that the CofE is feminist (And the statistics of those in ministry and in “senior” positions bears that out whatever you say. I would suggest that the Church has presented as an unequal and incompetent (safeguarding at least) organisation – and – partly perhaps because men have been in charge – it is men that have been found wanting more… Read more »
So what is going on? Is she on sick leave or something? and drawing a salary? Is she still in ministry This should have been resolved many months ago.
Last April, at the Chrism service in Liverpool Cathedral, it was stated that the Bishop of Beverley was away from the diocese with the permission of the Bishop of Liverpool and the Archbishop of York. It ws said she was not carrying out any engagements.
I don’t know what to make of that. The word permission might suggest it was her own wish.
Not Bishop of Beverley. I meant Bishop Beverley of Warrington
Surely it is obvious that her being away “with the permission of the bishop” was the diocesan party line? Reality of her 510 day exile in silence was clearly very different.
That is certainly my impression, yes. The statement was intended to suggest it was her own wish, but the reality is diffeent.
“I do not hold to the media serving as prosecutor, jury and judge. For these reasons, I have with intention distanced myself from the recent media activity. However, I regret we as a church have not properly and satisfactorily addressed concerns that have been raised.” – +Bev
That’s my position too.
I commend the work of great journalists like Cathy Newman. It was she who brought John Smyth to public attention years ago. Justin Welby told Ms Newman in an interview “I won’t be resigning over this” . He resigned the next day . Channel 4 News has performed a great public service in spotlighting abuse in the CofE. Distancing oneself “from recent media” activity seems a bit naive.
What this very long, and very sad, saga needs is some TRUTH. And the sooner the better for all concerned. . This letter is indeed very personal and moving but I’m struggling to see how it does anything more than continue to stir the pot. She says that “no bishop should be above the law” – which is self-evidently the case. But we don’t know what law – if any – Perambalath is accused of having broken. She also asserts that her concerns are focussed on process but we are unsighted on what the process has been – and continues… Read more »
Now that Bishop Bev has ‘outed ‘ herself, transparency of the process requires that the decision of the Deputy President of Tribunals, who reportedly refused her permission to bring a CDM complaint against the Bishop of Liverpool out of time (an application for which has been reported to have been supported by the Archbishop of York) should be published.
John Perumbalath has been accused of breaking the law against sexual assault, and was in fact interviewed under caution. However, Beverley Mason was not the complainant in that case. She seems to have offered her own experience as supporting evidence. And was sidelined for 510 days as a result, without being able to say why. Several commentators here wonder what the point of her letter was. To me it contrasted very favourably with Perumbalath’s, being more dignified and more concerned with the welfare of the diocese and the people in it. If she had not written the letter, but maintained… Read more »
This is a safeguarding outrage, but it is also a personal tragedy and a reminder of the fall out of this kind of behaviour. +Bev stepped aside but has no choice but to out herself. It is a tragedy. It feels like the CEO trying to be inappropriate with the COO of a charity or small company. Out of loyalty and respect, +Bev has gone down a line which she feels has not been addressed. So this is a most gracious letter of explanation.
Sorry, but I cannot agree that we have the evidence which would be necessary to declare this a “safeguarding outrage”. It might be. But it might not. There’s been too much rushing to judgement without evidence already. We have one Bishop who says he has done “nothing wrong” and another who asserts that “something happened” which led to her decision to withdraw from her Ministry. Unless somebody decides to shine some light on the background we are surely in no position to reach judgement on anybody? It’s clear that the Bishop of Warrington feels very hurt, and wronged. And she… Read more »
One thing which is important here… +Bev has a vocation to the single life. This is a high calling, and it feels as if this has also been violated/challenged by a colleague she had no power to do anything about and who was inflicted upon her.
to me it “feels as if” we really have no idea what went on here, or how it was investigated, and should not be speculating. Somebody needs to put all their own “truthful” cards on the table (and we all understand that our perceptions can be awry when things are tough). There are three parties here – two Bishops and the Church. None of them has said anything remotely illuminating.
A further thought. This is not really about “safeguarding”, is it? Safeguarding is about trying to ensure that this stuff doesn’t happen (I’m one of the chaperones for a junior church choir and see it as my job to protect the choir master, as well as the kids). What’s at stake here is a “judicial” question, isn’t it? What “he said” versus “what she said” and bound to be adversarial. Does this process not require a completely different mindset to the preventative business of “safeguarding”? Good “safeguarding” means setting agreed limits to the conduct which is acceptable. This might seem… Read more »
Pam: The ‘judicial process’ which you say is needed was the CDM complaint that Bishop Bev apparently brought but which was out of time, with the Deputy President then refusing to extend time (on an application under rule 8 of the Clergy Discipline Rules 2005). Under the rule the President (or, in this case, the Deputy President) can extend time “if satisfied that there was good reason why the complainant did not institute proceedings at an earlier date.” But, as his decision has not (so far) been made public, we don’t know why he found no such good reason. Hence there has… Read more »
It’s interesting how many church volunteers feel so much happier with safeguarding if it can be viewed as protecting themselves or the powerful against false accusations….especially from children or attractive women who are no better than they ought to be.
Maybe we should adopt Evan Davis’s laconic summing up on PM as the type of lecherous behaviour which is not tolerated in a modern work place?
As Janet Fife points out , the woman usually get the blame. I too thought Bishop Bev’s letter was very gracious
Really feeling for Bishop Bev at this time, and her 510 days in what may be seen as purgatory. I hope I may be forgiven for noting a similar period of time featuring in the title of a 1999 book about a football manager’s ‘510 days in paradise’: https://www.thecelticwiki.com/media/celtic-books/if-you-know-the-history/books-celtic-minded-510-days-in-paradise: https://www.thecelticwiki.com/media/celtic-books/if-you-know-the-history/books-celtic-minded-510-days-in-paradise/ I know nothing of the content of that book beyond what a Google search has offered. I know little of the suffering Bishop Bev has endured; only what is shared here, which is enough for the inordinateness of the time, the inactions, and the obfuscatory actions. This TA thread has… Read more »
I don’t know the situation well enough to make any informed comment on any detail. My reading suggests that the extent of the ministry of the complainant bishop has been affected by having made a complaint. Now I know that is a reality for people who make complaints, but surely if we are to have transparency and accountability, the fact of saying what happened should not have that kind of impact. Every whistleblowing policy I have been involved with had the goal of protecting the whistleblower.
As I say, I don’t know the detail, but the dynamics feel very wrong.
There is now a posting on facebook in which Bishop John Perumbalath is presenting in detail his version of what happened, especially in Chelmsford Diocese,which is inevitably rather different from what was presented previously. I don’t know enough to know where exactly the truth lies. What I do know however is that what is going on at the moment in the life of the Church – in relation to this and other recent cases – is affecting the mental and physical health of quite a large number of ordinary Anglican Christians, most of whom have no relationship with the specific… Read more »
I’m afraid there’s a lot more to come. The consequence of spending decades covering up abuses, is that once the carpet begins to be lifted the amount of rottenness underneath it seems overwhelming. And it will take an awful long time to clear up the mess, case by painful case.
Do you happen to have a copy of Bishop John’s Facebook post? It has been taken down now, but the police are interested to see it.
There remains, in all these issues of safeguarding, talk about the law, the police, judges etc. These may be relevant, but in many cases they are not. Sorry for bringing it up again, but my athletics club has codes of conduct, which are provided by UK athletics. It covers anybody involved in the club, in different roles. It is almost certainly very similar to codes of conduct in other sports bodies and for teachers etc. https://www.hernehillharriers.org/child-protection-and-safeguarding/ These include areas such as: massage (which is of course directly relevant to athletes) abusive language, bullying, harassment attitude alcohol use of social media… Read more »
i find it strange. Maybe i am impatient, maybe you are all preparing sermons for tomorrow, but the total absence of any support for my suggestion that there be detailed codes of conduct within the church, as are found in many secular organisations, seems to be gathering zero support here at TA. Maybe they already exist and are considered adequate? I gravely doubt it. It would take maybe a week for an intelligent person to take some existing codes of conduct and adapt them for different roles in the church. I see many recent events which would have violated the… Read more »
‘Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy’ is a document that already exists. Unlike many documents produced by the C of E it is succinct, clear and helpful. Like many other documents produced by the C of E it is largely forgotten.
About a year ago the Church Times published an article about Synod being asked to consider what is to be done with bullying and aggressive behaviour from lay people – how to get rid of the chap who bangs the table at the PCC and shouts at the vicar.
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/16-february/news/uk/synod-asked-to-tackle-bullying-behaviour-by-lay-people-in-church
Did anything become of this? Clergy are often on the receiving end of bad behaviour.
https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/clergy-resources/guidelines-professional-conduct-clergy
I am a cathedral volunteer and there is a good code of conduct for us too. But codes of conduct only work if the group involved buys into them, and reports people who don’t. And if they do report them, then if someone takes some notice and listens to the whistleblower. If the first allegations in respect of JP are true he cannot have thought that running his hands over the lady’s breasts after an away day was Ok. It is all depressing and unsettling beyond words. It is Candlemas and the sun is out! So if you are looking… Read more »
Sorry- she posts as aclerkofoxford
Thanks. Readng it now.
This is far too woolly to have any discernible meaning in practice. The word appropriate occurs again and again, but that simply begs the question. There is a section that says clergy must offer equal opportunity to all, but nobody seriously expects that for a moment. Perhaps something on basing decisions on clear, relevant, justified, objective and specified criteria might be better. When visiting, clergy are required to consider the arrangement of the furniture. I suppose this means avoiding sitting “too” close, but as written it is lampoonable. If a vicar fails to comment that she thinks the console table… Read more »