George Carey, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, has resigned as a priest due to his involvement in a new sexual scandal rocking the Anglican Church. Carey, who is also a member of the House of Lords, is being investigated for his role in the case of vicar David Tudor, who was accused of at least seven cases of abusing girls and women and resumed his duties as a priest despite being convicted of "indecent assault" and having paid compensation to a victim.
Carey's resignation adds even more pressure on the Archbishop of York and second in command of the Anglican Church, Stephen Cottrell, who is set to temporarily take over from Justin Welby in January, following Welby's resignation in November due to the scandal involving John Smyth, the lawyer implicated in at least 130 cases of abuse and corporal punishment of minors.
In his resignation letter, Carey claims that it has been "an honor to serve the Anglican Church for 60 years," although he avoids direct mention of the Tudor case. In documents leaked to the BBC regarding the investigation against the vicar, who was finally suspended in October, Carey claims to "not remember" even Tudor's name, despite allegedly intervening to prevent disciplinary action against him.
Known for his charisma from the pulpit, Tudor served as a priest for 46 years in London, Surrey, and Essex. The first two abuse cases, including a girl under 16, date back to 1982 and 1989. An ecclesiastical court banned him from ministry for five years, but he was reinstated and in 2005 was investigated for another abuse case dating back to the seventies. Since then, he was allowed to continue working with the condition of not being left alone with minors, until his final suspension two months ago.
The case has reached the doorstep of Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, due to his alleged role in the "protection" of the controversial priest. The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, has been the first in the senior clergy to openly call for his resignation as the Anglican Church's second in command. "His credibility has been undermined by not acting in a case like this," Hartley declared on the BBC's File on 4 Investigates radio program. "How can you have moral and ethical authority to lead an institution with that background?".