Church of England Investigate Historic Sexual Abuse

The Church of England has made the decision to is examine the personnel files of thousands of clergymen and women – files which date back to the 1950’s. This is part of an investigation into historical sexual abuse allegations the archbishop of Canterbury has confirmed.

The Most Rev Justin Welby, leader of the Church of England, has said that the investigation seeks to ensure that there are no outstanding allegations of sexual abuse that have been ignored, disguised or overlooked. This follows recent disclosures of child abuse within the church and Welby has ststated that the investigations would show anything that has not yet been revealed.

Dr John Sentamuthe, archbishop of York, outlined his deep shame at the failure of the church to protect the vulnerable. This was in response to an independent inquiry which revealed “systematic failures” in the church’s attempts to stop the abuse inflicted by the Very Rev Robert Waddington, who died seven years ago. At a press gallery in Westminster, Welby revealed that he had regularly listened to victims of the abuse. He said:

“It is beyond description – terrible. I had a meeting with some survivors a few weeks ago and was giving a talk later that afternoon, somewhere else and on a completely different subject, but someone asked, it was a theological colleague, about issues of safeguarding, and to my intense surprise – and I don’t normally do this sort of thing – I broke down completely. It was the shredding effect of hearing what we did – what we did – to those people and the sense of total failure and betrayal,”  

The inquiry into the personnel folders, known as blue files, is being carried out by external investigators working with church staff – this is to ensure there is no chance of anything being covered up. Welby said:

“We will systematically bring those transparently and openly first of all working with the survivors where they are still alive and then seeing what they want. The rule is survivors come first, not our own interests, and however important the person was, however distinguished, however well-known, survivors come first,”

Welby also disclosed the church plans to launch a study into the confidentiality of the confessional. This study could overturn over 1800 years of church tradition. Under the current Church of England system, what is said in confession may not be repeated or revealed by the priest – even if given permission by the person making the confession.

The change being discussed is that at the moment most of those hearing confession would counsel those confessing to tell the police about the crime as this would not “break the seal of the confessional” on their part. However, this could be changed to allow them to report alleged crimes to the police. Welby described the change that would breach 1800 years of tradition as “incredibly radical”. However, he has made clear the institutions commitment to ensuring abuse of the past is looked into and that such crimes can be discovered more expediently in the future.

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