A COMPLAINT against the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, was “not taken forward or appropriately followed up”, Lambeth Palace said in a statement on Thursday.
The claim related to the diocese of London’s and Bishop Mullally’s handling of an abuse allegation, Premier Christian News reported on Monday. The complainant, referred to as Survivor N, said that he was subject to a “systematic campaign of harassment and retribution as a CDM [Clergy Discipline Measure] complainant”.
Premier reported that the man filed a complaint in March 2020, which was acknowledged by the Bishop at Lambeth at the time, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton. But when an update was requested more than a year later, Survivor N was told that the complaint had only just been received.
The statement from Lambeth Palace said that, “due to administrative errors and an incorrect assumption about the individual’s wishes, the complaint was not taken forward or appropriately followed up.”
During that period, Survivor N’s mental health deteriorated, a psychiatrist said in an interview with Premier. Survivor N told the Christian news website that he had twice attempted to take his own life.
Bishop Mullally, who is now the Archbishop-elect of Canterbury (News, 3 October), said in a separate statement on Thursday that Survivor N had been “let down by the processes of the Church of England.
“While his abuse allegations against a member of clergy were fully dealt with by the Diocese of London, it is clear that a different complaint he subsequently made against me personally in 2020 was not properly dealt with.”
Bishop Mullally was, she said, “seeking assurance that processes have been strengthened to ensure any complaint that comes into Lambeth Palace is responded to in a timely and satisfactory manner”.
As Archbishop, she would, she said, “do everything in my power to bring about much needed and overdue reform. We must have trust in our systems, or else we cannot expect others to put their trust in us.”
