Anglican Church: 'Failure to Protect from Abuse As Bad As Abuser's Sins'
By Jacob Cherian
A statement issued by the General Synod of the Church of England offered an apology for failing to protect vulnerable adults, children, and young people from sexual and physical abuse. However, that statement expressing an 'unreserved apology' by Archbishops were scoffed as a meaningless gesture by abuse survivors. The Synod met on Sunday to tighten up safe-guarding procedures and come up with relevant rules on the subject. Before presenting survivors with the Church's new apology motion, a statement from the Stop Church Child Abuse Group was read. Some of the members of this group were also present in the meetings. The group criticized the church policy by saying that members were not allowed to 'speak for themselves.' It also mentioned that survivors should have been consulted before taking action. A third element of disparity brought out by the survivor's group said that the apology fell short of any meaning, since it was made 'without the costly engagement of reaching out to the victims," reported the Daily Gaurdian 'We cannot overestimate the importance of responding appropriately today,' said The Archbishop of Caterbury Justin Welby, who replaces Rowan Williams as the leader of the Anglican Church headquartered in England. Bishop Williams Bishop Welby told his followers that the testimonies of survivors was 'absolutely agonising'. He added, "What it says, above all, is that, for us, what we're looking at today is far from enough." Archbishop Welby said that there would always be dangerous people in congregations: "This is not an issue we can deal with: it is something we will live with, and must live in the reality of, day in, day out, for as long as the Church exists, and seek to get it right," The Church Times reported. The synod responded to allegations saying it had failed sex abuse victims "big time", hoping that the problem would just disappear. Bishop Paul Butler of Nottingham and Southwell, said the church's inability to act was a comparable failure to the abusers' sins. He continued to say in an online report by Guardian.uk.com, "[Survivors] have struggled for years to have their voices heard," adding, "they have put up with institutional resistance time and again. In doing so, we have repeatedly reabused them." However, the synod's apology did not go nearly far enough for abuse victims, who were not permitted to speak during the debate. The Stop Church Child Abuse Group commented, "Once ...an inquiry has reported, once individual cases have been acknowledged, and once the church has begun how to learn to respond appropriately, maybe then the apologies, general as well as to individuals and their families, will carry some meaning." The report by the Anglican archbishops described child abuse in the church as a "painful story of individual wickedness on the part of the abusers". Contact: editor@ibtimes.com
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