DESIGN FAULTS...

Earlier in the week the report into alleged child sex abuse in the Anglican Church was published.  Now once again I have to tread carefully here, for it is not my wish or intention to cause any offence to anyone who might be, say, more devout in their beliefs than me.  Over the years I have mentioned that my approach to religion is one of guarded scepticism.  It is based on the notion that, if I ever get up there and discover that it`s all true after all, then I will be the first to apologise for having any doubts. 

But I think the report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse chaired by Professor Alexis Jay, does perhaps add a little more legitimacy to my doubts about it all.  Now what is certain is that in the end I may not have a problem with God Almighty, save for the odd criticism of some design faults in humanity but I do have a genuine problem with His (or Her?) representatives on Earth.

I won`t go in to the details of the report - it has been widely covered in all kinds of media - but it itemised the many hundreds of cases of child abuse perpetrated over the years by clergy in the Anglican Church. I was interested in the Church`s response to the findings and the recommendations.  The report, having suggested that the Church was more inclined to safeguard its reputation than the wellbeing of the victims of abuse, made several recommendations including:-

- the Church of England should improve how it responds to complaints concerning safeguarding, for example by reintroducing a rule to expel any member of the clergy found guilty of child sexual abuse;

- responsibility for safeguarding should be taken out of the hands of diocesan bishops and given to safeguarding officers employed by the central hierarchy of the Church.

There were other recommendations besides those but Professor Jay said she hoped the report and recommendations would help to "ensure these failures never happen again."  The Church of England said the report "makes shocking reading" and that the institution "must learn lessons from this inquiry." 

Well that seems to be the standard response by any big organisation caught behaving in a less than acceptable manner.   But to prevent that happening in this case perhaps the Church should go for the belt and braces approach which would take away any safeguarding responsibility completely from within the Church itself and agree to an independent external Commission taking on the task for them.  That way perhaps yet another design fault can be avoided?  I`m sure head office would approve.

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