Head of Church of England resigns over abuse scandal; SNAP urges institutional reform
For immediate release: November 13, 2024
The Archbishop of Canterbury stepped down this week following an outcry over his role in the cover-up of child abuse. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sees this resignation as a positive first step, but believes that the Archbishop is only a symptom of a deeper problem.
An independent review by Keith Makin into the Church of England’s handling of accusations of abuse by the late John Smyth was released on November 7, 2024. Smyth, who was a lawyer actively involved in Christian ministry for children, physically, sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abused about 30 boys and young men in the U.K. and 85 in Africa over five decades. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, issued a statement in response to the report.
In his statement, Archbishop Welby acknowledged that, "I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated. … I did not meet quickly with victims after the full horror of the abuse was revealed by Channel 4 in 2017.” Despite this admission, the Archbishop did not intend to step down until public outcry forced his resignation.
However, SNAP European Coordinator, Marc Artzrouni, while applauding this development, does not believe that it is enough. He said, “The rot is institutional: any other person in Welby's position would have covered-up the crimes in the same way.”
In fact, the Malkin report highlighted a comment from a deceased cleric, David Fletcher, who was aware of the abuse in the 1980s. “I thought it would do the work of God immense damage if this were public.” It is that attitude that needs to be eradicated wherever it crops up.
Certainly, the Church of England is not the only faith community where the reputation of the institution has been prioritized over the safety of vulnerable boys and girls. The Church’s Lead Safeguarding Bishop, Joanne Grenfell, and the National Director of Safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, said in response to the Malkin revelation about Fr. Fletcher, “We are appalled that any clergy person could believe that covering up abuse was justified in the name of the Gospel….” We hope the outrage expressed is not just public hand-wringing.
The Church is not its assets or its clergy. It is the community of believers. That is what should be protected, especially its innocent children. We hope that this will begin a new day for the Anglican Church, but we will be watching. We will be looking for real progress, not just words on paper.
CONTACT: Marc Artzrouni, SNAP Europe Coordinator, (+33 (0)6 95 73 65 92, [email protected]), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Director (925-708-6175, [email protected]), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Interim Executive Director, (814-341-8386, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org.)
