Sally Robinson

Life is messy and people are messy, but God is in the mess.

@alexdjfrost @Catus14 @churchofengland @syndod There’s always that bit where he instructs his disciples “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.”

@Catus14 @churchofengland @syndod Don't agree, I don't think Jesus would walk away citing excess optism as a reason. I always am eternally optimistic about people's capacity to change.

I question @churchofengland people leaving X For the same reason I don't leave @syndod I'll not be leaving this platform. You can't affect change by walking away. You can affect change by journeying with those you profoundly disagree with.

@FinallyHuman Seems difficult to reconcile with him being lost in the Temple.

That Jesus never cried as an infant is a testimony to his mother’s sinlessness. She was always perfectly able to discern her child’s needs, without distress but in peace. It also witnesses to Jesus’ sinless perfection in that he never grasped for what he needed.

@FinallyHuman But also because babies who don’t cry rarely survive infancy

Christmas Carol lines about Our Lord not crying and being good are hard to sing because we struggle to imagine the life of a person who is completely free of Sin.

For generations institutions survived by keeping dirty secrets and silencing the damning indictments against them. Thankfully this is becoming intolerable Institutions will only survive if they can be honest with and about themselves Those leading the C of E need to learn this

@BishopNewcastle @SimonTaylorKC That’s appalling. I’m so sorry. Thank you for taking some of the hits usually aimed at silencing C of E survivors and their allies but I’m sorry it comes at such a cost.

@KingCrawa @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety The people whose forgiveness ought to matter are the victims of abuse and those who have been retraumatised by Archbishops Council and those acting on their behalf. Forgiveness which is expected rather than earnestly sought and freely given is rarely in the victims interest.

@Sally_Robinson3 @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety and continued to be a major beneficiary of Church of England support not to offer that same level of grace and forgiveness to another

Those of us @churchofengland may well evaluate this decision of @markrusselluk @childrensociety from different perspectives, some of which, no matter if we support, question or oppose it can be reasonably argued. But I would call on colleagues who use language too easily in order to dismiss this action as ‘petty’, ‘vindictive’, ‘nasty’ & ‘mere virtue signalling’ to put themselves in their shoes as a leading children’s charity. What would we do? The rejection of @JustinWelby donation to the Children’s Society, no matter how we view it, must be seeen by all of us to be indicative of the extent to which the governance of the CofE is no longer seen to be fit for purpose in & by the charitable, voluntary & public sectors. Even by CEOs who are people of faith themselves & in Mark’s case a former member of the Archbishops’ Council. As a barometer this action shows just how white hot our present moral crisis has become & how toxic our common life is now viewed by many partners in wider society. I had robust support from the governing bodies & trustees of schools & charities that I am part of because they could not understand how Justin could remain post Makin. If we don’t wake up to this complete disjunction between our governance & morality & that of the charitable sector we are condemning ourselves & the mission of the church to death. Advent calls us to awake from sleep. Bishops particularly need to wake up. Clergy need to wake up & speak out. All the people of God need to wake up. We need to see how it is that other people perceive us & how that may well reflect how God views us too.

@KingCrawa @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety No, it doesn’t. It suggests an echo chamber. I have seen a number of survivors commend them for it. Their charitable aims have nothing to do with keeping Anglican Twitter happy or sparing the blushes of Archbishops.

@Sally_Robinson3 @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety Well the number of people who are criticising this would seem to suggest that Children's Society got this wrong. Its also fairly hypocritical for an organisation that has its own past links to historic abuse of children and has been forgiven, 1/

@KingCrawa @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety It isn’t. It’s an entirely skewed metric. The whole point was to dissociate from a public figure in the midst of a safeguarding scandal. It’s fairly standard practice in terms of charitable ethics. Privately refusal doesn’t distance them from the reasons for his resignation.

@Sally_Robinson3 @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety the story in the national press or if they did didn't think it worthy of comment. It has received far more notice since the Children's Society issued their statement. They could easily have turned it down privately and most people would have been none the wiser

@Adrian_Hilton @childrensociety @JustinWelby I imagine the Leprosy Mission would have plenty to say about that analogy.

I'm sorry, @childrensociety, but this is petty and nasty. @JustinWelby isn't a leper: if he donates to support children in crisis at Christmas (and he was one, once), you should accept it for the sake of the children. Do you sift every donor for virtue? telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/2…

@KingCrawa @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety It was in the national press including The Guardian and The Daily Mail. By what metric are we measuring the ‘public conscience?’ It certainly hit Anglican Twitter more from the rejection than the donation but that isn’t any meaningful measure of the public conscience.

@Sally_Robinson3 @frjonathanbish @Rgt71Robert @churchofengland @markrusselluk @childrensociety But as the first many people heard of it was the Childrens Society statement seems it hadn't appeared in the public conscience

@philipmurraylaw I think we can all be guilty of reading motive in where there is little evidence of contrition or conspiracy. I suspect it was composed, filmed, edited and scheduled to send weeks of not months ago and nobody joined the dots and ask whether this might be a problem.

Justin Welby was right to resign. But almsgiving is a fitting means of penitence. This is a ridiculous statement and only reflects badly on the charity.

@janeeecharman @MartynPercy @churchofengland Will you please stop using such violent language to describe an entirely peaceful petition. A group of people with common cause do not make a mob. Outspoken calls for accountability are not inherently unjust especially when they person in question is culpable in causing harm.

@MartynPercy @churchofengland If there’s a specimen case or class action of some kind that could be brought then I’d help fund it and so I hope would all those currently speaking out so passionately. Do we know a sympathetic lawyer? I’m not joining a lynch mob though

So all victims of abuse need to secure justice @churchofengland is access to a budget for the lawyers to go up against LamPal etc and infinite patience and limitless tenacity. Bit like the Post Office then? That took no time or money.

@janeeecharman @MartynPercy @UKChange I really don’t know how anyone at this point can credibly suggest the Archbishops are the ones suffering injustice. The victims in this are those who have been abused where the should have been safe, ignored and re abused where they ought to have received help and justice.

@MartynPercy @UKChange No, don’t. True justice is impartial, proportionate, informed, dispassionate and humane. The current outcry is none of those things

RESIGNATION of STEPHEN COTTRELL, Archbishop of York - Sign the Petition! chng.it/tnrJN4f9sD via @UKChange

@KtTup I’m getting more Calvinist by the minute….

"The Institution is killing the Church..." Discuss...

I’ve known I was called to priesthood since I was a child. It took me decades to answer that call, largely because I didn’t see anyone who looked like me in church leadership. It just didn’t seem to be a place where wounded healers were welcome - so very, very, white middle class male. And ++Justin’s speech in the HoL just confirmed that. I do feel slightly sorry for his diary secretary, but I hope that individual won’t mind that they come quite some way down in my pity list. Because to be honest, the people I feel sorry for are the victims and survivors of a serial sadist, who abused young men spiritually, physically, and sexually. Those who are watching the ABC minimise their pain, and those who died without seeing justice. Those who were barely mentioned in that little speech. After that, I’m sorry for all the victims and survivors of abuse, who cling on to church because Jesus is beauty, but who are let down again and again and again by his followers. I’m sorry for those who can’t see God because of the evil that has been placed in the way. I’m sorry for the clergy and ministers who cling on with a vision of what the church could and should be, and who increasingly find themselves questioning how long they can be part of this institution. Then, just then, I might find some pity for the diary secretary. I joined the church because in the middle of my own abuse, someone shared with me a vision of who God thought I was, beloved, accepted, belonging. The leader of my church just trivialised that in one of the highest institutions of our land. I’m not going to lie. Feeling a bit broken today.

@megs_cornwell How on earth did this get approved to go out inviting contact from victims of abuse without a basic ethics statement and conflict of interest declaration?

If you have been directly harmed by Mike Pilavachi, you might be interested in the research project below 👇

I am disturbed by the approach taken by the ABC in the Lord’s today; as I am by the lack of awareness shown by those laughing along. This is not what taking responsibility looks like, nor what repentance looks like. I am deeply sorry to those retraumatised by these actions.

@kouya It’s not surprising, the format is widely known to be an ineffective way to teach adults.