The underlying problem with Vos Estis is that the metropolitan knows his suffragans and probably doesn't know the victims, which makes him more likely to think the bishop his friend is innocent and the victims are liars.
The underlying problem with Vos Estis is that the metropolitan knows his suffragans and probably doesn't know the victims, which makes him more likely to think the bishop his friend is innocent and the victims are liars.
The problem has never been that bishops assumed innocence regarding their brother bishops and therefore the victims being liars. The problem has been bishops knowingly covering up and protecting abusers. The underlying problem with Vos Estis is that it concentrates investigative responsibility to the very group that has been covering up for one another.
This is the problem with members of an occupational group judging its own. Doctors judging doctors, teachers judging teachers, policemen judging policemen, lawyers judging lawyers, etc. I recall our local Doctor Fox who I met in 1976. He was in the process of being struck off for the second time for horizontal relations with a lady patient. He got this one pregnant. Surely not even the General Medical Council will give him a third chance? Come 1988 and there was Doctor Fox working as a medical examiner for the Government. Maybe he was allowed only near men.
A teacher for a local school, one of the best in England, was (finally) fired after being caught in bed with a pupil. But he moved on to another school, who had to fire him again. What sort of reference did the first school give?
I've been told that in the United States the only thing a reference can say is whether one worked for them or not and the dates. I have no idea whether that is also the case in England or not. But you have definitely explained why it is necessary to have lay boards to deal with misbehaving members of occupational groups. Such groups tend to protect their own.
The truely staggering part (at the end of the link) is that he was not definitively banned from teaching for all eternity, plus a trillion years. He could reapply in five years' time. The second school, Tanbridge House, apparently knew something as they stipulated in his letter of appointment that he maintain professional boundaries.
The cliche of the bent teacher at old style English private schools was his reference when he got passed on as damaged goods to Private School B. Private School A would write a helpful reference explaining that "Mr Smith has given excellent service as a geography teacher, apart from an isolated indiscretion which I am sure he will not repeat". Even private schools dare not do that now, for fear of the lawyers and damages that would wipe out the school.
The underlying problem with Vos Estis is that the metropolitan knows his suffragans and probably doesn't know the victims, which makes him more likely to think the bishop his friend is innocent and the victims are liars.
The problem has never been that bishops assumed innocence regarding their brother bishops and therefore the victims being liars. The problem has been bishops knowingly covering up and protecting abusers. The underlying problem with Vos Estis is that it concentrates investigative responsibility to the very group that has been covering up for one another.
This is the problem with members of an occupational group judging its own. Doctors judging doctors, teachers judging teachers, policemen judging policemen, lawyers judging lawyers, etc. I recall our local Doctor Fox who I met in 1976. He was in the process of being struck off for the second time for horizontal relations with a lady patient. He got this one pregnant. Surely not even the General Medical Council will give him a third chance? Come 1988 and there was Doctor Fox working as a medical examiner for the Government. Maybe he was allowed only near men.
A teacher for a local school, one of the best in England, was (finally) fired after being caught in bed with a pupil. But he moved on to another school, who had to fire him again. What sort of reference did the first school give?
I've been told that in the United States the only thing a reference can say is whether one worked for them or not and the dates. I have no idea whether that is also the case in England or not. But you have definitely explained why it is necessary to have lay boards to deal with misbehaving members of occupational groups. Such groups tend to protect their own.
Here is part of the squalid story of that twice-fired teacher.
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/teacher-struck-gross-breach-trust-4208611?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
The truely staggering part (at the end of the link) is that he was not definitively banned from teaching for all eternity, plus a trillion years. He could reapply in five years' time. The second school, Tanbridge House, apparently knew something as they stipulated in his letter of appointment that he maintain professional boundaries.
The cliche of the bent teacher at old style English private schools was his reference when he got passed on as damaged goods to Private School B. Private School A would write a helpful reference explaining that "Mr Smith has given excellent service as a geography teacher, apart from an isolated indiscretion which I am sure he will not repeat". Even private schools dare not do that now, for fear of the lawyers and damages that would wipe out the school.