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Gavin Drake Church Abuse
“Archbishop Mullally believed that her time as archbishop would not be to “develop new programmes and initiatives”, but simply to be a “shepherd” who worked in partnership with others.”
I very much like her emphasis on “shepherd”, which I take to indicate a much needed return to pastoralia for clergy and LLMs. I would like her to have ruled out further “strategies” and Diocesan taglines, as well as wherever possible not using the words “resilient” and “flourishing”. I am heartily sick of those overused words.
I’m afraid I just groaned inwardly. Very good indeed to hear a woman giving the Presidential address, yes, but all the same empty hand-wringing and assurances that will no doubt lead to nothing. The presidents of synod are not where the power to change lies. Oh and as to those awful buzz words, whenever a Bishop utters them, I always smile to myself through inventing characterising titles for Carry On films that were never made ‘resilience = Carry On And Don’t Keel Over’ and ‘flourishing = Carry On Denying’.
It’s remarkable that Carry On Team never did Carry On Bishop but maybe at the time that would have been too irreverent for any studio to accept. What is totally missing, as it was in Welby and still is in Cottrell, is demonstrable zeal for justice. Justice for survivors. Justice for LGBT Christians. Justice for the disabled. Justice for those whose wages are below what they need to live. And without that zeal for justice, the words feel performative. She could have said, I will use the authority of this high office I have been granted, to …. But she… Read more »
Maybe a spin-off from Yes, Prime Minister – the episode where a bishop is appointed.
All Gas and Gaiters? it is excruciating watching it nowadays.
I always thought that the series was crying out for a “Yes Most Reverend Minister” spinoff!
Welby began his career with a campaign against the pay-day lenders, and I would call that a campaign for social justice
Except we discovered that the church had indirect investment into them so it proved to be embarrassing as the Church Commissioners refused to sell. Things changed later on when Wonga collapsed but it shows what goes on behind the public social justice front.
Surveying the wreckage inflicted by PLF and LLF indicates a pastoral response is needed. And as the extent of the pain caused becomes clearer, the 3rd Province suggested by The Alliance must be considered a proportionate pastoral response.
Trouble is it would not stop at ConEvo Third – others would also want their own provinces in Life of Brian style splitters farce.
The Church of England; The English Church; The Church of English People; The People’s English Church; The Church of the True Believers of England; ad infinitum. Just accept we have our differences and God understands better than us what they are.
It is however a strategy that the Orthodox Churches uses quite effectively (if sometimes violently) when dealing with multiple over lapping jurisdictions and disagreements. But to be honest I wouldn’t recommend it!
Yes indeed Adrian. In fact, “ travelling well together “ ( a la Cottrell) is simply dead in the water. A “third province “ solution would bring many, including me, back into the fold. I could once again embrace the C of E and accept communion from those I trust and follow in my long Christian walk. Having declined communion since the dark days of 2023 has caused me pain and hurt but I never hear ABY mentioning my loss.
“As the extent of the pain becomes clear, the proposal of those causing the pain must be considered a pastoral response”. What nonsense. It doesn’t hurt them at all, except in the sense of not having their own “province” in which to indulge their Donatist tendencies. Nothing proportional about it. Nothing pastoral about it. They can live with being in a church that does remarriage after divorce, the subject of the actual question in the passages they cite saying Jesus is opposed, they can live with being in a church where people, after godly and prayerful reflection, seek to enter… Read more »
There you have it. You feel empowered to say to me “what nonsense “.
I was appalled yesterday by some of the debates. Charlie Bell with histrionics plus the lady that tried to link the terrible shooting of the lady in Mississippi with Martyrdom in the church for LGB people. I remain even more convinced that a third province is the only way forward as I can no longer subscribe to an institution that abandons its foundational roots.
What she truly means by true independence will be interesting to observe.
You can’t be completely independent of someone who pays you. And if the independent people are committed to the Church, that’s another form of dependency. If they are somewhat detached from the Church that’s another problem
‘Vibrant’ is a word I find particularly annoying. It should really mean ‘wobbly’ and not what its users want it to mean.
But why do you want it to mean “wobbly” when that is not anything particularly close to an accepted meaning? “Pulsing with excitement” or “pulsing with life” is the literal meaning, I’d have thought, and metaphorically “full of life” and “flourishing”.
As Humpty Dumpty famously said, “when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean” — but of course if you use a word in a strange way you can’t be entirely surprised if your readers or hearers misunderstand you.
It is a word that has moved from far from its etymology. ‘Vibro’ – ‘quiver, tremble, shake’ Smith & Hall Latin/English dictionary. It is originally associated with fear rather than excitement. Even if words do change their meaning, that does not take away from the fact that ‘vibrant’ is a word overused to the point of tedium.
Which word would you prefer? Lively? Exciting?
Yes. But those words used in a CofE on text are never very encouraging are they?
“Even if words do change their meaning “.
There’s no “if”. Even Shakespeare (though dont ask me to cite evidence as I cant recall it!) thought of language as a flowing river not a still pond.
That words have roots is undeniable but (and it’s annoying to me sometimes) they often leave any so-called original meaning behind.
Ask the Quakers… or is God (1662) indifferent or impartial?
Gavin Drake writes much sense on the overall situation with regard to safeguarding. I particularly like his demolition of the answers to questions he discusses.
My question is simple. Is he a lone voice, or does he represent a substantial, if not majority, viewpoint? Who, within the current GS, is exposing these fault lines?
I do not know how many other people agree with Gavin Drake’s viewpoints. But I count myself among them.
Here’s a link to his latest, commenting on what was done this week about the Clergy Conduct Measure.
https://churchabuse.uk/2026/02/11/the-real-clergy-conduct-measure-is-still-behind-the-curtain/
Yes, he is very prolific, and doing great work. But where are the ears?
I am on a slightly different track. The intersection of safeguarding and CDM.
The Charity Commission and others have emphasised that safeguarding is for all. So some (but not all) CDM matters must surely be regarded as safeguarding measures.
How can we have two entirely separate sets of processes and procedures, which have significant overlap?
When will the Charity Commission turn thier gaze to CDM?
[I don’t know why these issues bother me, I have zero direct involvement or interest in any of it.]
I am in the camp that thinks there is an arbitrariness in defining some abuse-of-power issues as safeguarding and some not. My (increasingly distant) memory is that in schools “safeguarding” and “discipline/HR” were complementary but distinct. Safeguarding was about identifying issues so that people could be protected. The action to be taken once abuse by a school employee (the vast majority of safeguarding issues, of course, didn’t involve a school employee but parents, relatives etc) had been identified passed over to the HR side of things, specifically the school’s discipline policies. The Head of Safeguarding spotted that there was an… Read more »
Yes, it boils down to a problem with definition when the charity law concept of ‘safeguarding’ is much broader than the CofE’s. Perhaps it would be better to class complaints made by non-vulnerable victims of abuse of power as ‘bullying or harassment’. This would bring us into line with standard HR practice in typical charities where the requirement is for robust policies to protect staff, where complaints are handled according to statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures, regulated by employment law. The problem is that bishops and parish clergy are office-holders and not employees, and subject to ecclesiastical law. There is… Read more »
“ Perhaps it would be better to class complaints made by non-vulnerable victims of abuse of power as ‘bullying or harassment’. ” The central difficulty is that it depends on whether someone is recognised as being vulnerable at the relevant time. That puts another burden on survivors as not only do they need to prove events but they need to prove their vulnerability too. And the catch-22 is the potential argument that any adult capable of proving events cannot really be vulnerable. Far better to have a single process and treat vulnerability not as a gateway condition but as an… Read more »
Yes, in labour law, the default assumption is that an employee is in a weaker position relative to their employer, and vulnerable to exploitation or abuse – hence the statutory protections. Whereas diocesan safeguarding officers are confined to handling complaints about the abuse of minors or those adults who are defined in statute as exhibiting pre-existing hallmarks of vulnerability. So they steer well clear of the generality of HR cases involving adults who are victims of abuse, simply because they are deemed to be capable of sticking up for themselves. Bullying and harassment cases therefore usually fall outside the DSA’s… Read more »
Yes, it is tricky. What worries me are those who use the ‘not vulnerable adults’ excuse to start a process which has not evolved in a similar way to safeguarding. CDM and safeguarding should surely share some commonalities in principles and process.
Just an idea at this early stage of her primacy… Never go into the office at Lambeth or Church House. Instead, rent a store front and invite anyone who she needs to meet with to make an appointment with her there. Oh, and no SpAds. Hire assistants form outside “the house”.
If the flower ladies of Worcester are available they will soon sort things out.
No plastic flowers? I shall be seeking Alternative Horticultural Oversight
It seems that the sustainable flower debate in Synod closely matched the debate on TA. I think they the right outcome occurred.
It was right to debate and promote sustainable practise in this important part of church life. But also right to challenge the unconscious gender issues that can be present, and right to ask why Gaza is not being debated as well.
Has anyone attempted to put Gaza on the agenda?
A priest in the flowers debate said it is scheduled for July.
Yes, there have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to put Gaza on the Synod agenda. This is from a Church Times report dated 10 July 2025 “PALESTINIAN Christians are “grieved and disappointed” by the decision not to schedule a debate during the General Synod’s sessions in York, which begins on Friday. A letter to the Synod’s secretary-general, William Nye, from the Christian Palestinian organisation Kairos Palestine, sent late last month, says: “Neither history nor future generations will forgive the silence of the Church.” The letter refers to a Carlisle diocesan-synod motion that has not been chosen as an item of business.… Read more »
What use would that be? Does the C of E really think it has a voice on global affairs? Given the LLF debate yesterday it would be highly predictable how any debate may evolve. The Gaza question is very complex but lobbyists, as usual, just polarise the matter.
That’s because you weren’t reading from the New Daily Bread version of the bible in which stone is replaced with bread. So in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus says, ‘You, who are made in the image of God, cast the first piece of bread’. Then just as Jesus is breaking bread with everyone, TS Eliot appears and says ‘This is the way the world ends’. So all’s good.
Love it. This could become an anthem. We could commission the “rolling breads” to sort the music although they would probably end up “painting it black”.
I did note the tiresome references to stones repeating yesterday.
Yes, churches do have a voice – sometimes it becomes many voices – on matters that arise from conflicting moral positions. What use are they else?
I’m not sure that the progress of the debate is all that predictable, might even be interesting.
Threats will be hurled at the Church certainly, which is why silence has turned to be very much an option, the preferred option too.
There’s a Biblical aspect to the question too, on which the Church might even have some expertise
The post mortem will start up in earnest tomorrow…thank goodness the proceedings are over. Did it strike anyone else that the entire Synod was a living demonstration of the Powers that Are not even liking their Neighbour very much, leave alone loving them as themselves…. ?
It was beyond depressing.
Deferred again until July, lamentably but all too predictably.
In case some missed this chastening para on the LLF debate in Tim Wyatt’s piece: “We had the same low-quality argumentation, constant appeals to emotions, incoherent chains of reasoning, and endless shouting past each other, failing to grasp what the other side really believes and truly wants. Lots and lots of time spent trying to police your antagonists’ language and views, rather than respond to them in good faith. Far too few synod members are ready to move beyond their intractable theological differences, and begin having the next level conversation about what we do given our intractable theological differences. Far… Read more »
Sadly I think for many of us our trust in the governance of the CofE, at all levels, dissipated years ago. This latest round of ‘debate’ shows just how unlikely it is that that trust will ever be restored. However there are a huge number of faithful people in the parishes, many more than the CofE deserves, so there is hope and refuge in the most unlikely places. I strongly suspect that the Evangelical bubble is just about to burst (it’s already creaking alarmingly) and it’s going to be a very difficult time for the churches that have bought heavily… Read more »
Jonathan, that is an entirely unfair characterisation of the orthodox perspective at Synod.
We accept that a group of people want change. We acknowledge they are and should be free to express themselves in any terms they choose. We recognise the argument in principle has been pursued to the point of exhaustion.
All we want now is a settlement. A dozen Ordinary Bishops and some sensible arrangements around money and property.
Vaughan Roberts was crystal clear. Let’s settle and all move on.
How ordinary would these bishops need to be? Wife and two children obviously. Toy trains and motorcycles were traditional hobbies for clergymen, but hill walking and real ale seem to be a frequent feature of episcopal profiles nowadays, as well as, of course, support for the local football team.
Democracy will continue to prevail
on General Synod and is the single reason for the abysmal failed project. It was foreseeable. If there is to be a settlement that can only come afterwards. Better to have a representative synod, revise the marriage canon and then take stock. It will happen but no time soon.
The LLF item reminded me of a litany written over 30 years ago. It’s a little dated now… but interesting to see which line merits least change sadly.
Feel free to use it. But please credit the author, and say that it’s over 30 years old.
If Sarah Mullally had a LinkedIn page, which thankfully she doesn’t, the headline might say “A calm, consistent, compassionate, collaborative shepherd, enabling & serving others to flourish, nurturing confidence & hope, rooted not in institutions, programmes & initiatives but in God & the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”