UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post
Jonathan Wheeler
A human response from the C of E hierarchy contrasts with the attitude of the Catholic Church
The Rt Rev Dr Martin Warner, the Bishop of Chichester, has said he is “profoundly ashamed” by the fact that the Church’s safeguarding procedures failed vulnerable children in the Chichester diocese. He said an apology to the victims was “too light a word”, and that he will do all he can to ensure that such vile practices do not happen again within the Church.
The Bishop’s comments come days after an interim report was issued by Lambeth Palace, following an inquiry into a paedophile ring within the diocese which has seen five arrests (three this year) and two former priests convicted for a string of sexual offences against children. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to the report was also one of deep regret that matters had been so badly handled in Chichester. He expressed hope that the victims will believe that the Church of England would take their experiences seriously. He said:
“We owe them not only our words of apology but our best efforts to make sure that in the future our churches will be safe places for children and vulnerable people of all ages”.
The Archbishop admitted that the report showed “many and longstanding failures in implementing a robust and credible safeguarding policy in the Diocese of Chichester” and he assured those individuals affected that the Church was committed to learning lessons from the past.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.