JUSTICE FOR BISHOP GEORGE BELL OF CHICHESTER

"MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL" - 'THE CASUAL WRECKING OF A GREAT NAME'

BY PETER HITCHENS

MARCH 2016

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/03/murder-in-the-cathedral-the-casual-wrecking-of-a-great-name.html

"BISHOP'S SEX ATTACK VICTIM REFUSES TO GIVE EVIDENCE", THE ARGUS, APRIL 21 2016
The victim of a sexually abusive bishop has refused to participate in a Church-led inquiry into his abuser, calling it a "continuing cover-up".
Graham Sawyer, who was indecently assaulted by former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball in the 1980's, criticised the inquiry's failure to examine what he described as a culture of bullying and intimidation within the Church which perpetuates abuse.
In October, Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes, was jailed for nearly three years...
Graham...was invited to participate in the inquiry set up by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the aftermath of Ball's sentencing last year. He said the Inquiry "will only be dealing with half-truths and be party to a continuing ecclesiastical cover-up." He said : "The enduring intimidation of people like myself from the highest levels of the Church is in a way more appalling than what Ball did to me all those years ago."

"GEORGE BELL, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER" - 'Church, State, and Resistance in the Age of Dictatorship" by Andrew Chandler (Eerdmans, 2016)

"The allegation of 2015 is anomalous. Indeed, it seems to exist in its own world, evidently uncorroborated by any other independent source. It also remains unique, for apparently no other such accusation has arisen. In sum, we are asked to invest an entire authority in one testimony and to dismiss all the materials by which we have come to know the historical George Bell as mere figments of reputation. The corollary of such a method may now be witnessed in the hasty removal of his name or image from public institutions and commemorations. It may simply be observed here that such iconoclastic activities are not unknown to historians of other, far darker, times and contexts"

EMAIL FROM DAUGHTER OF BISHOP BELL'S FRIEND FRANZ HILDEBRANDT

"I am the older daughter of Franz Hildebrandt, one of Bishop Bell's closest friends for many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Hildebrandt
...I have signed [The Petition]...forwarded it in turn to a number of other people in this country. Thank you so much for taking this initiative. I have myself written letters both to the Church Times and to the Daily Telegraph. Last week...I also wrote to Archbishop Justin Welby and to Bishop Martin Warner. As of now I have received no reply from either of them"

SIR, ...the church authorities claimed to have carried out full & transparent inquiries, & to have acted responsibly & appropriately, which they simply had not. There is...gulf between the descriptive language used...& the reality. The people concerned seem to believe...describing an investigation in terms such as “transparent” & “appropriate” dispenses them from ensuring...it has been....there will be no improvements in safeguarding until fundamental changes in attitude take place....these should include a recognition by the clergy that, on occasion, they lack wisdom and insight in pastoral matters and should seek advice; the inclusion of independent-minded assessors and advisers from disciplines other than social work and human resources; &, above all else, the ending of the disingenuous cover-ups of poorly handled safeguarding cases.
If the Church cannot put its house in order...then, inevitably, seats will be empty of bums.
MARGERY ROBERTS
Churchwarden

LETTER BY MARGERY ROBERTS IN THE CHURCH TIMES - SENT BY JILL ARMSTEAD

Reading about the Timothy Storey case in Church Times, I recognised the same arrogant incompetence that signaled the miscarriage of justice that has seen BISHOP BELL hung out to dry by the Diocese of Chichester. And then I came across this brilliant letter on the Letters page ~ Jill Armstead

LETTER FROM THE DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH OXFORD

Dear Richard

Thanks for your note. Let me touch base with colleagues in the GBGroup [George Bell Group], and see what might be done, and if we might join forces somehow on this. kind regards.

The Dean, The Very Revd Prof. Martyn Percy
T: 01865 276150 & 276161 (PA: Rachel Perham)
chch letterheadscan.JPG

REFLECTION AFTER VISIT TO CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL - APRIL 21'16 - RICHARD SYMONDS

Travelled to Chichester to buy its Observer & to read it in the Cathedral's 'Cloisters' Cafe/Shop (formerly 'The Bishop Bell Rooms').
Asked at the Cloisters Shop if they were going to stock the new biography on Bishop Bell. "It's on its way" came the reply.

Went into the Cathedral and was handed a "Welcome Chichester Cathedral" Leaflet. Arriving back in Ifield I compared the Leaflet with the one given last month. "4. Bell-Arundel Screen" (March) - "4. The Arundel Screen" (April).
This is what happened when they messed about with the Screen in 1859:
https://cemjoad.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/ts-eliot-and-chichester-cathedral/
Picked up leaflet in The Cloisters Cafe : "Accommodation at Chichester Cathedral". Now "4 Canon Lane" (formerly "George Bell House")
Read a Chichester Observer Letter by Tim Hudson - April 21:

CHICHESTER OBSERVER LETTER -APRIL 21 2016

"No answer from the council"

No-one from Chichester City Council, I'm sorry to say, has responded to my letter published three weeks ago.
Bishop George Bell's portrait, I pointed out, had disappeared from its prominent position in the city's Council House, without the fact being mentioned anywhere.
Many others besides myself are concerned that this has happened, and will want to know who authorised its removal.
Was there a vote of the full City Council on the matter, or did a council officer take the decision on his/her own initiative?
The decision, in any case, should be revoked and the painting restored to its place.
By voting to return the portrait to its place, the City Council would be the first public body to stand up for the reputation of one of the greatest figures in Chichester's long history.
Hopefully that might be the beginning of a more general rehabilitation, now long overdue.

TIM HUDSON
Hawthorn Close
Chichester

"THE GEORGE BELL CONTROVERSY DEEPENS" - WRITTEN BY PETER HITCHENS FIVE MONTHS AGO - NOVEMBER 2015

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2015/11/a-fair-trial-for-the-chichester-one-the-george-bell-controversy-deepens-.html

"ANGLICAN ROUGH JUSTICE" BY PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER HILL

https://rothercottage.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/anglican-rough-justice-2/

"THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND'S SHAMEFUL BETRAYAL OF BISHOP GEORGE BELL"

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/the-church-of-englands-shameful-betrayal-of-bishop-george-bell/