A HEAD had to roll for safeguarding failures in the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s is the only one that “rolls well enough”, Archbishop Welby told the House of Lords on Thursday.
He began his valedictory speech with some remarks about his decision to resign — the first public comments that he has made since the statement three weeks ago announcing his decision (News, 12 November).
“The reality is that there comes a time, if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll. And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough,” he said.
It was announced on Wednesday that Archbishop Welby would formally cease to be Archbishop on 6 January, and would not be taking part in Advent and Christmas services at Canterbury Cathedral (News, 5 December).
His final speech in the House of Lords focused on issues of housing and homelessness, an area in which the Church of England has been increasingly vocal during the course of his time as Archbishop (News, 26 November). Peers speaking after Archbishop Welby paid tribute to his contributions on this and other subjects in the House of Lords.
On safeguarding in the Church of England, Archbishop Welby said that it is now “a completely different picture to the past”. Credit for this should go to “thousands and tens of thousands of people across the Church, particularly in parishes”, he said.
“However, when I look back at the last 50 or 60 years, not only through the eyes of the Makin report, however one takes one view of personal responsibility, it was clear that I had to stand down, and it is for that reason that I did so.”
He began his speech with a joke, saying that, if you want to make God laugh, make plans. “On that basis, next year, I will be causing God more hilarity than anyone else for many years,” he said, as so much had been planned for his expected last year in office.
His final speech in the Lords was attended by six of the other Bishops who sit in the House of Lords, including the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, who will take on his duties as metropolitan of the province of Canterbury from Epiphany.