Faith in the Community: Let's stand in solidarity alongside survivors
by the Rev Annie McCabe, vicar, St Luke's Church, Southsea
One of the hardest things about reading recent coverage of the Church of England is seeing a Christian faith that is supposed to be about love being corrupted.
My heart goes out to the survivors of the abuse by John Smyth, who were groomed over several years with a distorted theology that suggested physical punishment was part of faith. That is not a God I recognise.
At St Luke’s Church, we have been praying consistently for those survivors. Although they may be relieved this abuse is now public, reading the Makin Report and seeing stories on the front pages of newspapers may well be re-traumatising for them.
We wanted to take things a stage further, showing our support for and our solidarity with all survivors of abuse, whether it has happened in a church context or not. So we’re one of three churches in this area holding a ‘Service of Reflection in Solidarity with Survivors’ on November 30. The details are here: https://www.portsmouth.anglican.org/events/2024/11/30/service-reflection-solidarity-survivors-southsea/
Ours will begin at 6pm that day, and there will be a similar service happening in Holy Trinity Church, Fareham at the same time. There’s also one taking place at Newport Minster on the Isle of Wight at 11am that day.
The date is significant, as it is the night before Advent starts – the time of year that we think about darkness overcoming light. There is significant darkness in this world, but as Christians we do believe that the light will have the final say.
It’s a 45-minute, contemplative service that will include some simple words of prayer, the lighting of candles to symbolise prayers for those who have suffered, and a chance to rededicate ourselves to keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe.
Of course, the Makin Report isn’t the first time we’ve thought about this issue. Over the past 20 years, the Church has developed a network of safeguarding officers in each parish, and has provided detailed safeguarding training. All our churches have procedures in place to keep children, young people and vulnerable adults as safe as possible.
But we aren’t complacent about any of this, and we hope this kind of event will help us to reinforce a culture change in our churches and in wider society.
No one should ever turn a blind eye to those who bravely disclose any kind of abuse. My prayer is that they can instead find love, support and hope from all of us, whether we are people of faith or not.
If you or anyone you are in contact with are affected by these issues and want to talk to someone independently, please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk.
ST LUKE’S CHURCH, Greetham Street, Southsea, PO5 4LH