UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society
Posted: Thu, 28 Apr 2016
Church review into abusive Bishop refuses to explicitly consider bullying of victims in its Terms of Reference
A victim of clerical abuse has refused to give evidence to a Church review of the Bishop Peter Ball case, after it declined to explicitly mention intimidation of victims in its Terms of Reference.
The Revd Graham Sawyer was seriously abused as a young man by former Anglican bishop Peter Ball and gave evidence at the trial at which the bishop was jailed last year, aged 83.
It took decades to bring Ball to justice and Reverend Sawyer asked that, given the role played by bullying in delaying justice in the Ball case, the Review into the matter set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury specifically address “bullying, intimidation and threats” made to victims. He asked for this request to be considered by Archbishop Welby personally.
Sharing Reverend Sawyer’s concerns about the limits of the Review’s Terms of Reference, the National Secular Society had also asked for the Review’s Terms of Reference to be expanded to include “specific reference” to the “extent of historic and current bullying by senior figures in the Church of alleged victims and whistle-blowers.”
However the Review has declined to do so, and the Review’s chair, Dame Moira Gibb, told the National Secular Society that they will not make any changes to the Terms of Reference. She told the NSS that the Terms of Reference will not be amended “as we think they are sufficient to allow us to cover these issues.”
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