Church of England completes child abuse review

The BBC reports on how the Church of England has completed a review of some 40,000 files dating back more than 30 years. This was part of an investigation launched in 2007 into claims that the Church had covered up the abuse of children.

See BBC News for further details.

In the writer’s experience of civil claims involving child abuse, the Church of England has been less a Defendant than the Catholic Church, as the following cases show:-

G v Archbishop of Birmingham 2002

McDonnell v Christian Brothers 2003

A v Archbishop of Birmingham and Others 2005

Young v Catholic Care and Another 2005

C v D and Another 2006

AB and Others v Nugent Care Society and Others 2006

JK and P v Archbishop of Birmingham and Others 2008

MAGA v Trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese 2009

Raggett v Society of Jesus 2009

Thompson v Archbishop of Liverpool 2009

It is also the writer’s experience that Church of England priests have appeared less in the criminal courts charged with the abuse of children, however this may be because the Catholic Church has traditionally assumed more responsibility for the care of children.

In any event, the investigation by the Church of England is to be welcomed. In relation to the Catholic Church, another problem may be that it is in effect an umbrella organisation for disparate organisations, such as Orders of monks and nuns, which in theory owe allegiance to the church but in reality are almost autonomous. There has also been a perception that the Catholic Church has had difficulty accepting the fact of abuse by those who work within the organisation.