It is always tempting, when a long-standing dispute is resolved, to want to move on with a large sigh of relief.  The Christ Church Oxford saga may seem to have come to an end, with a mediated settlement agreed with the Dean, the Christ Church Governing Body and the complainant Ms X.   The reality is that in any dispute that has been going for four years, that there are likely to be many stones that have been turned over to reveal a dark grimy underside.  The glimpses of shameful behaviour among some of the participants in the drama, leave the onlooker feeling decidedly uncomfortable.  Questions about motives remain, and are, in many cases, unanswered.  A settlement may have been found, but the history of all that preceded it cannot be so quickly dispensed with or pushed to one side.

Among the many written documents and articles that can illuminate our understanding of the drama, there is one that appeared a week ago in the Tablet by Canon Angela Tilby.  It is one of the most vivid accounts I have seen, particularly because it gives us an inside/outside perspective that few people in fact possess.  Tilby writes as a partial insider from her time as a cathedral canon at Christ Church from 2011-2016.  Then, she was involved with the appointment of Percy in 2014 as Dean, representing the Cathedral Chapter on the interviewing panel.  On that occasion, she listened to Percy expound his ideas on college governance and administration and what he would do to make the College more open-ended, with a greater emphasis on inclusiveness.  After her retirement, Tilby continued to visit the College in various capacities, maintaining contact with several former colleagues in the Cathedral and College.  The first complaints against Percy she heard were shared with her by one of the members of the Governing Body, Canon Sarah Foot, in the summer of 2018.  It was impossible to find out precisely what Percy was supposed to have done but the consensus was that the misdemeanour was ‘very serious’.

The serious crime allegedly committed by Percy seems, from the available evidence, to be one of having disturbed the status-quo of the College.  Power in the Governing Body is held by a small group of ‘censors’ who convene the entire Governing Body of some sixty strong.  The real power behind the scenes is to be found in the group of ex-censors.  Following their term of office, former censors continue to retain much of their old influence within the College.  Tilby describes these ex-censors as ’tribal elders’.  Nothing is done in the College without their approval.  Sir Andrew Smith had also noted how these elders were wielding a great deal of social and political power.   A conflict was perhaps almost an inevitability if a new Dean, interested in governance reform, were to challenge the vested interests of this group of present and former censors. The majority of the other members of the Governing Body were loath to get involved in matters of decision making and governance, so the power to manage the College was wielded by quite a small group.  Previous Deans seem to have done little to challenge this power wielded by the elders. 

The first area of conflict between the Dean and those who opposed him, arose after a widely publicised episode involving a medical student, Lavinia Woodward.  She injured her boyfriend by stabbing him in the leg with a bread knife in December 2016.  The case threw up a range of issues about who in the College was responsible for managing the safeguarding and protection of students.  It seems that Percy was unhappy with the existing protocols for safeguarding, and several meetings were held on the topic in the first part of 2017.  This enquiry led into other issues, especially around the area of financial management.  One topic that was raised was whether the formula for calculating academic and other salaries was still fit for purpose, as Christ Church was out of line with other Colleges, and this was a recent development. But the Salaries Board refused to disclose its workings and methods, and requests for clarity were met with absurdist opacity.  Superficially this gave the impression that Percy was interfering with the governance of the College to obtain a pay-rise for himself, but that does not seem to have been a fair reading of the situation. When the conflict escalated to become a formal complaint by his detractors under some archaic statutes of the College, Percy was accused of ‘conduct of an immoral, scandalous or disgraceful nature incompatible with the duties of the office…’ 

An extremely costly Tribunal under Sir Andrew Smith, a former High Court Judge was held in the summer of 2019.  In August the conclusions were published, and Smith dismissed all the charges against Percy.  Although Percy was allowed to return to work, the atmosphere in the College remained hostile and the accusers refused to reimburse the huge sums expended by him in having legal support at the Tribunal.  In addition, more rumours about Percy were being fed to the Press in apparent attempts to smear his name. 

In March 2020, a church-led enquiry was opened to investigate the accusation that Percy had mishandled four alleged “historic safeguarding concerns” within the College.  Although this case was not within the purview of the Church of England, a Core-Group was convened by the Diocese and NST. Percy refused to be suspended – there were no actual individuals complaining, just the College manufacturing “concerns”. Two further “concerns” were then added by the College. The Diocesan and College lawyers emerged as primary originators in each of these six cases. It was only in September 2020 that Percy was found to have acted appropriately by the NST and allowed to return to work. However, the College refused to accept the NST judgment.

A few weeks later, the final episode – a seventh safeguarding allegation – was made. This new but clearly related conflict between Dean and both the College and Church began in October 2020.  It is in connection with that stage of the drama that the recently announced settlement is purportedly concerned.  An alleged incident of unwanted ‘hair-touching’ was reported to have taken place on October 4^th.  The incident sparked yet another suspension by Church and College. 

Again, as with the previous six “safeguarding concerns” the same lawyers acting for the Diocese and the College were involved in curating and escalating the allegation, making sure through Luther Pendragon (PR) that the media were prejudicially briefed. Percy has all the emails from the journalists, NST and others, which are from the lawyers and Luther Pendragon, planting detrimental stories against him. The Diocesan lawyers also made sure the Dean’s evidence in the internal investigation was redacted, or in some cases, simply ignored.  The lawyers denied involvement in the internal investigation, despite setting its terms of reference, and also helping finalise the notorious bogus “Risk Assessments”. 

Although some may feel that I am merely dredging up old history in the dispute, the level of vitriol that was spreading round the college at that time and since, needs some exploration.  Technically with the agreement that has now been signed, all the past events should be able to be consigned to history.  It, nevertheless, remains a stumbling block that the wording of the agreement signed a few days ago seems to be suggesting that the College dispute with the Dean has always been about a single case of hair-touching.  When we look at the whole timeline of the dispute, we have to note that there have been almost four years of persecution where allegations of sexual misconduct were implied or explicitly made.    The first charge the Dean faced in October 2018 was of “immoral, scandalous and disgraceful conduct”. Most people would assume this was sexual in nature, and not a dispute with a committee about its governance.  The College, for almost four months, refused to confirm or deny that the charge might relate to sexual misconduct or paedophilia.  They were more than happy to let the press speculate, and fed the silence with gas-lighting and innuendo.

In May 2021 the most senior legal voice in the Church of England (and fourth most senior Appeal Court Judge) declared that the alleged incident in the sacristy in itself ‘is not serious enough to merit a tribunal under the Clergy Discipline Measure’, and that both the complainant and respondent (i.e., the Dean) were ‘credible’. Yet for this single allegation there have been no fewer than five separate investigations of that incident, so it is unreasonable to suggest that anything new would have been revealed by a further College Tribunal.  At the heart of the Percy dispute is, to repeat, not a College desperate to protect the innocent and vulnerable, but one apparently fighting an all-out struggle to do everything to leave political and ideological power in the hands of the ‘tribal elders’.

To return to Tilby’s revealing article in the Tablet, she mentions that, in the first years of Percy’s tenure of office as Dean, he was very supportive of Sarah Foot, sponsoring her ordination.  Graham Ward was an unsuccessful applicant for the post of Dean in 2015.  Percy was also instrumental in the appointment of Canon Richard Peers to the post of Sub-Dean.  Both these individuals have subsequently played major roles in opposing and undermining Percy.   In the case of Peers, a CDM was eventually taken out against him because of his many alleged malign statements against Percy. In the case of Foot and Ward, their attacks on the Dean began much earlier, and stem from 2018.

The change in these three, from being supporters to attackers, is one part of the story that does not lend itself to ready explanation.  It certainly leaves behind an unsavoury blight on reputations.  The settlement does not, as far as I can tell, affect Percy’s reputation, or in any way damage it.  The same cannot be said for those who have spent so much effort, corporately and individually besmirching the reputation of a thoroughly good man.  To be attacked consistently over such a long period is a grievous experience but fortunately Percy has been able to count on the support of friends and supporters all over the world.

One further untidy loose end in the whole story of Christ Church and its Dean is the place of Bishop of Oxford.  His role throughout the process has been marked by indifference at best and hostility at worst.  Apparently, he was present at Christ Church this morning (6.2), but there was no joyous announcement of the conclusion of the affair with the Dean able immediately to resume his church duties.  The source reported that everything said by the Bishop and the Sub-Dean sounded as if it had been written by a lawyer.  The earlier statement made by the Bishop on Friday about the whole affair also had a strange reticence to engage with or show any understanding of the causes of the wider dispute between Dean and College.  The Bishop seems to have colluded with the idea in his Statement that the main problem in the dispute has always been about an alleged sexual misdemeanour.  The Dean’s CDM judgment states plainly that there was no sexual content to the conversation with the complainant (it was about donating hair to a charity making wigs for children being treated for cancer). 

Having lived only seven miles from the Dean, the Bishop must have known from the time the dispute became public (and before) that any actual sexual misbehaviour on the part of the Dean was never a credible allegation by the Censors and those who organised the original Tribunal in 2018.  Those of us who have followed the dispute over the four years were very surprised to hear about any sexual allegations.  Yet when investigated, they have always amounted to nothing, and no credible person or evidence produced.  The only common denominators that lie behind the allegations are the intentional malicious gas-lighting and innuendo, which is originated by some clergy, and a law firm and PR company acting for the Diocese. Whatever the precise nature of the ‘offence’ committed by Percy, there has never been any indication that he is a ‘sex-pest’ or a danger to every single individual in the College, making it necessary to change the locks throughout the College.

The final part of the agreement which may prove more long-lasting than any other is the promise by the College to review systems of governance.   Angela Tilby’s piece helps to remind us that that back in 2018, when the dispute came into public view, the disputes were about control and power in the College.   Percy fought hard to establish to establish secure governance structures in his first years in the College.  Although he was unsuccessful in putting such changes in place, it would seem that these reforms may, under the watchful eye of the Charity Commission, be achieved following his departure.  Wherever Dean Percy and his family go after April this year, it can be hoped that he will be allowed to work in an environment conducive to his considerable teaching and writing skills.  In this way, we trust, he will continue to make a continuing valuable contribution to the Church that he desires so passionately to serve.

I recently heard someone use this expression, emotional atrophy, when speaking about the political woes of the current British government.  They were, as the reader might be able to guess, describing the catastrophic failure of sensitivity on the part of those in power in the UK.  They were thinking of the tone-deaf and inappropriate behaviour of holding a social event in the middle of a pandemic and on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral.

 The word atrophy describes the fact that a part of an organism has never been allowed to develop or function properly.  A foot, arm, or here, the capacity for feeling respect for a grieving family, has withered through lack of use.  The organ that has atrophied still exists, but it might as well not exist since, in its withered state, it has ceased to work.  As I write these words, the political fall-out for this current example of what we might regard a grossly insensitive behaviour on the part of senior politicians, has not reached a climax.  It is clear that that the reputations of these same politicians is under serious threat for their terrible failures of sensitivity.

Moving from current matters, we have all experienced emotional atrophy in others.  As children we would have chosen other words to describe this phenomenon.  Words like snooty or stuck-up might convey the experience of a child trying to negotiate some of the grown-ups encountered beyond the family.  Some of the people about whom we used such adjectives, may well have been emotionally blunted.  Equally, many would be among those frightened of children and uncertain how to speak to them.  Society, particularly today, has made problematic the whole issue of young people and children interacting with adults outside the family.  We sadly now live in a highly polarised society where any kind of interaction with a child may be frowned upon or regarded as suspicious, even within a church setting.

Leaving to one side our memories as children and the way we then related to adults, we are acutely aware of the issues around meeting someone for the first time.  One fear we may have is of being blanked or ignored.  Fortunately, most first encounters take place in defined settings and the conventions that exist help us in knowing what to say to a complete stranger.  Formality is likely to dominate any initial interaction in a workplace environment.  This will be quite different in a party.  At a party we may allow ourselves the freedom to ask questions about a person’s background.  The same questions would normally be totally inappropriate in a work setting.  Sometimes we can work with someone for years and never discover a thing about their personal lives or their inner feelings.  The relationship is a purely contractual one.  They give the orders, and we obey (or vice-versa).  Most of us can find such a situation extremely trying, when we are engaged with another person in a working relationship and the person gives away nothing personal.  In the case of curate working with a non-communicating training incumbent, the reaction will often be simply to keep your nose clean until escape beckons.  We have on the blog discussed relationships among clergy in team situations.  Some reactions suggested that teams are always mutually affirming of all the members.  Sadly, my experience has been that if there is any trace of hierarchy in the team structure, it will be rigorously enforced.  Far more people seem to prefer the ‘safe’ environment of a defined structure than the uncertainties of open-ended relationships.  These risk exposing personal vulnerabilities.

When we look at a body of clergy in the Church of England, we might suggest that each of them, like everyone else, is to found somewhere along a spectrum between formal gravity and exuberant openness.  Each, in other words, can be described in terms of their tendency to keep all relationships carefully business-like or move in the direction of being spontaneously open, even chaotic.  It is no secret that the powers that be in the Church seem to prefer those who practise a high degree of emotional control and correctness.  They are the ones who achieve promotion.  The safe predictable types fit far better into an institutional system like the Church.  Predictability is always highly esteemed in any organisation.  Spontaneous creative personalities are less easy to control.  People who wear their heart on their sleeve must be kept safely under supervision.  The institution, here the Church of England, must always be kept safe from eccentrics and mavericks of every kind.  Alongside the word ‘sound’ so beloved by many evangelicals, we find a further word being required of candidates for high office.  That word is ‘safe’.  The connotations of these two words, whether used singly or together, imply an individual who is good at management, the avoidance of controversy, smooth administration and loyalty to the structure. 

One of the current problems in the Church of England is that many of the values esteemed by the hierarchical leadership cohort, are not well-equipped to deal with the safeguarding crisis.  Those good at management and administration, those who are ‘safe’, are probably not the best people to place in a situation where there is a lot of trauma and hurt.  The Church has taken a look at the terrible events of the past and has decided to set a variety of formal initiatives including new appointments.  To put it another way, the Church is using the value system articulated by the highly institutionalised ‘safe’ personality type to tackle a problem that would be better handed over to the emotionally literate, pastorally minded, even though, sometimes, less organised personalities.  One thing I have said many times on this blog is the fact that there appear to be no individuals with proper psychotherapeutic qualifications anywhere near the centre of the Church’s safeguarding structures.

When an individual, wounded by a traumatic episode caused by a member of the Church takes their plea for help to a senior person, they may expect certain things.  They expect to be heard; they expect the person they speak to to have emotional intelligence to understand something of what they are describing.  By telling deeply personal material to another person, they will be retraumatised if the human compassion element is absent in the other person.  If all that can be offered is the atrophied emotional response of someone honed within a managerial culture, then the possibility of further damage will be massive.  On present showing, the statistical chances of meeting a non-empathetic manager-type in the person of a bishop, archdeacon or safeguarding officer are high.  From the accounts that reach me, it appears that professional safeguarding officers, who do have psychological and empathetic skills, burn out very fast.   They find the context in which much of the top level of Church decision-making and administration is done, very hard to adjust to.  The reason for this emotionally atrophied culture existing at all is, sadly, to be laid at the door of those who have deliberately promoted the efficient managerial culture rather than one which is prophetic, pastoral, and passionate.  People who foster this latter form of culture do not fit the current models of what a leader should look like in the Church of England. 

In writing this blog post, I have found myself realising that the people in charge of safeguarding and Church leadership in this area will often fail to have the human qualities that are most needed for this type of work.  Safeguarding and Christian shepherding and leadership should require, from those who undertake such work, a high degree of skill, together with those qualities that we (and the public) recognise as Christian.  Words like kindness, empathy, compassion, and human understanding all crowd in and should all form part of the skill set for people who do this work.  By contrast the survivors seem to meet individuals who singularly lack such skills/qualities.  The skills they do have seem to centre around efficiency, administrative competence, and the ability to organise well.  These latter qualities are commendable but, if they are combined with emotional atrophy, they can be highly destructive and dangerous to the whole organisation.  One (among many) of the scandals revealed recently in the Church of England is the one where a range of leaders have allowed the pain of Smyth victims to be buried in the cause of trying to save the wider organisation embarrassment.  Reputation against pastoral need?  The repeated choice by many Church leaders to place institutional reputation above the needs of suffering individuals can only be described as an outworking of emotional atrophy.  Sadly, it still goes on, which suggests that this is an affliction which may take the Church some time to recover from, if it ever does.    

The departure, through ‘retirement’, of the Bishop of Winchester, is proving to be a dramatic, even traumatic, event in the life of the Diocese.  The Anglican Church has always proved well able to mark in a liturgical way a range of events, from the launching of a nuclear submarine to the start of a local hunting season. The recent final service of Bishop Tim Dakin in Winchester Cathedral proved to be a liturgical challenge for those working out how to commemorate a significant moment in the life of a Cathedral and Diocese.  Somehow, they were required to do at least two things.  There was first the need to note the end of a ten-year episcopal ministry, marked, by all accounts, by extreme stress and unhappiness for many.  At the same time the solemnity and dignity of the cathedral setting required that the commemoration was done in a way that did not offend or directly confront anyone with accusations of blame.

What exactly was being marked at evensong on Saturday January 29^th when +Dakin laid his bishop’s crosier on the altar and, with high emotion, spoke the Covenant Prayer of John Wesley?  I am no longer mine but yours …..let me be employed for you or cast aside… The prayer is one about vocation and surrender for the service of others, including the possibility that the one using the prayer could be let go/dismissed when the need for their services comes to an end. This latter realisation must have been particularly hard for +Dakin to bear. His style of theology and administration had always breathed the supremely confident stance of the evangelical believer who claims to know the will of God at all times. This was proving now not to be true and, because of this loss of control, there was a strong sense of dissonance in his voice. The voice cracked and broke as +Dakin read the words and we wondered whether he could reach the end. The whole episode was a kind of drama and will be pondered by many for what it revealed about the Bishop’s inner state of mind. The form of this part of the service was probably brought together by +Dakin, assisted by the Cathedral Canon with responsibility for liturgy.  Alongside this final part of the service, we had listened to the sermon by the preacher, Professor Elisabeth Stuart. She skilfully managed to reveal what the service at its heart was about. It was the end of a season of darkness, now being banished by the light. +Tim was leaving us ….   

Winchester is some 300+ miles from where I live, and so I have not had any access to direct sources of information about what people have been saying about the ministry of +Dakin over the past ten years.  I have to evaluate what has been going on from publicly available material.  This is, in one way, an advantage for me in my role as a commentator.  If I had been closer to the action, it would have been hard not to be drawn in to support the detractors or supporters of the Bishop.  As with the Wymondham situation, I try very hard to see the problems in an institution from both sides.  Here it has, however, proved extremely difficult to find a coherent narrative on which build a convincing defence of the Bishop.  The videos of him provided by Youtube give us a strong sense of his rhetorical/theological style.  As someone who is sensitised to the use of power in church settings, I found the public speaking demonstrations by the Bishop uncomfortable to watch.  There was never, to judge from his style of speaking, any obvious space for any kind of dialogue with another theological position.  Rather, the theological vision of +Dakin, particularly as revealed by his on-line performances, felt like a tank driving relentlessly forward, flattening anything or anyone who did not agree.  When I learned that Dakin’s vision was that mission should dominate everything undertaken by the diocese, including ministerial training, it set off a shudder inside me.  I felt a pang of sympathy for all those individuals in the Diocese brought up to worship in the pastorally aware version of Anglicanism that I and many others still value.  A similar feeling happened inside me when I first learned about a small cluster of parishes in the Anglican Sydney diocese in Australia.  I believe they are called surplice parishes because they retain some traditional marks of Anglicanism in a sea of parishes overseen by Moore College conservatively trained clergy.  All these conservative parishes practise their fundamentalist/complementarian outlook with scant interest for the wider traditions of Anglicanism.  One hopes the small cohort of traditionally run Anglican parishes will survive, in spite of successive Archbishops of Sydney insisting that only Moore College alumni can be appointed to serve the parishes of the diocese.  Was +Dakin on the way to doing something similar in the Winchester diocese?

One single inconvertible fact about +Dakin’s time as Bishop is that there are currently quite a number of wounded survivors of an abrasive episcopal pastoral ministry.  I have no access to actual names or situations, but there seems to be a consensus on this point among all those who comment on the Winchester situation.  Cases of bullying, wherever they occur, have a contagious effect.  One person’s bullying can cause a collapse of morale in a family, a parish or an entire deanery.  The would-be complainants at the Winchester Diocesan Synod last June, knew from their personal acquaintance, some of these traumatised individuals in the diocese.  The individual cases of the traumatised were not only those directly affected by the bully’s actions, but others who knew about them.  If we leave to one side all the other financial and administrative issues which seem to have played a part in the complaints against the Bishop, we still have this issue of damage and hurt.  How does one deal with such things?  In the Winchester situation, the moment for reconciliation between perpetrator and victims seems to have long passed.  The climax of the service, combining the powerful words of Wesley and the obvious distress of the reader were indeed moving to the hearer.   What was really going on for +Dakin?  Were we listening to words that convey his deep regret for actions that have caused so much hurt?  Quite possibly this liturgical moment in front of the high altar of Winchester was indeed an attempt at such contrition.  It may of course have been equally an attempt to use high emotion to win over, even now, members of the Diocese that had been increasingly alienated from his ministry over the years.  Another possibility is that the tears were of incomprehension and personal pain. Were the tears, in short, uttered for him or for the many he has wounded by his harmful ministry? The drama of the farewell may have been a combination and confusion of all three.  Each reader is invited, after watching the event, to make their own assessment of what was really going on at this point in the service.  There are unlikely to be any correct answers.

Looking at the whole episode that unfolded in Winchester last Saturday I am left to wonder whether anything can be lifted from the events of last Saturday and applied to the whole Church. In thinking about the tears shed by the Bishop, I am reminded of the sometimes intense emotional ambiance of reconciliation work undertaken by the Bridge Builders organisation. The Winchester event may have lacked many of the necessary ingredients that would achieve a successful reconciliation for those who have been abused sexually or spiritually. There were, however, some elements which might well play a part in such a liturgical/reconciliation process. Whatever the origin of the cracking voice and the tears that could not be held back, they do form part of a potential, as yet unwritten, future liturgy of remorse and contrition which might bring together those guilty of neglect and abuse and the abused.  The early Christian fathers knew about the part of tears in the expression of remorse for sin.  Somehow +Dakin’s action in front of the altar may, in fact, be his unwitting offering to the Church.  He may be remembered, not for his numerous mission initiatives, but for this simple act of breaking down before the altar of his cathedral.  In this act he may have been pointing us paradoxically to something that the whole Church desperately needs to discover and make its own.

by Janet Fife

‘One day the whole creation will know the glorious liberty of the children of God.’      

The liberty is like a person who gets up in the morning, with the sleep still in their eyes and in their mind, and drinks their first cup of coffee; it wakes up their whole body and makes it ready for the day.

The liberty is like a girl who passes her driving test, and finds a whole new world lies before her.

The liberty is like a boy who comes of age and votes for the first time, and shares responsibility for his government.

The liberty is like when a child grows up, leaves home, and finds their own home and career.

The liberty is like when a woman’s children leave home, and she has time to nurture herself and look for her own growth.

The liberty is like the factory worker who is made redundant, and invests all his redundancy money in a new business of his own.

The liberty is like the woman who has always listened to the opinions of others and tried to please them.  She finds some friends who like her for herself, and gradually she begins to find her own voice.

The liberty is like the gay man who finds that God loves him just as he is.

The liberty is like the church that keeps an open table for refugees and same sex couples.

The liberty is like a man who puts on a suit and tie and makes a long journey in to work in a large company where he does as he is told. But in the evening he comes home, puts on comfortable clothes and is his own man.

The liberty is like the newspapers, which reveal corruption and dishonesty.

The liberty is like the person who could make a lot of money by selling their story to the press, but chooses not to because it would hurt the innocent.

The liberty is like the person who thinks they have no talents, and then finds something they are good at.

The liberty is like the GP who could set up her practice in a posh suburb, but decides instead to work in the inner city.

The liberty is like the survivor who feels able to tell her story and find support and acceptance.

The liberty is like the archbishop who puts justice before the church’s reputation.

The liberty is like the bishop who has the courage of her convictions and breaks ranks.

The liberty is like the vicar who tells the truth, knowing it will cost him promotion.

The liberty is like the MP who resists party pressure and votes according to her conscience.

The liberty is like the person who retires and could spend all his time pleasing himself, but decides to do voluntary work for a charity.

The liberty is…what do you think the liberty is?

Back in November, Surviving Church carried a piece I wrote about the travails of Wymondham Abbey in the Norwich Diocese.  Although I tried as hard as I could to see the dispute from the perspective of the Vicar of Wymondham, my sympathies in the end went to the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher.  He had inherited an impossible situation and he simply wanted the parish to function normally without further conflict. 

To remind my readers of the story in outline.  A new Vicar, Catherine Relf-Pennington, was appointed to the living of Wymondham in 2017.  The candidate was, unusually, the existing curate who had worked in the parish since 2014.  Soon after her appointment, problems and complaints started to emerge.  Some were to do with pastoral issues and others to do with the alleged mismanagement of property and finance.  Clearly, whether or not the complaints were justified, there were issues to be resolved with the support of outside guidance.  The Bishop appointed two Visitors to carry out a formal visitation to the parish. On the basis of their report, he issued a Direction.  Some of the sections in this Direction spoke to property issues and finance.  However, the most interesting part of the Direction was the Bishop’s requirement that the Vicar offer a public apology to those individuals that she had upset.  If this was done, then the Bishop assured the parish that all existing complaints and disciplinary processes would be immediately dropped and the parish would be helped to get back on to an even keel.

The intention that a public apology would resolve all the issues and tensions in the parish always seemed a long shot as a way of successfully resolving the problems in the parish.  So it has proved to be.  The Vicar and churchwardens have now issued a formal Response to the Bishop’s Directions, on January 17^th, and this indicates how great the chasm still is between Bishop and the parish at Wymondham.  It is twelve pages long and it is hard to anticipate how the dispute will go on from here.  Speaking as a total outsider and forming judgements on the basis of what is in the press and in these formal documents, I have to say that my original preference for the Bishop’s position has now become a total backing.  This fact that I believe him to be in the right in what he has said and done does not mean that I am clear what should happen next.  There does not appear to be a plan B.

Why do I, as an outsider, now regard the position of the Vicar and churchwardens as not being one worth supporting.  In the first place, there are on the church website a number of copies of letters of support for Mother Catherine, as she is called, to the Bishop.  I find it uncomfortable that two of these letters are from children of primary age.  The fact that a child relates well to an adult is a good thing, but not of great moment when you are trying to establish the nature of the overall pastoral care in a church community.  Clearly an adult had to persuade the child to put pen to paper, so the existence of such letters feels contrived and inauthentic. 

A second point that comes out of the Response, is that the tone of the whole document is off-putting.  It also lacks anything by way of contrition.  From beginning to end there is a kind of peevish sense of entitlement and not one concession to the fact that the Bishop, to whom you have sworn canonical obedience, might in any way be justified in his approach.  This blog not infrequently suggests that bishops get things wrong, but there is normally an identifiable reason for such failures.  Here it is hard to see anything to be gained for Bishop Usher other than the welfare of the people of Wymondham.  The issue of the appropriation of the former Vicarage for the use of the suffragan bishop of Thetford has been made to be a cause celebre by those who wish to perpetuate a sense of division between parish and diocese.  The affair sounds like a hijack, but I understand that the former Vicar had not lived in the building for some years, and it was in a state of disrepair.  It needed considerable financial input from the Diocese to bring it back up to standard. Whatever the precise details of the ‘takeover’, they appear to be far more nuanced and complicated than the simple claim that the Diocese ‘stole’ our property.

To read in the Response that the parish believes that ‘Bishop Alan Winton’s and Bishop Graham’s behaviour in relation to Wymondham is unethical, immoral and self-serving’ comes as a jarring note.  It would seem that the Bishop and Diocese had every reason, in the first place, to be alarmed about the finances in the church.  It appears that, even according to the Vicar’s admission, there had been an ineffective treasurer presiding over a plethora of accounts and cheerfully running down reserves to pay diocesan quota.  This financial disaster zone has to be recognised as the responsibility of every PCC member who, over a number of years, had failed to ask questions or seek clarity over the financial accounts.  What was in the Annual Parish Report?  It is the job of the Treasurer to make accounts understandable and the PCC members need to expect to be able to understand them.  The same applies to every trustee in any charity.  I would expect to see somewhere a contrite recognition of a massive failing of all PCC members over the past decade.  Instead, we have the rather limp claim that the parish cannot now pay quota because the ex-treasurer, in plain sight, had used up all the reserves.

I have read the rest of the Response and much of it is to do with local issues which the Visitation Report had picked up and which formed part of the Bishop’s Direction.  The main thing that the Response does not address in any way is the fact that there are and were unhappy people in the church and town who found the personality of the Vicar difficult and abrasive.  Nowhere in the Response is there a hint of contrition or any plan to reach out to those who had complained to the Diocese.  Obviously we are not privy to the detail of these complaints, but it is quite clear they have caused massive upset and division within the congregation.  The other explanation for the failure to pay quota to the Diocese may simply be that the planned giving totals have dropped, with people voting with their feet.

There are various things that are not possible to discern from reading reports from two sides in an acrimonious dispute, so I returned to the parish website to try and get a feel for the priorities of the parish and its Vicar.  While this is only impressionistic, I sense that the Vicar is far more comfortable with contemplative styles of prayer and worship than with other forms.  I have no criticism of this kind of Christian practice, but it may clash with the expressed need of many Christians to experience the support of community with all its untidiness.  There is evidently, even from the superficial evidence of the website and the documents, a lot to suggest that the Bishop’s evident desire for radical change in the parish is not unjustified.  The Response, at the end of the document, finishes with these words ‘Something needs to be done’.  Perhaps the Vicar and churchwardens can help work out a constructive way to do things at their end to make the ‘something’ happen.

The ugly and criminal behaviour of John Smyth QC towards young men and boys at his home in Winchester and elsewhere, has become a well-attested episode amid similar abuse stories in the Church.  Surviving Church has looked at the succession of accounts and reports about how things went terribly wrong in the failures to expose Smyth, both at the time of his nefarious activity and subsequently.  We have looked at various reports published about the affair, including the Titus Trust report of 2021 and the recent Scripture Union report.   The most recent exploration is, of course, Andrew Graystone’s book, Bleeding for Jesus, which appeared in the autumn.  This latest report from Winchester College released on Tuesday 18^th January is one that concerns itself with the activity of Smyth in and around the College.  How was an individual with no official role within the College, able to get access to so many boys to groom and abuse a significant number of them?

The 197-page Review by Jan Pickles and Genevieve Woods, by careful interviewing of many of the witnesses of the event of the 70s and 80s, adds considerably to our understanding of what went on at the time.  It is interesting to read some very vivid testimony. This gives us insight, not only in the personality of Smyth, but also into the religious atmosphere of the College at the time.  To summarise the situation in a few words, Winchester College, in the 1970s, was host to a narrow strand of evangelicalism among many of the boys.  This was linked directly to the Iwerne type of conservative Anglicanism which we have many times discussed.  In a school of 600, some 100 identified as having had an evangelical conversion experience as the result of a decision made at the school.  In one of the ten Houses into which the College is divided, there was one which claimed 75% as members of the Christian Forum. This was the organisation within the school which acted in a similar way to a university Christian Union.   Only 15 boys in that House were not identified with this group.

Depending on one’s perspective, Winchester College was going through a religious revival or a troubling example of an infectious mass psychosis.  Christian Forum had been founded by a maths teacher, John Woolmer.  It began its life as a bible study group consisting of a handful of boys.  Things changed after 1974 when Keith de Berry, a visiting preacher, held two meetings in the College.  Some 30 boys then experienced a conversion to Christ.  The Christian Forum then became the dominant expression of Christianity in the College.  It was this rapid expansion of the Christian Forum and its need for ‘sound’ teaching and pastoral input that gave Smyth his opportunity.  What could be more appropriate than to invite a local prominent Iwerne leader to speak at Christian Forum meetings?  The invitation to speak gradually, as the Review makes clear, turned into a regular attendance and Smyth used his presence at the meetings to befriend particular boys and invite them to come to his house.  There were plenty of takers, it appears, for the chance to be part of an ordinary family for Sunday lunch. 

Winchester College is a foundation with considerable resources for articulating a thoughtful expression of Christianity.  The school was able to fund no fewer than four chaplains in the period studied by the Review.   Such chaplains would be among the most qualified and well-educated clergy in the Church of England.  They were thus potentially able to present issues of faith in a thoughtful and challenging way.  Nothing of this legacy of an intellectually stimulating presentation of the Christian faith seems to be remembered or found its way into the Review.  The expression of Christianity that was prominent at the College seems to have been almost entirely of the Iwerne Camps/Bash variety.

An insight into the divided nature of Christian observance in the late 70s in the College can be discovered from some extracts of a school magazine written by the boys in June 1979. The contrast made seems to be between Christian Forum observance and no faith at all. In speaking about the Christian Forum, the anonymous editorial author in the Dossier’s Organ stated that the ‘School is very much divided into Christian and non-Christian houses.  Or should I say Christian Forum and non-Christian Forum houses?’  The writer goes on: ‘The reasons for this are difficult to pin down, but the main one is that the leaders of the Forum are totally disconnected from the official school chaplains’ The Editorial recommended that the chaplains be put in charge of the Christian Forum so ‘that it would cease to be a breakaway group with a tarnished reputation’.  The clear sensible understanding of the situation of division and polarisation was heard by the school and a mainstream evangelical, Mark Ashton, was soon appointed to be one of the chaplains in an attempt to weld this cultic section of the College back into the religious mainstream.

In the autumn of 1980, a new senior chaplain appeared in the College, David Conner, later to become Dean of Windsor after serving as Bishop of Lynn.  I take an interest in his Review evidence because we knew each other slightly in Oxford in the mid-70s when we both helped out at the same church in Summertown.  He was then a school chaplain in Oxford, and I was a research student.  Although I am two years his senior, we were both familiar with the polarised situation in many Oxford college chapels when we were undergraduates in the previous decade.  Members of the Christian Union routinely refused to have anything to do with either the chapels or the chaplains that cared for them.  This situation was very similar to the one that David seems to have found in Winchester in 1980.  From an Anglican point of view, the situation would have presented a clear challenge to his professional skills.  The Forum was the dominant expression of Christianity, and he would have the clear task to present the breadth of the Christian tradition and suggest that living with questions was still part of Christian faith.  Was he, in summary, going to help Winchester College become a place where Christianity was presented and lived out in a nuanced and rounded way? 

The evidence of Conner’s testimony to the Reviewers states that he can remember little or nothing of his relationship with the Christian Forum and Smyth.  The same failure of memory was apparent when approached by Channel 4 in 2016. Although Conner’s name appeared as a speaker at the Forum from time to time, his memory of any significant engagement with the organisation and their leaders is almost nil. This is indeed extraordinary.  When Smyth became non-grata in the course of 1982, would he not as Senior Chaplain have been brought into the picture very early on?  The obvious thing for him to have done is to think back over the previous two years and try to remember as much as he could about the Forum meetings he had attended.  Is it not strange that the Forum, the most prominent expression of Christianity in the College at the time, should have not engaged his attention even if another chaplain, Mark Ashton, had been given the task of monitoring the Forum?  Conner claims that he never met Smyth, even though Smyth was a regular attender at Forum meetings in the College. The presence of such an evangelical celebrity, as Smyth, would surely have piqued Conner’s interest. Quite apart from the reports of abuse, which only came out in 1982, Smyth, according to the boys’ testimony had a considerable effect on the boys he took under his wing.  It is frankly strange if none of this got back to Conner.

We are in this situation, once again, where Smyth succeeded in flying under the radar and avoiding the attention of those who might have protected his future victims.  In a previous blog article, we noticed how a considerable number of prominent Iwerne network leaders, some of whom were Smyth victims, failed to do anything about Smyth or communicate any of their concern to others.   Smyth was thus able to continue his abusive rampage for another 30 years in Africa.  Conner was never part of the Iwerne network but has subsequently become an establishment figure in the Church. Does his failure of memory about the events of 80-82 have some connection with that privileged position he now occupies?  A variety of other senior churchmen, including ++Welby, have found it expedient to play down their association with Smyth.  Does the fear of association, and thus imputed shame, play a part in Conner’s protestations about the Christian Forum? ‘Clearly I have not remembered things accurately’ was his response when presented with evidence by the Reviewers that he had attended Forum meetings.   It should be mentioned that if Conner had played a somewhat more vigorous part in the Smyth episode, the subsequent narrative of Smyth’s story might well have been considerably different.  A little bit more curiosity on the part of Conner about this important personality who was invading the spiritual space of Winchester College, might have helped to bring Smyth to book much earlier.  The absence of any definite answers in the Review, and failures to interview another surviving chaplain from the period leaves this reader with a strong sense of an incomplete story.  A key figure who refused to be interviewed was Peter Krackenberger, an alumnus of Iwerne and member of the Winchester staff.  He was a leading figure in the work of the Christian Forum throughout the relevant period.  The lack of his testimony and the ‘loss of memory’ by Conner weaken the overall value of the Review.

The report contains a great deal of detailed material about Winchester College and to a considerable extent answers the question of how John Smyth, with his cultic ideas and psychologically disturbed personality, gained access to the College and the hearts and minds of some of those who attended the school. It is likely that Smyth bludgeoned his way into the sacred space of boys’ vulnerability by the sheer force of a charismatic personality.  But, as we have indicated, the failures of memory and the passage of time have left important parts of the story untold.  The Review is not, nor can it be, a full account of what happened in Winchester 40 years ago.  We can still wish that there was evidence of a greater robustness and strength to defend the vulnerability, even fragility of the pupils of Winchester College by those professionally employed to protect them from a notorious predator, John Smyth.      

By Paul Devonshire

Archbishop Rowan Williams has called for the Church to be an “argumentative democracy”.  He sees the need for “an investment in articulate, competent religious communities” (my italics).  My experience suggests that the Church of England shows little taste for such thinking, from parish to diocese. My wife, an ex-churchwarden, had been invited by the previous incumbent to be the editor of our church magazine, a role she had fulfilled for over five years.  With no prior warning or opportunity to challenge the decision, she was sacked under a confidential item at a PCC meeting.  One reason given was that the magazine was being used as a platform for articles by me.  These had started with the previous incumbent with no adverse comment that came to the attention of either my wife or myself.  When I asked which articles these were, I received no reply.  So much for disagreeing well and free speech.  I referred the matter to the archdeacon, who declined to be involved, saying the magazine was no concern of his.  The incumbent then styled himself “editor-in-chief”. The process of (constructive) dismissal showed scant regard for common decency, and little acknowledgement of my wife’s contribution over many years to the life of the church community.

In the absence of a physical gulag, we were, in essence, sent to Coventry, leaving pastoral care with its ideas of engagement, concern and interest in others somewhat absent.  Following centuries of tradition, some incumbents, mirroring their diocesan bishops, still treat their parishes and benefices as a personal bailiwick and members of the congregation passively collude in being infantilised.  Half the choir in our local church are refugees from another parish, victims, one might say, of clerical autocracy.  It is of note that the Independent Inquiry in Child Sexual Abuse, which focused on our diocese, identified as a contributory factor in the poor handling of allegations of sexual abuse a “culture of clericalism”. When I asked our diocesan bishop whether there would be an opportunity to explore this, I received no reply.  When, more recently, I approached our rural dean to have some local discussion on this, I was told, with no reference to the lay chair or any apparent sense of irony, that she could not authorise this without the permission of the bishop.  Culture works in both obvious and insidious ways.   During my tenure of a voluntary deanery role of ‘ecumenical champion’, I was very aware of the lack of discussion or debate on any subject at our deanery meetings.  The format appeared to be one of receiving reports with no opportunity for formulating policy, proposing action or reflecting on how anything implemented had fared. 

Failing to stimulate discussion from within on this “culture of clericalism”, I attempted to do so from without.  In September 2018, the Chichester Observer published the following letter from myself, which I present in full:

May I through your columns encourage open discussion in the Chichester diocese not least on the subject of justice?  After all, as we heard at the royal wedding – “let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream”.  Discussion on this and other topics is lacking.  What a breath of fresh air has been the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, with churchmen publicly held to account. Let there be more of it!  Accountability and openness are accepted means in challenging corruption and incompetence, so why not in the Church? Disquiet has already been expressed in the national press concerning the handling of Bishop Bell’s case, begging the question whether priests have the appropriate skills, knowledge and attitudes to administer justice. My experience of the diocese’s administration of its Complaints Policy and Procedure begs the same question.  Although this states many worthy intentions, viz. “to ensure that all complaints are investigated fairly…to resolve complaints and repair relationships wherever possible…to gather information to help us improve what we do and how we do it”, there was little evidence of them in practice when addressing my complaints.  These involved the failure to engage in correspondence.  Silence is a tool of the totalitarian state.  In its avoidance of the truth, it is dishonest.  It corrodes trust.  It is rude.  I discern a sense of entitlement informing such behaviour, echoing the title of Bishop Jones’ Hillsborough report , “The patronising predisposition of unaccountable power“.  Unless challenged, such behaviour is perpetuated. Perhaps the recently reported decline in church congregations can be attributed to this mindset rather than any anti-religion attitudes.  I trust you will allow Bishop Martin and his colleagues space to reply, setting in train genuine open discussion and a proper sense of engagement with our national church.

When I took advantage a Subject Access Request, I discovered how this had been received within the diocese.  In a communication between a media advisor, (described on his website as having “used his skills in many critical and damage limitations areas”), and the diocesan secretary, the former opined “I’m not sure he could be more opinionated and misguided but a shirt (sic) reply correcting him factually from [ ] might be better which, in itself, proves these decisions are not taken by clergy!”.  The reply that was prepared read as follows:  “Dear Sir, I refer to Paul Devonshire’s letter complaining of a lack of discussion and failure to reply to correspondence on the part of the diocese of Chichester.  The diocese would be very happy to permit any of your readers who wish to review the lever arch file full of correspondence and meeting notes with Mr. Devonshire, if he also gives his consent”.

It is difficult to discern in this interchange any attempt to engage with what I had written, perpetuating the very pattern of behaviour to which I was drawing attention.  Instead, I am described as “opinionated and misguided”, employing vilification, demonisation or derogation of the individual – discredit the person and so discredit their ideas. Also employed is impression management by referring to “a lever arch file full of correspondence and meeting notes”, meant no doubt to portray me as a time-wasting troublemaker.  I was seeking public debate as part of an “argumentative democracy”, not private conversations.

The role of media advisors and their ilk Is to gain the best outcome for their clients, in their case, the most favourable interpretation of the information in the public domain, whether to enhance reputation or to limit any potential damage.  A 17^th century diplomat described an ambassador as “an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country”, an example of the means justifying the ends.  Public relations is a kind of competitive sport – the name of the game is to win, with the all-too-human temptation to cheat.  The relationship between the two parties is predicated on the dominance of one party over the other.  The goal is not to gain any additional insights by a dialogue between the parties that might reach mutual consensus.  There is no sense of exploration into the whys and wherefores, hence the use of avoidance and denial. It is the “culture of clericalism” in which the clergy tell the laity what they should think.  There is no two-way street.  It is anti-intellectual.

Any moral slippery slope can begin insidiously, starting with pejorative adjectives and adverbs leading to that well-known phrase ‘being economical with the truth’ and on to misinformation and finally outright lying.  Advice, from any source including PR specialists, needs moral scrutiny. There is the danger that reputation is placed higher than truth, with the additional risk of the loss of trust.  Once compromised, trust is difficult to recover.

If anyone had read that arch file, they would have read that my many proposals were all ignored.  These would have included job descriptions for priests, accountability, transparency in decision making, due process and, obviously, debate.  When my complaint concerning non-replies to correspondence failed, I was afforded two ‘conversation partners’, the proviso being no discussion of my complaint. Mediation was rejected.  The actions of the diocese makes me suspicious that something is being hidden.  Surely engaging with people honestly and openly from the start saves time and maintains reputation.  The Church of England at all levels could see itself as a space for developing the civic skill of public debating, encouraging those “articulate, competent religious communities” suggested by Rowan Williams? Parishioners could then feel safe to participate more actively rather than voting with their feet.

Paul Devonshire is a layman in the Diocese of Chichester.

Gilo takes a hard critical look at the Safeguarding Culture and the Administration of the Church of England

When will sufficient numbers of bishops wake up to aspects of the inherent corruption and dysfunctionality at the centre of their structure and challenge it fearlessly? Scared of straying away from their herd, they are marshaled into the enclosure and together protect a rickety status quo. Some of them, perhaps even most of them, are awake to the broken culture of which they are a part. But very few have the courage to defy the machinery of central comms or the House of Bishops’ whips and raise their head above the parapet. Current leadership is very low grade but, or rather perhaps because of this, it commands deference and adherence to the hive mind.

Episcopal retirements are celebrated whilst those retiring have been quietly able to bypass any accountability for safeguarding failure. Others are able to maintain silence in the face of repeated questions. And it seems that little has been learnt across the last decade. Bullying, silencing and a special brand of Anglican gangsterism is rife across many dioceses.

The redoubtable ‘Elbows’ Alan as he’s known by some following Welby’s description at IICSA of the Bishop of Buckingham as having uncomfortable elbows – is a kind of wild saint and I imagine bears the marks of much reprimand for having spoken up in alliance with survivors. I spent a day in London with Rosie Harper and Alan Wilson towards the end of last year. We went to the Hogarth exhibition at the Tate to see one of the great satirists and social commentators of English society. Alan is rare amongst the bishops in being unafraid to see as Hogarth did the contradictions of society and its less than noble institutions.

Sadly, the reality is that bishops mostly drink the Kool-Aid and prop up a broken and decaying edifice. So let’s take a closer look at some of them. Jonathan Gibbs, a decent man, will probably be gone sometime this year. Who will follow him? Another who will start with the best of intentions and be quickly ground down and find the structure offers no tangible support. Gibbs will likely end up broken on the wheel of his own ineffectiveness. How can one person hope to change a culture which has little intention of changing more than it has to? One lone figure with nothing more than a secretary up against an army strong in Church House (akas CofE Centre for Cognitive Dissonance) and up against diocesan bishops who can politely ignore him and who know that he will have little awareness of what is going on in their diocese.

I like Jonathan. I think he’s a decent bloke who chose this role with a heart to bring major change, and at first it seemed he might be able to bring seismic change. I suspect he’ll be haunted by the failure of the structure to follow his call. And haunted by the strength of his Church’s ability to row back on changes that have been promised. His predecessor (Peter Hancock) was continually thwarted and misinformed by powerful figures within the structure and relied far too heavily on an NST led by gormlessness, dishonesty and cruelty.

Church House will continue to run rings round Gibbs, just as it has previous Lead bishops. Nye ran EIG rings round Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham. What can Gibbs do? Little. He has no real power to change much. He hasn’t got a loud enough purple shirt and stronger purple shirts can pull rank. He also has to contend with Nye and the creatures of the crypt who run the Church’s dysfunctional safeguarding empire at the centre. They know their status is one of total and protected unaccountability.

What of other safeguarding lead bishops? There’s a team, but one could be forgiven for having forgotten. Debbie Sellin is currently ensconced in an aircraft hangar somewhere in Hampshire, reassembling bits of Winchester and hoping for something vaguely resembling a workable diocese by the end of it. Winchester is likely to take at decade at least to recover from the Dear Leader who wreaked emotional and psychological havoc upon a diocese across a decade.

Viv Faull, Deputy lead bishop, has been completely invisible. It seems the Bishop of Bristol was muzzled by minders following an interesting moment in 2020 when hers was briefly a stand-out voice of courage. I remember various journalists were keen to speak with her following her ‘moment’ but were carefully batted away by the Church House comms walla who largely controls the NST. The team of Bishops has been unable to address the gangsterism of Church House, as we saw in a recent data-breach scandal when the NST and Church House comms threw everyone under the bus in order to protect itself from scrutiny.

Meanwhile elsewhere an Orton-esque farce, Malice in Blunderland, combining cruelty and delinquency in gowns and cassocks continues its long run in Oxford. I gather a sidesman in the Cathedral was recently sacked. His misdemeanor seemed to consist of stating that he missed the Dean. Last year Private Eye reported that dozens of Gideon bibles had been dumped in a skip. They’d been given to the Cathedral Friends who then found themselves and their funds appropriated by current powers at the Cathedral. The Friends didn’t dump the bibles. They were appalled. One imagines the Church’s top hierarchy must be in despair at the Bishop of Oxford’s failure to grasp the nettle of his senior clergy. The Church cannot deal with the rotten borough that is Christ Church College – that is the task of the Regulator and she seems to be biting down hard. But the diocesan must surely have responsibility to bring diocesan gangsterism to book.

What can we expect from Synod this year. There’ll be a continuing procession of soundbites, maybe even further promises. The Bishop of London will doubtless be wheeled out to deliver yet another deeply hypocritical soundbite. The Bishop’s record is questionable. And the culture which surrounded the appalling treatment of Fr Alan Griffin has passed without accountability. The Bishop’s response was more concerned with the coroner’s statement which highlighted the gangsterism in the diocese. And it seemed she wished there had been far less transparency in the coroner’s report.

Promises will continue to be broken. The news cycle is rapid and embarrassment fades fast. There are many good Synod members – but there’s only so much they can do to maintain pressure on this noxious theatre. Nye will go at some stage, and will no doubt leave benighted to be replaced by another Nye. The ringmaster of the quiet gangsterism at the Church’s core regenerates like a Time Lord and is usually drawn from the world of the senior civil service courtier.

The Church’s response to survivors might change in another decade or more. This is a very long arc. Survivors have probably done as well as we can to drive change as hard as we can. All of it has been driven at the expense of survivors. But many of the things survivors were up against five years ago, ten years ago, are still routine. Silencing is still the primary defense of choice deployed by bishops and their protective structures. At least current child protection will change with the introduction of Mandatory Reporting. The big ticket item which will close IICSA we all assume. But once recommended, it’ll take up to five years to grind through the wheels of parliament. Let’s hope various Whitehall departments and their ‘expert’ advisers don’t try to whistle up a counterfeit.

The forces ranged against survivors in the CofE will continue to be monolithic. They always have been. Archbishops Council is divided between the handwringing of its clerics and the shadowy politic of its unaccountable Secretariat. In Church House which many of us believe is twinned with Mordor, the Nye-ocracy is buttressed by an acquiescent and unquestioning NST who cannot dare challenge its paymaster general. I’ve been told of some of the corruption that has taken place within the NST, and have evidence of some myself – but the structure is efficient at air-brushing from history anything it wants to ignore. Nye and his minions operate silencing and a culture of cognitive dissonance to cover their tracks. Bishops like the Bishop of London who have been hoovered up into duplicity follow suit and operate the same silencing. But she is not alone. This is a culture in which silencing is rife.

Those in the machine who know where compromising bodies are buried will be unlikely to talk. They are either too compromised, too fearful to speak out, or their mouths have been stuffed with sterling on leaving. The kingdom of the Secretariat maintains enough semblance of order to appease the anxious clerics. And its unaccountability remains protected by the arch/bishops’ abdication of responsibility to its all encompassing power.

Maggie Atkinson, recently appointed Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Board, will start with the best of independent intentions but is likely to find herself managed into the margins by the machinery of this polite Mordor. Atkinson will doubtless be presented with carefully selected paper clips and reports. Invites will be sent to meet with a wan Archbishop who will be managed by his shadowy consigliere. And so the teetering circus will continue. Atkinson may be the one who can cut through the gangsterism of the senior layer, cut through all the denial and dishonesty, cut through all the failure to repent and to apologise – especially if she arranges to meet with survivors and hears what has been going on across many bad diocesan cultures. But she will need eyes wide open and all her wits about her lest she become another Meg Munn.  

Will the cultures of the Church change?  Realistically not for another decade at least. Probably two. This arc is long. When did the scandal of corruption and cover-up begin? There was awakening awareness to abuse as far back as the 70s and earlier. This got going in the 80s and 90s. The 1940s are probably the earliest of any recorded material any of us have seen in dioceses. We’re talking a seriously long arc. And the Past Case Review 2 shows little sign of being willing to be more transparent than transparent. It will feature a different brand of whitewash from that deployed in the original PCR. Its whitewash will be applied much more carefully of course. But we’ll see deployment of restriction in the remit to protect failure, protect hierarchy, protect retiring bishops. Why should anyone expect the culture to change overnight? PCR2 is likely to attract critical and damaging headlines all over again. The Church has not learnt that anything less than a total opening up of the books will further add to the damage already sustained.

Will the NST improve? It’s regressed significantly in recent years in my view. I remember when I first met Melissa Caslake in York – and said her secret weapon would be ‘resigning power’. She left a little over a year later unable to effect change, but with a clear look of reproach cast behind her through the exit. My understanding is that she told the bishops what was what in no uncertain terms! It was possibly the only dynamic thing she was able to do in the end. Zena Marshall is likely to leave with barely a whimper. She has achieved little in terms of change of culture in those above her head.

The mix of sclerosis and apathy in many dioceses, dysfunctionality in the NST, and toxic strategy at the core all run deep. There is no mechanism for repentance, no route by which bishops can take ownership of failure or dishonesty and say the simple word sorry. There is zero mechanism for holding accountable those who have been complicit with corruption. Those who have tried to hold bishops or Church House accountable meet the power of stealth and silencing. Everyone takes cover in the hills whilst an engine of quiet corruption powerfully embedded at the center purrs as it cradles an institution. And the formulaic “no blame will be apportioned” is a systemic insurance policy which lets everyone off the hook.

Any notion that the Church has moral consideration at its heart really has to be abandoned. At its heart is the twin engine of damage limitation and reputation management. This engine motors Lambeth Palace, Church House, and many of the diocesan offices of the broken world of Bishops who cannot face or address their own and their agents’ gangsterism.

As in political worlds, so it will remain a bewildering and necessarily painful time dealing with the institution of the Church.

I had thought of dedicating an entire blog to the topic of the life of Archbishop Tutu.  The reason for not doing this was because so much has been said by others and I knew I would have difficulty in saying anything fresh.  The other reason is that ++Tutu’s political and religious struggles took place in a setting that I have no experience or knowledge of. That was my decision until Saturday 1^st January.  On that day a letter was published in The Times on the topic of Church leadership from Canon Mark Oakley.   He came up with the magnificent word, Tutufication, to describe the potential influence of Archbishop Tutu on the leadership culture of the wider Anglican church.  Oakley was attempting to point out to Times readers that there is a different style of episcopal leadership potentially available to the Church of England.  This is not at present being offered to us by our current Church leaders.  In particular, he contrasted the culture of managerialism and a suffocating need for unity/conformity with the individual fearless prophetic witness offered by Tutu.  Put simply, there are no current examples of leadership in the Church of England which inspire or capture the imagination and attention of the British public as Tutu did.

The words of Canon Oakley which have led to much discussion on the social media, included these: “We need a brave Tutufication of the Church, allowing bishops more creativity, freedom of speech and honesty about what they believe, with a commitment to never let religion compromise justice.”

Those of us who have been inspired by the life of Desmond Tutu have not been calling for him to be instantly placed in the Anglican liturgical calendar for an annual commemoration.  This may of course happen. The most impressive thing about Tutu’s life for many of us was the way that he was allowed to speak openly and freely about a number of topics that really matter to people – racism, homophobia, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.  There was a glorious spontaneity about his utterances.  Nevertheless, he attracted plenty of criticism during his lifetime and indeed was sometimes in physical danger because of his views.   Some of his attitudes may indeed have been wrong. I in no way want to suggest that he qualifies to be a Christian saint.  But the thing that is remarkable and assures us of his permanent place in the roll of great Anglicans, was the fearless way he fought evil and injustices.  These were especially manifested in the unjust structures of his native land, South Africa.  He occupied a difficult place in the political spectrum, neither accepting apartheid nor seeking its overthrow through violence.  His position as an Anglican bishop (later Archbishop) gave him a public platform so that he could be heard.  His position was not popular, and, though applauded by many, he faced opposition and conflict for much of his life.

The new word ‘Tutufication’ helps us to see a distinct way of exercising episcopal power which is quite different from the one we have in the Church of England.  As my readers who follow this blog regularly know, I have a personal interest in the way that our episcopal leaders have seemed so incapable of getting things right in the safeguarding crisis of the past ten years.  In summary, the failures of Church leaders have frequently failed survivors of abuse.  The leaders have also failed to protect the wider cause of justice and truth within the institution. Canon Oakley in his list of critiques of the current functioning of the episcopate, hints at a stuffy, highly centralised way of exercising authority.  This fails to engage either with the ordinary membership in the pews or the demands of those who have suffered from abuse within the system.    

Let us take two qualities for which ++Tutu was known, but which seem to be so little in evidence today in England.  The first is the quality we describe as prophetic.  Prophecy is one of those words that is constantly misunderstood by many people.  In Scripture, the book of Daniel with its detailed foretelling of future events, is thought by many to be what prophecy is all about.  In fact, the Jewish compilers of the Hebrew Bible never regarded this work as following in the great classical Hebrew traditions of prophecy.  The book was relegated to sit among the miscellaneous ‘writings’.  What we have is a work, written in the intertestamental period, around 165 BC, containing a genre of writing that today we describe as apocalyptic.  Classical Hebrew prophecy, exemplified by Amos and Jeremiah, was the kind that has inspired many modern Christian heroes like Martin Luther King, Romero and Huddleston.  It was about proclaiming the realities of the present time from a divine perspective. The Christian prophet is one who proclaims, not the future, but the meaning of the present, interpreted from the perspective of God’s will.  The Hebrew prophets, sometimes at great physical risk to themselves, said unpopular and unpalatable things, revealing what they saw to be the will of God for Israel and Judah.  What the people wanted to hear was that God was giving them endless peace and prosperity.  What they heard instead was far less welcome.  It was a message about repentance and the announcement of imminent disasters.  I am no expert in Tutu’s political/prophetic message, but it can safely be summarised that his message was often, like that of the OT prophets, unacceptable, particularly to the holders of political power in the South Africa of the 70s, 80s and 90s.  

The vocation of the Church to be a beacon of prophecy in the classic Old Testament sense, is not one that would be widely welcomed in Britain in our own century.  Much prophecy, in its habit of challenging existing power structures, would probably be called far too left wing for our current establishments to cope with.  This post is not meant to be in any way pressing a political view.  Nevertheless, a healthy exploration of political opinions and ideas is not something that we or our episcopal leaders should shy away from. What we find in practice is, not an attempt to hold a healthy debate representing the complete spectrum of political opinions, but what appears to be an effort to muzzle every expression of political opinions.  The fear of being thought ‘political’ has shut down much expression of opinion among our episcopal leaders.  The Church has to a considerable extent become voiceless.  As far as the political issues of today are concerned, as well as the issue of safeguarding, church leaders be seen to be acting neither with courage nor clarity. The spirit of Tutu in the Church of England is hard to discern.

Tutufication would be one way of releasing the Church from its political straitjacket.  From the perspective of this blog, one urgent need is for the bishops is to be allowed the freedom to prophesy in the safeguarding arena.  Many bishops know incidents of abuse from long ago but, in their current position of influence in the Church, they are forbidden from saying anything potentially critical. Dirty secrets from the past might be revealed and the reputations of current leaders might be damaged.  Bishops are required by their position and status in the organisation to observe silence and do absolutely nothing to speak about all that has gone wrong.   The consecration to the episcopate seems to involve receiving a large zip-fastener over one’s mouth.  Nothing, no opinion or statement that might be helpful to survivors, can ever be released on this topic or anything else, unless sanctioned at the centre.

Many of us have been admirers of Bishop Vivienne Faull of Bristol.  Her safeguarding record at York as Dean was exemplary, if controversial.  She also made some bold statements about the safeguarding failures she observed at Gloucester when Peter Ball was Bishop, and she was a junior member of the cathedral staff.  Her remarks were challenging to the system and she spoke of the forces trying to silence her. She recounted at the time of the IICSA report: ‘The tribalism and clericalism identified by IICSA silenced and marginalised me (and others). It still does.’ The announcement that Vivienne was to be a Diocesan bishop encouraged many of us to believe that her bold, even prophetic, stand on safeguarding matters would be represented in the House of Bishops.  Then we also learned that she was to be assisting +Jonathan Gibbs in his safeguarding role.  Since that date, it has been as though the volume dial has been turned right down.  I may have missed some statement, but the survivors that I am in touch with have not heard one word which might encourage them to believe that she was still interested and working on their behalf.  If we can suggest another word to describe a process at work in the Church of England, what we are witnessing seems to be that ‘detutufication’ is alive and well.

The second quality we saw in ++Tutu was his careful and laborious search for reconciliation and peace.  Most of us have heard of reconciliation process which Tutu oversaw in South Africa through the Peace and Reconciliation Commission.  This took the former participants of the political conflict and provided the space and the time for them to listen to the pain that the other side had suffered.  It was an incredibly costly affair, and it took the patient dedication of an exceptional Christian leader like Tutu to try and make it work.  From the Christian point of view it was a clear demonstration that Christian values and beliefs can make a difference in situations of conflict and point to a better future for everyone, whether or not Christian.  The success or failure of the Commission is not what I am arguing for at this point.  I am merely pointing out that Tutu has shown how the influence of the episcopate can be put to work. Tutufication of the Church and especially its leaders, can make a powerful difference in a society and point all to the possibility of transformation.  South Africa is far from a healed society, but some of the bitterness has been neutralised to make that society somewhat less divided than if he had never lived.

The brief letter by Mark Oakley has begun a discussion in the Church of England about the kind of leadership we would like to see from our bishops and archbishops.  Tutufication represents, in summary, the fearlessness, the striving for justice, the courage and fierce conviction that marked the life and work of ++Desmond Tutu.  Even a little of his outstanding passion would go an enormous way in helping our church regain the respect of society.  Tutufication is also especially needed in the world of safeguarding.  His costly struggle to bring about peace and reconciliation also points us in a fresh direction.  Instead of of the fear-dominated and defensive legal responses of the Church authorities towards victims and survivors, we long to see the compassion and outworking of Christian love.  Tutufication points us in a new direction and towards a new church culture.  Above all his message and example is to our Church leaders.  There is another way of exercising Christian leadership.  Instead of fear, truth avoidance and the concern merely to protect the institution, we long to see openness, integrity, justice and love.  With them in evidence, the Church of England might have a better chance of regaining the respect and admiration of society at large.

by a supporter friend of ‘Kenneth’

Back in December I (SP) outlined the story of ‘Kenneth’ who was facing a CDM process for an alleged offence against a child. The following piece is a follow-up by a friend supporter of Kenneth to that story and it vividly explores the Kafkaesque world that anyone accused of anything in the Safeguarding arena may have to endure. The chief sticking point, as far as I can see, is that there is no mechanism for establishing the veracity or otherwise of an accusation. An accusation of misconduct remains and no one is allowed to question what has been alleged. From the last account we learned at least two facts that called for further investigation. First the account given by the ‘victim’ has changed more than once. Secondly no attempt has been to question the child alone, using a skilled interviewer like a specially trained social worker. He is now 16 years old. There are in fact a number of queries in the story that require skilled expertise not present in the existing core group. Justice needs to be seen to pursued with professionalism and exemplary care, if Kenneth is to receive a proper opportunity to defend his claim that this incident never happened.

This is the continuing true story of my dear friend Kenneth of some fifty-six years mentioned in a previous blog of December 13th 2020 by Stephen  Parsons. I am merely continuing the saga, updating on more recent events.  We have all been advised to keep his identity confidential, which in Diocesan Safeguarding Core Group terms means ‘secret’.  It is ironic that a blog which intends to expose untruths should begin with one. Neither must we write anything which might identify any other person. So, with these restrictions I shall endeavour to expose a continuing cruel and merciless system which is destroying the life of this Kenneth.

You will have read the basics of the case in the previous blog http://survivingchurch.org/2021/12/13/cdm-a-case-study/ and might find it difficult to believe it could get worse. To remind you, Kenneth  has been a member of the congregation of his church for sixty years and has had clean DBS checks throughout that time and yet in one short telephone conversation his whole life and raison d’etre were destroyed with no explanation. An allegation was made against him by a chorister of sexual touching, which he denied. There was no evidence and, over a twenty month period, only continuing contradictory stories from the boy.

In this report the years have been highlighted to avoid confusion.

High Risk

On October 4th 2021 on the grounds that the boy had not withdrawn his allegation  Kenneth was declared to be ‘High Risk’. No explanation was given as to how this decision was reached between the Detective Constable saying in March 2020, “As the matter was quite low level I submitted it for no further action’, to the Core Group saying in October 2021, he is ‘high risk’, that decision having been reached without any investigation or evidence. Eventually, after a ten week wait the consequences of the October 4th 2021 meeting were not discussed until December 14th 2021.

Subsequent Risk Assessment

The same Risk Assessment made December 16th 2020 was used as the conclusion to the process on December 14th 2021 with no cognisance being taken of events throughout 2021 which were of further and different accusations by the boy, denials and evidence against these by Kenneth nor the findings of the Independent Review.

So, loyal as ever to the boy, at a meeting on October 4th 2021, Kenneth was told that since the boy refused to withdraw the allegation, he was now described as ‘high risk’. There had been no investigation or scrutiny of evidence and no explanation of this decision beyond its being the accusation by the boy.

Stephen Parsons spoke in his blog of the Core Group’s insistence that their role is not to seek the truth but to believe the child. Yes indeed because Kenneth was told on July 2020  by the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, ‘Our focus is in responding to allegations not to focus upon finding out the truth” because,‘ We have to follow the House of Bishops ruling on safeguarding’.

 On June 15th 2021, almost a year later, we asked all members of the Safeguarding Group:  ‘Does the House of Bishops really say the truth must be avoided even if it means supporting lies in order to pretend to believe the complainant? There was no response.

Although we have many times asked for the document, section and paragraph to substantiate the actions and decisions by the Core Group  there has never been an answer. 

The Core Group have always claimed it was not their role to investigate but despite nine formal requests as to whose role it was, they never answered that question either. Instead they constantly refer to their following the ‘House of Bishops ruling’. It is not clear (although they have been asked), whether they are referring to ‘The House of Bishops Procedures’  (which is for ordained clergy and Kenneth is a lay person, although initially the DSA did not know this), or The Parish Safeguarding Manual’, but in either case we challenge that any rules at all have been followed. In other words they seem to have ‘made it up as they went along’.

House of Bishops  Procedures  (Published by the House of Bishops October 2017)

If the document ‘House of Bishops Procedures for Safeguarding 2017‘has been used then there are altogether fifteen procedures relating to respondents and five general procedures which were not followed in this case. Throughout October and November 2021 this information was given to the Core Group by myself, but again, it was never responded to.

Truth/ Untruth

In the previous blog from Stephen Parsons you will have read that there were discrepancies over dates and details;  indeed there were only three dates in the time span given by the boy when he and Kenneth might have been in the vestry at the same time. The choral registers could have shown this and might have exonerated Kenneth. This information was refused by a senior safeguarding office and an official complaint was made about her at the time. Subsequent complaints were made about this to individual members of the Core Group and officials in the parish, naming the officer concerned in connection with her refusal to give information from the registers.

At the meeting on October 4th 2021 almost exactly a year after the official complaint about the secrecy of the registers, the Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Officer said the decision to withhold substantial evidence of the registers in this way was a Core Group decision and not that of the individual officer. This is not the case because Kenneth and myself have an email from the safeguarding officer on this issue which shows clearly that it was she personally who had refused to give the information from the registers.

Indeed throughout all our complaints about this no mention was ever made about its being a Core Group decision.

January 2022

It is interesting to note that from March 2020 when the allegation was first made until present six people directly involved with the case have left the church concerned, including within the last few months, the boy and his mother.

As I am writing this, January 2022, the Diocesan Safeguarding Core Group is, I believe, drafting a Safeguarding Agreement trying not imply any culpability or guilt as otherwise Kenneth will not sign it because he says he is not guilty. The discussion about this so called agreement is to take place on January 12th 2022 and I shall keep you updated. In the meantime we leave the safeguarding officer  wondering who else to blame for her refusal to divulge the information in the registers.

We heartily endorse Stephen Parsons plea that, ‘Assuming the CDM revision is going to apply to cases involving laity, the reforms cannot come soon enough’.