Why the Church of England shouldn’t need a safeguarding institution - Sir Andrew Cook

Dealing with matters sexual, whatever the Ten Commandments may say about not committing adultery – a concept devised originally to protect a man’s proprietary right in his wife, the ‘hewer of wood and drawer of water’ of biblical times, the Lord did not expect a man to suffer misery in his marriage, nor did he decree a clergyman to be celibate.

So what are the real issues? I suggest they are conscience – the Christian conscience - and denial: denial of the role of conscience in regulating the power of clergymen and women.

And here I return to Archbishop Welby. I doubt he played any direct part in the crimes of John Smythe, but he cannot deny being aware of them and, if not exactly turning a blind eye, at least seeing them through, shall we say, a frosted glass: a glass which he conveniently allowed to blur his conscience and ignore the sadism which was endemic within certain quarters of the Anglican church and its Roman Catholic counterpart.

Whether a distorted relic of the concept of ‘muscular Christianity’ or an outright and naked evil, the Smyth outrage was not an isolated incident but reflected a deeper-rooted perversion lurking within both Anglican and Roman Catholic denominations. An addiction to inflicting corporal punishment was not unusual among certain elements of the clergy when I was at private schools, and this poisonous fetish went up to the highest levels.

Archbishop Fisher – yes, he who crowned the late Queen Elizabeth II – was reputed to have been a notorious proponent when headmaster of Repton, and I personally recall other men of the cloth whose dog collars failed to conceal their similar bullying cruelty. From what I have learned from my catholic contemporaries, the so-called ‘Christian Brothers’ charged with their education were even worse.

Although most clergymen I have since encountered truly reflected the Christian values of kindness and understanding, it does appear that the private boarding schools of the time provided a useful sanctuary for those with sadistic tendencies.

It is a shame most of the culprits are in their graves, as I would have welcomed them, and their secular colleagues, meeting condign retribution. As it is, may those still alive be quaking in their shoes, lest they be brought to justice for their past crimes. “Vengeance is mine”, said the Lord, but deterrence is a different matter.

So where does that leave the Church of England? All institutions are the sum of their parts, in the C of E’s case, the individual men and women who have joined it to serve Christ and His flock. They shouldn’t need a ‘Safeguarding Institution’ to police them.

To these persons, however high or low, I say ‘examine your conscience’. Archbishop Welby should have examined his more closely, and if he had, it should have told him to stamp out this embedded sadism, root and branch.

Christians are supposed to know the difference between right and wrong without being monitored by ‘safeguarders’ and if they don’t, and their consciences don’t tell them, there is no place for them in the Christian community.

Sir Andrew Cook is a British industrialist and author