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Church abuse victims ‘disgusted’ by Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech
LONDON
The Archbishop of Canterbury has drawn anger from victims of a major abuse scandal involving the Church of England for a speech he made on Thursday.
During his first speech since announcing his resignation last month following a damning report which concluded that he failed to report a prolific child abuser associated with the Church, Justin Welby told the House of Lords that a “head had to roll.”
Speaking to the BBC, abuse victims said they were “dismayed” and “disgusted” by the speech, noting that it made no mention of remorse for the survivors and struck too “frivolous” a tone with jokes.
Welby’s resignation followed the findings of an independent review by Keith Makin, a former social services director, which revealed that Welby and other senior church officials had enough information in 2013 to report allegations against John Smyth to authorities but failed to act.
Smyth, a prominent Christian barrister and summer camp leader, was accused of physically and sexually abusing boys and young men in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s and later in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He died in 2018 without being brought to justice.
The review criticized the Church’s inaction as a “missed opportunity” to protect potential victims and hold Smyth accountable.
Speaking in the House of Lords, Welby said: “The reality is that there comes a time if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility where the shame of what has gone wrong – whether one is personally responsible or not – must require a head to roll.”
“And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough.”
One survivor, Mark Stibbe, who previously told the BBC that he was groomed and beaten by Smyth in the 1970s, said he objects to the use of such a “frivolous tone” in such a serious matter — a matter that has been and continues to be a matter of life and death to some.
Another of Smyth’s victims, given the pseudonym Graham Jones in the Makin report, said the tone of Welby’s speech was “entirely wrong.”
“It did not appear to be one of sorrow, which is what was required,” he told the BBC.
Welby is due to step down on Jan. 6, with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, taking charge until a permanent replacement is found, which is expected to take six months.
(AA)