Inevitable Church of England’s second-in-command will go, says abuse survivor
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The Archbishop of York resigning or being forced out of his leading role in the Church of England is “inevitable”, according to an abuse survivor who accused him of a lack of empathy for victims. Stephen Cottrell, who is currently the Church of England’s second-most senior bishop, is set to take on many of the soon-to-step-down Archbishop of Canterbury’s official functions temporarily From January 6.
Justin Welby announced last month he would resign, after initially declining to do so, in the wake of the Makin Review, which concluded barrister John Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church – might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police in 2013.
This week Mr Cottrell has come under the spotlight regarding a separate abuser, David Tudor. A BBC investigation reported Mr Cottrell had, while Bishop of Chelmsford, let the priest stay in post in the diocese despite knowing Tudor had both been barred by the Church from being alone with children and paid compensation to a sex abuse victim.
Tudor was banned from ministry for life this year after admitting what the Church described as serious sexual abuse involving two girls aged 15 and 16. Decades earlier, Tudor had been suspended from ministry for five years in 1988, having admitted, according to a tribunal document, having sex with a 16-year-old girl he met when she was a pupil at a school where he was chaplain.
