Author: Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) – Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will end his duties on Monday after resigning over an abuse cover-up scandal, but his interim successor faces scrutiny over a similar case, leaving the Church of England on uncertain ground.
Welby, 69, announced his resignation in November after an independent investigation found he did not do enough to bring to justice one of the institution’s worst abusers, a man who decades ago volunteered at Christian summer camps. The man, John Smyth, died in 2018.
Welby, head of the Church of England and leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, said in his resignation that he must take “personal and institutional responsibility” for failing to act on “heinous abuses”.
Welby intends to finish his official duties by the Feast of the Epiphany on Monday, his office at Lambeth Palace said in a statement in November.
The church is also grappling with a decline in religious faith in Britain and internal divisions over how it approaches same-sex couples in its congregations.
The 2019 British Social Attitudes (BSA) report says Britons are becoming increasingly secular, with just over a third of the public identifying as Christian. In 1983, when the BSA began measuring religious identity, the figure was 66%.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, the second most senior cleric in the Church, will take over Welby’s official duties until Welby’s successor is chosen. This process could take six months.
Cottrell is himself facing scrutiny after a BBC report three weeks ago said he had allowed a priest to keep his job despite knowing the Church had banned him from being alone with children, and had paid compensation to a victim of sexual abuse. .
Cottrell apologized for not acting on the case earlier, saying he had suspended priest David Tudor at the first opportunity. In October, the church banned Tudor from ministry for life.
Reuters was unable to contact Tudor.
The church’s Christmas festivities remained in the shadow of the scandal. In his Christmas sermon, Cottrell said the Church must “take off its finery and kneel in penance and adoration.”
One of Welby’s predecessors, George Carey, stepped down as a priest last month following allegations of mishandling of Tudor’s case.
“The current situation creates a worrying vulnerability for the Church,” said Linda Woodhead, head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London. “The church may soon find itself without an archbishop at its head.”
“That would create significant problems, even in the area of protection, let alone in other aspects of Church management.”
