Independence - key to a fresh approach to safeguarding in Church.

Canon Revd Rosie Harper and Bishop of Buckingham Alan Wilson write ...

'When the Church walks in the light, it fulfils its primary purpose by living out Kingdom values.'

There is a growing demand for transparency in public life, and clear lines of accountability. But to whom? All public entities, government, police, schools, health services, even private companies, are under intense pressure to throw open their doors and windows to outside scrutiny.

In 1989, 97 Liverpool Football Fans were killed in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium. For many years survivors and their families battled against cultures of coverup and self-protection among police, local government and the media. Major police inquiries were held, but justice remained elusive. Bishop James Jones led an independent review of the incident and the way it had been handled that reported in November 2017. The patronising disposition of unaccountable power catalogues a woeful tale of denial, excuses and corruption on the part of various public and private authorities.

The Hillsborough Inquiry proposed a six-point charter for victims.

1. In the event of a public tragedy, activate its emergency plan and deploy its resources to rescue victims, to support the bereaved and to protect the vulnerable.

2. Place the public interest above our own reputation.

3. Approach forms of public scrutiny – including public inquiries and inquests – with candour, in an open, honest and transparent way, making full disclosure of relevant documents, material and facts. Our objective is to assist the search for the truth. We accept that we should learn from the findings of external scrutiny and from past mistakes.

4. Avoid seeking to defend the indefensible or to dismiss or disparage those who may have suffered where we have fallen short.

5. Ensure all members of staff treat members of the public and each other with mutual respect and with courtesy. Where we fall short, we should apologise straightforwardly and genuinely.

6. Recognise that we are accountable and open to challenge. We will ensure that processes are in place to allow the public to hold us to account for the work we do and for the way in which we do it. We do not knowingly mislead the public or the media.

The Church has made considerable progress in developing complex policy and procedural rigmarole, but has found it harder to engage with survivors. Many of them say their experience of the Church of England has fallen well short of the Hillsborough Charter.

The professional guardians of the sacred have seemed consumed by a desire to protect themselves and the reputation of the institution they represent. Again and again survivors have had to struggle to the point of exhaustion, making all the running, wading through a quagmire of guff curated by shadowy but obstructive authority figures.

The Church of England still can’t quite bring itself to:

Recognise that we are accountable and open to challenge. We will ensure that processes are in place to allow the public to hold us to account for the work we do and for the way in which we do it.

Individual experiences of personal kindness abound, but the corporate response remains ‘the patronising disposition of unaccountable power’.

Gordon Baron, a Hillsborough family member, described police internal inquiries in these terms:

The IPCC and Operation Resolve investigations might have good intentions but it’s still ‘the police investigating the police’ and this makes me suspicious and not confident.

Until Inquiries are independent and seen to be independent people will not be able to trust them. Why should any public institution expect to get away with marking its own homework? Independence in some form seems inescapable if the Church is to win back its credibility as a safe and honourable place.

Practically and politically independence may be necessary, but there are also strong theological and missional arguments for more transparency in the Church.

Jesus spoke of the coming Kingdom as a place of no secrets – ‘What you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.’ (Matthew 10:27)

In St John’s Gospel Jesus clarifies the dynamics of obsessional secrets and lies:

this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God. (John 3:19-21)

Jesus’ enemies plot against him secretly.

In contrast the Christian community walks in the light:

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 3:13)

When the Church walks in the light, it fulfils its primary purpose by living out Kingdom values.

This is an edited extract from To Heal and Not To Hurt: A fresh approaching to safeguarding in Church by Rosie Harper and Alan Wilson. It is available now online in paperback/eBook and from all good bookstores.