The Archbishop of York has promised change within the Church of England after months of intense public scrutiny over safeguarding failures.
Archbishop Stephen Cottrell admitted on day one in every of the February General Synod, that “mistakes have been made” and that there was a lack of public trust and confidence within the Church in consequence.
“And I’m more sorry about this than I can say. I do know mistakes have been made. I do know that I even have made mistakes. But I’m determined to do what I can with the time given to me to work with others … to steer the change everyone knows we want,” he said.
Archbishop Cottrell made the comments in his presidential address to Synod, the Church’s parliamentary body, which is able to spend much of this week discussing safeguarding.
The presidential address is often delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but this office is currently vacant after Justin Welby resigned over the Makin Review’s damning findings about safeguarding failings within the Church of England. Leadership of the Church has been taken over by the Archbishop of York within the interim until Welby’s successor is appointed.
Cottrell has been facing his own calls to resign after he allowed former priest David Tudor to stay in post for nine years while he was Bishop of Chelmsford, despite knowing that Tudor had paid compensation to a girl who claimed he abused her when she was a baby. Cottrell has expressed “regret” about his handling of the case and repeatedly insisted that he acted as soon as he was legally in a position to.
The Archbishop of York was only in a position to proceed with the presidential address after he survived a vote that might have prevented him from making the speech.
The vote was called for by lay member Sam Margrave who suggested it was improper to offer Cottrell a platform “when many across parishes and communities and even here [at Synod] imagine that this office ought to be vacant and our national leadership is causing harm by refusing to step aside”. He said he would have preferred to see the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, deliver the address as an alternative. The vote was defeated by 239 votes against, with 73 in favour and 43 abstentions.
Addressing Synod, Archbishop Cottrell said the Church of England was experiencing “difficult and difficult times”, and that he was committed to vary.
“I would like to share with you the way deeply I think in and love the Church of England, and I would like to inform you in regards to the change that I think we must make, in addition to my part in that in this coming 12 months,” he said.
“However, I’m deeply, deeply mindful of the sentiments of anguish, anger, sadness, and regret present on this chamber—not least amongst victims and survivors of abuse and people who valiantly support them, but in addition amongst women in our Church who’re still victims of discrimination, unwanted touch, and, at times, even sexual assault.”
In a break with convention, he paused the presidential address to permit for a time of “penitence and silence”.
Ahead of Synod’s opening on Monday, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, called for Cottrell to step aside, saying he was the “improper person” to be leading the Church of England right now.
“I don’t think that it’s appropriate for the Archbishop of York to be in post, and positively to be leading change that the Church needs right now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
She added, “To allow Tudor to stay in post, I do find abhorrent.”
Andrew Graystone, a spokesperson for abuse survivors within the Church of England, made similar comments to the PA news agency: “Many of the leaders of the Church of England are still woefully unaware of what abuse is, and what it does to victims. It isn’t any longer credible for the Archbishop to say ‘We made this mess, but we’re the one individuals who can fix it’.
“No-one wants one other hand-wringing apology, no-one wants one other ‘lessons learned’ review, no-one wants one other reminder of how hard it’s to be a bishop.
“We don’t need any more words in any respect. Instead, we would like radical humility from the Archbishop downwards.”
