The writing is now on the wall for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, after the Church of England's chief safety bishop refused to again him to remain in workplace.
On BBC Radio 4's Sunday program on 10 November, veteran presenter Edward Stourton requested Bishop Joanne Grenfell whether or not Archbishop Welby ought to step down following the Makin Evaluation which uncovered the cover-up of the John Smyth C of E abuse scandal.
She mentioned: “I drastically admire the Archbishop's heartfelt apology for what he may and may have accomplished otherwise in 2013.
“I additionally acknowledge his dedication throughout his tenure to actually attempt to change safety. I believe there's nonetheless plenty of work to be accomplished, however I believe it's constructing on among the adjustments we've seen during the last decade.”
Stourton famous that she didn’t give a straight 'Sure' or 'No' reply to the query of whether or not Archbishop Welby ought to step down. She mentioned: “I help the Archbishop's apology. I'm glad he obtained it accomplished.”
Archbishop Welby instructed Channel 4's Cathy Newman on November 7 when the Church of England printed the Makin Evaluation that he had thought of resigning that morning.
He instructed her: “I've thought of it loads. I obtained recommendation from senior colleagues simply this morning. And no, I'm not going to resign due to it. If I'd recognized earlier than 2013, or had motive to suspect, that will have been resignation then and now, however I didn't.”
Was the archbishop consulted about defending one in all Welby's “senior colleagues”? Most likely not. Though she has a really outstanding position within the C of E, she shouldn’t be a diocesan bishop, however slightly a suffragan (space) bishop of Stepney within the Diocese of London.
He’s due to this fact not in Archbishop Welby's shut circle of advisers at his London residence, Lambeth Palace. However this provides her an independence that makes her refuse to help him all of the stronger.
Lambeth Palace mentioned the archbishop “has no intention of resigning” amid rising requires him to take action. However the politician talking there appears to be deliberate as a result of what he’s not going to do at the moment can simply change.
The media name for Archbishop Welby's resignation might be extra simply resisted by the right-wing press specifically. Conservative MP Nick Timothy, who was former Prime Minister Theresa Could's joint chief of employees, made a succinct and knowledgeable case for Archbishop Welby's resignation in The Telegraph November 11:
“Inside the Church, Welby has presided over declining congregations, hundreds of church closures and 'pastoral reshuffles' which critics concern will kill the native parish. He launched the divisive Archbishop's Fee for Racial Justice, which final week accused some rural parishioners of racism. It’s chaired by Lord Boateng, Labour's a peer who accused the church of being rife with structural and systemic racism.
“If Welby believes that the church he has led for greater than a decade is systemically racist, maybe he ought to take accountability for it. It’s extra doubtless that he, like different liberals, has gone via an ideological fad as a result of he knew he wouldn’t be amongst those that who endure the purges and punishments that comply with his choices.
“Maybe it was the same negligence that led in 2013 to a private and institutional failure to answer clear proof of kid abuse. Smyth, now useless, escaped justice. However for the sake of his victims and the Church itself, Welby ought to present the integrity he as soon as claimed he mentioned others lacked it – and to resign.”
However, whereas this name for resignation is apparent, it might be dismissed among the many higher echelons of the C of E as a standard Tory criticism of Archbishop Welby. There isn’t any love misplaced between him and the Conservative Social gathering after he so vehemently opposed the earlier Rwandan authorities's plan to deal with unlawful immigration.
Nevertheless, Bishop Grenfell is among the many promising “progressive” bishops. Considerably, on 11 November, the day after Bishop Grenfell's interview with the BBC, the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, one other main revisionist, instructed the BBC that Archbishop Welby's place was “untenable”.
Given the significance of Bishop Grenfell's position as chief safeguarding bishop, main the C of E's response to quite a few abuse scandals, her studied refusal to again him means high-level stress is constructing on Archbishop Welby to go away.
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist based mostly in Lancashire.
