by Julian Mann, Anglican Ink
The censure of a Church of England cleric over the John Smyth abuse scandal is actually a victory for traditional Anglican doctrine and practice.
The C of E announced on August 6 that a Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal has upheld a complaint by the Church’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) against the Revd Canon Andrew Cornes.
The C of E press release said: ‘The Tribunal was satisfied that in 1982 Mr Cornes received a disclosure of abuse from a victim and survivor of John Smyth. The Tribunal found that Mr Cornes was under a duty, as part of his office as a priest in the Church of England, to take action to protect the young and vulnerable from harm by reporting the information he received, and that by failing to do so he was neglectful in the performance of his duties.’
After the tribunal ruling against Cornes, the Revd Bernard N. Howard, a respected commentator on the various abuse scandals in English conservative evangelicalism, posted on X:
‘Finally, nearly ten years after John Smyth’s abuse was exposed by Channel 4 News, at least one Church of England minister has been formally censured for negligence.’
Howard posted the most significant part of the tribunal’s ruling: