A group of senior church leaders in Liverpool have said the city’s bishop, who faces misconduct allegations from two women, should “step aside”.
The Right Reverend Dr John Perumbalath’s position is “untenable”, said the senior leadership of the Diocese of Liverpool in a letter signed by six people including the Dean of Liverpool, Sue Jones.
It comes after one woman accused the bishop of kissing her without consent and groping her, and another woman accused him of sexual harassment, Channel 4 News reported.
Bishop Perumbalath said he has “consistently denied” the allegations and complied with any investigation from the National Safeguarding Team (NST).
The diocese statement said: “Having listened to clergy, congregations and staff at the diocesan offices and the cathedral, it is with deep regret that the senior leadership of the Diocese of Liverpool feel that the position of the Rt Revd Dr John Perumbalath is currently untenable.
“We believe that the allegations made by the female bishop need to be fully and properly investigated.
“We also believe that while these proper investigations are conducted, the Bishop of Liverpool will need to step aside from all ministry in the Diocese of Liverpool.”
The letter was also signed by Debra Walker, the chair of the House of Laity; the chair of the House of Clergy Peter Dawkin; Pete Spiers, who is the Archdeacon of Knowsley & Sefton; the Archbeacon of Liverpool Miranda Threlfall-Holmes; and the Archdeacon of St Helens and Warrington, Simon Fisher.
What does the Church of England say?
Following the Channel 4 programme, a Church of England spokesman said in 2023 a complaint of alleged misconduct against Bishop Perumbalath was brought to the NST.
The spokesman said it concluded there was not sufficient evidence to bring a safeguarding-related complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) itself but offered the woman support if she wished to do so.
They also said the complaint was investigated by police which resulted in no further action.
A further disclosure was made by another woman, and the information was “explored and assessed not to be a safeguarding matter but a matter of alleged misconduct”, the spokesman said.
The second complainant did not bring a CDM complaint within the one-year deadline.
She later applied for permission to bring it after the deadline, which the Archbishop of York supported, but this was refused by an independent judge, the Deputy President of Tribunals, they added.
Bishop of Newcastle ‘appalled’
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, said on X she was “shocked and appalled” at the allegations against the Bishop of Liverpool.
She said: “Yet again failures at the heart of the institution of the Church of England, and specifically by its leadership, undermine credibility and confidence in the church.”
Ms Hartley added: “I have already spoken out in the strongest of terms about safeguarding failures and do so again. My views have not changed including those regarding the position of the Archbishop of York [Stephen Cottrell].”
She previously called for Mr Cottrell to resign and questioned how he could have any credibility after revelations emerged that a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse case was twice reappointed under him while he was serving as Bishop of Chelmsford.
A statement to Sky News from the Archbishop of York said he is “committed to the work of securing independent scrutiny of safeguarding, the changing of culture and the revisiting of policies in light of learning and critical examination of the Church of England”.
“This will be achieved through committed action undertaken consistently. It will not be achieved overnight.”
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The former victim’s commissioner Dame Vera Baird has repeatedly called for an overhaul of the regulation of complaints in the Church.
She told Sky News: “It’s been dealt with totally internally by people who protect the hierarchy over the people it should be serving.
“But what is shocking is frankly that the Church of England has got so foul that there are these repeated allegations again and again and again, which are not dealt with properly.”
