By Father Casey
In the midst of all the news this past week, there was one story that may have slipped by unnoticed. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation, stemming from an investigative report that described a long-maintained conspiracy of silence about a serial abuser in the Church of England.
The report focuses on a man who allegedly preyed on youth at camps in the Church of England in the 1970s and 80s. Allegations eventually rose to the attention of senior church leaders in 2013, the same year Welby became archbishop. In his resignation statement, Welby said he was told then that police already had been notified of the abuse; however, no real measures had been taken, and no proper investigation was conducted for four more years. The accused man died in 2018.
In his resignation letter, Archbishop Welby wrote, “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.”
I share this with you, because it is important that we bring such events out of the shadows and into the light, and that leaders sacrificially demonstrate their commitment to personal and institutional responsibility for abuses that occur in the church. We cannot claim to be committed to safeguarding the wellbeing of the most vulnerable if allegations go uninvestigated, if no one is ever held accountable for their wrongs, and if victims are left to suffer without any hope of justice. We cannot say we are any different from other churches burdened by legacies of predation when we fall into the same patterns of silence. Thus, I commend the archbishop’s decision to step down, regardless of his personal role in this institutional failure, even as I hope his resignation will not lessen the church’s intense self-examination and reckoning.
Accountability is decreasing among leaders of our society. When mistakes are made, sometimes egregious ones, apologies are usually perfunctory (if offered at all), and they are rarely followed up by any acts of contrition. Better to not comment on it, the popular thinking goes, until attention blows over and the media cycle moves on to the next terrible thing – that way you can escape having to answer for the wrong.
This is not the Christian way. We believe that apologies are not optional; they are essential. Apologies are not only words we say but things we enact. Honesty is blessing, not a burden, and accountability is not a curse, but a pathway to redemption. There is no way forward to anything better until we take responsibility for the wrongs of the past. And the truth is that, even if we escape the consequences of our actions in this life, we will be held accountable by the one who cannot be fooled and from whom no secrets are hid.
And a final word: we at Transfiguration hold the safety and welfare of all people, and most especially our children and youth, among our very highest priorities. Our safeguarding practices are rigorous, and the events of this past week are another reminder why. A single person harmed in the church is one victim too many. Trust, once violated, is enormously hard to regain. So we will go on doing all we can to protect every last child of God, “for to such as these belongs the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:14).”