More senior clergy may be forced to resign Church of England child abuse scandala senior bishop said this.

Most Rev Justin Welby resigned yesterday Following mounting pressure over her handling of serial harasser John Smythe.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Bishop of Birkenhead, the Rt Rev Julie Conalty, warned that her resignation “will not solve the problem”.

He said: “I think he did the right thing; Words were not and are not enough, but this is about institutional change.

“This is about our culture. This is about a systemic failure. So there must be more we need to do.

“I think there are probably other people who should go too, I’m not here to name names.”

Victims urged two bishops and a deputy minister to follow Archbishop They decided to resign due to their involvement in the scandal.

The Bishop of Lincoln, the Revd Stephen Conway, is among the most senior clergy called on to resign.

According to the Makin review, a Smyth victim, who wished to remain anonymous, notified Bishop Conway’s then-diocese about the allegations against Smyth in 2013.

The report found Bishop Conway was in a “strong position” to ensure police referrals and investigations were made, but “opportunities were missed” under his leadership.

Another bishop who has faced pressure to stand down over the scandal is the Rev. Dr. Bishop of Diocesan Ministry of the Anglican Communion Office in London. Jo Bailey Wells.

Bishop Wells was working as personal chaplain for the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace in 2013.

But the report found he did not contact police about a protection referral that raised concerns about Smyth.

Bishop Conalty also said the Church of England was “not a safe institution” and could not currently guarantee that abuse would not continue.

He said: “It’s frustrating for me because in many ways we work really hard to make churches safer places.

“No institution, nothing can be completely safe, but there is some really good work being done and what frustrates me is that we have this institutional problem of not putting victims and survivors at the centre. We are not a secure institution.

“And it’s very frustrating for the volunteers who work as congregational guards for people in congregations and pastorates, doing everything they can to make their activities safe.”

Best Rev Justin Welby He said that became clear on Tuesday “Personal and corporate responsibility must be taken” for the “long and retraumatizing” period after Smyth was made aware of the allegations in 2013, during which he was not brought to justice and his survivors were repeatedly failed by the Church.

Bishop Conalty said the reason there were “so many” abuse scandals in the Church was because the church was “not moving as quickly as other institutions” on child protection.

Asked if he could guarantee that child abuse is not currently going on, he said: “No, of course I can’t.

“But no one in any institution can do this.

“I truly believe that our individual churches and our individual activities are safer than they used to be. But that’s not the problem we’re looking at here.

“What we’re looking at specifically is this cultural failure that we still have, and I think the arrogance that we still have in the church, that we’re not seeing what we need to see.

“And we do not act with enough energy, as the Archbishop said.

“We do not put this issue at the top of our agenda. “We don’t prioritize this as much as we should.”

Archbishop of York: No need for bishops to resign anymore

But the second-most senior Archbishop of the Church of England said there was no longer any need for bishops to resign because of his handling of historic abuses.

The Archbishop of York, Prior Stephen Cottrell, said Prior Justin Welby took “personal responsibility for institutional failures” by resigning on Tuesday.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said of those he thought should be pursuing this case: “It wasn’t the bishops who were actively covering this up.

“We need to remember that when people talk about the Church of England we are talking about literally thousands of branches, parishes, presbyteries in hospitals, schools, prisons.”

He said he read the “sobering” Makin review with “shock, dismay and deep sadness.”

“Some people covered this up quite systematically, and those people need to be held accountable,” he continued.

“I admire (the Archbishop’s) decision to take personal responsibility for institutional failures.

“That’s the paradox of this; I believe that great strides have been made in the preservation of the Church under his supervision.

“But in this case, maybe he relied too much on others.

“I would say there are lessons we can learn.

“We do what needs to be done through our synodal processes, where many changes have to go through parliament itself.

“I’m disappointed this took time.”

He said he believed in the “current plan” and that the recommendations would be presented to the General Assembly next year.

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