UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times
by Tim Wyatt
Posted: 19 May 2016
A MAN who was abused by two senior Church of England clergyman has demanded that senior bishops make public statements of “repentance” because of what he says is their failure to act quickly on safeguarding reform.
The survivor, known only as “Joe”, was sexually assaulted by the Revd Garth Moore, a former Chancellor of the dioceses of Southwark, Durham, and Gloucester, who died in 1990 (News, 4 December); and later exploited by Michael Fisher, who was then a brother in the Society of St Francis, and later became Bishop of St Germans.
An independent report on failings in his case called for sweeping changes to the Church’s safeguarding procedures, condemning them as “fundamentally flawed” (News, 18 March). But in an open letter, published last week, Joe said that there had been total silence from bishops since the report came out in March.
“I call on the House of Bishops to repent at your meeting in York at the end of this week,” he wrote. “Others in the survivor community are saying the same. Repentance implies action and not just word — it is about turning around 180 degrees and starting again.
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