Despite being a proven sexual abuser, Rev David Tudor was a senior clergyman in the Diocese of Chelmsford until he was finally banned at a tribunal last month.
He could scarcely have been a more obvious and widespread safeguarding risk. In 1988, he admitted to having sex with a 16 year old and only avoided a jail term because his conviction for indecently assaulting three girls was overturned on a technicality.
After a five year prohibition, he was allowed to return to parish ministry in the 1990s, he faced more complaints in 2005, which resulted in a suspension, followed by a safeguarding agreement introduced in January 2008. This prevented Tudor from being alone with children or entering schools in Essex, yet despite this restriction, just seven months later, the former Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin, appointed Tudor as Area Dean of Hadleigh, with responsibilty for twelve parishes.
In 2010 Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, the current Archbishop of York, became Bishop of Chelmsford and it is said he was briefed immediately about the situation but did nothing.
Today, Cottrell claimed that he took no action against Tudor because he was hamstrung by 'due process':
“… it was not possible to remove David Tudor from office until such time as fresh complaints were made” and “Up until 2019, there were no legal grounds to take alternative action”.
His difficulty in ridding his diocese of a proven sexual abuser is in stark contrast to his willingness to drive out clergy who were guilty of nothing more than having the temerity to disagree with his attempts to change the Church of England’s stance on issues of human sexuality. The respect for legal strictures, which he claims so constrained him in relation to a known abuser, curiously did not worry him so much when he was trying to force out clergy guilty of no more than upholding Church teaching.
In June 2019, clergy in the Diocese of Chelmsford claimed that Cottrell told “more than 30” that if they didn't agree with his diocese's approach to sexuality they could quit the Church of England.
The furore centred around Rev John Parker – who resigned as the governor of a Church of England primary school in the Diocese of Chelmsford over its handling of a child's 'gender transition' and who Cottrell told he could leave the denomination.
John Parker told the Daily Mail: “I was basically told by my bishop that if I wished to faithfully follow the teachings of the Bible then I was no longer welcome in the Church. It felt very much like the Church… were silencing me”.
In another statement Revd Parker said this was, “…the clearest possible instance of what Bishop Stephen had previously told me - that my Biblical views on sexuality were not welcome in the Church of England and that I “could leave”.
Cottrell denied that he had, “…as has been claimed, ask or imply that he should leave the Church of England on account of his views on the matter in question, or that he was not welcome." And that "It is important to state these things not to further exacerbate the issue, but to reassure you whatever your views on these issues, that the Diocese of Chelmsford has not forced a priest from office."
The clergy disagreed.
Revd Mark Holdaway, Rector of St Michael’s Kirby-le-Soken with All Saints, Great Holland said. “We are all concerned about the growing climate of intolerance and the number of clergy who are finding their position in the Church of England increasingly untenable.”
A spokesman for the clergy, Rev Kieran Bush, was clear as to Cottrell’s treatment of evangelicals.
"The truth is that Stephen Cottrell has, on more than one occasion, told clergy, including John Parker, that if we disagree with the approach the Diocese is taking on matters of human sexuality we should follow our consciences and leave. There were more than thirty clergy at one of the meetings."
So much for Cottrell’s commitment to due process with respect to his clergy.
Given what has subsequently become clear about the degree of honesty of the Archbishop of York’s most public and important of statements, it is difficult not to conclude that the version of events favoured by Chelmsford clergy, at much personal cost, is to be preferred over Cottrell’s self-serving one.
Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell is a man capable of telling clergy, who merely disagree with him on revising the Church's teaching, not just to leave his diocese but to leave the Church of England.
Whatever their supposed security of tenure, Cottrell is not shy of leaving people in no doubt as to their position. If the Archbishop of York wanted to treat a sexually abusive vicar with the same ruthlessness as he did traditionalist clergy he could have done so.
Gavin Drake, journalist and former Director of Communications for the Anglican Communion writes, "The position of Area Dean is the gift of the bishop and can be granted and removed at will." Similarly, it would have been possible for Cottrell, as Bishop of Chelmsford to refuse to install Tudor as a Canon of the Cathedral.
That Cottrell did not choose to do so was his call. Instead, he decided to treat a paeodophile with kid gloves while taking a heavy handed approach to those with whom he disagreed. John Parker is not the only one to be on the receiving end of the Archbishop of York's 'directness'. General Synod member, Benjamin John, could tell his own tale of being dismissed and demeaned in public by Stephen Cottrell.
These are just some of the reasons, together with his multiple other safeguarding failings, that his resignation should follow that of his archiepiscopal colleague from Canterbury.
To pretend ithat he is properly placed, however temporarily, to take the place of Justin Welby, to participate in choosing his successor, to preside at February’s General Synod and to oversee the crucial upcoming months in Church of England safeguarding is only going to bring the Church into further disrepute.
It is time to quit. He has the power. It's time to (just) do it.
With thanks to dixmedia from Unsplash for image
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