Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby speaks from the pulpit during his 2022 visit to Canada. Photo: Anglican Video
Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has reiterated the church’s commitment to being a safe place for all following Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s resignation over his handling of serial abuse against children and young men by the late John Smyth.
Welby, ceremonial head of the Anglican Communion and senior bishop of the Church of England, resigned Nov. 12 after an investigation found he failed to inform police upon becoming aware of rampant physical and sexual abuse by Smyth, a prominent lawyer and volunteer at Christian summer camps.
“Our hearts break for the children and young people who were abused by Smyth and further victimized by the lack of meaningful action on the part of the church,” Germond said in a public statement the day of Welby’s resignation. The acting primate noted that in 2022, Welby visited Canada to listen to residential school survivors and to apologize for the church’s role in abuses that took place at residential schools.
“We mourn that today’s news will add to the pain of survivors, and we hold them in our prayers,” Germond said. “The Anglican Church of Canada is committed to continuing the work needed to make the church a safe place for all, in keeping with our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being. We pray for the humility, courage and wisdom needed for this all-important work.”
The Church of England on Nov. 7 released results of the investigation—led by independent reviewer Keith Makin—into Smyth, who the report said subjected about 30 boys and young men in England and more than 85 in Africa to “traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.” From the 1970s until his death while under investigation in 2018, the report said, Smyth carried out abuse that was “prolific, brutal and horrific.”
The Makin Review found that from July 2013, months after he became Archbishop of Canterbury, Welby knew about the abuse that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but did not inform U.K. police or authorities in South Africa. Investigators said if Welby had reported Smyth to authorities at this time, many victims would have been spared abuse.
Welby faced calls to resign from victims of Smyth as well as some members of the Church of England’s General Synod, who started a petition calling on Welby to step down because he had “lost the confidence of clergy.”
In his statement of resignation, Welby said when he was informed of Smyth’s abuses in 2013, he was told that police had been notified and he “believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.”
“The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth,” Welby said. “It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.”
Precise timing for his departure, he said, would be decided after a review of his obligations in England and the Anglican Communion. In the meantime he planned to follow through on commitments to meet victims and to delegate all other responsibilities until the completion of a risk assessment.
“I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church,” Welby said. “As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.
“The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.”
Church officials became aware in 1982 of Smyth’s abuse at the Iwerne camps, evangelical summer camps aimed at children from British private schools, through an internal investigation. However, they actively covered up the findings of abuse to prevent them from coming to light, the Makin Review said.
In 1984 Smyth moved to Zimbabwe, where he continued to abuse boys and young men, and then to South Africa, where the Makin Review found evidence he may have continued inflicting abuse until his death.