The Bishop of Blackburn, Rt Rev Philip North, believes the Church is being “purified” by the safeguarding scandals currently facing the Church of England.
Speaking at a Religion Media Centre briefing, Bishop Philip expressed his view that “God is working through this kind of media frenzy.”
In recent months, the denomination has come under intense scrutiny, triggered by the release of the Makin review, which identified John Smyth QC as the most “prolific abuser” ever linked to the denomination.
The report's findings led to the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving the Archbishop of York, Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, to lead the church while a new Archbishop of Canterbury is selected.
John Perumbalath resigned as Bishop of Liverpool following multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Bishop John continues to deny the allegations, but stepped down to avoid the issue becoming “a distraction,” claiming a “trial by media” made it impossible for him to continue in his role.
Addressing the ongoing scandals, Bishop Philip acknowledged the significant reputational damage to the church at a national level.
He said: “I can’t deny there is huge reputational damage done to the Church at a national level, to the standing of bishops, and to the perception of the Church in the Church of England. We still feel very much on the back foot, very much on the defensive.”
However, he maintained that at a local level, the church remains “credible” and “still vibrant”.
He added: “I think, speaking as a bishop, we’ve got some work to do to recover trust, and certainly I feel less confident in speaking to the public square than I did last year.” He cited feeling less confident in speaking out on issues such as justice and poverty.
Alex Frost, a Synod member and vicar in Burnley, described the church’s hierarchy as being “in disarray”.
He said: “I think locally people are very keen to just get on with the job in hand. I think we’re kind of running two parallel universes here – we’re running the hierarchy of the Church of England that is in disarray, and we’ve got the local churches that are going about their day-to-day ministry, doing their best against the backdrop of a Church that seems to be in free fall.”