Members of the General Synod of the Church of England were under pressure as they began a week-long meeting in London yesterday.
Having lost the Archbishop of Canterbury due to his safeguarding failures, and a recent YouGov poll showing that only 25 per cent of Britons have a positive view of the Church, they weren’t on the lookout for any more controversy. But with the Archbishop of York presiding, there was certain to be a certain quantity of dissension.
The first vote of the meeting challenged the Archbishop of York’s right to handle the Synod. In a courageous and dignified speech, lay member of General Synod, Mr Sam Margrave asked Synod to vote on whether to suspend the proper of the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell to provide the presidential address.
Margrave told the gathered members: “An archbishop faces calls for one more bishop to resign amid credible allegations of bullying, poor judgement and safeguarding failures… will we proceed as if nothing is flawed? … Moving to next business is a smart and proportionate response to those unique circumstances, allowing us to give attention to the voices and desires of victims and survivors.”
The Archbishop of York was fortunate that the Bishop of Dover was chairing the talk. The Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin has recently been vocal in her support for Archbishop Cottrell and he or she used her privilege because the Chair to make sure there was no further debate on the matter, while making her own “http://www.christiantoday.com/article/cottrell.survives.vote.to.stop.him.speaking.at.synod/comment” on proceedings. In an intervention that was longer than Mr Margrave’s speech, Synod was left in little question that she believed that they needed to listen to from the Archbishop.
Even so, a 3rd of members rejected her lead and will not support his right to talk. Others voted with their feet and left the chamber.
The Archbishop of York’s speech, which might be read in full here, was unusually collegial. He began by asking three women, including the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, to steer a time of penitence and silence at the beginning of the presidential address as a way of acknowledging the anguish, anger and sadness felt by victims and survivors of abuse. He then deferred to the wisdom of Bishop Sarah and two of her female episcopal colleagues.
Cottrell spoke of the necessity for words to be embodied in motion. Time will tell whether any confidence might be put in his acknowledgement that, “Trust has been broken and confidence damaged, 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, especially my dear friend Bishop Sarah, to steer the change everyone knows we want.”
If the polls are to be believed, it is going to take greater than that to persuade a 3rd of Synod and three quarters of British public.
