THE Archbishop of York, giving his presidential address at the beginning of the General Synod’s meeting in London on Monday afternoon, pleaded to be given time to lead the Church of England out of its safeguarding crisis.
Having headed off an attempt by one member to prevent him from delivering his presidential address, the Archbishop apologised again for failures, and insisted that he could be trusted to steer the Church back into calmer waters before the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
“I know that trust has been broken and confidence damaged. And I am more sorry about this than I can say. I know mistakes have been made. I know that I have made mistakes. But I am determined to do what I can with the time given to me to work with others.”
In recent weeks, some Synod members on social-media and other platforms had urged Archbishop Cottrell not to give the presidential address, in view of the calls for his resignation over his handling of the David Tudor safeguarding matter while he was Bishop of Chelmsford (News, 20/27 December 2024).
There had also been rumours of a planned walk-out, but this did not materialise. Sam Margrave (Coventry) proposed a procedural motion to move to next business, before the address. He argued that, until an investigation into the Archbishop’s safeguarding record had been completed, it would be “wrong” to give him a platform. “It is not weaponising, nor am I being rude,” Mr Margrave said. “This is about sending a message to the nation and the Church.”
The chair, the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin (Canterbury), ruled that there would be no debate on the motion. Before putting it to the vote, she quoted a verse from Psalm 30: “God’s wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, his favour endures for a lifetime.” God could use people despite their brokenness, she said, making reference to St Paul and Moses.
Members voted by 239 to 73, with 43 recorded abstentions, against the motion.
Before he began his formal address, Archbishop Cottrell said: “I’m not pretending we aren’t in difficult or challenging times. Words alone cannot bring around the change we need. We need words made flesh: embodied actions.”
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesSam Margrave (Coventry) moves his procedural motion
He then handed over to the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, who, alongside one of the chairs of the House of Clergy, the Revd Kate Wharton (Liverpool), and the vice-chair of the House of Laity, Alison Coulter (Winchester), led a litany of lament, prayer, and silence.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” Ms Coulter said.
Bishop Mullally asked God’s forgiveness for the Church’s failures, for “sins of negligence and ignorance, for self-deceit and colluding with falsehood, for complacency and a lack of vigilance”.
After a sustained period of silent reflection, she closed the litany by leading the Synod in the Magnificat. Bishop Mullally, like Archbishop Cottrell and several others across the chamber, wore a blue ribbon on her lapel — a nod to Mary’s song — as a “commitment to magnifying unheard voices” of women in the Church. The initiative, Magnify, has been organised by the Revd Chantal Noppen (Durham).
Archbishop Cottrell told the Synod that the Church of England needed help both from God and from safeguarding professionals. “God is calling each of us to be honest about our failings.” Everyone, he said, including himself, must learn from this and be “subject to proper processes of accountability”.
Members, he said, should look forward to “a Church where things are done properly . . . where we bridge the gaps between safeguarding, discipline, conduct, and HR, and where we are then able, because we live in a world of such hurt and confusion, to turn our attention away from ourselves and toward the needs of the poor, the lonely, the dispossessed, the hurting, the abused, and the neglected.”
Judgement must be tempered with mercy. As Bishop Mullally had written in the Church Times that morning, he said, “I believe that, because of this, our policies and processes on earth, in this Church, should be accountable, fair, and transparent. But we must be merciful as well, for we are all sinners in need of God’s grace, we are frail human beings who often get things wrong.”
Sometimes people should be removed from public office, or taken through criminal proceedings, but always this should be done with compassion and mercy, he said.
The Church needed true reconciliation, and should not shy away from difficult conversations. The Synod must conduct its business with “grace, mercy, honesty, determination and love”, so that it could lead the Church “for the sake of this nation and the world”.
Archbishop Cottrell was committed to this, he said, because he loved and believed in the Church of England, with all its thousands of schools, parishes, chaplaincies, new worshipping communities, foodbanks, youth groups, choral evensongs, after-school clubs, and prayer on the streets.
“Because I love the Church of England, I am deeply dismayed by our failings, laid bare by the Makin review and by other recent stories of shocking abuse,” he said.
This Synod was a chance to get the Church back on track, he suggested, referring to Tuesday’s coming vote on safeguarding independence. “Whether you are a PCC member, licensed lay minister, parish priest, or, yes, the Archbishop of York, proper accountability, independent scrutiny, and transparency is in everyone’s best interest.”
Many victims and survivors of abuse had run out of patience with the Church, he said. The Synod must respond to the crisis with “actions, not just words”.
“We must work together for these changes before the next Archbishop of Canterbury occupies what I know can a be a lonely and difficult vocation. Archbishop Justin did an honourable thing by standing down. As we remember his service to this Church and nation, and the many good things that were achieved during his time in office, let’s not squander the opportunity this vacancy creates to be a better, more accountable, more transparent, more Christlike Church.”
