A children’s charity said it has rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas donation as it would “not be consistent” with its work supporting victims of sexual abuse.
In his annual Christmas e-card sent earlier this week, Justin Welby, who quit over his failure in handling a sex abuse case in the Church of England, said he would be making a donation to The Children’s Society.
A message in the card noted that the charity “works with children affected by criminal and sexual exploitation, abuse” and other issues.
However, on Friday the charity said it has “respectfully decided” not to accept the donation after a review found the Archbishop had failed to report allegations of abuse to the police.Chief executive of the charity, Mark Russell, said: “After careful consideration, we have respectfully decided not to accept the donation offered by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The Children’s Society is deeply committed to supporting the survivors of abuse, our teams support victims of child sexual abuse, and this means that accepting this donation would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work.”
After days of public pressure, Mr Welby announced his resignation from the Church “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse” in the wake of the Makin Review. He will officially step down in January.
The independent review found he had failed to report serial abuser, John Smyth to the police when he was made aware of the allegations in 2013 and could’ve brought Smyth to justice.
