The Diocese of Westminster and the main Catholic safeguarding agency have backed a survivor of abuse in the Catholic Church who is calling for her former parish priest’s MBE to be forfeited.
The woman gave evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse where she was known as witness A711.
She told the inquiry that from the late 1970s onwards, then aged 15 years old, she was groomed and sexually abused by her local parish priest who was a member of the Servite Order. She said abuse continued during her university years and that when she was 24 years old he raped her. Many years later, she received a qualified apology from him, according to the inquiry, which published its final report in October last year.
After reading the criteria for forfeiting honours, set down by the Cabinet Office, A711 contacted the government department, explaining why she believes the priest should no longer retain his MBE, given to him for his care of the elderly and the vulnerable.
The Diocese of Westminster, which took over her case and is involved in talks with the Vatican to laicise the priest, has written in support of the survivor to the Cabinet Office, confirming that “the information provided is accurate”, given to them by A711. So has the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA), with chief executive Steve Ashley confirming her as an adviser on abuse to them, saying she works “with honesty and integrity”.
However, the Religious Life Safeguarding Service says that it can’t be involved as it could harm its relationship with the abuser. According to its chair, Anne O’Brien, “writing in support of the removal [of the MBE] could jeopardise lines of communication and cooperation with both the individual and his Religious Life Group and so significantly increase risk.”
Dani Wardman, chief executive of the service, told The Tablet, “As the principal safeguarding authority in this case, our top priority is to manage and mitigate risk, and our relationship with the individual accused of causing harm, and his Religious Life Group, is key to that. Given the support given by other parts of the Church to the request to the Cabinet Office for the MBE to be forfeited, we do not believe that our endorsement would add materially to the likelihood of it succeeding, but we are concerned that it would adversely affect communications with the individual and undermining the safeguarding regime in place, and diminish our ability to prevent the possibility of future offending.”
A711 told The Tablet that she was very disappointed by the RLSS decision. “That they have refused to support my request to the Cabinet Office seems quite incredible. They are putting the abuser’s interests before the victim’s. The support from both the CSSA and the Diocese of Westminster highlights the questionable position taken by the RLSS.”
Danny Sullivan, who chaired the National Catholic Safeguarding Service from 2012-2015, said: “It is a remarkable reflection of a poorly structured set-up, when you have the CSSA and the diocese saying yes to support and the RLSS saying no”.
Richard Scorer, who has acted for several victims who have suffered abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, including A711, said: “Possession of an MBE could be misused by an abuser to lull others into a false sense of security around him; it is a badge of respectability and if they accept that he represents a risk to others then it’s a badge they should want removed.”
A spokesman for Westminster explained, “With respect to the letter, the diocese considers it is important to assist in this matter because it recognises how important this is to A711, and it is a way of supporting her. It is also a way of ensuring that the Cabinet Office has the information it requires as it follows due process if it decides that there is a basis on which to instigate the process to rescind the MBE.”
The priest wrote to A711 in 2017, apologising “for all and any sexual activity towards you which I may have thought consensual, but which has come to be deemed non-consensual and abusive”. The Servite Order paid her compensation.
Meanwhile, the Mandate Now pressure group is among those groups protesting that a year after the main IICSA report was published, for 18 out of the 20 recommendations, “no tangible action has been promised by government”.
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