Acting Bishop of Ely speaks of safeguarding challenges following resignation of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
The Rt Revd Dr Dagmar Winter, Bishop of Huntingdon and currently Acting Bishop of Ely, has spoken of “the safeguarding challenge for the whole church” following the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, earlier this week.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced he will resign on Monday (12 November), following days of pressure after a damning review into the most prolific abuser associated with the Church of England.
The independent Makin Review exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the abuses of John Smyth, a lay reader who is said to have subjected 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.
The attacks took place over five decades between the 1970s until Smyth’s death aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police.
In a pastoral letter to all clergy and Licensed Lay Ministers in the Diocese of Ely, Dr Winter said he was “sickened and saddened beyond words, also angered, both by the abuse and by the failings within our church in effective safeguarding”.
He added: “At times like this, it can be hard to be a committed member of the Church of England. This kind of moral trauma to the church's faithful servants is part of the wickedness of what has happened.”
Dr Winter said of the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury: “His decision shows the seriousness with which he takes the criticisms contained in the report and demonstrates his willingness to take personal and institutional responsibility for the failures identified. I am grateful to him for this, as I am also conscious of his burden of leadership and his achievements over the years.
“We should be clear that the Archbishop’s resignation does not alter the safeguarding challenge for the whole church. Our only proper response can be a renewed and ever more determined commitment to safeguarding, to the implementation of new recommendations, to our support of our parish safeguarding officers and to our Diocesan safeguarding team.
This Safeguarding Sunday is a good opportunity to offer your support and commitment to the work of safeguarding in our church: specifically, to an integrated culture of safeguarding as part of what we do because it is Gospel work and a Kingdom value.”
Questions remain over the conduct of the current Bishop of Lincoln, Stephen Conway, who was Bishop of Ely in 2013 when he was told details of Smyth’s abuse.
He has said he “made a detailed disclosure to Lambeth Palace and contacted the relevant diocese in South Africa to alert them to the issue”, and understood it had been reported to police in the UK.
He insisted he “did all within my authority as a bishop of the Church of England” but added: “I acknowledge fully that my fault was in not rigorously pursuing Lambeth about that province-to-province communication, and for this I am deeply sorry.”
Dr Joanne Grenfell, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, said the failings identified in the Makin Report into Smyth’s abuse meant it was “now necessary for others to take up the baton” on safeguarding.
Cambridge is part of the Diocese of Ely.
