SOUTH YORKSHORE (ENGLAND)
South Yorkshire Times
July 11, 2019
By Lee Peace
The Rev Matthew Ineson, who was ordained in 2000 and practised as a vicar in Rotherham for more than 10 years, criticised the archbishops as he gave evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse investigation into the Anglican Church.
He called for changes to the way the church investigates safeguarding issues and complaints about clerics, describing the current system as “totally unsuitable.”
The witness told the inquiry how he suffered abuse at the hands of priest Trevor Devamanikkam, who took his own life on the day he was due to appear in court accused of sexual offences against Mr Ineson.
He said he made his first disclosures between 2012 and 2013 to the Bishop of Doncaster Peter Burrows, the then bishop of Sheffield Steven Croft, and the then archdeacon of Rotherham Martyn Snow, but that nothing came of his reports.
Rev Ineson told the hearing no further action was taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby when he made complaints.
He told the inquiry: “Bishops sit on thrones. They live in fine palaces and houses, they wear the finest robes and garments, they bully people. People literally kneel down and kiss the ring on their finger,” adding: “I don’t think those people are fit for office.”
Mr Ineson said he met the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu at a meeting for survivors of clerical abuse at a General Synod in York and asked him for an apology for his failure to act on his disclosures but Dr Sentamu replied: “Apologies mean different things to different people.”
Mr Ineson went on to make two written disclosures to Mr Croft, now the Bishop of Oxford, and sent copies to the Bishop of Beverley and Dr Sentamu.
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