Last year Lord Carey, above, former Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned as honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford after a damning review found that senior Church of England officials colluded with Peter Ball, who abused young men.
But earlier this month survivors of clerical abuse were horrified to learn that the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, had granted Carey Permission to Officiate (PTO) – allowing him to preach and give communion in his own church.
It’s now reported that, as a result of an outcry that followed the PTO, Croft is to “review” the decision.
Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, said today (Sunday) that he was not consulted on the decision and would have advised against it.
He told BBC Radio 4 programme Sunday:
My understanding is the national safeguarding team were not consulted, I’m sure that’s right. I think both I and the national safeguarding team would have advised that that was not the right action to take.
He added:
I regret it [the decision to grant the PTO] not because I want to intervene in matters that relate to another diocese, but just because what I hear from those I speak to, which are the victims, the survivors, those who are particularly troubled by the church’s actions, that see this, perceive this and believe this to be something which has caused them more distress and it’s for that reason particularly.
Ball, who was the subject of a five-day case study last week by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), was jailed in 2015 for sexually abusing 18 young men over three decades.
Lord Carey told the IICSA the church had failed Ball’s victims.
Carey was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1991 and 2002, and oversaw the Church of England at the time of Ball’s arrest in December 1992.
He told the inquiry that child protection was not an issue at the forefront of the C of E during his tenure and that the “cumbersome” institution was sometimes “behind the curve” when it came to addressing allegations of abuse.
He added that revelations of sexual abuse around prominent figures in recent decades have made people more aware of the dangers which face young people and potential victims.
We know much more about the charismatic power of people who are close to younger people, who can influence them or shape them wrongly.
All of us pre-Jimmy Savile had no understanding that those people in influence and power can have a really negative and evil effect on the lives of others, and this has gone on in the church from time to time.