A major children’s charity has rejected a Christmas donation from the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury saying that doing so would not be consistent with its work in supporting victims of child sexual abuse.
Earlier this week Justin Welby – who will officially quit in early January over failures in handling a Church of England abuse scandal – sent an annual e-card for the festive season, and said he was making a donation to The Children’s Society.
A message accompanying the card from Mr Welby and his wife Caroline noted that the charity “works with children affected by criminal and sexual exploitation, abuse” and other issues.
But the charity announced on Friday that it had “respectfully decided” not to accept the donation.
Mark Russell, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “After careful consideration, we have respectfully decided not to accept the donation offered by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The Children’s Society is deeply committed to supporting the survivors of abuse, our teams support victims of child sexual abuse, and this means that accepting this donation would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work.”
Mr Welby announced his resignation last month over the fallout from a damning report that implicated him in the Church’s failure to protect victims from serial abuser John Smyth.
Earlier this month he ignited fury among leading bishops who accused him of making light of safeguarding failures in his farewell speech to the House of Lords. He apologised the next day.
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