By Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) -The Church of England will seek to bring disciplinary proceedings against 10 clerics including former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, it said on Tuesday, acting on recommendations from a damning abuse report last year.
The CoE, central to 85 million Anglicans worldwide, has been in crisis over safeguarding the vulnerable since the November report, which said ex-leader Justin Welby had taken insufficient action to stop one of the church’s most prolific serial abusers. Welby eventually stepped down that month over the findings.
Meeting in February for the first time since Welby’s departure, the CoE’s governing body stopped short of backing a fully independent safeguarding model to handle abuse cases, drawing criticism from victims.
The November report said the late John Smyth, a British lawyer who volunteered at Christian summer camps, subjected more than 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” physical and sexual abuse for decades until close to his death in 2018.
On Tuesday, Carey, a former bishop and eight priests were listed in a CoE statement as among those potentially facing disciplinary action for perceived failure to stop the abuses.
Welby, who was the CoE leader from 2013 until last month, is not facing disciplinary procedures.
Carey, 89, was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991-2002. In 2021, he said he had “no memory at all” of Smyth at Trinity College Bristol while he was its principal, adding that he condemned “utterly” the crimes of Smyth, who studied in the same college.
The current disciplinary process, which is at its first stage, could potentially result in various penalties ranging from a permanent ban from ministry to resignation by consent.
“We must not forget that at the heart of this case are the survivors and victims who have endured the lifelong effects of the appalling abuse,” the CoE – mother church of the world’s third-largest Christian denomination – said in the statement.
“The Church is committed to taking very seriously its response to the findings of the review as well as responding to its recommendations.”
The CoE added that the actions of two unidentified priests criticised in the Smyth report were yet to be reviewed, pending “other live, ongoing, processes.”
(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by Mark Heinrich)
