By Jenny Gross
LONDON--Britain's Methodist Church has made a public apology
after a report detailed nearly 2,000 cases of alleged sexual and
emotional abuse within the institution over more than 60 years.
The church, which apologized for failing to protect the victims,
is the latest establishment in Britain to confront claims of sexual
abuse by clergy and others in positions of power.
The independent report, commissioned by the church and based on
written records and interviews with ministers and members of the
church over three years, identified 1,885 cases of sexual,
physical, emotional and domestic abuse, as well as cases of neglect
between 1950 and 2014.
Martin Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, said
on Thursday that the abuse inflicted by some Methodists on children
and adults is "a deep source of grief and shame to the church."
"We haven't always listened properly to those abused or cared
for them, and this is deeply regrettable," Mr. Atkins said. The
church will discuss the review's recommendations at a conference
next month.
Church ministers or church employees were identified as the
perpetrators or alleged perpetrators in about a quarter of the
cases. The report found that authority figures in the church had
failed to recognize the abuse that had taken place.
One of the cases mentioned in the report involved the grooming
of teenage girls through Facebook and approaching girls in an
inappropriate manner by a church organist. Grooming involves
establishing a bond with the victim before assault. In another
case, a girl in her early teens was groped by a Methodist
minister's husband. The incidents were reported to a local minister
at the time, but no known action was taken.
Methodism is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. The
church has more than 200,000 members in Britain.
Multiple sex abuse scandals have emerged in the U.K. since
police investigations found that British television celebrity Jimmy
Savile, who died in 2011, was a serial sex abuser. British police
have at least 17 operations investigation historic allegations of
sex abuse at children's homes, hospitals and other
institutions.
Write to Jenny Gross at jenny.gross@wsj.com
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