Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established England, United Kingdom · 2020

IICSA: 390 Church of England clergy and trusted persons convicted of child sexual offences

Record class

Institutional event

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

Church of England clergy and persons in positions of trust, church hierarchy that deferred to clerical authority

Organization

Church of England

Spiritual nexus

The inquiry found the abuse was enabled by congregants' and choristers' deference to ordained clerical authority, and by an institutional culture that protected priests over the children in their pastoral care.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2020-10-01 · statutory inquiry report

    Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), United Kingdom — statutory inquiry. IICSA found that 390 people who were clergy or in positions of trust associated with the Church of England were convicted of sexual offences against children between the 1940s and 2018, alongside 330 civil claims, and concluded that a culture of deference to clerical authority helped abusers hide and silenced victims.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • deference to ordained clerical authority
  • institutional culture protecting priests over victims

Primary record

Sources

official statutory inquiry report inquiry report Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, 'The Anglican Church: Investigation Report' (Oct. 2020).

The statutory inquiry records 390 convictions of clergy and persons in positions of trust, and finds deference to clerical authority enabled the abuse.

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