The Church of England’s governance body called General Synod has three houses.
House of Bishops
House of Clergy
House of Laity
Total membership of these is 450.
A fourth House exists, long unrecognised, which has done more to drive necessary change in the Church’s structures and cultures.
Its membership is greater far than the other three houses put together.
House of Survivors
This site has been published by two members of the Survivor Reference Group who are Survivors of Church of England based abuse. Its purpose is to provide helpful information for fellow Church abused survivors in various aspects of understanding or interaction with the Church and/or its representatives (legal, insurance, etc.).
We offer this resource not only for survivors, but also to the Church, as a significant body of narrative wisdom and a supplement to official CofE training.
The links on this website reveal much tenacity in the face of institutional intransigence and re-abuse. They also represent a tip of the iceberg. If we included every case, every review, and every article – the website would have a thousand links. We have tried to choose carefully the themes we hope survivors of Church of England abuse and other churches may find useful.
Stronger informed – Stronger together
Story of the Logo
The dove, symbol of peace and purity, carries a green Mental Health ribbon to represent the primary damage that faith-based abuse often leaves behind.
The hollow cross seems absent which suggests that survivors’ faith can often fall away as a result of abuse. It also suggests a Church which has rendered its own central symbols and precepts hollow in response to survivors.
The response has often been stony silent, void of kindness, and lawyer grey. The dove is not contained by the grey walls which suggests that survivors might be the ones to take the institution beyond itself to reach into the Church it is meant to be.