The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that the Church of England has “fallen tragically short” when it comes to safeguarding.
During her presidential address to members of the General Synod in London, Most Rev Dame Sarah Mullally said the Church can only “begin to rebuild trust and confidence through openness and integrity.” And she called for "independent scrutiny of safeguarding".
Archbishop Sarah was speaking after months of criticism over the way she handled allegations of abuse when she was Bishop of London. A complaint against her under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) for her handling of the case of a man known as Survivor N is currently being reviewed by the Bishop of Winchester. A separate complaint was recently dismissed by Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, who is himself also the subject of a complaint under the CDM.
The controversy led to some survivors and clergy calling for her January Confirmation as Archbishop to be paused. However in her Synod address she said she was “committed to bringing an approach of seriousness and focused direction to all matters relating to safeguarding in all contexts in the church.”
Archbishop Sarah said she wanted to be “wholly committed to listening to victims and survivors, to independent scrutiny of our safeguarding practices, and to delivering timely and robust trauma-informed processes. We must be willing, always, for light to be shone on our actions and our decisions.”
Premier Christian News has been told that some clergy have been afraid of raising safeguarding issues for fear of being victimised by the institution, but the new archbishop sought to allay their concerns.
“I have always, in any leadership role, been committed to accountability and transparency," she said. "The way we treat one another, lay and ordained, through our various institutional processes, is vital to the health of our life together in Christ. We have too often failed to recognise or take seriously the abuse of power in all its forms. Robust and transparent processes are central to the health of any institution; proper process around appointments; clear guidelines around conduct and good processes for handling concerns, complaints and whistleblowing.”
The former Chief Nursing Officer also expressed her gratitude to safeguarding officers and survivors and victims who she said had “worked and continue to work to make progress. Progress has been made, yet we are anything but complacent.”