Past Cases Review
Published: June 2023
In November 2020 the Methodist Church in Ireland initiated a Safeguarding Past Cases Review. No specific issue prompted the Review other than the wish of the Methodist people to acknowledge and honestly reflect on the past so that victims could be heard, acknowledged and supported to ensure that the Church can be a safe place for all today.
The Review had the widest possible remit, encompassing all cases and situations of safeguarding concerns or issues of which the Church was aware. It included appeals that any who had knowledge of issues, reported or unreported would make them known to the Panel. The final report is now available.
There are nine main findings detailed and fourteen recommendations for the Methodist Conference. Consequently, the Methodist Conference has issued the following apology:
“We apologise. The Methodist Church in Ireland apologises without reserve to all those who have been victims of abuse in the life of our Church. We have failed you, failed society and failed our Saviour. Our processes that were designed to protect all have not done that. We have caused pain that goes beyond measure. We apologise that we have not been the beacon of light that we are called to be. It has taken us too long to recognise our failings and face up to the truth. We have failed to listen carefully to what we were being told in the past. We apologise.”
The Methodist President for 2023-24, Rev David Turtle, describes this report as:
”a time to say sorry, an opportunity to ensure that our policies continue to be robust and to renew our resolve to protect all and to be a place of safety for all. Our resolve is that what we have learnt will further enable us to be a place of healing and hope for everyone”.
One purpose of a past cases review is to further raise awareness and create an opportunity for survivors of abuse to speak in safety. If anyone wishes to make a report they should initially contact the Methodist Church Safeguarding Officer. All details of Irish Methodist safeguarding policies and procedures are found here.
Rev Dr Stephen Skuce (Vice Chair, Past Cases Review)
stephen.skuce@irishmethodist.org +44 7803 828589
Rev Dr Heather Morris, General Secretary, The Methodist Church in Ireland
secretary@irishmethodist.org
Video Interview
Vice Chair of the Past Cases Review, Rev Dr Stephen Skuce.
Committee
Deborah Webster
Chair
Deborah is the founder of ‘Thrive Academy’, a social enterprise which delivers bespoke education in digital resilience to young people, their parents, teachers, and youth leaders. From 2006-2017 Deborah was the Safeguarding Co-ordinator for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Her role involved the delivery of safeguarding training, providing advice on safeguarding issues and updating the churches’ safeguarding guidelines, ‘Taking Care’. Deborah chaired the Faith Based Safeguarding Group, was a member of Access NI’s Stakeholders’ Forum and designed and implemented the Taking Care: Training the Trainers Programme, and was an ambassador for CEOP (Child Exploitation Online Protection). Deborah is in the final stages of a PhD at Queens University, Belfast where she has been researching the relationship between social media use and adolescent wellbeing.
Rev Dr Stephen Skuce
Vice Chair
Stephen has been an Irish Methodist minister for over 30 years, and served in Irish circuits, as a university chaplain, as a mission partner in Sri Lanka, and for about half his ministry in Britain where he was academic dean at Cliff College, Director of Research for British Methodism and finally Director of Global Relationships for that denomination. He is currently North Western District Superintendent for Irish Methodism and is managing the Past Cases Review Process.