Church of England Dealing with Thousands of Sex Abuse Allegations

By Kaya Burgess
The Times
February 8, 2018

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-of-england-dealing-with-thousands-of-sex-abuse-allegations-vx8xwk2l8

The Church of England is dealing with more than 3,000 reports of sexual abuse within its parishes.

The most recent figures for 2016 show that dioceses were dealing with 3,300 “concerns or allegations”, the vast majority related to “children, young people and vulnerable adults within church communities”.

About a fifth of the reports were made against clergy and other church officials, with the rest relating to other members of the congregation who perform unofficial roles or volunteer within the church. The 3,300 figure related to both open cases and those newly reported that year. It is not known how many involved active claims against the church for compensation.

The figures were revealed by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Rev Peter Hancock, who…