Farewell and good riddance

youtu.be/9hN64Qxm0Ks?si=CdctMUHO2Du79cIz
A link for anyone who missed it.

I saw it too and was astonished by his lighthearted tone. He more or less said that he a scapegoat. There was much chuckling in the male ranks but the Bishop with her head in her hands said it all for me.

I did not see it but did read the comments in the Press from those who did. He clearly feels no sense of responsibility for his (lack of )action whatsoever.
I agree; good riddance.

The Smythe issue will not be resolved until people feel that the 30 or so senior people named as "should have taken action" have been called to account. From the outside, its hard to see whats happening on this.

I think its good what ordinary congregations are doing as in building a safe future,

what they need is well as making all safe now (and many have been doing this for some time),

is for the General Synod to ensure there is a safe and satisfactory reporting structure.

He should have just gone, quietly, with no whistles or bells.

I did see it I am not remotely religious but if I was it would have shattered my faith. The man is a disgrace he showed no remorse was arrogant and l was appalled watching it.

We took safeguarding training at our previous church but I don't see the relevance of this or lack of it in this case.

It's common sense and an example of one's level of personal responsibility to ensure that allegations of this magnitude are thoroughly examined. So if 'the man in charge' isn't doing this personally, rather than absolving himself of any personal responsibility by assuming the matter was being taken care of by someone else, he should have made sure it was.

There's little point in those with safeguarding training within the C of E reporting their concerns to the designated safeguarding officer, so those concerns go on up the line if those further up, shirk their responsibilities.

Smythe was in a high profile position of trust and authority, not someone who was 'under the radar'. He was enabled to carry out his abusive behaviour here, and to go to South Africa to continue his reign of terror.

Welby's a disgrace.

I didn't see it but would point out that it was our, female, Bishop of Newcastle who pushed for him to go. He was shoehorned into Durham, briefly, in preparation for Canterbury.

With regard to safeguarding, those of us involved at parish level are now obliged to undertake safeguarding training and know when to report concerns to safeguarding officers and on up the line. I think, perhaps, those in more senior positions haven't had the same training and don't know what to do when a problem occurs (more so in the past). They need strict guidelines as to the correct procedures, the same as the rest of us.

I didn't see it Sarnia but judging by your OP if I had, I'd have been disgusted .