Safeguarding Sunday 2024
Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury
12/11/2024
Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.
I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.
The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.
I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.
I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.
For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.
Archbishop Justin Welby
Statement from the Bishop of London regarding the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation
For survivors of church abuse this period has been – and will continue to be – an immensely painful and challenging time. I know you are deeply conscious of this. Many of you have said how difficult it was to stand before your congregations last Sunday, after the Makin Review revealed the abhorrent crimes of John Smyth and the tragic failures of the Church’s response.
You will know people in your congregation who have suffered abuse, some of whom have been retraumatised by the inaction or deeply inadequate response of the Church. There will also be victims and survivors of whom we are unaware.
Given the contents of the Makin Report, and its ongoing reverberations, including the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury today, it will be with a grave sense of responsibility and no little trepidation that we face the next phase in the life of the Church of England. I am conscious that this Sunday – Safeguarding Sunday – will seem more important than ever.
In this crucial moment, we have the opportunity to recognise our individual and collective responsibility for those in our pastoral care; to lament deeply the history of our Church; and to renew our determination to achieve the rigorous and thorough reset of safeguarding structures necessary to deliver a safer church.
Central to this must be a genuinely survivor-focused approach, with independent scrutiny and mandatory reporting. A safe church can no longer remain just an aspiration, and survivors must be key architects and adjudicators of the process to get us there.
You are very much in my thoughts and prayers as, together, we lament the past and set about the vital task of creating a better future.
The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE
Notices
- Our next PCC Meeting is on Sunday 24th November immediately after Mass.
- Live Stream of Morning Prayer and Mass has started, so please join us on YouTube (St. Anselm Hayes) during the weekday offices.
- We will start the church’s Warm Welcome on Wednesday, 20th November from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
- Please speak to Susan if you would like to attend the Advent Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on 30th November.
- We are happy to announce that we will start using the English Hymnal on 1st December. We are grateful to David for his generous donation.
- We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.
- Please support the church generously through your giving at
www.stanselm.co.uk/giving