Thursday 9th of October 2025
Home » Blogs » Gus Leonisky's blog

nursing the church of england that had relinquished its authority to lead......

The Church of England has appointed its first female Archbishop of Canterbury, ending 1,400 years of male leadership. Former top British nurse, Sarah Mullally, was installed as the confession’s highest-ranking clergy by a church synod on Friday.

Though female priests were first ordained in 1994, women were not permitted to take senior posts until 2014, a reform that followed years of internal schisms and debates within the Church.

Before entering the clergy, Mullally built a distinguished career in nursing, rising to become England’s Chief Nursing Officer. She was ordained as a priest in 2002, and went on to serve as as Bishop of Crediton and then Bishop of London, the Church’s third most senior post. Known for her inclusive stance, she has supported prayers and blessings for same-sex couples, framing her leadership around openness and pastoral care.

Her appointment follows the resignation of her predecessor Archbishop Justin Welby last November, after an inquiry found he failed to act on warnings about a pastor who had abused children for decades.

The second-most senior bishop in the Church of England, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who took on caretaker functions after Welby’s departure, has also come under fire after a BBC investigation found he had allowed a priest with a history of abuse allegations to remain in ministry. Though he remains in post.

Mullally’s promotion has already drawn resistance from conservative factions within the Anglican Communion, particularly in Africa, where leaders have long opposed women in top clerical roles and condemned the Church of England’s liberal stance on sexuality. GAFCON, a grouping of conservative Anglican churches, said the move showed the English church had “relinquished its authority to lead.”

READ MORE: ‘Woke’ UK archbishop protected pedophile priest – media

The Church of England is a Protestant denomination created in 1534, when King Henry VIII rejected the authority of the Roman Catholic Pope in a divorce dispute. Its titular head is the British monarch, while the Archbishop of Canterbury acts as its primate.

https://www.rt.com/news/625863-woman-archbishop-canterbury-mullally/

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

pastor's abuse....

 

African abuse victims sue Church of England

 

Seven Zimbabwean victims of a deceased pedophile British youth pastor have launched a legal claim against the Church of England, stating that it concealed abuse and enabled continued sexual assaults in Africa.

John Smyth, a Canadian-born British former attorney and church worker, is accused of abusing dozens of children in Zimbabwe, where he lived from 1985 to 2001 before moving to South Africa. He died in 2018 while under investigation.

According to a press release published on Saturday, the claim links the church’s failure to act in the early 1980s – when Smyth abused boys in the UK – with his move to Zimbabwe, where six men say they were victimized. The mother of a 16-year-old boy who drowned at one of Smyth’s camps has also joined the case.

The claim letter says the abuse included “forced nudity, beatings with table tennis and jokari bats, indecent exposure, groping and intrusive conversations about masturbation.” 

It further accuses Cambridge’s St. Andrew the Great church (formerly the Round Church) and the Reverend Mark Ruston, who led a 1982 internal inquiry, of hiding evidence and failing to report Smyth to police.

The claim cites the 2024 Makin Review, commissioned by the Church of England, which found that in 1982 the Church “actively covered up Smyth’s abuse and considered him a problem solved and exported to Africa.” 

One claimant, Rocky Leanders, said: “The memory of the shame and humiliation I suffered… has never left me… I feel increasingly angry that the Church of England exported this criminal to Zimbabwe.” 

Rebekah Read, solicitor at legal firm Leigh Day, said: “This case is about accountability. The Church of England had multiple opportunities to stop John Smyth… Instead, it chose to protect its reputation.” 

According to the Makin Review, Smyth used his position as a lay preacher working with youth to select boys and young men for his “clearly sexually motivated, sadistic regime” of vicious beatings. 

READ MORE: There is a country where the British army has retained impunity for years. Soldiers use it to escape their crimes

In recent years, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has apologized for failing to safeguard people from Smyth and admitted it should have shared warnings about him.

https://www.rt.com/africa/626036-abuse-victims-sue-england-church/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.