Church of England rules 'not fit for purpose', bishop says, after Archbishop of York issues apology over sex abuse case
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The Church of England's deputy head of safeguarding has said the institution's rules "are not fit for purpose" after the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said he is "deeply sorry" action was not taken earlier over a sex abuse case. Julie Conalty, the bishop of Birkenhead, told Sky News programme The UK Tonight she "can see issues around lack of accountability" in the church.
Ms Conalty, the church's deputy lead bishop for safeguarding, said its systems "don't operate like they would in other organisations". "So the way in which clergy are appointed as office holders not employees, and the laws and rules that we have around imposing clergy discipline, are not really fit for purpose," she said.
"And yet we as a church have allowed them to be the rules under which we operate and it doesn't feel fit for the 21st century, maybe not even for the late 20th century.". Mr Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, is due to temporarily take over from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who will step down on 6 January over failures in handling a separate sex abuse case in the church.
However, his position has been called into question after a BBC investigation and he is facing calls to resign. The BBC investigation claimed when Mr Cottrell was Bishop of Chelmsford he let priest David Tudor stay in post in the diocese, despite knowing he had been banned by the church from being alone with children and paid compensation to a sexual abuse victim.
