LONDON (RNS) — The Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion are in uncharted waters after the voluntary resignation Tuesday (Nov. 12) of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Welby quit just five days after he vowed that he would not resign, while apologizing for his part in the Church of England’s failure to deal with the serial abuser John Smyth.
Smyth, a Christian and a barrister, first ran activities for boys at a prestigious English private school, Winchester College, then boys’ camps in England before running similar outfits in Zimbabwe and Africa. The results of an independent investigation, called the Makin Review, published on Thursday revealed that various people in the Church of England were aware of Smyth’s savage beatings of boys. The report went on to criticize Welby for his handling of the allegations, which also included “traumatic … sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.”
According to the review, Welby had come into contact with Smyth through evangelical circles when Welby was in his early 20s and has denied knowing anything of Smyth’s abuse then. In 2013, soon after Welby’s appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury, he was informed of the Smyth case and was told that complaints had been reported to the police. But no formal referral had been made. Instead, the review says, Welby and other senior church figures showed “a distinct lack of curiosity” and “a tendency …