San Francisco Frontiers - Church of England meets amid 'crisis' over abuse scandals

The meeting in the British capital comes a month after Justin Welby stepped down as Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the world's Anglican Christians, over the scandal.

Sexual abuse allegations against a priest and a bishop have also emerged in recent months and embroiled Welby's interim replacement Stephen Cottrell in controversy.

The first day of the General Synod gathering, which convenes several times a year, saw members debate a damning report released last year into failures in the handling of a serial abuse case.

"I am deeply dismayed by our failings," Cottrell told the gathering.

"Victims and survivors of abuse and all those harmed by the church have waited too long for real accountability. For many, understandably, their patience has run out. We must respond, in this Synod, with actions, not words," he added.

On Tuesday, the bishops, other clergy and lay members will study new safeguarding measures following the Makin Review, which detailed various failings in the case of Christian camp leader and serial abuser John Smyth.

"There's never been anything like this in our lifetime, because the Church is in an unprecedented crisis," Synod member Ian Paul told Britain's Press Association news agency ahead of the gathering.

"The crisis we're facing now is a result of gradual erosion over years of trust and confidence and lack of openness, lack of transparency."

Paul was one of the people behind a petition last year calling on Welby to resign.

- 'Prolific' abuser -

Welby announced his resignation in November after the independent Makin probe found that he "could and should" have formally reported decades of abuse by Church-linked lawyer Smyth to authorities in 2013.

Smyth, who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for the "prolific, brutal and horrific" abuse of up to 130 boys and young men, according to the review.

It concluded that the Church of England -- the mother church of global Anglicanism -- covered up the "traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks", which occurred in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over several decades.

Cottrell, who became Archbishop of York in 2020, has temporarily replaced Welby but has also been tainted by scandal.

In December, the 66-year-old faced calls to stand down over claims he mishandled a sexual abuse case during his time as the Bishop of Chelmsford, in southeastern England.

Priest David Tudor remained in his post despite Cottrell knowing that the Church had banned him from being alone with children and had paid compensation to a sexual abuse claimant, the BBC reported.

Cottrell has said he is "deeply sorry that we were not able to take action earlier" but defended his actions.

- 'Wrong person' -

Ahead of the Synod's start, one of its senior members, Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley, renewed her criticism of Cottrell and the decision to select him as Welby's interim successor.

"I do not think that it's appropriate for the Archbishop of York to be in post, and certainly to be leading change that the Church needs," she told BBC radio.

In a fresh blow to the Church last month, the Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, said he was stepping down after a broadcaster aired allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him.

Perumbalath denied wrongdoing but said in a statement a "rush to judgment and my trial by media... has made my position untenable".

He said a Church safeguarding team had investigated the allegations and had found them "unsubstantiated" and the first accusation had been investigated by the police who decided to take no further action.

The Anglican Church is the established state Church in England and dates back to King Henry VIII's split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.

King Charles III, its supreme governor, appoints archbishops on the advice of the prime minister.

I.Rodriguez--SFF