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IICSA published its final Report in October 2022. This website was last updated in January 2023.

IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Roman Catholic Church (EBC) Case Study: Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School Investigation Report

G.1: Introduction

1. Christopher Jamison has been the Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) since August 2017,[1] having replaced Dom Richard Yeo. He told us that, since taking up his post as Abbot President, his primary focus has been on improving safeguarding across EBC monasteries and working to ensure that there is an EBC-wide “culture of continuous improvement” with regards to safeguarding.[2] To that end, he is working in partnership with ‘superiors’ (ie abbots, abbesses or priors) of individual monasteries to create more robust safeguarding processes.[3]

2. Under his leadership, the EBC is seeking to address three key areas: responsiveness, accountability and transparency.[4] Abbot President Jamison’s evidence to us is summarised below. As the improvements he is seeking to implement are still in their infancy, it is not possible for us to assess how effective they will be in practice.

References

  1. INQ003781_001 para 1. (Abbot President Jamison is also the chair of trustees of the EBC Trust and a member of the Catholic Council for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Prior to his appointment, Abbot President Jamison held a number of significant positions, including as abbot of Worth Abbey (2002–2010) and as Director of the National Office for Vocation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (2010–2017).) ↵
  2. INQ003781_001 ↵
  3. INQ003781_001 ↵
  4. INQ003781_007 para 20 ↵
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