The Church of England’s National Conservation Team (NST) announced Tuesday that it is preparing to commence disciplinary proceedings against clergy named after a terrible review of abuse by the late John Smith.
The ten-named clergy include George Carrey, retired bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, former president of former soul, Langham Place and Hugh Palmer.
They were among the clergymen due to criticism of the Makin Review, published last November, and concluded that “reactions by the Church of England and others were completely ineffective and amounted to concealment.”
The church’s repulsion against the findings was so strong that it led to Justin Wellby’s resignation as the archbishop of Canterbury.
Since the publication of the review, NST has reviewed all clergy under the authority or overseer of the Church of England criticized in the review.
A four-step process is now concluded, including recommendations from an independent panel and reviews by an independent barrister.
“This was a rigorous and independent process to investigate whether names pose an immediate risk and to consider whether there were cases of clergy disciplinary procedures under the Clergy Disciplinary Measures (CDM). ” said NST.
“When reaching that conclusion, the Stage 3 panel is concerned with whether there is sufficient evidence to justify the protection policies and guidance that are effective at the relevant time, the facts of the particular case, relevant legal considerations, and procedures. I have considered this.
“The conclusions at stage 3 were verified by an independent barrister in stage 4 of the external scrutiny process.”
Because the time limit for the initiation procedure has already expired, the NST requires special permission from the President of the Court to file a case against the list of 10 clergy.
Two clergy have been named in Makin Review, but are not currently on the list facing disciplinary action as they are subject to other ongoing processes. Once these current live processes have ended, there will also be a decision on whether or not to seek lawsuits against them.
“The Church of England’s Conservation Director, Alexander Kubeinier said:
“Today, we have announced the next step in the process of considering both risk and disciplinary processes. Recommendations.”
The ten clergy facing disciplinary action under CDM are:
Bishop Paul Butler
Bishop George Carrey
Revd Roger Combes
Revd Sue Colman
Revd Andrew Cornes
Revd Tim Hastie-Smith
Revd Hugh Palmer
Revd Paul Perkin
Revd Nick Stott
Revd John Woolmer
