Bishops bashed, redefined as “Bullies” in new Oxford Thesaurus
by Jules Gomes, Rebel Priest:
The world’s largest thesaurus containing over 230,000 categories with 800,000 meanings is being updated this week to include the word “bishop” as a synonym for “bully”, Oxford University Press has said.
The decision to add “bishop” as a verbal equivalent of “bully” was taken by chief editor Professor Verity Wordsworth along with her team of four co-editors following the first day of hearings by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which began on Monday in London.
What drew the attention of the Oxford Thesaurus editorial team to the pathology of power among bishops in the Church of England was the headline in the Church Times reporting on the first day of the IICSA hearings, a press release from Oxford University Press stated. “Bishops were ‘perfect accomplices’ for ‘nauseating’ Peter Ball, IICSA hears,” the headline read.
The Oxford Thesaurus team who read through the IICSA transcripts were struck by the Rev Graham Sawyer’s testimony. Sawyer suffered unimaginable sexual abuse at the hands of Peter Ball, former Bishop of Lewes and later Bishop of Gloucester. When Sawyer tried to bring Ball to justice, bishops closed ranks and ganged up to bully Sawyer into silent submission.
“Let me make this clear – the sexual abuse that I suffered at the hands of Peter Ball, pales into insignificance when compared to the cruel/sadistic nature meted out to me by the Church of England,” Sawyer told the hearing.
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