Female clergy call for independent mediators into CofE abuse

ENGLAND
Premier

November 2, 2017

Woman church leaders are calling for sexual harassment and abuse claims in the Church of England to be reviewed by an independent mediator.

In a letter to the Guardian, Jayne Ozanne, a senior member of the general synod for the diocese of Oxford, said: “Abuse of power, particularly in relation to sexual misdemeanours, will never be dealt with by those within the same said power structures.

“The urge to protect one’s reputation is too strong.

“Make no mistake, the instances of sexual abuse and harassment within the church are manifold – at virtually every level of the hierarchy.”

Ozanne says that a bishop advised her not to report her claim that a priest had raped her in the 1990s.

“I trusted him because he was a priest,” she told Channel 4 News. “Shame and guilt is what kept me quiet and silent for so many years.”

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