Negative media about the Church outweighs the good news
A Christian PR agency has been weighing the media, and found it wanting. They have discovered that, on average, the Church attracts 150 pieces of negative media coverage every month…
Child abuse
Baby P and the legal politics of parole which shames his memory
Baby P was Peter Connelly. He was born on 1st March 2006, and died on 3rd August 2007. That's him above. A lovely little blond haired, blue-eyed baby boy, reaching out to explore the big wide world and smiling for…
Lord Lexden: “My faith in the Church’s institutional integrity has been completely broken”
Lord Lexden has resigned as a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee (the Church of England in Parliament), over the Clergy Discipline Measure and "the harm it is capable of inflicting…
Safeguarding suicide: ‘there is a crisis of trust within the Diocese of London’
Following the comments and demands made by the Coroner in the wake of the suicide of Fr Alan Griffin, the Diocese of London and Lambeth Palace have accepted responsibility for…
Church of England safeguarding drove Fr Alan Griffin to suicide
A priest is dead. That's okay: all priests die; ashes to ashes, and all that. But this priest killed himself because he was subject to a CDM. That's a Clergy…
Jonathan Fletcher – “the Pope of Conservative Evangelicalism” – was an abusive bully
The long awaited report by safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight into the abuse perpetrated by the Rev'd Jonathan Fletcher out of his proprietary chapel of Emmanuel Church Wimbledon was published at midnight.…
Michael Gove: “The Church has.. a critical, central and important role in building back better”
It seems somewhat counterintuitive, in an age of increasing secularity, and with an incessant stream of triumphant tweets from the National Secular Society, that the world's perception of the Church…
Why has female-perpetrated child sexual abuse increased by 84%?
"Between 2015 and 2019, the numbers of reported cases of female-perpetrated child sexual abuse to police in England and Wales rose from 1,249 to 2,297 - an increase of 84%",…
Holy Innocents: why are we putting 12-year-olds in solitary confinement for 23½ hours a day?
Herod then with fear was filled: "A prince," he said, "in Jewry!" And all the little boys he killed At Bethl'hem in his fury. Childermas – the Feast of the…
Black Bishops Matter: Sentamu’s peerage has been paused for a reason
There's been a lot of noise about John Sentamu's peerage – he hasn't got one, and the Telegraph, Sunday Times and Guardian aren't happy about it. It is customary for…
The Church of England – a safer space for abusers than for the abused
The long awaited IICSA report into 70 years of sexual abuse, cover-up and neglect of victims in the Church of England has finally been published. It has been followed by…
Transgender aged seven; puberty blockers aged 11; detrans aged 18
There is an evil here which needs to be addressed. O, some will hurl 'transphobe', others 'bigot', and still others 'homophobe' or 'hater', but it still needs to be addressed,…
Calls for Charity Commission to intervene in CofE safeguarding saga
"After many attempts to secure reform of the National Safeguarding Team and the secretive Core Groups of the Church of England, we reluctantly reach the conclusion that there is no…
Christ Church’s PR agency colludes with FT journalist (and alumnus) to defame Dean
There has been progress (of sorts) in the ongoing dispute between Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, and the College’s Governing Body. The Charity Commission has ordered both parties to…
Clergy sexual abuse: why can’t the Church cleanse its own temple?
"The gross evil of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy would have gone unexposed had it not been for three principal agencies, all secular." That's the damning opening sentence of…
CofE insurers Ecclesiastical attempt to impede pastoral care
It has been known for some time that Ecclesiastical Insurance (EIG), the favoured insurance company of the Church of England, has a tendency toward callousness, obstruction and indifference in their…
Rev’d Jonathan Fletcher: CofE and GAFCON co-operate to manage risk to the vulnerable
The weeks leading up to General Synod were never going to be a happy time for the Church of England. Anyone in touch with the survivors of Anglican abuse across…
Child sexual abuse: the Blackburn Pastoral Letter is game-changer for the Church of England
When St Paul began writing his letters I doubt he expected them to become as copied, shared, dissected and analysed as they are today. He wrote to help and support…
Is a diocesan bishop about to break ranks over historic child abuse in the Church of England?
The past few weeks have seen a huge escalation in the accumulation of evidence and opinion on the tragic story of the Church’s safeguarding failures. I write in the context…
‘General Synod has no confidence in the Church of England’s capacity to regulate its own safeguarding culture’
The laicisation of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick by the Roman Catholic Church was one more step on the long journey towards cleansing that institution of sexual abuse, much of it…