Statement from Bishop Hugh and Dean Simon: The Makin Report and Resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, Acting Bishop of Truro, and The Very Revd Simon Robinson, Dean of Truro, have shared a statement:
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ
This last week has brought great shame on the church that we love and serve. The Makin report lays bare the truth of the horrific abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, and the subsequent cover-up. You will have seen the news that Archbishop Justin has resigned as a result.
Our first priority is to the survivors and victims of Smyth’s abuse, and all those who find themselves powerless while powerful people choose to protect themselves rather than speaking the truth. We also know that whenever this kind of abuse is in the media, many others who have been abused and hurt by people in the church are re-traumatised.
Survivors – and we are aware that you may be a survivor – need our clear commitment that we will stand with them, that we will do everything we can to build safe churches and that, whenevernecessary, we will act to protect them rather than the church or any individual within the church, acting without fear or favour for the sake of truth and justice. Please hold all survivors of abuse in your prayers, and please make sure your prayers become action, as we work together for a safer church.
Those who carry high office carry a high responsibility. Archbishop Justin has taken his responsibility for making the church safe seriously and has now chosen to take personal and institutional responsibility for the failures to bring Smyth to justice after 2013.
Whatever your views of his decision, please keep him, his wife Caroline and his family in your prayers.
His decision does not, in itself, make the church safer, and we must now all recommit ourselves to the responsibility that we each carry for making the church safe for everyone.
I am aware that the Makin report and its consequences may have provoked strong and possibly complex feelings. The church which we love, and which we know is often beautiful and holy, has caused terrible harm. While we may not have been directly involved in the horrors revealed in the Makin report, we are likely all to experience a moral trauma from its revelations and we, and people in our congregations, might now be asking how they can serve a church like this.
I encourage you to notice how you are feeling and to seek support if that would be helpful. Your diocesan safeguarding team is available to provide support or there is independent support available via Safe Spaces or First Light Cornwall.
This Sunday, 17 November, is given as Safeguarding Sunday, and we encourage you to use it as such. There are good resources available on the thirty-one:eight website.
Safeguarding is a shared responsibility in which we all have a part to play.
This comes with a heavy heart, and with our prayers. Please pray for us, as we pray for you.
Bishop Hugh and Dean Simon.
If you have a safeguarding concern visit:
https://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/safeguarding
https://trurodiocese.org.uk/resources/safeguarding/report-concern/