Bishop Jonathan speaks of vital importance of safeguarding

The Bishop of Huddersfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gibbs, has been speaking about safeguarding in the Church of England, and how we are improving our response after past failings.
In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Bishop Jonathan spoke about how we are making a commitment to improving the protection and care of those who are vulnerable, and how we are making sure all are treated with compassion, dignity and love.
Bishop Jonathan said: "We're on a journey in terms of making sure that every parish looks after the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and that safeguarding is looked after from the bottom to the top.
"We recognise that in the past, our response hasn't been good enough, hasn't been compassionate enough, hasn't been careful enough."
"What we've got now in the Church of England is a commitment from the very top, from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, right down to the parishes, to make sure that our churches are places that are addressing safeguarding seriously and that there is a zero-tolerance approach to abuse.
"Of course, we must never, ever be complacent and so, there's now compulsory training for clergy and all those who are working with children and young people."
He also talked about where this vital work sits in a wider world context: "Safeguarding is obviously a crucially important issue, but I do see it also with the #MeToo movement and, I would also mention, the Black Lives Matter movement. 
“All of these things I would say come together, because this is about treating every single human being with dignity and ensuring they're met with compassion and love, especially when they're in a vulnerable position.
"It has been a painful time for our whole society in recent years as we've come to terms with issues where people have suffered, and the crucial thing is that we're on a journey of change."
The full interview with the Yorkshire Post can be read here.

Powered by Church Edit