The Archdiocese of Birmingham protected the reputation of the Church at the expense of abuse victims, a government inquiry has claimed.
The investigation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) concluded that, especially in the 1990s, the archdiocese was “driven by a determination to protect the reputation of the Church”. In the cases of two abuser priests, Samuel Penney and James Robinson, this attitude “sealed the fate of many victims whose trust was placed in these abusers. The plight of victims was ignored or swept under the carpet, allowing the perpetrators to carry on abusing, often for many years.”
The report said that “On a number of occasions, [Penney’s] offending was brought to the attention of the Archdiocese. Rather than make progress by facilitating an investigation and assisting any potential victims, Monsignor Daniel Leonard, the Vicar General in charge of investigating such allegations, attempted to make arrangements for Penney to leave the UK and evade arrest.”
The report found that over 130 allegations of sexual abuse of a minor have been made since the 1930s against 78 individuals, and 13 people have been convicted in court.
Before the turn of the millennium, the report says, the archdiocese “repeatedly failed to alert the police when an allegation of child sexual abuse was made. The default position was to take no action or to move the priest to another parish.
“The consequence of these failings cannot be overstated. In some cases, the lack of action by the Church meant that the abuser was free to continue to commit acts of child sexual abuse.”
The Penney and Robinson cases predated the appointment of Vincent Nichols as Archbishop of Birmingham, a post he held from 2000-2009. However, Cardinal Nichols was censured by the report for his 2003 statement on a documentary about Robinson.
Nichols criticised the programme for airing on the eve of the Silver Jubilee of Pope John Paul II, saying it “confirm[ed] the suspicions of many, that within the BBC there is hostility towards the Catholic Church in this country.”
The report noted that Nichols “now recognises that he failed to give sufficient attention to the fact the programme gave a platform to those who had been abused,” but says the “effect of the press release, and subsequent publicity, was to defend the reputation of the Church rather than fully acknowledge the possibility of its shortcomings.”
The report also said that then-Archbishop Nichols should have intervened to resolve a dispute between diocesan officials and the child protection office.
As for more recent developments, the report found that although there have been some improvements, there remains a “lack of supervision of the safeguarding team” in the Archdiocese and that “case management systems were inadequate” as of a 2018 review.
These deficiencies “were identified in the 2012 audit and were not addressed by the time of the 2018 reviews,” the report said.
Professor Alexis Jay, Chair of IICSA, said: “Victims and survivors’ allegations were mostly ignored for years, while perpetrators avoided prosecution. It is clear that the church could have stopped children being abused if it had not been so determined to protect its own reputation.”
The Archdiocese of Birmingham said in a statement: “We accept that we have failed victims and survivors of abuse and again apologise for the grievous failings we have made in the past. Apologies are just words though, if not backed up by action.”
Cardinal Nichols said: “I thank IICSA for their review of the past.” He said his witness statements had addressed the report’s points, adding: “I look forward to the next phase which I trust will help us in our present and future tasks.”
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