Mark Abrey

Anglican priest, sorry ‘limiting factor’, husband and father struggling to balance all three. Learning the art of coaching and weaving

[MartinSewell @SewellMartin]

I think it’s time for Anglicans to tell their Archbishops bluntly.

We cannot read the INIQE report and have any confidence that Safeguarding will improve whilst obstructive Senior Officers remain in place. First departure must be the Secretary General, William Nye.

Please r/t

[Robert Thompson (he/him) @Rgt71Robert]

Totally this Joanne Grenfell needs to go.
Victims and survivors called and call her ‘absent Grenfell’.

Says it all really.

Although her behaviour only embodies our wider culture in which so many bishops actually refuse to meet with victims and survivors.

That is appalling.
Truly appalling.

I have experienced it when the bishops that I have served under both area and Diocesan have absolutely refused to meet with people that I have been supporting.

There is a radical and fundamental need for the reform of the episcopacy in order to change our Safeguarding culture.

The reform of the episcopacy is the first step towards becoming
more Christian
more Christlike
more with Christ the abused one.

[Br. Shepard @brshepardsbbs]

Offering Compline this night for those who are carrying something tender they don’t yet understand.

May God hold it gently, and grant you rest.

[Jane Chevous 💙💜⛵ @ReshapersCIC]

'Vexatious' = the desperate acts of survivors who have been wounded & crushed by decades of struggling to be heard, taken seriously & served justice & reparation. Clearly the President needs training in trauma. I offer my services.

[Ihab Hassan @IhabHassane]

A video of Father Pierre, the parish priest of the village of Al-Qlayaa in southern Lebanon, ringing the bell of his church.

He refused to leave his parish and his town, saying that the only weapons they carry are peace, love, and prayer.

Today, Father Pierre Al-Rai was killed by Israeli army artillery shelling.

[Robert Thompson (he/him) @Rgt71Robert]

Another safeguarding complaint involving @ArchbishopSarah has been dismissed, with the tribunal ruling the survivor’s appeal “vexatious”!!

Now perhaps that is legally correct.
But the pattern is wearyingly familiar:
the Church says the survivor was “let down by processes”… and yet somehow the processes fail while the powerful remain untouched.

In @churchofengland & @dioceseoflondon
safeguarding language is now impeccably polished:
The statements are careful.
The reviews are thorough.
The tribunals are precise.

But to the many of us in the church
and those in the outside world
it still looks like the same old ecclesiastical reflex:

the institution absorbs the criticism
and the hierarchy absorbs none of the responsibility.

You cannot rebuild trust with survivors while the system still resembles bishops adjudicating the conduct of bishops.
It’s pathetically amoral.

Or, to put it plainly:
If the Church keeps winning the legal case
but losing the moral one,
eventually people stop believing the verdict.

I again call on Sarah Mullally to consider her position. Her moral authority is very low indeed.

https://t.co/3qvmBlWeG1

[Andrew Graystone @AndrewGraystone]

SO much wrong with the church, evidenced by this case. 🧵https://t.co/suL6Gj7k6W

[MartinSewell @SewellMartin]

I have come to the conclusion that every Church of England Bishop has a total commitment to good safeguarding practice and integrity… in other peoples’ Dioceses.

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

The Church of England is about to get a new figurehead, a year after Justin Welby quit, following this programme's revelations that he'd failed to do enough to stop serial abuser John Smyth.

But tonight we can reveal that the Church is facing calls to postpone the appointment of Sarah Mullally, the woman picked to succeed him, over allegations she too failed to act - this time to prevent a priest taking his own life.

We've been investigating the circumstances leading up to the death of Father Alan Griffin, and what Bishop Sarah knew about a secret dossier containing lies and gossip about the priest's private life.

Warning: this report contains discussion of suicide.

[George Russell @G_T_Russell]

@TheJupitersays @Rgt71Robert IMHO, it is indefensible for @churchofengland, the state church in England, to refuse to celebrate SSM (cf DK/NO/SE!). Take your pick: disestablishment or celebrate "love in all its forms" [the theme of @KensingtonRoyal's Christmas service at Westminster Abbey next month ... ]

[Charlie Bączyk-Bell 🏳️‍🌈 @charliebelllive]

‘Though we have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because these queers keep bothering us, we will grant them justice, so that they may not wear me out by continually coming.’

[Mark Abrey @markabrey]

@charliebelllive Same

[Charlie Bączyk-Bell 🏳️‍🌈 @charliebelllive]

There is much to be said, in due course, about this betrayal.

For now, one thing stands out. There is not a single mention of LGBTQIA people in this statement.

This was supposed to be about us, with us, for us.

It is none of those things.

https://t.co/zfNtwN4Ry6

[MartinSewell @SewellMartin]

My best advice to ++ Sarah Mullally on the Safeguarding front is:-
1) Be plainly transparent humble and penitent
2) Re-read “Letters to a Broken Church” before taking up office and note what still needs to be done.

[Fr Alex Frost (The God Cast & Argos to the Altar) @alexdjfrost]

In the last 24 hours as a supporter of the new @churchofengland ABC some comments from some individuals masqueradeing as 'Christians' has been grotesquely vile. Just a smidgeon of what Sarah's probably received herself. All the more need for your prayers for her!

[Will Ross @MrWillRoss]

A #prayer tonight for all those who try to do a little good, in whatever way is open to them. You may think you achieve nothing or very little - but you make a real difference and the world is better because of you. So thank you ..

[Mark Abrey @markabrey]

@shaunobrien_ So sorry.

[Mark Abrey @markabrey]

@LizziGreen2 Holding you all in prayer