Paedophile Priest wins the Lottery!

Canon Andrew Hindley — who worked in Blackburn diocese from 1991 to 2021 — was subject to five police investigations, including into allegations of sexual assault.  He has never been charged with any criminal offences and says he has never presented any safeguarding risk to anyone.  A senior member of staff at Blackburn Cathedral resigned over the settlement and says concerns about the priest were “an open secret” among senior clergy.  The former Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson described the financial settlement when he was in post as the “only option” left for the Church “to protect children and vulnerable young people from the risk Canon Hindley posed.”https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2gj77pvwwo

The whistle-blower, the Rev. Dr. Rowena Pailing gave up her job in disgust of the goings-on in the Blackburn diocese. A job she had held since 2018. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cofelancs/albums/72157694923239701/

Mrs Pailing says that when she was offered the job in 2018 she was warned of “serious safeguarding concerns and allegations” over a priest, spanning “a long period of about 25 years”. She says she was assured there was a plan to deal with it. But after taking up the post, “it became quite clear there was no plan” and quickly realised the Church of England was sitting on an open secret. Recalling an event at Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, she says: “There was a bishop from another diocese who referred to the particular canon by name and asked if he was still up to his old tricks.” Internal Church of England documents, seen by the BBC, show there had been concerns about Blackburn Cathedral for years. A 2009 cathedral inspection concluded Canon Hindley “may pose a threat to young men” and to the cathedral’s name. What do you say, that crimes by sexual deviants, do pay, and pay well?

Jeanne, J.E. pp. Jero Jones.