New Archbishop of Canterbury faces complaint about abuse case handling

The Church of England is considering a lawsuit alleging child abuse. Dame Sarah Mullally has been accused of improperly handling a lawsuit involving a priest in London, where she currently serves as bishop. The allegation about her was first submitted to Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury's home, in 2020, but it was not followed up due to

administrative inconsistencies and an inaccurate assumption regarding the individual's wishes,

according to church authorities. Dame Sarah was not aware of the complaint at the time it was made, according to them. The perpetrator had been let down before being scheduled to take power on January 28.

While the Diocese of London's child violence charges against a member of clergy were entirely dealt with, it is clear that a new complaint brought against me personally in 2020 was not properly dealt with,

she said in a tweet.

I am looking for certainty that the procedures have been enhanced to ensure that any complaint that comes into Lambeth Palace is responded to in a timely and efficient manner.

The complainant appeared on the Premier Christian website earlier this week, claiming that the way the case was handled had a significant effect on his mental stability. When the complainant filed its first lawsuit against an accused priest, the Premier said it had seen evidence that Bishop Sarah contacted the priest in question, in violation of the Church's disciplinary procedures. The allegation against her was not officially investigated, and Lambeth Palace officials now say that the complainant no longer wanted to proceed, but that they are likely not to have requested confirmation of this with him. Church authorities had written to the complainant, identified as N, to outline the next steps, according to a Lambeth Palace spokeswoman.

The Bishop of London was unaware of the investigation because it never reached the point where she would have been aware of the allegation or its contents.

The provincial registry has apologised to those affected, and urgent arrangements are now being made for the complaint to be considered according to the applicable statutory procedure.

Dame Sarah, a retired NHS chief nurse, became a priest in 2006 and was appointed as the first female Bishop of London in 2018 - the third most senior member of the Church of England. In October, she was named as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to take on the role afterJustin Welby resigned due to a safeguarding fiasco. He resigned after a damning report revealed him to be a prolific child abuser for the Church. In 2013, it was discovered that he could and should have reported John Smyth's violence of boys and young men to police in 2013. His last day in office was in January, and the Church has been without someone in the top position for almost a year. In an interim change, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has been taking on the bulk of Mr Welby's duties. Mr Cottrell was one of the body's voting members in determining his replacement. However, he has been asked to resign over an assault lawsuit that was mishandled.