For the past eight years I have been the chairman of the Diocese of Plymouth’s Safeguarding Commission and I will soon hand over to my successor. The role has been challenging and difficult, and regrettably has had a major impact on how I view the Church and those who have positions of leadership within it. I cannot begin to explain the disgust I have felt about cases I have read and been involved with. Yet I have tried to look beyond this and to draw the distinction between the evil that man is capable of and my faith in God. So many times I have had to explain to friends, colleagues and family why it is that I am prepared to serve in the safeguarding role which some have wrongly perceived to be helping the cause of a disgraced Church. Against this background I was disgusted to rea