FROM REVEREND ROBIN                                                                  

It has been a year now since I was licensed to be your Rector and what a year it has been. In truth, it doesn’t feel too different to the year before when I was the Assistant Curate but now, I have to make the difficult decisions and the blame rests on me. As the visible face of the Church of England in our villages I want to take this opportunity to apologise. I am writing this as I watch the Church Synod Meeting being held at Lambeth Palace and the members (who are there to represent the thoughts and feelings of me and you) have just voted against total independence when it comes to Safeguarding. An amendment was passed by one of the Bishops, which effectively made total independence unachievable and as such the lesser motion was passed where the Church (Bishops and Safeguarding Teams within Church House) still had control.

In every lesson learnt from the previous horrors carried out in the church, the cover ups, the turning a blind eye, it has been allowed to continue because of the control held by the few who did not want to do what they should have done or refused to listen to words being said about their fellow Bishops/Priests/Laity/etc. These inner circles and cliques within the Church have been allowed to go on for too long. We had the opportunity to show the world that we mean it when we say we are sorry, that all of our preaching on forgiveness coming when one truly repents was not just pleasant words and that we lived by our own beliefs. Instead, what we showed is that the institution was more important than the survivors and victims of abuse.

I am sorry.

I am sorry that the Church that I represent could not do what it should have done but I promise you that I am here for you. As your Rector, if you come to church or not, if you believe in God or not, if you think your God is better than my God, I am here for you. I will pray for you. I will listen to you. I will be there with you.

As we move through the season of Lent. A period of reflection, prayer, and penitence, I pray for the day when it does not matter who you are, what position you hold, which inner circle you belong to, that if you do something against another, you will be held to account. That your actions are not hidden or moved on, and that justice prevails. There can be no favouritism, no protection of institute when it comes to safeguarding. We need to truly repent of our sins not just by words but by actions and until that happens, we as a Church cannot hope to be forgiven.

May God have mercy on our souls.

Amen.