A PRIEST accused of kid sexual abuse, who had paid a settlement to certainly one of his alleged victims, was reappointed twice as an area dean within the diocese of Chelmsford, the BBC reported on Sunday, resulting in renewed pressure on the Archbishop of York, who was the diocesan Bishop on the time.
On Monday of last week, a BBC investigation was published about actions taken against David Tudor, a priest accused of kid sexual abuse, who was Team Rector of Canvey Island, in Chelmsford diocese, when Archbishop Cottrell was the diocesan bishop (News, 16 December).
In his response to the initial investigation, Archbishop Cottrell said that until latest allegations about historical abuse were made in 2019, “there have been no legal grounds to take alternative motion,” but in 2019 he “acted immediately” to suspend Mr Tudor.
A police investigation didn’t result in any charges (News, 19 August 2022), but Mr Tudor was subsequently prohibited from ministry for all times under the Clergy Discipline Measure (News, 15 November).
Mr Tudor was appointed as Area (Rural) Dean of Hadleigh before Archbishop Cottrell became the Bishop of Chelmsford in 2010, but on Sunday the BBC reported that Mr Tudor’s position had been renewed twice during his tenure.
A spokesperson for Archbishop Cottrell said on Sunday that he “accepts responsibility” for Mr Tudor’s remaining an area dean despite concerns about him.
“On reflection, he acknowledges this might have been handled otherwise, and regrets that it wasn’t, but his focus throughout his time as Bishop of Chelmsford was, with the assistance of safeguarding professionals, to grasp, assess and manage the danger of David Tudor.
“No one advised him that David Tudor shouldn’t proceed as an Area Dean. As we stated in our earlier submission, all of the risks around David Tudor were usually reviewed by safeguarding professionals and this was the principal focus. When further motion may very well be taken in 2019, it was,” the spokesperson said.
The latest information prompted renewed calls for Archbishop Cottrell to resign, with one survivor of abuse telling the BBC that “these aren’t the actions of a bishop coping with a situation that was intolerable to him, in actual fact, quite the alternative. I call on him to do the honourable thing for the sake of the Church and resign.”
The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, commented on the brand new reports in a post on X: “I don’t know the way you could find a situation ‘horrible and intolerable’ after which square that with what’s reported . . . Answer is, you possibly can’t and be expected to be a reputable voice because the leadership of the Church of England.”
As was the case within the lead-up to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation in November, Dr Hartley has been the one bishop to call publicly for a resignation.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday whether he thought Archbishop Cottrell should resign, the Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, said that it was a call for the Archbishop, but that “safeguarding is way, much too serious a matter for all the eye to be focused on that sort of query.”
He said: “I do know that Archbishop Stephen is a conscientious, honourable and prayerful man, and he can have been pondering deeply about what’s best plan of action is.”
Also on Sunday, on BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, said that there “very essential conversations and processes” that needed to happen, but that they “weren’t going to happen over public media”.
She said that there have been “big questions” to be checked out with regard to Mr Tudor’s reappointment, news of which had filled her with “shock and dismay”, but she refused to be drawn on Archbishop Cottrell’s position.
In the late Eighties, Mr Tudor was barred for ministry for five years for sexual misconduct, but returned to ministry within the diocese of Southwark in 1993. He subsequently moved to the diocese of Chelmsford, where he continued to minister — though from 2008 he was subject to safeguarding restrictions that prevented his being alone with a baby and entering schools in Essex.
Last week, questions were asked about why Mr Tudor was allowed to stay as Area Dean, and be appointed an honorary canon consequently (News, 17 December).
On Sunday, the BBC reported that, in October 2018, a “core group” safeguarding meeting at Church House discussed Mr Tudor’s position, and a bishop from one other diocese said that Mr Tudor’s honorary canonry and area deanery may very well be removed “right away” if the diocese wanted.
At a follow-up meeting in November 2018, nevertheless, the diocese said that this could not be appropriate due to “the problem of removing those titles without explaining why”, in response to the BBC’s reporting.
Concerns in regards to the legality of taking motion against Mr Tudor without fresh allegations shouldn’t have been heeded, Dr Hartley said last week, in response to the initial investigation.
She suggested that, were she in Archbishop Cottrell’s shoes, she would have found a method to remove Mr Tudor.
