UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
Monday 26 June 2017
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has resigned as honorary assistant bishop in the diocese of Oxford following a damning independent report criticising the Church of England’s handling of a high-profile sex abuse case.
Carey, 81, quit after Justin Welby, the current archbishop of Canterbury, made the unprecedented decision to ask him to “carefully consider his position”. The report concluded the church had “colluded [with the abuser] rather than seeking to help those he had harmed”.
Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, met with Carey this week following Welby’s letter. In a statement, Croft said Carey had resigned in the light of the independent review. “Lord Carey has accepted the criticisms made of him … and has apologised to the victims of Peter Ball.”
Ball, the former bishop of Gloucester and Lewes, was jailed in October 2015 for the grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men aged 17-25 who had sought spiritual guidance from him between 1977 and 1992. He was released from prison in February after serving 16 months.
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