ENGLAND
Christian Today

December 5, 2017

By Mark Woods

One of the Church of England’s most senior clergy has called for a radical overhaul in how the Church deals with issues of safeguarding.

The Dean of St Paul’s, Very Rev Dr David Ison, has spoken out in an article posted on Christian Today and Via Media following high-profile cases where survivors of abuse have revealed their deeply troubling treatment at the hands of Church authorities.

He called for ‘robust structures and practices’ aimed at stopping the abuse of vulnerable people by clergy, urging a change in the Church’s culture to ensure particularly male pastors were enabled to understand issues of vulnerability. ‘An inadequate pastor will be flattered or frightened, or assume that it’s all about me, the pastor, rather than all about them, the person in need,’ he said. ‘If the pastor is also emotionally vulnerable, they can exploit…