newsGeneral Synod 2025: Some Church of England bishops would be forced to stand down were they subjected to scrutiny by a truly independent board of child sex abuse examiners
Outspoken and courageous, Dame Jasvinder Sanghera. She has raised a subject that will cause hearts in the Church’s out of touch hierarchy to miss a beat or two
The Roman saying “Those who the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad” should be inscribed in the prayer books of the General Synod members who voted for half-hearted, watered-down safeguarding measures. Their vote has been described as “a gut punch to survivors” because it means that for a long time yet church appointed officials will continue marking their open homework when it comes to scrutinising sex abuse cases that have already seen the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. TREVOR GRUNDY reports –
Sexual abuse victims have condemned a decision by members of the Church of England’s General Synod to reject a fully independent safeguarding model to deal with sexual abuse cases. It has left victims of clerical sexual abuse confused and furious.
The established church whose supreme governor is the king is in danger of losing all credibility with the public in this a post-Christian secular-minded age.
This morning, Bishop Joanne Grenfell, the lead bishop for safeguarding at the Church of England, said on the BBC’s Today programme – “I am really disappointed, as were many, that Synod missed the opportunity to send an unequivocal message to victims and survivors and the wider nation.”
Bishop Joanne Grenfell . . .
. . . disappointed but pressing on
But she added that the vote did represent a forward move and that the church would work towards a fully independence body to monitor sex abuse scandals if and when they take place again.
Yesterday the BBC’s Nick Robinson asked Dame Jasvinder Sanghera a question that must have caused a collective heart attack among the church’s hierarchy.
He asked, “Do you believe that there are many, many other bishops and archbishops that if they had to submit to this sort of scrutiny, this sort of test, would find themselves having to stand aside from their positions?”
She replied, “Yes I do, actually, I do.”
Dame Jasvinder was one of a panel of experts who provided independent oversight on how the Church of England should deal with the abuse of children by clerics and others connected to high-ranking men in the church.
She was a survivor advocate on the Church of England’s Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) until the panel was sacked in June 2023 when the church said relations between board members and bishops had broken down.
How and why?
The public is never told.
So, as things stand any victim of a sexual abuse by a vicar or curate would have to report his or her complaint first to a bishop.
There are lots of them – 42 diocesan bishops plus two archbishops (Canterbury and York) plus assistant and suffragan bishops bringing a total in all to 108.
Bishops are paid £46,160 a year but they all get free housing worth around £120,000 per cleric per year.
They are a closely knit bunch. Right now, their eyes are wide-open and their mouths firmly shut while waiting to see who will take-over as number one Anglican now that Justin Welby has left the building.