Former head of MI5 to chair commission nominating next Archbishop of Canterbury
The Prime Minister has appointed Lord Evans of Weardale to be the chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission, which will nominate the candidate to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Jonathan Evans spent 33 years in the security service, six as MI5 Director General. He retired from the service in April 2013 and was appointed as a crossbench peer. From 2018 – 2023 he was chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and is currently Chair of the HALO Trust, the anti-landmine charity, and of the Public Interest Committee at KPMG UK. He is an active and communicant member of his local parish church. The composition of the Crown Nominations Commission has recently changed. It will have 17 voting members who must reach a two thirds majority. The Commission will include five representatives from the Anglican Communion, up from one the last time. The diocese of Canterbury, which used to have six seats on the commission, has agreed to reduce those to three. The Archbishop of York and another bishop will also serve on the commission.
Archbishop of York facing calls to resign over handling of sex abuse case
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, is facing calls to resign over his handling of a sex abuse case when he was Bishop of Chelmsford from 2010-2020. He is the second most senior leader in the Church of England and is due to take over as the leader in January, when Justin Welby resigns over failures in another sex abuse case. The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, who was the only bishop calling publicly for Justin Welby to resign, is now calling for Stephen Cottrell to go as well, saying he lacks the “credibility or moral authority” to lead the church. She intervened after the latest edition of BBC Radio’s File on Four programme, investigated the former rector of Canvey Island, David Tudor, who first faced indecent assault charges in 1988, but was allowed back into the ministry, eventually moving to the Chelmsford diocese. There, while Stephen Cottrell was bishop, Tudor was allowed to carry on working and rose through the ranks becoming an Honorary Canon and a Rural Dean, despite historic sex abuse allegations, being banned from being alone with children and known to have paid off a survivor. It was only in 2019 that he was suspended. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Bishop Helen Ann Hartley said it was “impossible” to trust the archbishop to lead necessary changes in safeguarding as the church’s senior leader. In response, Archbishop Cottrell said he was deeply sorry that Tudor was not removed before 2019, but no legal grounds existed prior to fresh complaints that year, and then he acted as soon as possible. He described the situation as “horrible and intolerable—most of all for the survivors,” and emphasised that Tudor was neither ignored nor protected: “Nothing could be further from the truth”, he said. The Church of England has condemned Tudor’s abuse as a “grievous breach of trust” and praised the survivors for their courage in coming forward. In a statement, it acknowledged that allowing someone deemed a risk in the 1980s to return to ministry in the 1990s” should never have happened”.
Check reaction to CofE sex abuse story
The Rev Jenny Penn, a retired Church of England vicar and chaplain at St Bede’s school in Reigate, alerted the BBC to the case of David Tudor, who worked at the school in the 1980s. She told Newsnight that Stephen Cottrell should resign as Archbishop of York and as the interim leader of the church, because his position is untenable, making it difficult to act with authority having been personally involved in the case where nothing was done.
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti told Newsnight that Stephen Cottrell’s statement was ill advised and unable to “cut it” if he is to become the interim leader. The fact that this is happening within the established church means there is a wider responsibility, she said.
Bishop Julie Conalty, deputy lead of safeguarding in the Church of England, told the World at One, that Stephen Cottrell should have done more at the time, but she was not convinced this should lead to a resignation. She said: “If not Stephen Cottrell then who? Because a number of senior clergy have failed with regard to safeguarding over the years. We can keep having resignations but that isn’t going to solve our problem”, adding that people make errors, often after receiving advice. In the interview, she said there are clergy serving who are banned from being alone with children and she would be astonished if David Tudor was a unique case. She was not seeking to justify this and said they shouldn’t be in the ministry if they are a risk to children. Different HR processes are needed, she said.
The Bishop of Winchester, Philip Mountstephen, told the World at One that clergy have significant security of tenure and bishops do not have the power to hire and fire. Employment processes need to be kept under review. It was not acceptable for a vicar to be a risk to children so the processes must change.
Future of CofE safeguarding process document revealed by Church Times
The Church Times reports on a paper about the future of safeguarding process in the Church of England, which will be voted upon at the General Synod in February. The “Emerging Proposals” paper has two alternative proposals, taking in recommendations from the reviews of safeguarding by former IICSA chair, Professor Alexis Jay, and barrister, Sarah Wilkinson. One proposal would keep all diocesan and cathedral safeguarding teams in their current terms of employment, with national safeguarding moved outside the Archbishops’ Council to a separate organisation. The second proposal is for all safeguarding teams to transfer to a separate nationwide organisation with independent governance. Local professionals in dioceses and cathedrals would be managed externally. Both models would have a “scrutiny body”, providing quality assurance and in both cases, the Synod advised by the House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council, would govern policy. The Church Times article is here
Advent reception in Downing Street
Church leaders have been invited to Number Ten Downing Street for an Advent reception, with a Salvation Army band and address by the Prime Minister. The Church Times reports that he expressed support for the work of churches, said the government was learning from their experience and praised their work especially with mental health issues and community building after the summer riots. There’s a gallery of pics from Number Ten on Flickr here
Kemi Badenoch confesses she no longer believes in God
The Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said she no longer believes in God, but does not describe herself as an atheist, identifying instead as a cultural Christian and agnostic. She was speaking in an interview with Bari Weiss, editor of Free Press. She said: “I don’t think it matters if people believe in God or not. What matters is what they do with the belief or the lack of it.”
Suella Braverman new chair of Conservative Friends of Israel
The former home secretary, Suella Braverman, is the new Conservative Friends of Israel parliamentary chair in the House of Commons. The Jewish Chronicle quotes her saying: “The new Labour government’s actions are harming the vital UK-Israel relationship and we will continue to hold the government to account at every turn”. She was sacked as home secretary in 2023 for saying the Met police were more lenient towards pro-Palestinian protesters than far right groups. She has also said that the rise of antisemitism in the UK made her “ashamed to be British” and that “extremism is a real feature of British life today”.
King Charles to visit Auschwitz on 27 January 2025
King Charles is to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp on 27 January 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. The king is patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, has regularly met Holocaust survivors is patron of World Jewish Relief. Jewish News story here
Muslim mortuary guidance
The Muslim Council of Britain has published guidance for Muslim organisations offering mortuary services in the light of the inquiry into David Fuller, a hospital technician who abused 100 bodies of women in m mortuaries. The guidance includes restricting access to mortuaries to authorised, vetted personnel; secure key management; CCTV monitoring and alarm systems. Safeguarding training is a requirement all staff and volunteers involved in mortuary care, alongside respectful handling of the deceased. There are protocols for incident reporting and requirement for regular audits to uphold safeguarding and security standards.
Slavery, revolution and hatred: backstory of the nation’s favourite carol
For the past eight years, O Holy Night has been voted the Nation’s Favourite Carol on Classic FM, but despite its wide popularity across the globe since 1843, it was controversial and divisive when it was written. Originally Minuit Chrétiens, it was the work of Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant from Roquemaure, just north of Avignon, who was asked by his priest to write something special to celebrate the restoration of the parish church organ. Sung for the first time in 1847, it soon became a staple of the midnight mass on Christmas Eve in France. The French lyrics begin with how Jesus came to earth to remove the stain of original sin and to stop the wrath of God the Father. He then attacks slavery and says the Redeemer has broken every shackle, concluding that God speaks to the pride of powerful men. Its message was attacked by the church, the music condemned as belonging to cabaret rather than the church, and yet it remained popular in churches. Read our article by Dr Helen McKelvey, a lecturer in French at Glasgow University, on our website here, or listen to the podcast Things Unseen
