Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned today, following the release of a long-anticipated report concluding that Welby, the Church of England’s highest spiritual leader, covered up serial physical abuse.
The independent review, commissioned in 2019, revealed that Welby knew by 2013 at the latest that the late Anglican leader, John Smyth, had been accused of abuse.
As The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported, John Smyth subjected young men to sadistic physical abuse starting in the 1970s, when he ran a system of evangelical boys’ camps in England and later in Zimbabwe. Some of the boys reportedly suffered thousands of beatings over the course of many years.
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” Welby wrote as part of a statement announcing his resignation.
The review, conducted by Keith Makin and commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, was released last Thursday. It states that Welby became aware of allegations against Smyth in 2013 in his role as the archbishop. The abuses became public in 2017, and Smyth died in 2018.
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“. . . The conclusion that must be reached is that John Smyth could and should have been reported to the police in 2013,” the review states. “This could (and probably would) have led to a full investigation, the uncovering of the truth of the serial nature of the abuses in the UK, involving multiple victims and the possibility of a conviction being brought against him.
“In effect, three and a half years was lost, a time within which John Smyth could have been brought to justice and any abuse he was committing in South Africa discovered and stopped,” the Makin review adds.
Welby reportedly apologized last week after the Makin review’s release, but said at the time that he wouldn’t resign.
However, a petition calling for Welby’s resignation gathered more than 13,000 signatures. Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley was reportedly the most senior church leader to call for Welby to step down ahead of his announcement.
“I think rightly people are asking the question ‘Can we really trust the Church of England to keep us safe?’ And I think the answer at the moment is ‘no’,” Hartley told the BBC on Monday.
Lee Furney, a survivor advocate who was abused by another Anglican leader, noted before the resignation that Welby “failed to safeguard the young people of South Africa from enduring abuse.”
Furney added that Welby also failed to call senior leaders, who enabled the acknowledged cover-up to account. Plus, Welby ensured that “Smyth’s long overdue prosecution did not, and can no longer, take place.”
Furney also pointed out in an emailed statement to TRR that Welby promised to meet with Smyth’s victims in 2017. But Welby refused to schedule the meeting until he was confronted about it in 2021, Furney stated.
Others have noted Welby’s personal connection to the Smyth scandal. Welby attended the camps Smyth ran and became archbishop months before a report of abuses reached the church’s highest leadership, according to the Makin review.
Given his connection to the camps, the Makin review concluded, “(I)t was unlikely that Justin Welby would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding John Smyth in the 1980s in the UK.”
The review added, “(Welby) may not have known of the extreme seriousness of the abuse, but it is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”
Furney lamented the impact Smyth’s abuses have had, noting that victims “have lost homes, wives, health (and) even their minds.”
“The church has lost confidence in the leaders involved,” Furney continued. “The public has lost confidence in the church. It’s now time for those responsible to lose their jobs in order to begin the process of restoration and renewal.”
Furney added that Archbishop Welby’s resignation should not be the “end of the matter” but “the start.”
Leaders at the camps Smyth ran knew as early as 1982 about Smyth’s alleged abuse. An internal investigation at that time found that the “scale and severity of the practice (spiritually abusive beatings) was horrific,” with some victims having been beaten 14,000 times.
Yet, instead of reporting Smyth to police and publicly exposing him, other leaders at the camps allowed Smyth to go to Africa to minister, where his abuse reportedly continued.
“The can has been kicked down the road for 42 years since a secret internal report in 1982,” Furney said. “The Makin Report is the end of that road. Finally, some people need to take responsibility and resign, or get the can.”
Sarah Einselen is an award-winning writer and editor based in Texas.
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17 Responses
Lee Furney – What a courageous and amazing man! So thankful for brave, kind and truly powerful leaders of God like him.
Lose their jobs?! How about Smyth should go to jail. . .in Africa! . . and Welby should join him. They should both face charges and be convicted and imprisoned on African soil where the abuses took place. It’s hard to believe that Welby didn’t take part in the abuses on his “visits” to Smyth in Africa. It’s hard to believe that his own participation wasn’t his reason for silence all these years. In the name of Jesus, may God continue to bring hidden rhings to light.
Dear Marsha, Smyth the abuser died in 2018.
While Welby’s silence was tragic I think it’s going too far to suggest that Welty participated in the abuse. Some/much of it took place in a soundproof outbuilding.
The abuse was gruesome and I would hate to falsely accuse someone of that.
Marsha, before I read your reply my husband said, it’s hard to believe Welby wasn’t also involved in the abuse of these children. Why else the cover up, especially considering the evil was known for decades? May Jesus heal and redeem these poor victims. Hopefully, we’ll meet them someday at the Banquet of the Lamb.
Glad he’s resigned, though that is precious little compensation for the victims and the church as a whole.
And for all of those who criticize the Roy’s Report for allegedly targeting Evangelicals, here’s another example showing that if there’s corruption/abuse in mainline churches, she pulls no punches.
Barney, I agree with your every word. I find it almost comical how obvious the chastisers of TRR are in their gaslighting shaming. They would be better off stating the truth by saying, “I am a loyal and devoted follower of “…….” and I refuse to believe the facts and realtime information about said person.”
Everyone would respect the honesty and hurt that come with finding out hard truths about people we have admired and loved.
Much too late, but better than never, Welby resigns. Who else in the Church of England hierarchy must also resign? What other penalties, prosecutions, and sanctions need to be implemented?
Examples like this shows how leadership in Churches can also support our political leaders; corruption, moral deceit, non-integrity and lack of character runs rampant in both… just look who the US just picked???
Under Welby’s reign the Church of England has so declined in numbers that it may not exist in a decade or two – see VirtueOnline.org . They, along with many mainline denominations in America – TEC, PCUSA, UCC, ELCA – have become apostate and no longer preach Christ crucified and His resurrection.
May I suggest that the president elect received the most votes because the current administration has been advocating gender reassignment surgeries, using pronouns in our schools, abortion at any stage of pregnancy, men competing in women’s sports; and had become a dictatorship by taking away our freedoms as to what kind of lightbulbs one may sale/use, timing out gasoline vehicles in favor of EV vehicles, etc. etc. …
Troubles me to say this, but how many of us are truly Christians that continually point to President-elect Trump as the “chief of sinners”. If one looks honestly in the mirror, one realizes that they are chief of sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness – the answer is Jesus.
Regarding the misuse of 1 Timothy 1:15 (and it’s important to point it out on a Christian website):
Has everyone using it read the rest of Paul’s letters where he calls for righteous living and says his own conscience has been pure since he was made “A NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST” (2 Corinthians 5:17)?
Have they read verse 5 (of 1 Timothy 1)?
Or verse 9? (clearly “righteous men” must have existed or he wouldn’t mention them!)
Have they read verse 13, where Paul states who he was BEFORE i.e. yet again references his CONVERSION?
Have they looked up “chief” in Greek (“protos”, from where we get “prototype”) and realized it certainly does NOT mean “biggest” but rather “FIRST/model/pattern” because Paul is talking about himself being the FIRST sinner (now ex sinner: Romans 6) to be TRANSFORMED?
Think about all the high level Anglican clergy who did NOT sign the petition calling for Welby’s resignation. Did N T Wright sign? Did Malcolm Guite sign?
Barbara, honest question; I’m just starting to follow this: Were either Wright or Guite directly connected to Smyth or implicated in Makin’s report? If not, and contrary to popular sentiment among the very online, I don’t feel it’s just to judge anyone based solely on their non-participation in a change.org petition.
At the risk of sounding flippant and simplistic with such a serious moral and spiritual matter. What is the first thing anyone do if they think they smell smoke or notice it? Yes, they look to see if there is a possible fire.
Due diligence and intelligently responding to “smells” and “smoke” is paromont for everyone, let alone a person who is in a position of authority within an organisation and church.
And for those who use the excuse that they were only endeavouring to protect the organisation or church – sadly at the expense of victims.
People now see through this veneer, recognising that all one is doing is seeking to protect the personal benefits and status one receives through the organisation and church one is affiliated with.
Yes, despite the rhetoric, the underlying motive is SELF protection and preservation.
As an outsider and one who is not a member of the Church of England I have some sympathy with the Archbishop of Canterbury and would applaud his honour, integrity and decency at this time. The fact is that he inherited a nest of vipers, where the control and abuse of vulnerable people within the church institutions had been ignored for decades. It is evident that despite the huge amounts of time and energy the Archbishop has spent dealing with these cases the institution itself has proved to be resistant to his considerable efforts. If the Archbishop had received more support in his efforts from those who exercised power and authority then the outcome of these earlier investigations would have been much more productive. Despite recommendations of these enquiries, which the Archbishop fully supported, the Church of England much to its shame is apparently no safer now than it was decades ago. Though I hope that this is not entirely true.
This view does not minimise the pain and suffering experienced by those who have been abused, who are perfectly entitled to be heard and receive justice.
Finally I would suggest that there is no one more self righteous than the one who calls for another’s resignation, or one that sets up a petition to have someone removed from office, particularly when they are in positions of power which they had failed to exercise. The baying of wolves and the call for blood inevitably brings more heat than light to an extraordinary complex situation.
Martin, for sure I disagree with your assessment of Archbishop Welby. By his actions of supporting marriages and unions other than one man and one woman in marriage, he is a false prophet. He is as a wolf in sheep’s clothing and has led many away from the Truth and the Life and the Way which is in Christ Jesus. Surely in his position he would be aware that there have longtime been wolves among the flock throughout the worldwide Church of England. See virtueonline.org
And by the way, the archbishop is not elected by his peers but appointed by the Crown with advice of government officials – no separation of church and state.
Meredith,
it seems that you are somewhat confused by the focus of my comments. I made it clear that the Archbishop knew full well the extent of historic abuses within the church, and that he had made substantial efforts to ensure justice and reconciliation on behalf of the victims. It is therefore unfair and unreasonable to suggest that he actively colluded with such abuse, or that he deliberately ignored such practices. To suggest that he did is factually incorrect.
However, even by his own assessment he was substantially less successful then he wished, and therefore took institutional responsibility for his own organisation’s failures to make the church a safer place. This I would suggest demonstrates a high degree of personal integrity and decency. Therefore I am quite content with my previous assertion that Justin Welby is an honourable and godly man, who had the interests of the church, its unity, and its message about the kingdom of God, close to his heart.
Further having met the Archbishop on a few occasions, and listened to him on many more, and I do not recognise your characterisation of him as a “wolf” or “false prophet” simply on the grounds of his stance on marriages. It is amiss of you to attach such a complex issue to my comments, as I clearly made no mention of this nor do I have any interest in the Anglican churches policy on it.
Finally the principal of the separation between church and state is clearly not the golden standard as indicated by many of the reports on this news site. Indeed, all religious institutions, Christian or otherwise, have had to address the issue of the safety of individuals and historic abuse in recent times.
Most important is if churches and church leaders are keeping the main thing the main thing – proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Martin, surely you have numbers for the Church of England regarding membership and attendance for today and for twenty years ago. The Anglican Church is only growing in the global south. The TEC is dying in America.