A HEAD needed to roll for safeguarding failures within the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s is the one one which “rolls well enough”, Archbishop Welby told the House of Lords on Thursday.
He began his valedictory speech with some remarks about his decision to resign — the primary public comments that he has made because the statement three weeks ago announcing his decision (News, 12 November).
“The reality is that there comes a time, when you are technically leading a specific institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone flawed, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll. And there is just, on this case, one head that rolls well enough,” he said.
It was announced on Wednesday that Archbishop Welby would formally stop to be Archbishop on 6 January, and wouldn’t be participating in Advent and Christmas services at Canterbury Cathedral (News, 5 December).
His final speech within the House of Lords focused on problems with housing and homelessness, an area by which the Church of England has been increasingly vocal throughout the course of his time as Archbishop (News, 26 November). Peers speaking after Archbishop Welby paid tribute to his contributions on this and other subjects within the House of Lords.
On safeguarding within the Church of England, Archbishop Welby said that it’s now “a totally different picture to the past”. Credit for this could go to “1000’s and tens of 1000’s of individuals across the Church, particularly in parishes”, he said.
“However, once I look back on the last 50 or 60 years, not only through the eyes of the Makin report, nevertheless one takes one view of private responsibility, it was clear that I needed to stand down, and it’s for that reason that I did so.”
He began his speech with a joke, saying that, if you wish to make God laugh, make plans. “On that basis, next 12 months, I shall be causing God more hilarity than anyone else for a few years,” he said, as a lot had been planned for his expected last 12 months in office.
His final speech within the Lords was attended by six of the opposite Bishops who sit within the House of Lords, including the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, who will tackle his duties as metropolitan of the province of Canterbury from Epiphany.
