London -
The Methodist Church on Thursday made an “unreserved” public apology for failing to protect children and vulnerable adults after an investigation uncovered nearly 2 000 cases of abuse within the institution.
The independent inquiry revealed 1 885 cases of alleged abuse linked to the church in Britain, the largest proportion of which were of a sexual nature, dating back to the 1950s.
The 100-page report also disclosed that many serving church ministers and staff helped to protect colleagues who carried out abuse.
One case concerned the grooming of teenage girls on Facebook while another involved a minister allegedly making sexual advances to children.
Methodist general secretary, the Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, said the cases of abuse would remain “a deep source of grief and shame to the church”.
He said: “On behalf of the Methodist Church in Britain I want to express an unreserved apology for the failure of its current and earlier processes fully to protect children, young people and adults from physical and sexual abuse inflicted by some ministers.”
He described as “deeply regrettable” the fact that the church had not always listened properly to abuse victims and had not always cared for them.
Report chairman Jane Stacey, former deputy chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, called for a culture change in the church. Ministers of religion were in an almost unique position of trust at very vulnerable times in people’s lives, she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
The church commissioned the review, which took three years to complete, because it said it wanted to be open about the past and to have stronger safeguarding procedures in the future.
It received 2 556 responses and identified 1 885 cases, including alleged sexual, physical, emotional and domestic abuse, as well as cases of neglect.
Complaints of sexual abuse accounted for 914 cases and ministers or lay employees were involved in 26 per cent of the alleged cases.
In 61 of these cases there was contact with the police and there are six ongoing police investigations as a result.
There were 200 Methodist ministers identified as perpetrators or alleged perpetrators within the report.
It also identified that there was a problem with those working in the Methodist Church being unable to believe or act on allegations against their colleagues. Worryingly, the report revealed that the number of perpetrators has remained consistent over the past 12 years and shows “no sign of decline”.
One abuse survivor said: “I have learnt that it is impossible to recover from sexual abuse when no one recognises the seriousness of it. My church did not want a scandal, my parents did not want a scandal.
“I was left to feel worthless and devalued, while the man was left to get on with his life and for all I know repeat the crime with someone else. I was emotionally and physically devastated.”
STORIES of the suffering of victims made up a large section of the report into abuse.
One unnamed man attended a Methodist-founded school and was abused by a teacher who would take him into his private room.
He felt unable to speak about what had happened to him until the report gave him an opportunity to come forward.
“I just hated every minute of it,” he told the BBC.
“The teacher involved would come into my dormitory in his dressing gown and shout my name and I would be taken to his room where I was probably there for 15, 20, 25 minutes per time.
“I tried to put everything in the back of my mind and disbelieve what happened.”
Another victim, now in her 50s, told the review she had been groped by a Methodist minister’s husband between the ages of 12 and 14.
Despite reporting the incident, it seems no action was taken and the man went on to abuse again.
In another case, a Methodist minister who was jailed for sexually assaulting children was allowed to retire on compassionate grounds.
The report said: “This has caused great offence to his victims.”
Many of the cases involved Methodist workers and ministers who were caught molesting young boys or having indecent images and returned to the church to continue the abuse.
Daily Mail