CHAPTER 69
GREG TAKE A TIME from class when he got the report he'd asked for and everything in it had more logic than murdering mere innocents.
— Any news on the reports? — said Cliff Handerson's assistant.
Greg just gave a shy smile.
— It's okay, we're putting together the puzzle of this here, very soon we'll catch the causes of this mess.
— How can you be so sure?
— Are you good at something that's practically impossible to lose, for anyone in the world?
The boy shook his head.
— When it is, then you can ask that kind of question, but you won't because you know it's in the hands of the best person possible.
— It has an air of self— centeredness.
— There's a huge chasm between being self— centered and knowing you're the best, people usually use that to wallow in their own frustrations, you know what's the biggest difference between them?
The boy again shook his head.
— The result.
GREG HAS SEEN Joel Nielsen's FILE and more than two dozen mysteriously filed inquiries, all involving child prostitution, child rape, whether boys or girls, and wondered what kind of mentally ill would do that.
— What's your name, boy?
— Renan Carmichael.
— Renan, what kind of person would be interested in hiding the scandals committed by a member of the high clergy of the Anglican Church.
— The Church of England reports directly to the Crown, Mr. Evans, it is not an isolated institution like the Church of Rome.
— The report further examines the case of the Diocese of Chichester in southern England and the late Bishop Peter Ball. He was sentenced in 2015 to 32 months in prison for sex crimes committed against eighteen youths over three decades. In an earlier report published in May 2019, the commission accused the Anglican Church of England of prioritizing its — reputation— over the victims of its religious body. He also criticized the crown prince of the throne for his — misguided— support for Peter Ball.
— In Ball's trial, it was alleged that ministers, MPs, school principals and a member of the royal family intervened directly to prevent this person, close to the Prince of Wales, from being charged in 1993.
— Without a doubt, there will be strong recommendations and we will gladly welcome them, assured the archbishops, promising — to act to make the church a safe place for all — and — to meet the needs of support and reparation on the part of the survivors —. There's an interesting thing here about Nielsen, is that he was Ball's assistant for many years.
Carmichael nodded.
Greg read the report again...
— It is from the last few days, the surprising position of the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked that his predecessor, resign from the position of honorary bishop. The leading spiritual figure of Anglicans around the world made the decision after the publication of an independent inquiry entitled "Abuse of Faith", which publicized the cover-ups, for years, to the powerful and venerated Bishop Peter Ball, a close friend of the Crown Prince, sentenced to thirty— two months in prison in 2015 for the sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 boys, aged between 18 and 25, who had come to him for spiritual help in the years from 1977 to 1992. In his role as leader of the Communion Anglican, testified to and defended Peter Ball several times, helping to cover up investigations and the truth for years...
"This is shocking and unforgivable behavior — declared the Bishop of Canterbury to the British media — which also sees the top of the Church involved in having betrayed victims who, on the contrary, should be helped. These are unacceptable, unjustifiable things."
— The report, commissioned by the bishop himself, is ruthless in listing the collusions, the actions taken to discredit the accusers and defend Ball. He left the episcopal office and retired for years to a rented house within the property of the Prince of Wales himself, continuing, however, to officiate in seventeen denominational schools in the region. Finally, in recent years, the process and the conviction have arrived for those distant facts, but still so present in the memory of the victims. To them the Archbishop's apologies were addressed on behalf of the Church of England for the pain suffered, when, instead, they sought succor and consolation. After just sixteen months in prison, in February of this year, Ball, aged 85, obtained his release.
— Do we have a list of all Ball and Nielsen's formal victims?
— I can arrange.
Greg nodded.
Everything is starting to take shape, soon I will meet Albion's face...