In 2024, stories of church-related abuse in the UK haven’t been far from the headlines.

In November, the Archbishop of Canterbury was forced to resign after an independent review into the Church of England’s handling of abuse by the late Christian barrister John Smyth found systemic failures in the way the church had handled disclosures of abuse.

The resignation of Most Rev Justin Welby sent shock waves across the church with victims and survivors of abuse calling for more resignations among bishops and other members of the church who had known about, but not properly reported, abuse cases.

This month, the Archbishop of York Most Rev Stephen Cottrell has himself been under scrutiny after a BBC investigation found he had allowed a child abuser, David Tudor to continue ministering as a priest in the Diocese of Chelmsford. When he took over as Bishop of Chelmsford in 2010, Cottrell had been told about ‘longstanding safeguarding concerns’ over Tudor but did not take action until a fresh claim was made against him in 2019. Tudor was only banned from ministry two months ago,

Archbishop Cottrell has said he is ‘deeply sorry’ but that he had been unable to act earlier because there were no legal grounds to do so.

This cuts right to the heart of the Church of England’s safeguarding crisis, with abuse victims and their advocates describing this as a pivotal moment for the church.

For years there have been calls for the church to implement independent scrutiny of its safeguarding and for a culture change in its structures and processes. However, the General Synod rejected a recommendation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) to introduce independent oversight.  Former chair of IICSA Professor Alexis Jay has now written an open letter with lawyers together with survivors and their advocates saying the Church ‘must establish fully independent safeguarding processes to meet even secular standards.’   

The Church of England hasn’t been alone when it comes to stories of abuse this year.

In October, a report published by the University of Durham’s Centre for Catholic Studies found that a third of Catholics who previously went to Mass have reduced their attendance or stopped going altogether as a result of the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. And 79 per cent of the 3000 adults who responded to a YouGov survey thought the Church must change a great deal to prevent further cases of child sexual abuse.

32 per cent of regular Mass attendees reported that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales hadn’t handled abuse cases well.

The UK evangelical church has also been rocked by abuse scandals. In September, an independent report found that Soul Survivor Watford preacher Mike Pilavachi had abused his power as a ‘spiritual celebrity.’  The report talked of credible evidence of the preacher’s misconduct over nearly 40 years.

While it said Mr Pilavachi bears primary responsibility for the harm caused by his ‘bullying and abuses of power’, it also criticised other leaders at Soul Survivor, some of whom it said were aware of the preacher’s highly inappropriate behaviour before it came to public attention. It said the Church of England also bore some responsibility for “inadequate oversight and a failure to take action when matters became known”.

At the heart of stories of abuse are victims and survivors who have for many years been ignored by the institutions when trying to report their experience. Now with the church finally waking up to the need for safeguarding reform, it must be hoped 2025 brings a significant -and more hopeful and just - new chapter.