Enough with buck-passing, child abuse in the church is systemic

Resignations by incompetent leaders like Justin Welby are welcome – but what we really need is true institutional responsibility. The review found that had Welby reported the abuse to the authorities at that time, “on the balance of probabilities”, Smyth would have been brought to justice “at a much earlier point”. “I am deeply sorry that we were not able to take action earlier,” he said, “but that was the situation I inherited.” It seems no one, not even its highest-ranking leaders, feels truly responsible for the Church of England’s apparent inability to protect children, acknowledge abuse when it happens, remove abusers from their positions, and deliver justice to victims of all ages without being pressured by the public. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Report, published in 2022, found that in the United Kingdom, clergy abuse is endemic, and that senior members of the church very often protect perpetrators by moving them to another parish in the event of rumours – or even where the abuse has been reported by the victim. An independent inquiry published its report on the scandal in 2023, and deemed the church’s response to the endemic abuse as “insufficient”.