The Church of England is seeking advice on how it can investigate historic cases of sexual abuse, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.Rowan Williams apologised for past mistakes, admitting the church's response to the issue had sometimes been "very
inadequate".
Dr Rowan Williams admits
errors were made.
Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA. "I fully acknowledge that errors were made in the period that is being discussed," Dr Williams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"Certainly, before 1995, practice was very variable, very uneven and often not very competent or well-informed about the law or best practice."
The church has been hit by claims in recent months that it failed to adequately investigate allegations of abuse, allowing some people to remain in the church despite their behaviour being known.
Earlier this month, a vicar was jailed for sexually abusing six boys over a 30-year period. David Smith was able to groom and abuse the boys despite warnings about his actions, first in 1983 and again in 2001.
On both occasions, the complainants were assured the matter had been "dealt with", but Smith continued to abuse boys in his parish.
A week before Smith was jailed, a Church of England choirmaster, Peter Halliday, was jailed for abusing boys in the late 1980s. He had admitted his actions to church officials but they did not go to the police, allowing Halliday to continue working with children.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Rev Nigel McCulloch, announced last week that he would appoint an independent lawyer to examine 850 clergy files held by his office following recent child abuse cases.
The church now had "a very clear policy about this [abuse] which involves avoiding some of these very inadequate responses", Dr Williams said.
"That, of course, is a policy. We have got to make it work. We have got to get this into the bloodstream. And while I think the policies are good, they need to be constantly reviewed and they need to be challenged and probed.
"What we need to do quite clearly, and we've agreed to do it, is to take advice from the church's central safeguarding liaison group ... on how we should best conduct a review.
"We don't just want to look good, we want to do it properly, and so we need to have the best professional advice on how we might review these historic cases."
Dr Williams added that he was hopeful an independent inquiry would not be needed.
"I hope that if we can get adequate professional independent advice on how we review this, that will meet the needs, but meanwhile we need to remind our parishes and people of the commitment they have entered into," he said.
"Every parish has got to have a child protection policy and it needs to work properly."
The head of the Church Child Protection Advisory Service, an independent body which assists churches and similar organisations in tackling the issue, said Dr Williams's statement was welcome but warned mistakes could still be being made.
"The archbishop said that in the past the church, and individuals in the church, haven't always been well-informed by the law and best practice, and I fear that is still the situation today in some quarters," David Pearson told the Today programme.
"Certainly, before 1995, practice was very variable, very uneven and often not very competent or well-informed about the law or best practice."
The church has been hit by claims in recent months that it failed to adequately investigate allegations of abuse, allowing some people to remain in the church despite their behaviour being known.
Earlier this month, a vicar was jailed for sexually abusing six boys over a 30-year period. David Smith was able to groom and abuse the boys despite warnings about his actions, first in 1983 and again in 2001.
On both occasions, the complainants were assured the matter had been "dealt with", but Smith continued to abuse boys in his parish.
A week before Smith was jailed, a Church of England choirmaster, Peter Halliday, was jailed for abusing boys in the late 1980s. He had admitted his actions to church officials but they did not go to the police, allowing Halliday to continue working with children.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Rev Nigel McCulloch, announced last week that he would appoint an independent lawyer to examine 850 clergy files held by his office following recent child abuse cases.
The church now had "a very clear policy about this [abuse] which involves avoiding some of these very inadequate responses", Dr Williams said.
"That, of course, is a policy. We have got to make it work. We have got to get this into the bloodstream. And while I think the policies are good, they need to be constantly reviewed and they need to be challenged and probed.
"What we need to do quite clearly, and we've agreed to do it, is to take advice from the church's central safeguarding liaison group ... on how we should best conduct a review.
"We don't just want to look good, we want to do it properly, and so we need to have the best professional advice on how we might review these historic cases."
Dr Williams added that he was hopeful an independent inquiry would not be needed.
"I hope that if we can get adequate professional independent advice on how we review this, that will meet the needs, but meanwhile we need to remind our parishes and people of the commitment they have entered into," he said.
"Every parish has got to have a child protection policy and it needs to work properly."
The head of the Church Child Protection Advisory Service, an independent body which assists churches and similar organisations in tackling the issue, said Dr Williams's statement was welcome but warned mistakes could still be being made.
"The archbishop said that in the past the church, and individuals in the church, haven't always been well-informed by the law and best practice, and I fear that is still the situation today in some quarters," David Pearson told the Today programme.
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