'It's seismic' No clear road to recovery for church reeling from abuse scandal

As the faithful give thanks to God in England's 16,500 parish churches tomorrow, beneath the comforting ritual of prayers and hymns will run a strong undercurrent of shame, anger, sadness and dread.

- Harriet Sherwood

The Church of England is facing its biggest crisis in modern times, with no clear pathway to recovery. The archbishop of Canterbury has been forced to resign, other senior figures are facing calls to quit and the church is reeling from its shameful failures over a prolific and sadistic child abuser.

A 251-page report detailing the appalling brutality of the late barrister John Smyth, repeated cover-ups and omissions by church figures, and the lifelong trauma suffered by victims has triggered an "existential crisis" for the C of E, according to Linda Woodhead, a professor of moral and social theology at King's College London.

"It's been a very, very long time coming, like lots of crises, but this is a critical moment," she said.

"It's seismic," said Tim Wyatt, who writes The Critical Friend, a weekly newsletter about the C of E. "It's unprecedented for an archbishop to resign over a crisis of their own making. It's causing massive ructions up and down the institution. Now the sword is hanging over other senior leaders and bishops. Welby's resignation could be the first stone rippling out to a much bigger crisis within the church."

Of the context to the report on Smyth, Wyatt said: "[There were] more than 10 years of damning investigations into C of E abuse failures. Bishops, clergy and senior lay volunteers have been exposed as abusers, and church figures knew about the abuse in some instances and failed to stop it or report it to the police."

He added: "There's been a simmering anger among churchgoers and survivors of abuse that no one has been held accountable. What's happening now is a culmination of many years of resentment building up, and finally it's erupted.

"We're now hearing talk of sweeping the stables clean and starting afresh. The sense you get from many in the church is a feeling that the whole hierarchy, not just the man at the top, is complicit and tainted."