Surviving the Church: Restoring Hope to Your Faith

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If you want to learn more about the activities and tasks victims and survivors are involved with, please read the latest annual report. ES: Are you saying that you can’t have confidence in the independence of the Board unless she withdraws or in some way goes? JG So, the Independent Safeguarding Board is in the process of being set up. It’s in phase one and it’s looking forward to the next step, which is to sort of full independence. I absolutely recognise that there have been teething problems in getting that going. Now, we’ve had more conversations this week that have been actually really constructive about how that should look, but it’s not because the Church is resisting independence. It’s about getting the right structures for independence: how it’s funded and what the scope of work is, what reporting looks like, and I think that does need further work, but we are taking some really constructive steps towards that at the moment.

The point I am making is that it is now impossible to staff the present chapter other than via ‘inventive’ expedients. The present arrangements are, bluntly, played out and have been since the early/mid 1980s. When Malcolm Brown was asked by the Church to respond to the IICSA recommendations (not the NST), survivors were given about two days to review his final draft report. I suggested that it shouldn’t take years to work out what would be required for independent oversight of safeguarding. All that was required was to set up a properly-resourced independent charitable foundation with a board of trustees to employ and supervise people with expertise in CofE safeguarding. And to give them authority to investigate allegations and to act against those abusing their positions within the Church. They join a long list of refuseniks – those no longer willing to play the game of pretending that the Church is fit to direct its own inquiries. Who is in the right, Church House or victims the of the CofE? You decide Victims and survivors are recognised for their time and commitment as individuals and volunteers in drawing on their personal experiences of abuse to support the NST’s work. The Church offers honorariums to demonstrate the value it places on people’s active role and involvement in making changes happen. And then you, the good bloggers on Surviving Church and Thinking Anglicans, provided further input on the relationships between governments and religions. Bloggers explained how religions resist ‘interference’ by governments, and how public authorities are reluctant to ‘intervene’. This is because they are part of the same history and culture, which is particularly true for the established Church of England. But when there is a conflict, the law prevails.Looking at the October 2021 voting figures, if none of the five stood down, it seemed likely (though not certain, as the STV counting is complex) that Jonathan Baker would have stepped up to fill the vacancy. However, that did not happen. When the ISB Chair and Lead Bishop were insisting the ISB was “fully independent” they may well have been speaking in good faith, but did nobody know this was false or erroneous?” It has to be asked why there needs to be a lead bishop of safeguarding or, indeed, anything else. All this allocation of spurious pseudo-cabinet portfolios is a largely useless distraction from what ought to be the pastoral day-job. It should not be for any bishop to dictate policy; rather it should be for the ISB and NST to formulate policy (or, perhaps for the ISB to dictate it, and the NST to implement it). The bishops should instead get out of the way and take directions (i.e., commands) from the national safeguarding professionals who actually know (or ought to know) what they are doing. The Church appreciates the bravery of those who have come forward to report abuse and to share their thoughts as to how safeguarding processes, procedures and practice can be improved. We are grateful for the work of our survivors’ group and those individuals who have shared their experiences. Bishop Julie Conalty, deputy lead safeguarding bishop for survivor engagement said: “The survivor voice is vital to our ongoing safeguarding work in the Church. It is not just about listening but acting on what we hear. This survey is part of the Church’s commitment to meaningful, transparent and impactful survivor engagement work. I hope we can learn from those who come forward and share their views to develop this new framework.”

As such, there will be an election for the vacancy for a southern suffragan in the House of Bishops. Of course, it is open to anyone eligible to put their name forward for this election and any southern suffragan bishop is free to do so. However, may I encourage you to reflect on whether it may be preferable for Bishop Joanne to be able to take the place on the House of Bishops, so that she may be part of the House and the General Synod in her role for Lead Bishop for Safeguarding. An independent review of the governance of Christ Church, chaired by Dominic Grieve KC, is underway. Implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament. This is likely to be a lengthy process. Once it is complete Professor Foot intends to stand down to allow new leadership to take Christ Church forward under new statutes.” I for one pray that Jasvinder & Steve will not be provoked into resigning, tempting though that must be to them

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Introducing Ms Atkinson to General Synod in February 2022 the Lead Safeguarding Bishop Jonathan Gibbs hailed the ISB as “ fully independent “ – a sentiment the new Chair echoed, Some members of General Synod were already slightly sceptical and were seeking clarifications I fully understand the triumph of hope over experience. None of us is exempt from hoping for the best. But I’ve learned from long experience to plan for the worst. I appreciate this can seem faithless, but I don’t believe a working knowledge of history like this will do anything but help our churches. The circumstances in which Joanne Grenfell became a member of the House of Bishops are, I suspect, not well-known, and are not without controversy. These, then, are the facts concerning Bishop Joanne’s election to the HoB:

Under the Synod’s election rules, when a casual vacancy occurs within two years from the last ‘general’ election, instead of there being a by-election, the votes in the general election are recounted after eliminating the person who (in this case) is no longer a suffragan bishop and any of the unsuccessful candidates who indicate that they no longer wish to stand. In the constituency for southern suffragans in October 2021 there were ten candidates, of whom five (including John Perumbalath) were elected and five were unsuccessful. The five unsuccessful candidates were: The same church lawyers setting up the Kate Wood investigation, and the refusal of those driving the campaign against the Dean to admit that these lawyers had set Wood’s Terms of Reference. (October 2020). Sarah Troughton, a psychiatrist at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW), said: “It is essential that the voice of the survivor of church related abuse is no longer silenced but instead valued so that not only healing but post traumatic growth can occur for the individual and the wider church itself. This ethos is central to the project.” I should like to respond to those who have suggested involving ” a few well chosen M.P.s” From personal experience this would be an excellent idea but definitely ‘well chosen’, involving people who understand the situation.The rest of us not possessed by this destructive condition, would be humiliated by barely 10% of their exposed failures, and would resign or otherwise withdraw from the limelight with immediate and prolonged effect. If you read the terms of the announcement – and we must now be clear that the news management is largely in the hands of the CofE Communications Department – it was all very respectful and amicable; evidently the Chair was leaving partly to spend more time with her family. If you believe this is the top and tail of the story, I have a lovely bridge in New York to sell you – ‘real cheap.”