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Open Letters

Many survivors and our allies have written letters to successive Archbishops of Canterbury and other senior leaders. We cannot hope to include them all here; many are not in the public domain. We include those which have received significant media attention. They all advocate for justice for survivors and call for transformational change to the Church’s structures and cultures.

The entries below are listed in chronological order, to follow the timeline from the first correspondence (top) to last correspondence (bottom).

Open Letter to Charity Commission December 2022

Surviving Church & Thinking Anglicans 51 signatories The letter complains of “a highly dysfunctional church culture – one lacking in care, wisdom and responsibility – uniformly poor in responses to allegations of abuse”. The writers say that the Church has “no functional leadership in...

Open letter to General Synod members and Archbishops’ Council

An Open letter from 40 survivors of Church abuse co-ordinated by Survivors Voices.Letter copied below, or can be downloaded here. Dear members of Synod and Archbishops’ Council,As you decide on the future of safeguarding in the Church of England this month, and implement your decision, please...