Bishop Jonathan has shared a message of thanks with the diocesan-family for all the 'wonderful work that goes on in our churches and communities every week of the year.'
His message acknowledges the pain and hurt being caused to victims and survivors by the ongoing relevations around safeguarding failures in Church, and the impact on the work and morale of dedicated people in the parishes.
In offering encouragement at this time, Bishop Jonathan says that this moment of crisis could yet become a moment of spiritual opportunity, and a chance for God to 'do his work of renewal in us and through us'.
"As we prepare to welcome the Christ-child, who alone is the source of life and hope, may we indeed come seeking his forgiveness and his healing for our Church, but also giving thanks for all that God is doing amongst us and praying that he will enable us to become more and more a Church that truly reflects his glory and his compassion to the world he came to save."
Read the message in full below
A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Jonathan to the Diocese of Rochester
Dear sisters and brothers,
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, you may like me have been watching and listening to the ongoing revelations around the safeguarding failings of the Church with a growing sense of despair.
Our hearts cry out for those victims and survivors who are at the centre of these cases, and for all those who have been harmed by our Church who are being caused to relive again what they have experienced because of what they are hearing, reading and seeing.
All of this at the very moment when you in your churches are preparing to welcome and invite others to join with you in sharing the hope-filled and joyous message at the heart of the nativity.
It would be all too understandable if you and those around you are feeling angry and shaken at this time.
This is why I wanted to write to you to acknowledge all that is happening, the pain being caused to victims and survivors, the impact on you and the work of your church teams, and to offer if I can, a message of both thanks and encouragement.
I believe the crisis around the Makin report is not just about the failure of a few individuals. It is about a shared and collective failure across our Church in the many cases that have come to light in recent years, and which I believe underlay the critical motion on safeguarding recently passed by our Diocesan Synod.
Of course, at the local level in our parishes and dioceses and at the national level, there has been huge change around the culture and practice of safeguarding, and I am so grateful for all the clergy and lay people across this diocese are doing as part of that.
However, as recent events have shown, there is still a profound need for a change of culture across the Church as a whole, moving towards greater transparency and accountability at all levels. There have been very significant changes around safeguarding policy and practice, but what we also need is a pastoral and prophetic response focused on repentance and transformation, leading to the renewal of our collective life by the work of the Holy Spirit.
This moment of crisis could yet become a moment of spiritual opportunity, if we will seize it and allow God to do his work of renewal in us and through us. I believe God is calling us to recognize the seriousness of the situation we are facing as the Church of England, to confess our shared shortcomings and to ask God to cleanse us and to transform us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is after all why Jesus came into the world – to save us from our sins and to offer us a whole new way of life as children of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven. That is his invitation to us now, to renew our relationship with him and to welcome him once more as our Saviour and King. This is indeed good news of great joy for us and for all people.
And it is this good news that is at the heart of the wonderful work that goes on in our churches and communities every week of the year. I have been so heartened and encouraged to see this everywhere that I have visited across our Diocese throughout the last year. Thank you so much for all you are doing to honour and serve our Lord in the places to which he has called you.
As we prepare to welcome the Christ-child, who alone is the source of life and hope, may we indeed come seeking his forgiveness and his healing for our Church, but also giving thanks for all that God is doing amongst us and praying that he will enable us to become more and more a Church that truly reflects his glory and his compassion to the world he came to save.
With my heartfelt thanks for you all and my prayers for God’s blessing to be upon you.
Jonathan, Bishop of Rochester