Bishop ‘doesn’t entirely trust’ Church of England as it sacks own panel investigating abuse
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A bishop has said she “doesn’t entirely trust” the Church of England amid an ongoing row over how it investigates abuse and cares for victims.
The Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, is a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Chester and is also one of the Church’s lead bishops on engagement with abuse survivors.
In an unusual intervention and marked detachment from the party line, the bishop attacked the Church as an institution and questioned its safety after it sacked its own panel tasked with investigating abuse.
“I think culturally we are resistant as a church to accountability, to criticism, and therefore I don’t entirely trust the Church,” she told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One.
“Even though I’m a key part of it and a leader within it, because I see that the way the wind blows is always in a particular direction and that’s true of most organisations, but I think it’s particularly true within the Church.”
It comes after the Church sacked Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, founder of the Karma Nirvana charity which aims to end honour-based abuse, and Steve Reeves MBE, executive director of Global Safeguarding, from the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB).
‘Working with the Church has been an uphill battle’
The pair raised the alarm on alleged obstruction from church officials in their work.
They told The Telegraph that their experience working with the Church has been “an uphill battle” amid claims that there had been “clear interference” with their work, a “lack of transparency” and a “reluctance to provide information”, meaning that at times they have been “met with hostility”.
The Church claimed that relations between them and senior bishops had broken down.
Victims have described the sackings as “a dark day” amid calls for “a complete boycott of all church safeguarding processes”.
‘Today the Church seems less accountable and safe’
Bishop Julie said: “Today the Church is less accountable. To remove, at short notice, the strongest independent voices holding the CofE to account for its safeguarding failings makes us look resistant to robust scrutiny and challenge - which, of course, we are.
“Today the Church seems less safe. Many survivors trusted Jasvinder Sanghera and Steve Reeves and the decision made by the Archbishops’ Council to end their contracts is causing fear, anger and distress.”
The ISB was formed in January 2022 and tasked with scrutinising the work of the Church’s National Safeguarding Team (NST), as well as holding the Church to account regarding its safeguarding duties.
It was also set up after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) concluded that the Church had created a culture in which abusers could hide.
Asked if this culture remains, Bishop Julie said: “I think we’ve become increasingly aware of this and a lot of our on-the-ground safeguarding has improved enormously and we still find it difficult to learn though... The way in which it is slow to learn, we are slow to learn, makes it harder to trust the church.”
“All institutions are flawed because people are flawed, that isn’t an excuse, it’s a reality,” she added. “We’ve got a huge amount of work to do and we have to get on with it.”
A spokesperson for the Archbishops’ Council said: “The Archbishops’ Council is absolutely committed to developing fully independent scrutiny of safeguarding within the Church of England to ensure the Church is a safe place for everyone, to be transparent and accountable, and to hear the voices of victims and survivors.
“This is a matter of deep regret. It is also something that happens from time to time in a number of settings where good, well-intentioned people can’t find compatibility. We want to express our thanks to all the board members for their work to date.
“The work of independently reviewing cases will not stop, and we have moved swiftly to put in place interim arrangements which will be carried out as at present by external experts. Our priority will now be to move to the next phase of setting up a fully independent board which will be fully separate from the Church.”
