Accountability

Musings on institutions

Accountability is probably the clearest evidence of actions creating consequences. Victims in any field (and much more frequently voters in every election) crave it while politicos dance away from it. I admire the British system which often demands accountability more often than we do on this side of the pond. Parliament instantly investigates national calamities, posting the results and requiring the Prime Minister to answer questions on the floor of the Commons in additional. Institutions besides government often investigate problems, then publish the results as well.

Accountability does not necessarily eradicate the consequences, of course, but this process does engender recognition that something went terribly wrong. Those entrusted with guiding an institution have to be ready to be accountable for that trust.

The Church of England (CoE), that most establishment of religious structures within Great Britain, confronted accountability this week when the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverand Justin Welby, resigned. This came fully a decade after the Archbishop failed to hold a Queen’s Counsellor accountable for repeatedly abusing boys at CoE camps in Britain and in southern Africa despite a cascade of evidence. Further, the Welby’s resulting tolerance dates to 2013, the year he certainly knew specifically of these actions when he became the Archbishop of Canterbury, the loftiest position within the hierarchy. Welby’s choice to silent arguably facilitated Smyth’s on-going behavior prior to his death in South Africa six years ago, including a manslaughter incident for which he was not convicted but charged. The details on the pattern of abuse, much like those of sexual abuse by priests of the Roman Catholic Church of the United States, are nothing short of horrifying. Welby’s departure resulted after a newer report about the abuser, John Smyth, appeared ten days ago.

Welby’s resignation does nothing to resolve the pain or to reverse the damage for the dozens of boys assaulted physically with a cane, psychologically, or sexually by Smyth. The resignation does force the CoE to consider accountability, hierarchy, and power since the Church received credible accusations against Smyth in 2012, sparking the investigation of which Welby knew. But, abuse is a permanent scar on the abused, their families and a Church already wracked by divisions across the world on a number of issues.

While the Church of England is not precisely the Episcopal Church in the United States, their doctrinal roots are the same as I understand them. I don’t profess to be authoritative except in recognizing profound tensions within the global Anglican Communion regarding divisive questions such as the ordination of women, the mandate of heterosexuality, and other social positions rooted in Church doctrine. Since the King leads the Church within the United Kingdom, Charles III will ultimately oversee the process of replacing the Archbishop but the stories I read indicated this will be far from a simple task. How could if it be healing is genuinely desired?

The more pertinent question to me is about how to any institution or individual can make amends for this sort of institutional irresponsibility. Welby’s decade-plus tenure as the Archbishop will forever be blackened by this tragedy. I suspect the century-old seeming gulf between religious devotion and contemporary lifestyle for the majority of Britons will only accelerate but I may be woefully out of touch. One of the most interesting things I find when visiting any portion of that country is that each and every town retains a Church at the heart of the town (no matter the latter’s size), often simply beautiful in its structure, interior, and lighting. Yet I wonder how many congregants attend services regularly? Perhaps services are overflowing but that is not my impression.

We have a dear friend who departed the Church for the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, largely because of the CoE anointing women as priests. The expansion of anointments coincides with greater societal norms for women. This all occurs in a society torn asunder by two massive conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century, wars creating almost incalculable death and destruction despite the promises the Church offered. Could that have factored into CoE (and the other Christian faiths) seeming less relevant than other cultural aspects in contemporary Britain?

Coincidentally, those professing deep and abiding commitments to Christianity thrive in the United States. Is this because the Church has no undergone the disappointments of war or of abuse cases? Hardly; the Catholic Church in 2024 remains shaken to its fundamental core by the seemingly endless catalog of abuses conducted by priests against many in their flocks. Yet it was the institutions Americans held accountable rather than the Faith since less traditional Christian congregations abound.

We simply view traditional institutions radically differently as we believe governance—religious, secular or anything else—doesn’t do well with intermediaries. Americans don’t like anything that smacks of having layers of intervention between us and the ultimate decision-maker in faith, governance, or schools. That doesn’t mean that church pews are more empty in this era (quite the contrary as congregations in the megachurches rival that of small college football stadia at times) because people are filling the churches less in line with formally educated and institutionally accredited religious leaders in favor of those we trust as closer to us. I know evangelical and pentacostal congregations exist elsewhere in the world but I don’t think they are nearly as prolific in the U.K. as more traditional “high churches” with relatively orthodox litanies and more traditional ceremonies linked to the overall structure of society. This strikes me as pretty different from our more decentralized, individualized approach.

But none of those differences answer how any church truly holds accountable those who do not act upon misdeeds once they are knowns. Put more directly, it’s hard to see the consequences improving for those victimized by these incidents, even when the top echelon retires. I am not sure this is all that different for any institution as humans are humans are humans. All institutions face crises as do most of us as individuals.

Why did Welby wait? Why did the rest of his flock not force a change? Why so many questions.

The probable answer seems rather pervasive and yet realistic, if flawed: humans prefer to believe they can do better when they continue in power, continue serving. Perhaps they do. I am hardly qualified to judge Justin Welby except to note he took the step ultimately, albeit surprisingly slowly, to abdicate his position as Archbishop. (I wish I had done things differently in various jobs I held so I should not cast stones.)

But I do note that in Britain where respect for institutions seems higher than in this country these days. The propensity we have to embrace fully the individual at all costs strikes me as likely creating less overall accountability but perhaps I am merely cynical. Citizens and parishioners do have a role as well, of course.

In the end, John Smyth’s horrifying damage cannot be reversed for those youngsters he touched. Hopefully the current and future youth cohorts will live under better supervised conditions in the future. But the answer to that question will rest, to some extent, on society’s willingness to operate under shared norms. Will those shared norms be good or bad? Will people feel empowered to raise issues once they are ignored the first time or the thirty-third? Welby’s action this past week recognizes that; will the same be true in other cases in the future, regardless of the position the individual holds? I am not sure, though whatever the consequences may be dreadful for those affected by perpetrators of whatever actions.

I welcome your thoughts. Some of the readers of Actions create Consequences are in the United Kingdom so they likely have strong views. Others of you are here, potentially with dramatically different analyses of our own leadership challenges regardless of faith or field. I genuinely would like to hear from you.

Thank you for your time. If you see value, please feel free to circulate this column. Thank you to the subscribers whose resources support me reading so many global sources as I write each day.

Things clouded over later this morning but the sunrise was again a colorful one.

Be well and be safe. FIN

Tom McArthur, “Church covered up ‘abhorrent’ abuse, report finds”, BBCNews.com, 7 November 2024, retrieved at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje0y3gqw1po

Amy Walker, “The abuse scandal that led to the archbishop’s resignation”, BBCNews.com, 12 November 2024, retrieved at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5l7116g1o