From the Revd Keith Hitchman
Sir, - The Revd Mark Nash-Williams is right to question
whether spiritual abuse is "adequately addressed" by Church of
England structures (Letters,
25 October).
In my experience, it is not. In 2010, I made a formal complaint
to my then diocesan bishop concerning spiritual manipulation
suffered by a close relative of mine, which had caused untold
sorrow for this person and the wider family. Aside from the
predictable platitudes, I was largely ignored. My bishop did not
even bother to reply to my letter.
I then attempted to report this abuse to another bishop, who, I
was told, had a national remit for such matters. This bishop was
sympathetic, but took no further action in investigating the
matter.
The author Jeanette Winterson has commented that the spiritual
abuse that she suffered as a young person growing up in a
fundamentalist household was unintentional on the part of the
abuser. This fact did not make it any less abusive, as was the case
with that suffered by my relative.
Essentially, the problem lies with the lack of supervision of
non-accredited counselling,healing, and deliverance ministries,
particularly within the burgeoning Charismatic churches. Such
supervision needs to be strongly enforced and reinforced at
diocesan level. Merely acknowledging the issue is not enough. We
have a duty to protect the vulnerable.
The potential for massive pas-toral and reputational fallout is
high. As a Church, we need to act on spiritual abuse, and act
now.
KEITH HITCHMAN
City Missioner, diocese of Liverpool
499 Mather Avenue
Liverpool L19 4TF