Church can’t be renewed without change at the top

THE 2009 annual report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children highlights the need for radical change requiring nothing less than a major step away from the defensiveness of the past to a more open and accountable present.

But it highlights serious shortcomings in several dioceses because those in leadership had difficulty changing their attitudes. How can there ever be accountability if such individuals are allowed to remain in pivotal positions when they are clearly not meeting fundamental vicarious obligations?

There are no precedents of real organisational change being accomplished anywhere without a concurrent change in leadership, culture and attitude.