Church of England ‘Colluded’ With Bishop to Hide Sex Abuse, Report Says
Mr. Ball resigned as bishop in 1993 after Neil Todd, a 17-year-old aspiring monk, reported abuse to police and church officials
that occurred when Mr. Todd was living with Mr. Ball at Bishopscourt, the official residence of the Bishop of Gloucester.
The report said that despite the efforts of victims
and witnesses to report the abuse, the church allowed its desire to preserve its reputation to supersede the imperative to help victims.
"I believed Peter Ball’s protestations and gave too little credence to the vulnerable young men
and boys behind those allegations." According to the report, Mr. Ball, a graduate of Cambridge University, was a charismatic speaker and a frequent visitor to public schools who mentored young men and boys.
The unsparing report, titled "An Abuse of Faith," centers on Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes
and Gloucester, who was convicted in 2015 of misconduct in public office and of indecent assaults against 18 victims over a 15-year period from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
"The church colluded with that rather than seeking to help those he had harmed, or assuring itself of the safety of others." During Mr. Ball’s trial, it emerged
that members of the British establishment, among them cabinet ministers, an unnamed member of the royal family and Lord Carey, had intervened to vouch for Mr. Ball with the authorities.
It accuses him of setting "the tone for the church’s response to Mr. Ball’s crimes"
and enabling Mr. Ball’s declarations of innocence to be accepted, even as victims and members of the public came forward to expose abuse by the former bishop.