As the Church of England prepares for next week’s General Synod, all eyes are on the Archbishop of York. Following the resignation of Rt Rev Justin Welby, there is no such thing as a Archbishop of Canterbury in place to open Synod, so Most Rev Stephen Cottrell is on account of step in on Monday to deliver the Presidential Address. Efforts have been made, nonetheless, to forestall him speaking.
Sam Margrave, a lay member of General Synod, submitted formal requests to suspend proceedings and move to the subsequent business, with a view to stop the Archbishop from addressing the Synod.
In doing so, Mr Margrave cited the Archbishop of York’s alleged safeguarding failures and the further reputational damage he alleges it will do to the Church if the Archbishop is perceived as unaccountable.
This is at a time when the repute of the Church is at an all time low – with a recent YouGov poll revealing that only 25 per cent of the population has a positive view of the Church of England.
Over the past few weeks, allegations have been made that while Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, lauded Rev David Tudor as a “Rolls Royce priest,” and supported his appointment as an Honorary Canon of the cathedral, despite being aware of past convictions for indecently assaulting three underage girls. The convictions were later quashed on technical grounds.
More recently there have been allegations that Cottrell put pressure on a member of the Crown Nomination Commission to appoint his colleague, the Rt Rev Perumbalath as Bishop of Liverpool, and that he later installed the bishop, fully aware that there have been allegations of sexual abuse against him that had not yet been fully investigated.
Synod officials denied Mr Margrave’s requests since the Standing Orders give the Archbishop the fitting to talk, but as there are rumours that a separate request for a protest has also been blocked, this has fuelled accusations of a “stitch-up” that silences victims and people demanding reform.
Mr Margrave said, “If I’m honest, the Archbishop of York must resign and if he refuses to achieve this then the Synod needs to search out a approach to take motion, otherwise the governance of the Church of England will not be fit for purpose.”
Archbishop Cottrell has refused to resign, despite over 37,000 people signing a petition calling for him to step down.
The Archbishop’s office has been contacted for comment.
