Phillip Lafferty

Let us not forget that while today Smyth victims are beginning to see some level of acknowledgement for what they endured, the victims of other abusers within the Church of England remain in limbo. When the Independent Safeguarding Board was wound up by the Archbishop's Council in 2023 at one hour's notice based on the vote of 11 out of 18 members (referred to later by more than one person as a 'unanimous vote') there were other cases still in progress. This occurred in the full knowledge that this would be likely to traumatize other abuse victims with whom the ISB were working following a warning by ISB Member and safeguarding expert @SteveReevesUK . A subsequent report by expert forensic psychologist Mr David Glasgow confirmed that psychological harm was done to those abuse victims. No one has ever been held to account for the harm done to the "ISB 11" despite complaints being made by General Synod members and ISB 11 members. As of today, 17 months later, the issues relating to the ISB 11 - who are the survivors of different abusers - not John Smyth - remain unresolved. These events cannot, should not and must not be laid only at Archbishop Justin's feet - these are all indications of wider corporate failures within "Church of England Ltd". The Archbishop of Canterbury is not a Chief Executive but first among equals so others must be held equally accountable. Professor Alexis Jay and now Mr Keith Makin have both called for independent oversight of safeguarding in the Church of England. Following Professor Jay's Report I moved a motion at General Synod in February 2024 "to call upon the Archbishop’s Council to: (a) instruct independent legislative counsel to prepare a draft Measure giving effect to Professor Jay’s proposals in the manner recommended by Dr Wilkinson (i.e. using external consultants); (b) to publish the draft Measure for open consultation by 30 April 2024; and (c) to bring that draft, together with a report setting out responses to the consultation, for first consideration at General Synod in July 2024.” You can see who voted which way on this in churchofengland.org/sites/de… Bishops massively voted against this with a few notable exceptions (both the Archbishops voted against along with 25 of their colleagues), Clergy voted against it (95-62) and Laity voted in favour by a whisker of 83 for and 80 against. When my colleague @flaemdragon (Vicky Brett) moved a motion to apologise to the ISB members for how they had been treated, the vote was passed but if you read churchofengland.org/sites/de… you will see that most Bishops abstained and large numbers of both laity and clergy opposed apologising. (Please note that both Archbishops voted in favour of making an apology) Notably the current Bishop responsible for Safeguarding and her predecessor both voted not to apologise to the ISB Members. There are some other notable opponents to an apology in the record. So this morning, do not allow Archbishop Justin to become the bearer of all the sins of the Church of England. Many should be called to account but there is a danger that they will slip away depositing all the responsibility on him. If Archbishop Justin is only the First Among Equals, then should not others equally be joining him in offering their resignations ? I am sorry this has been a long read.