Lambeth gives momentum to a push for a safer Communion

[Worldwide Faith News]

Lambeth Daily
Lambeth gives momentum to a push for a safer Communion
Posted On : July 30, 2008 10:00 AM | Posted By : Webmaster
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Organisers of a recent conference in Woking, 
Creating a Safer Church, talked to us about their 
work and what they hope their subsequent 
participation at the Lambeth Conference has achieved.

Helen Blake is a relationships counsellor and 
also lectures in pastoral care and counselling at 
St Mark’s Theological College in Canberra. Her 
husband Garth Blake is a senior Sydney barrister 
and Chair of the Professional Standards 
Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia. 
They were present at the Lambeth Conference to 
offer their expertise to others seeking resources 
on how to tackle the abuse of power in their provinces and dioceses.

They hope to establish an international network 
within the Anglican Communion to deal with issues around the abuse of power.

What is your role here at the Lambeth Conference?

Garth: My wife Helen and I took a seminar looking 
at caring marriages and preventing abuse in 
marriage. We were recently at international 
conference at Woking near London, looking at 
abuse issues. We had a very helpful and 
encouraging conference that really fed into 
today’s theme of the abuse of power in 
relationships, marriage, and within the church.

What was the driving force behind the conference at Woking?

Garth: It came from the Australian General Synod 
in 2004, where it was suggested an international 
network be developed. It’s taken a while to get here.

Is there a groundswell of concern at a grass roots level?

Garth: That was a question at the conference - do 
we do anything for the future? It was unanimous 
that we would benefit from networking and 
resource sharing, and that internationally, and 
with humility, we could offer something to the 
Communion as a whole. It is so difficult to raise 
abuse issues in the Communion, and get a voice, and be heard.

Why is it that Australia has managed to take quite a lead in this area?

Garth: I had the privilege, with Helen, to 
receive a Churchill Fellowship in 2002, which 
gave us a chance to really look at what was 
happening across the world, and how that might 
apply in Australia. So much of what we have in 
Australia is from at least the seed or or even 
fuller expression of what is happening in others 
parts of the Communion. Where Australia has the 
greatest to contribute is in the breadth of 
approaches that we have - not that we’ve got it all worked out, of course!

This is so often seen as a women’s problem, and 
often the responsibility in relationships comes down to women


Helen: It does appear to be thought about as a 
women’s issue. Often men don’t want to be part of 
the discussion. That is a short sighted way of 
looking at it – what happens to women affects 
whole of the family, the church. Women seem to be 
the ones who experience abuse more often, and 
children pick that up, they see it, they feel it, it’s the climate in the home.

And we also grapple with a church which 
institutionally has put women at a lower level at times, don’t we?

Helen: Yes. We need to think about the ways we 
relate to each other all the time, even in our 
social expressions. If we’re standing in a group 
and the men choose not to acknowledge the women, 
that’s just another expression of it. That happens a lot.

It’s pretty complex, but we shouldn’t give up on 
it because it’s hard. We have to work on each piece at a time.

Have the kind of protocols put in place across 
Australian dioceses been welcome

Garth: Every diocese has something in place now. 
The biggest challenge is not to say, “We’ve done 
it”. To be honest, many of our leaders are sick 
and tired of the issue
 but if we want to have a 
safe Church, it’s not just about policies and 
procedures. It’s about creating a safe culture. 
That’s far more difficult than putting into place 
policies and procedures, although that is part of 
changing the culture, of course. We’ve got a way 
to go and I hope no-one would think we can rest on our laurels at this point

There are some who would say the pendulum has swung too far.

Garth: Any procedure that deals with complaints 
must be fair to both sides. My bottom line is 
that in a fair procedure, victims can be heard, 
and clergy get a fair hearing. If it’s not seen 
to be doing both those things the whole thing 
will be seen to be discredited anyway.

What are you hoping to have come out of the Lambeth conference on this issue?

Helen: For me, it has opened my eyes. I always 
understood there was a problem of violence 
against women right across the world. Being here, 
having “The Church” together, it brings those 
people suffering right in front of me in flesh 
and blood. It makes me think we’re very well off 
in Australia, and makes me determined as a worker 
in the church to be contributing what I can to this issue.

Garth: The conference at Woking and today are of 
the same piece. The desire to work to establish a 
network in the Communion has been given an 
impetus and a voice here today and it has been 
laid out as part of the agenda of the Communion. 
It would be staggering to my mind if the 
Communion, [from] today, didn’t take this up in an intentional way.

staff writer