Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Don't Expect Any Change

Justin Welby has resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury, and it wasn't because Trump won, or was it? I don't expect any improvement with the next one whoever it may be.

 Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury

12/11/2024

Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.

When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow. 

It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024. 

It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion. 

I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse. 

The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.

In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.

I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.

I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us. 

For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.


2 comments:

  1. Katherine7:37 PM

    There have been a variety of good reasons for Welby to resign. His tenure has been a disaster for the Church of England and for the Communion.

    Many people speculate he will be replaced by the Bishop of London, who is female.

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    1. According to Premier Christian News the initial favorites are as follows, "Three bishops have been tipped to succeed Welby as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury: Martyn Snow, the bishop of Leicester, Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, the bishop of Chelmsford.

      Snow abstained in a church assembly vote on blessing for gay couples, while Usher is in favour of gay rights and has pushed for higher taxes on fossil-fuel companies.

      Francis-Dehqani, who was ordained in 2017, just three years after the first woman bishop was appointed, was born in Iran and has spoken about how her brother was murdered in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.

      She would be the first woman to become archbishop if selected.

      Francis-Dehqani and Usher were among 44 bishops who signed a letter last year expressing regret that the authorisation of standalone services to bless same-sex couples had been delayed."

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