Bishop of Newcastle hits out at Church of England's most senior figures over handling of child abuse allegations

The Bishop of Newcastle has accused the two most senior figures in the Anglican church of trying to unduly influence her in calling for the re-instatement of a former senior bishop.

Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley last year banned the former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, from preaching in the Newcastle diocese because of his rejection of a report on child sex abuse allegations concerning a former priest.

The issue of child abuse in the church has returned to prominence after pressure grew on the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign over a report into a barrister thought to have been the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England. Bishop Helen-Ann has joined those calls, becoming the most senior cleric to ask the Archbishop to step down.

In an interview with the BBC, Bishop Helen-Ann said: “I think that it’s very hard for the church as the national, the established church, to continue to have a moral voice in any way, shape or form in our nation when we cannot get our own house in order with regard to something as critically important, something that would be asked of any institution – let alone the church, which is meant to have the gospel of Jesus Christ looking out for the most vulnerable in our midst. “We are in danger of losing complete credibility on that front.”

Of Mr Welby, she added: “I think, sadly, his position is untenable, so I think he should resign.”

She later released a letter she had received two weeks ago from Mr Welby and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, in which the two most senior clerics in the Church of England ask her to re-consider the decision to ban Mr Sentamu from having a Permission to Officiate.

Bishop Helen-Ann said the letter - and its proximity to the release of the Makin review into the widespread abuse perpetrated by John Smyth - showed a lack of understanding by the two Archbishops about abuse within the Church of England.

A statement released by Bishop Helen-Ann said: “Following my call for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury I need to share the contents of a letter I received from both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York a matter of days before the publication of the Makin Report.

“It is my considered view that the letter I received from both Archbishops sent to me in such close proximity to the publication of the Makin review (regardless of its intended publication date) signifies a wider and systemic dysfunction of how the hierarchy of The Church of England has dealt with matters of safeguarding and most particularly the impact of church-related abuse on victims and survivors. Moreover, the archbishops’ use of what I experienced as coercive language when I read their letter indicates a complete lack of awareness of how power dynamics operate in the life of the Church.

“The decision to make this letter and its response public has not been taken lightly. Quite simply it is the right thing to do.”

A petition by some members of the General Synod – the church’s parliament – has gathered more than 1,500 signatures urging Justin Welby to stand down over his “failures” to alert authorities about John Smyth QC’s “abhorrent” abuse of children and young men. Mr Welby said he had been giving resignation “a lot of thought for actually quite a long time” but he had decided against stepping down.

The Makin review into Smyth’s abuse, published last week, concluded that he might have been brought to justice had the Archbishop of Canterbury formally reported it to police a decade ago. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was “never bought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.

Mr Welby knew Smyth because of his attendance at Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s, but the review said there was no evidence that he had “maintained any significant contact” with the barrister in later years. It said while he knew him and “did have reason to have some concern about him”, this was not the same as suspecting he had committed severe abuses, and concluded it was “not possible to establish” whether Mr Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK before 2013.

The petition calling for Mr Welby to resign says: “Given his role in allowing abuse to continue, we believe that his continuing as the Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer tenable. We must see change, for the sake of survivors, for the protection of the vulnerable, and for the good of the Church—and we share this determination across our traditions.

“With sadness we do not think there is any alternative to his immediate resignation if the process of change and healing is to start now.”

The spokesperson of the Church of England said: "The Archbishop of York is saddened that this letter is now being described as coercive. This was not his intention, nor did he wish to cause any distress to the Bishop of Newcastle. The Archbishop wishes to emphasise that the Makin review and this letter whilst both relating to safeguarding are two separate matters that should not be conflated.

"The Archbishop of York continues to be committed to further independence for safeguarding within the Church of England, the independent scrutiny of safeguarding and a much better victim-centred and trauma-informed approach to the culture of safeguarding within the Church of England."