There are a host of stories of complaints and investigations into child abuse cover-ups in The Church of England.
- Police consider investigation into former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord George Carey – Christianity Today
- Archbishop of York could face police investigation for failing to act over abuse allegations – Christianity Today
- Police are investigating a complaint by a former priest against senior Church of England clergy that they ignored sex abuse claims – BBC
- ‘Wilful blindness’ existed towards Church child abuse in Chichester diocese, inquiry hears – Midhurst and Petworth Observer
- Independent inquiry hears survivors faced years of institutional cover-up and denial – The Guardian
- ‘Culture of amateurism’ among possible problems with Church of England safeguarding – Church Times
A “CULTURE of amateurism” and a “tendency to let difficult issues drift” are among the possible problems with which the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) into the Anglican Church will have to contend, it has been told.
…
In her opening remarks, Fiona Scolding QC, the lead counsel to the Anglican investigation, said: “Those who will be giving evidence and the available documentation suggests there may be the following problems.”
She went on to list 16 problems, which included a tendency “to let difficult issues drift rather than confront them”; an inability to believe that people who appeared to be good “could be capable of great harm towards children and young people”; and a “culture of excessive deference to those at the top of the hierarchy and an unwillingness to challenge them”.
An idea of the scale of @InquiryCSA abuse hearings into the Anglican church:
– Fiona Scolding QC has now been on her feet for more than 3 hours
– her opening statement is 88 pages long, well in excess of 22,000 words
– that is just the first morning of 3 weeks of hearings— Harry Farley (@HarryFarls) March 5, 2018
An apology has since been sent by @JustinWelby to the @inquirycsa
— Mandate Now (@mandatenow) March 5, 2018
Pictured, Fiona Scolding QC