Justin Welby announced his resignation as the Archbishop of Canterbury at 2pm yesterday, Tuesday 12 November. In a statement, he said he was taking “personal and institutional responsibility” for the failure to act on the John Smyth abuse between 2013 and 2024. He said: “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”. Statement here
Catherine Pepinster looks back at Justin Welby’s 12 turbulent years in a church with declining attendance, riven with factions and scandals that nothing could have prepared him for, and an abuse scandal unchecked for 40 years that ended his time in office. Catherine’s report is here
The right and honourable decision says Cottrell
Justin Welby did the “right and honourable thing” by resigning, says the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell. “Whilst this is a difficult day for Justin, I pray there will be an opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the many positive aspects of his ministry and his huge commitment to the Church of England, the Anglican Communion and above all the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.
He added:“As a church we continue to work towards and must achieve a more victim-centred and trauma-informed approach to safeguarding within the Church of England, and this must address the broader questions of culture and leadership.” He said he had reflected on the terrible abuse perpetrated by John Smyth and “shamefully covered up by others”. Statement is here
Thank you, says critic
Robert Thompson, the vicar in north London who started a petition to press Welby to resign, tweeted: “This is welcome news and I thank Justin Welby for taking this step. As Justin says here, taking institutional responsibility is of crucial importance. It is in part what good leadership is about. Justin’s resignation embodies that mode of moral leadership. It will now need to be followed by the resignations of the many others named in Makin.”
Starmer ‘respects’ decision
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, attending the Cop29 conference in Azerbaijan, said via a spokesman that he “respects” Justin Welby’s decision to resign, adding his “thoughts first and foremost remain with all the victims”.
I’m sorry says Bishop of Lincoln
Stephen Conway, the Bishop of Lincoln, formerly the Bishop of Ely, issued a statement saying: “In light of the [Makin] Review, I understand that there were further actions I could have taken following my reporting of the disclosures made to us in the Diocese of Ely about John Smyth.
“I am sorry that I did not pursue these actions at that time. In 2013, in following the safeguarding advice, policy and practice of that time, I believed that I had done all I could and that the allegations were being responded to appropriately. I know that as a bishop I must continually strive, then as now, for the best safeguarding practice in our diocese, and I am firm in my personal commitment to the support of all victims and survivors.”
Shockwaves through the Church of England
The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury will send shockwaves through the Church of England and it must begin the slow process of change, says Graham Tomlin, the former Bishop of Kensington. Speaking in the Religion Media Centre briefing last night on the events leading up to the Justin Welby’s resignation, Bishop Tomlin, now director of the Centre of Cultural Witness at Lambeth Palace, said there were important lessons to be learned from the cover-up. Justin Welby’s resignation “doesn’t solve anything at all in its own right, but it is a big shock for the church, and sometimes it needs a big shock to bring about significant change, and we have an opportunity to do that now because of the seismic impact of this, both of the nature of what’s been uncovered, the way in which the Church has covered it up over time”. The recording of our briefing will be on our YouTube channel here later this morning.
Root and branch reform
The Rev Mark Stibbe, one of Smyth’s victims who later became vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, told the Religion Media Centre briefing that the church needed a “root and branch” reform, looking at the quality of leadership emerging from the former climate of “protecting the tribe, rather than the traumatised”. YouTube channel here later today
“Take off your mitre”
Andrew Graystone, author of the book Bleeding for Jesus (2021) about John Smyth’s reign of terror over young people, was also a panellist on the briefing and hinted at more revelations to come. He said it was shocking that for all the money being spent on safeguarding within the CofE, more allegations of abuse were emerging. The church had institutionally failed the victims. His advice for bishops was to “take off your mitre, go to the house of the victims and listen to what abuse really means”. Only with this “survivor-led” approach could any recovery be made, he said. View the briefing on our YouTube channel here later this morning
No place for cover-up
Mark Tanner, Bishop of Chester, said in letter to his diocese: “There is no place for a cover-up of complicity with abuse in any part of society, least of all in the church.” He thanked Welby for all the good things he had done in his role as archbishop, asked parishioners to pray for victims and survivors and to “be kind to one another”.
‘The pain they have endured’
The Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox, and the Bishop of Doncaster, Sophie Jelley, issued a joint statement saying: “We acknowledge with a heavy heart the resignation of the archbishop … Our foremost thoughts … are with survivors of abuse whose lives have been deeply affected by these failures. The pain they have endured and the courage they have shown deserve our utmost respect and compel us to listen, to learn, and to act with integrity.”
‘A line has been drawn’
Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle and the most senior member of the church to call for the archbishop to go, said his resignation would not solve the safeguarding problem, but it would “be a very clear indication that a line has been drawn, and that we must move towards independence of safeguarding”.
A tragic downfall
Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, central London — a close friend of the archbishop and husband of Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, who was named in the Makin report in connection with reports of a police investigation — spoke of Welby’s “dignity and selflessness” and said it was a tragedy that the career of “a person of singular faith, courage, humility and integrity” should end this way.
‘Acutely painful’
Andrew John, the Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Bangor, said: “This was an acutely painful issue for all involved and we hold everyone who has been affected by these events over the years in our thoughts.”
‘Wholesale change’ is needed
Welby’s resignation does not absolve the church, says Joanne Grenfell, the CofE’s lead bishop for safeguarding. “The responsibility for good safeguarding in the Church of England lies with every one of us. [His] resignation does not change that, and his decision does not absolve any of us from bringing about the wholesale changes in culture and leadership that are essential in every part of the church,” Bishop Grenfell said.
How will a new archbishop be chosen?
The Crown Nominations Commission, comprising 16 voting members, will convene to consult, interview and compile a shortlist. It must reach a two-thirds majority. The commission used to submit two candidates, a preferred option and a back-up, for Downing Street to pass on to Buckingham Palace, but since Gordon Brown’s era, only one name is submitted. The candidate must be an Anglican bishop, and could be drawn from any Anglican church around the world and the process could take up to eight months.
A note about the history
There’s no exactly similar case, though Archbishop Sancroft might be deemed to have resigned when he was suspended and then deprived for refusing to take the oath of loyalty to William and Mary in 1690. To resign taking responsibility for negligence has no precedent for Canterbury. Plenty of Archbishops who did not resign but put to death in various ways, of course. (anonymous but trusted source)
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