As I sit to write this blog, there’s an elephant in the room, a particularly big one. And there is no way I can ignore it. So here goes.
Last April I found myself reading the Church Times, a rare occurrence for me. I must have been at my son-in-law’s: Tim reads it avidly.
A byline caught my eye: Bishop of Warrington ‘away from diocese’. This would have been my sixth Bishop of Warrington, the new one. I didn’t know Bishop Bev and had only heard her speak a couple of times.
At this point, a word of explanation. The Bishop of Warrington is a suffragan bishop, not a full bishop with their own diocese. They are very much subordinate to their diocesan bishop and a good working relationship is entirely essential.
And obviously – this being the Church of England - the Bishop of Warrington has no special relationship with Warrington; they don’t even live there.
But going back to the Church Times, we were told that the Liverpool clergy at their chrism eucharist were informed that Bishop Bev would not be around for a while. It seemed that she would “remain away from the diocese of Liverpool and is not carrying out any engagements”.
Strange, I thought. But even stranger was what followed. And here I quote directly: “Her absence is not thought to be health-related.” In other words, for whatever reason, the reason for her absence was not given, only to say what it wasn’t.
It was not as if Bishop Bev was exhausted or had lost her faith. The statement continued to say that she was “continuing with her episcopal duties as a member of the House of Bishops and with Sandford St Martin Trust”, a religious-broadcasting charity of which Bishop Mason is a trustee.
Clearly she was leaving a large gap. And so “a spokesman for the diocese confirmed that the Bishop of Liverpool, with retired bishops in the diocese, would be covering Bishop Mason’s diocesan work.”
And that was that. The Bishop of Warrington had been disappeared. In the early days there were some reports that she was helping out in the Diocese of Europe.
Over the next few months, whenever I met anyone in the diocese who might know, I would ask about the whereabouts of Bishop Bev. No one seemed to know, although I was told that the Diocese would be making a statement soon. None ever came. Bishop Bev had simply been air-brushed out of the Diocese.
Until yesterday afternoon.
Here I quote from this morning’s Church Times: “The Bishop of Warrington, the Rt Revd Bev Mason, has identified herself as the bishop who made allegations of misconduct against the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr John Perumbalath, who resigned earlier on Thursday.”
You may recall that this Tuesday that Channel 4 News reported that an unnamed bishop had made allegations of “sexual harassment.” In her letter yesterday to the clergy of Liverpool, Bishop Bev did not give any details of her disclosure.
“The focus of my concerns centred around due process,” she wrote. “Throughout these past 510 days I have remained consistent and persistent in my pursuit of proper and appropriate ecclesiastical judicial process. A bishop cannot be above the law.”
The reference to 510 days dates back to September 2023 when whatever happened happened.
We only have two bishops in the Diocese of Liverpool and when one makes such a serious allegation against the other, I cannot think of anything more important for their line manager to deal with. Whether the Archbishop of York does it himself or delegates to a disinterested third party, the buck clearly stops with him.
So why 510 days, during which time Bishop Bev was put on gardening leave? 510 days! I would have thought that with focus and using experienced people it could have been sorted out in a week, a month at the outset But there again, I was only a vicar.
Bishop Bev, in breaking her silence, said she had spent the past year and a half in pursuit of “proper and appropriate ecclesiastical judicial process”.
She continues: “I am only too mindful of the turmoil, shock and bruising that you will be reeling from as a result of these past days and as you have tried to make sense of this and my long and terrible absence. For my part, I am deeply sorry for my absence and silence. It has been excruciating.”
So here we are, a diocese without a bishop, and clearly no nearer an outcome than when Bishop Bev made her original complaint.
I can only conclude with a quote from her letter. “This, I hope and pray, will be a kairos moment for the church – a time of honesty, humility, repentance, unity, hope and blessing – a time when we can tear down the idols that have disoriented us and raise up again the incarnate God, who was crucified, is glorified and who is the Lord of the Church – the Lord of all.”
Whether or not this is indeed a pivotal moment for the Church, one thing is certain: transparency and accountability remain pressing concerns.
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