In Britain yesterday the Archbishop of Canterbury announced his resignation, taking responsibility for an inadequate response to reports of extreme sexual abuse of over 100 boys and young men at Christian camps and public schools for decades by a barrister who was a lay preacher in the Anglican Church. A Report on abuser John Smyth was commissioned by the Church of England and authored by former social services director Keith Makin. The Report (full text) was published last month. As described by the BBC:
The Makin report described [Smyth's] "clearly sexually motivated, sadistic regime" of beatings during the 1970s and 1980s.
He singled out boys attending Christian camps and in sessions at leading public schools, including Winchester College, before taking them to his home and beating them with a cane in his shed.
Some of the victims had to wear adult nappies because of the bleeding they suffered.
Smyth was later able to travel to Zimbabwe and South Africa, where he is alleged to have continued his abuse.
He died in 2018.
A Chanel 4 News report summarizes the situation.
In a Statement (full text) published yesterday, the Archbishop, Most Rev. Justin Welby, said in part:
Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
