Anglican leaders across the world responded to the announcement by Archbishop Justin Welby on November 12 that he will resign to “take personal and institutional responsibility” for failures in handling the abuses committed over several decades by the late evangelical lay leader John Smyth.
Most reaffirmed their commitments to protecting the vulnerable, and some also spoke with gratitude about Welby’s leadership and assured him of their prayers.
“Abuse in any form is horrific and abhorrent, and it grieves me that the church does not always live up to its ideal as a place where all of God’s children are safe,” wrote the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
“I commend Archbishop Welby for calling the Church of England to address its safeguarding failures, and I pledge the Episcopal Church’s commitment to this critical task in our own contexts and in the Anglican Communion. The church must be a refuge where people can come with the deepest wounds and vulnerabilities and be nurtured, respected, and never abused.”
Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley of Newcastle, the first of her colleagues to openly press for Welby to step down, said she approved of his decision, but added that the Makin Report, a review of the Church of England’s handling of the Smyth case, also implicated other leaders.
“It is right that Archbishop Justin has resigned. This resignation does not solve the church’s profound failure over safeguarding and the ongoing trauma caused to victims and survivors of church related abuse, nor does it excuse others whose neglect of their duties is exposed by the Makin report,” she said.
“We need to pause and pray for the victims we let down and commit to changing the culture of the old school: a culture that put the reputation of the church before the protection of the vulnerable. Now is the time for fresh thinking and generous Christianity. Now is the time for a proper conversation about honesty, trust, transparency, independence, and accountability when it comes to safeguarding and the Church of England, and I for one welcome that opportunity wholeheartedly.”
Welby’s decision was also praised by the Rt. Rev. Andrew Watson of Guildford, who disclosed in 2017 that he had been one of Smyth’s victims as a young man.
The resignation showed, he said, “a willingness to take responsibility for the wider church’s failing,” as well as “the seriousness of his commitment to those who have suffered” at Smyth’s hands.
The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, said that despite his acknowledgment of personal failure, Archbishop Welby had been a strong advocate for safeguarding across the Communion.
“I also want to reflect on the important contribution the Archbishop of Canterbury has made in championing the work of safeguarding during his ministry in the Anglican Communion. Working with Anglican sisters and brothers around the world, he has been very supportive of the work of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission. He also prioritized Safe Church as one of the major themes at the Lambeth Conference,” Poggo said.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town, who pledged on November 13 to urgently expand investigations of potential abuse committed by Smyth in South Africa, said: “I am numbed and deeply saddened at losing an Archbishop who is much loved across the Anglican Communion, but his courageous decision to accept accountability is an important step towards eradicating, root and branch, the scandal of abuse in the church worldwide.”
Despite suggestions in the Makin Report that Smyth may have continued to abuse young men up until his death in 2018, Makgoba said that St. Martin’s, his former church in Cape Town, “has reported that it never received any reports suggesting he abused or groomed young people, but there is no room for complacency.”
“But we have had other instances of abuse in the church in Southern Africa, and it is only in recent years that we have established a Safe and Inclusive Church Commission, which is pro-actively pursuing such cases,” he said.
Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba of Uganda associated Welby’s safeguarding failures with “his inability to uphold the historic and biblical teaching of the Church of England on marriage and family,” which he said had led his province, along with others of GAFCON and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, to reject Welby’s authority over the Communion.
“It grieves us deeply that so many people suffered from the continued abuse of John Smyth over many years simply because the church’s leadership covered up the abuse, did not uphold the moral teaching of the Bible and the church, and failed to defend the vulnerable.
“Unfortunately, this is the same compromised leadership that has led to the fabric of the Anglican Communion being torn at its deepest level,” he said.
In addition to Poggo’s commendation of his advocacy for safeguarding, a few other bishops spoke with gratitude for Welby’s leadership. The Rt. Rev. Philip North of Blackburn said in an open letter to his diocese: “The archbishop has been a bold and dedicated servant of the Church who has contributed to our common life in so many ways. His threefold focus on prayer, reconciliation, and evangelism has been an inspiration to many and has doubtless made an impact on the culture of the Church of England.”
The three archbishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia said, “At this time we give thanks for the leadership and service Archbishop Justin Welby has offered our worldwide Anglican Communion over the last 11 years, and in particular, we acknowledge the welcome and manaakitanga [hospitality] he has shown all communities.”
Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin of Dover, who worked closely with Welby in providing pastoral oversight to congregations in the Diocese of Canterbury, told the BBC that she wept upon hearing the news of his resignation.
Asked in an interview with The Church Times if he may have been a scapegoat for the wider church’s failings, she responded: “I wonder, when history looks back, whether what you have just said will become more apparent. I cannot help but wonder.”
Hudson-Wilkin also said that Welby’s failures in the Smyth case were probably associated with wider frustrations about him and the Archbishop of York on Living in Love and Faith and changes to the church’s parish system.
“I have a suspicion that of lot of these were conflated and brought on to the archbishops’ shoulders,” she said, though she said that she was “open to being wrong.”
Several Episcopal Church bishops issued short statements, mostly reaffirming their commitments to safe church policies.
Bishop Matt Gunter of Wisconsin, who said he had come to know Welby through his role as bishop visitor for the Community of Saint Anselm based at Lambeth Palace, commented on the resignation in relation to the challenges of leading institutions today.
“I know him to be a thoughtful, faithful, man,” Gunter wrote. “I am particularly grateful for his deft leadership at the last Lambeth Conference. So it is disappointing to learn of this failure of leadership.
“It is also hard news because we live in a time of deep suspicion of all institutions, organizations, and movements, not least of all the church. This feels like another blow that can reinforce that suspicion. It hurts when our leaders and institutions, or organizations, or movements let us down. Still more when they are the cause of the hurt as is the case for the victims of abuse.
“As Christians, we recognize that no institution, organization, or movement is perfect. Just as no person is perfect. We are all fragile, flawed, and fallible — broken and sinful. We all need mercy. But we also all need to be held accountable. I commend the archbishop for accepting responsibility in light of the report and resigning.”
