The Bishop of Blackburn has admitted a “fear-driven silence” stopped him speaking out over grooming gangs.
In an article for the Church of England newspaper, Rt Rev Philip North said he didn’t raise the issue of grooming gangs because of his concern that it might undermine the Church’s efforts to promote racial justice.
Earlier this month, the government announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs after a report by Baroness Louise Casey found that a culture of “blindness, ignorance and prejudice” had led to repeated failures to properly investigate cases in which children were abused and exploited by gangs.
She said there was “over-representation” of Asian and Pakistani men among suspects in cases across Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire.
Bishop Philip described Baroness Casey as “not a person who is afraid to name uncomfortable truths” and he said her “fearlessness” had caused him to ask himself why he hadn’t supported a public inquiry when the issue was raised earlier this year.
He said he hadn’t spoken out even though he had heard “directly and on many occasions of the anxiety of working-class families that their daughters are vulnerable to well-organised gangs".
"Why did I so readily believe the voices that claimed that calling for an inquiry was a collusion with the far right?” he asked.
Bishop Philip added that other church leaders had also remained silent on the issue:
“It is not just me," he said. "The Church of England prides itself on being a presence in every community. The local knowledge of our clergy and church leaders of what is happening in their neighbourhoods is legendary. There must be hundreds of other church leaders like me who had heard rumours, stories and concerns yet said nothing.
"We are quick to speak out on benefits and inequality, on Israel and Gaza, on assisted dying and the care system. Why have we been collectively silent on grooming gangs?”
Damaging social cohesion and community relations were among the reasons Bishop Philip gave for not speaking out earlier. The Church of England’s stance on racial justice was another: “Raising an issue that so directly impacts one ethnic group could appear to sit ill with our commitment to racial justice.”
But he now admits that by failing to address the issue, community relations were diminished due to the perception that one ethnic group could target members of another with impunity: “Moreover our corporate silence reflects a deeper problem which is the growing distance between a culturally middle-class established church and the needs and concerns of working class communities.”
He says he is “now doing some serious reflection about my fear-driven silence when it comes to grooming gang".
"I hope other church leaders will do the same," he said.