NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In his sermon on Sunday (Nov. 17), Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town, the Anglican primate of Southern Africa, warned that reports of abuse by church leaders will likely rise in the wake of the resignation of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over his handling of child abuse allegations.
Welby quit on Nov. 12, after an investigation found that he had not reported the sexual and physical abuses committed by John Smyth, a barrister, educator and Christian camp director from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Smyth ran camps in Zimbabwe and later moved to South Africa, where he died in 2018.
Makgoba said the Smyth case, and Welby’s resignation, was a reminder for Anglicans to be on the watch for abuse.
“We must also not be naïve. The publicity around this case will generate more reports of abuse from the past, so far unknown to the church’s leadership,” Makgoba said in his sermon. “The Safe and Inclusive Church Commission has republished its contact details,” said the bishop, referring to a panel established in 2016 to offer resources on abuse. “I encourage anyone who knows of abuse to report it to them.”
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The archbishop said that he was aware of Smyth’s presence in his diocese and said the bishop of an English diocese wrote to the Diocese of Cape Town in 2013, warning that Smyth was accused of abuse in Britain and Zimbabwe.
According to Makgoba, Smyth had worshipped in a parish in Cape Town briefly two decades ago and again toward the end of his life, but the church had never received any reports suggesting he abused or groomed young people in that time. Makgoba explained that without any evidence, the diocese could not take any action under canon law and did not know of any crime to report to the police.
“Consequently, I am consulting the Safe and Inclusive Church Commission, which pursues abuses vigorously, as well as our chancellors, who give us legal advice, to work out terms of reference of a review of whether the diocese, and I personally, met our obligation to keep you safe, and what we could do better,” he said.
The prelate blamed “the culture of bad decision-making, marked by secrecy, of yesteryear, in which we hid such heinous acts is what has crippled us today.”
“We cannot bury our heads in the sand in shame and become invisible as the body of Christ. We are resurrection people,” said Makgoba.
The response to Welby’s resignation among Anglican church leaders in Africa has been complicated by their criticism of Welby’s position on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ inclusion, and their membership in GAFCON, a movement of Anglican and dissenting church leaders that has repudiated Welby’s leadership because of his position on sexuality.
