Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s video.
I’ve been spending most of this week in London for meetings. Coming from the Welsh Marches here is a bit of a culture shock. It is quite clearly the seat of power. Going in to the House of Lords has been an extraordinary experience as one bumps into people that hitherto I had only seen on the TV.
I was having a casual conversation the other day with a former cabinet minister who was at the centre of the most horrendous life and death decision making. Decisions made in the abstract around the cabinet table had lethal implications, both to the enemies of the country and to our servicemen who had to carry them out.
The higher up the food chain you go, the more complex and difficult such decisions become. There is a fascinating encounter at the beginning of the book of Nehemiah where he prays prior to going in to the King to ask for something that on the surface seems impossible. He says, “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.” Nehemiah was a second-generation exile. He was taking responsibility for something done by his forbears. He recognises, over and against the individualism of our culture today that being part of an institution means being a real part of it. We have to live with the failings of others, but also take responsibility for our own stuff.
I was thinking of this verse when we heard this week that Archbishop Justin had resigned in the light of the Makin report into the horrendous abuse perpetrated by John Smyth. It is a terrible report to read and shakes one to the core. My immediate thoughts were with the survivors and victims who live with that trauma and pain. I pray for all who have been affected. They will no doubt have been re-traumatised by the reporting and social media storm. We have a duty to support and care for them as best we can. In this diocese we make safeguarding an absolute priority and seek to have processes in place that make our churches a safe place for everyone.
The report identifies failings by Archbishop Justin and others for which he has taken responsibility and apologised. But there is another important element of his decision which relates back to Nehemiah. The Makin report identifies systematic and institutional failures that allowed Smyth to continue to abuse. There does come a point when even if one’s own culpability is limited, as a leader, you have to take responsibility for the failings of the institution as a whole. There are elements of both types of responsibility in Archbishop Justin’s statement issued a few days ago. I hope this will provide some help to victims and survivors.
You may remember Lord Carrington resignation at the beginning of the Falklands war. Intelligence failures by others led to the invasion being a surprise. He took responsibility for his department and persisted with his resignation despite Mrs. Thatcher trying to persuade him not to go.
I pray that the lessons learned from this review will be incorporated into our practice. We are clearly not there yet as a church, despite the huge progress that has been made over the last few years. Ironically, much of this has been championed by the Archbishop. I am always hugely impressed how the mantra that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility has been embraced at parish level. We have a great team of local safeguarding officers, and a first-rate team here in the diocesan office responsible for training advice and support. We must all continue to be vigilant.
Can I urge us to pray for all victims and survivors of the failings of our church, pray for good safeguarding practice and culture to be embedded in our parishes, and for people to be listened to if they tell us their stories, and those stories acted upon in the proper way.
I also ask us to pray for Justin and Caroline and for those who will now be responsible for seeking the next leader of the Anglican Communion. It has always been an impossible job, and perhaps even more so now as we put lessons into practice in the midst of ongoing conversations around LLF.
In all of this Lord have mercy on your church, make us holy, make us kind, make us caring, make us safe, that the love of Christ will still shine through our frailty and brokenness.
+Richard