BISHOPS should have the power to remove from office priests identified as a safeguarding risk, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, has said.
On Friday, he blamed a 2014 decision not to introduce such a provision for the “crisis” at Blackburn Cathedral, concerning Canon Andrew Hindley, which was first reported by the BBC on Tuesday (News, 14 August).
Several risk assessments concluded that Canon Hindley was a safeguarding risk, but there is currently no provision to remove a priest from office on such grounds. Because he held his position under freehold, he could not be removed from office without a Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) finding against him.
Several complaints brought against him under the CDM were dismissed without going to a tribunal. Five police investigations, spanning more than 25 years, were closed without the making of any charges.
Speaking to the BBC, Canon Hindley denied all allegations, and said that he had never been a safeguarding risk.
In a post on the Blackburn diocesan website, Bishop North also called for priests to be employed directly by the diocese rather than serve as office-holders. He argued that this would allow disciplinary matters to be “settled through an HR process rather than through long and clumsy legal procedures”, and argued for further reform of clergy-discipline processes.
The freehold system began to be replaced by common tenure in 2011. But existing freeholders were allowed to retain freehold status.
Bishop North expressed scepticism about whether common tenure was “much of an improvement. Such strong security of tenure is at odds with a modern safeguarding culture in which accountability is critical. To be a safer church we must address this issue.”
He suggested that priests should be employees of the diocese, “with all the transparency and accountability that offers”.
His suggestions were made in response to a BBC investigation into allegations made over two decades about Canon Hindley, who was Canon Sacrist of Blackburn Cathedral, and into a payment made to him in 2020 to settle a legal claim after he had been compulsorily retired by the diocesan Bishop at the time, the Rt Revd Julian Henderson.
Bishop Henderson said that the rules governing clergy offices and disciplinary processes meant that the course of action taken had been the “only option” for Canon Hindley’s removal.
Several independent risk assessments had concluded that Canon Hindley was a potential risk to children and young people. On Friday, Bishop North argued that such findings should suffice to enable a cleric’s removal from office.
After the 2013 publication of a report on safeguarding failures in Chichester Cathedral (News, 3 May 2013), a proposal was considered that would allow a diocesan bishop to remove a priest from office if a risk assessment concluded that there was a risk of future misconduct.
A paper, GS 1941, was presented to the General Synod in February 2014 in which the option was outlined, but revealed that it had been “heavily criticised” in a consultation, and recommended that bishops be given the power to discipline a priest only if they refused to cooperate with a risk assessment, but not if the assessment identified risk.
Reasons for this were outlined in the paper, and included concerns that it would amount to judging someone before they had offended, relying on an assessment that they were likely to offend in the future.
On Friday, Bishop North sought to reopen the debate: “This issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency. The church will not be safe unless we are able to remove clergy and officers who demonstrably pose a danger to children and vulnerable adults.
“The decision made in 2014 must be revisited and a failure to do so in the light of the Blackburn case would be unconscionable.”
Changes to the rules relating to risk assessments were approved by the General Synod in July without debate, and do not touch on the issues that Bishop North has raised. The Clergy Conduct Measure (CCM), which is in its final stages of drafting, will, if it receives final approval, replace the CDM.
Bishop North welcomed the change, and said the CCM “will address many of the current weaknesses”.
But a disciplinary process “is only as good as those who administer it”, and also required “just and fair determinations that are based on the evidence with a focus on that which will keep the church safe”, he wrote.
Several attempts to bring a CDM case against Canon Hindley were refused permission to proceed by a judge. One of these, described in Tuesday evening’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s File on 4, related to Canon Hindley’s conduct at a drinks party in the cathedral gardens, after which he was accused of having indecently assaulted a woman, kissed an under-age girl, and improperly touched two men.
Canon Hindley denied wrongdoing, the BBC reported, and a judge dismissed the complaint, saying that “some alcohol appeared to flow pretty freely, and, while alcohol provides no defence to assault, for assault to be constituted there has to be some degree of deliberation.”
On Friday, Bishop North called for an appeal mechanism, to “avoid another situation similar to that which arose in Blackburn Cathedral”.
Church House, Westminster, was approached for comment on Bishop North’s proposals.
In a statement responding to the original BBC investigation, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York said that the C of E “has made huge strides in safeguarding in the past 10 years particularly in listening to the voices of survivors and victims.
“However, this case, which goes back many years, shows that we are still working to get our processes right and we must learn from the mistakes of the past.”
ON TUESDAY, a statement from the trustees of Blackburn Cathedral acknowledged failures in the case, and refers to “the systemic nature of the institutional failures within the Church of England that prevented Blackburn Cathedral from dealing effectively with the concerns”.
The statement, signed by the Dean of Blackburn, the Very Revd Peter Howell-Jones, points readers to an October 2023 publication about “lessons learnt”. It summarises improvements to which the cathedral had committed itself in response to an independent review, but provides no detail about the issue that prompted it.
Commitments are made to being “more proactive and transparent in our dealings with whistleblowers and survivors”, and to ensuring that they feel “safe, supported, listened to and updated about outcomes”.
There are commitments to “cultural change” in the cathedral, and to working “urgently and determinedly” with the wider Church “on critically important matters such as improving clergy & staff discipline, employment law & policies and safeguarding case management”.
Tuesday’s statement says that “the Cathedral has worked and continues to work assiduously to improve its safeguarding culture, policies and procedures to ensure everyone is, and feels, safe.”