Updated Friday
The bishops, dean and archdeacons in the Diocese of Blackburn have written to all clergy, readers and safeguarding officers in the diocese. They reflect on reflect on the IICSA reports on Chichester Diocese and Peter Ball.
The press release states:
Since the recent publication of the report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) on the Diocese of Chichester and the Peter Ball case, Bishops’ Leadership Teams across the country have been strongly encouraged to read and reflect on the reports in their entirety.
Having done this in our Diocese, the Bishops, Archdeacons and The Dean of The Church of England in Lancashire were moved to send a message across our Diocese to urge others of the need to be ‘spending time with the report’; the reading of which they describe as a ‘powerful, emotional experience’.
The text of the letter follows below the fold and can also be viewed in its original form here.
Aban Quaynor writes about the letter in The Lancaster and Morecombe Citizen: Senior leaders in Diocese of Blackburn call on church to protect children from sex abuse.
SENIOR clergy in the Blackburn Diocese have written a joint letter to Christian faith leaders urging them to ensure ‘local churches are places where children and vulnerable adults are entirely safe’ from sexual abuse.
The letter … also states that members of the diocese should take a collective responsibility for abuse which has taken place within the wider church because ignoring it becomes a form of re-abuse…
This article is also published in the Lancashire Telegraph.
Stephen Parsons writes about the letter on his Surviving Church blog: The Blackburn Letter. A new beginning for the Church?
Update
Martin Sewell Archbishop Cranmer Child sexual abuse: the Blackburn Pastoral Letter is game-changer for the Church of England
Adam Becket Church Times Safeguarding not just about box-ticking, say senior clergy in Blackburn
To all holding the Bishop of Blackburn’s Licence (Clergy and Readers) and Parish Safeguarding Officers
Monday June 17th 2019
Dear Friends,
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Case Studies into the Diocese of Chichester and the response to allegations against Peter Ball
‘Have mercy on us O God, for we have sinned.’ (Psalm 51,1)
It is very hard not to hear David’s plaintive cry as we read the pages of the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on the Diocese of Chichester and the Peter Ball case. What cries out most clearly is the desperate suffering of those who have been victims of sexual abuse by clergy and church leaders and the lifelong impact it has had on them.
We are writing to urge all of you to take the time to read the report which, whilst coming from a secular body, surely speaks to the church with something of a prophetic voice in the challenges it lays before us. And as you read, it is important to remember that, despite the title, this report is not about the past and nor is it about Chichester. It is about the whole Church and it is about today.
The Church is one body, so whilst we may not ourselves have been directly involved in the abuse of children and vulnerable adults, we are fellow members of the body with those who have and so we are all called to repentance.
The Church should be the conscience of the nation and yet as the report shows, again and again we have placed the reputation of the institution above the needs of the vulnerable. In addition, when the contemporary church fails to respond properly to allegations from the past, this becomes a form of re-abuse, adding a fresh layer of hurt and harm to those whose lives are already damaged. Trite, formulaic apologies will not do. There has been grave sin within the Church, and unless corporately we name, confess and deal with that sin, our mission to the nation is fatally undermined.
Moreover the report indirectly challenges us to give even greater priority to ensuring that our local churches are places where children and vulnerable adults are entirely safe and where the voices of those who have difficult things to say or disclosures to make are heard and acted on.
Whilst the Church has undoubtedly taken great steps forward in this over the past ten years, it is absolutely critical that we ensure that safeguarding procedures in our parishes are robust, that training is up to date, that people who have concerns know how and where to report them and that the advice laid out in the Parish Safeguarding Manual is followed by every PCC. Also vital is that, if you have any safeguarding concerns which are either current or historic, you come forward and report these.
But we need to understand also that safeguarding is not just about ticking boxes and following rules. It is about a much deeper awareness, especially for clergy and church-leaders, of where power lies in relationships and how easy it is to abuse that power. The report has a great deal to say about ‘clericalism’ and about an inappropriate culture of deference to clergy, especially senior clergy, which has resulted in cover-up and in the voices of the vulnerable being silenced.
The IICSA report also lays before us much deeper questions about the way we structure our life as the established church, ones that will need to be debated both within and without the Diocese.
It seems to us that there are very few areas of our common life that we will not need to look at very closely and honestly in the years to come. Vague and evasive talk of ‘culture change’ is not enough because culture is driven and determined by structures, appointments and decisions.
The IICSA report is long and more will follow, but it seems to us to be vital reading for all who exercise leadership in the Church of England (it can be found here: http://bit.ly/2WwSaPN).
To spend proper time with the report is a powerful emotional experience and the overwhelming impressions we were left with were those of sorrow, guilt and deep sadness. We must keep in our prayers all who have suffered at the hands of those claiming to represent the Church. And we must promise to listen properly to those who have for too long felt silenced or who have been mistreated when coming forward.
The Christian writer and thinker Andrew Graystone is a man who has done a great deal of listening to survivors and who writes intelligently and challengingly on what he has heard. It might help to end this letter with some words from a recent reflection which both graphically illustrate the reality of clerical abuse and also challenge us to a response rooted in the saving work of Christ.
“Victims of abuse in church contexts are baptised, not into the identity of Christ, but into a false baptism as a worthless object for the pleasure of the church. Many church leaders fail to understand this, and act as if, in their dealings with victims, they are simply being asked to make good the acts of a previous generation, for which they feel somewhat grudgingly responsible. In fact the role of church leaders is to robustly reverse the previous messages, and affirm the worth and identity of the broken victim as a true icon of Christ.”
This comes, as ever, with our prayers.
Yours in Christ,
The Rt Revd Julian Henderson (Bishop of Blackburn)
The Rt Revd Philip North (Bishop of Burnley)
The Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff (Bishop of Lancaster)
The Very Revd Peter Howell-Jones (Dean of Blackburn)
The Ven Michael Everitt (Archdeacon of Lancaster)
The Ven Mark Ireland (Archdeacon of Blackburn)
Stephen Parsons says, regarding the Blackburn Letter:
“Are we correct in seeing in this letter the beginning of something new, a combination of deep sorrow and genuine feeling for the needs of survivors and those wronged by the Church?”
That will depend on whether or not certain out-of-control ‘rogue elements’ – buried deep within Church House/Lambeth Palace, controlling agendas at a very high level and abusing their power to cover-up – can be ‘brought to heel’.
I’m not optimistic.
Stephen Parsons writes: “In essence, it [The Blackburn Letter] is commending study of the recent IICSA report on the Diocese of Chichester and the Peter Ball case”
For greater balance and wisdom, I would commend study of the recent IICSA report on the Diocese of Chichester for both the Bishop Ball AND the Bishop Bell cases.
Senior leaders in the Diocese of Blackburn call on the Church to protect children from sex abuse – and thus commend the study of the Diocese of Chichester and Bishop Ball. But senior leaders must also call on the Church to protect vulnerable adults (eg clergy) from false accusations of sex abuse – and thus should also commend the study of the Diocese of Chichester and Bishop Bell.
Richard, you misunderstand the reference to the IICSA report “on the Diocese of Chichester and the Peter Ball case.” You imply that there was a separate IICSA report on “the Bishop Bell case”. There was no such report. As had been indicated would be the case by the inquiry chairman, Professor Alexis Jay, at the conclusion of the hearings into the Diocese of Chichester case study (in March 2018) and the Peter Ball case study (in July 2018), this was the Inquiry’s joint ‘investigation report’ on the two case studies. Evidence relating to the Bishop Bell case was heard as… Read more »
David, my apologies for not making myself clear – there was no intention to mislead. I did not want to “imply that there was a separate IICSA report on the ‘Bishop Bell case'” – it formed part of the IICSA’s Joint Investigation Report on the two case studies of the Diocese of Chichester and Peter Ball. I would accept “the Blackburn ‘Ad Clerum’ letter rightly deals with the vitally important wider issues, focusing on the need to put the interests of victims and survivors above those concerned with the reputation of the Church”, but NOT AT THE EXPENSE of “the… Read more »
Just a practical point…
“We are writing to urge all of you to take the time to read the [IICSA] report which, whilst coming from a
secular body, surely speaks to the church with something of a prophetic voice in the challenges it lays
before us”
Easier said than done. I honestly don’t think most people will have the time and energy to read the report to do it justice. It’s all online. So much to read and very difficult to ‘digest’ – and that’s an understatement.
“To spend proper time with the report is a powerful emotional experience and the overwhelming impressions we were left with were those of sorrow, guilt and deep sadness”
For me, the powerful emotion experienced was anger – then exhaustion.
Thank you to the senior clergy of Blackburn for putting out a statement that seems to mean something. It’s timely. God bless you as you continue your discussions – and especially bless those survivors taking part. It will require courage on their part, and support on the part of the diocese.