Tonight on Panorama...
Forgive us all that is past...
The Church of England's broken promises on race and racism...
There's a culture of fear where people pretend to be OK,
but they're really battling.
It makes you feel invisible.
It makes you feel absolutely powerless.
We speak to clergy claiming discrimination...
Why would you, on a letter which is asking for a job
opportunity, why would you draw attention to my ethnicity?
The Church's former top advisor on race relations...
Based on the racial reckoning of the church, I'm afraid
they've abysmally failed - and it's not fit for purpose.
..and the man who's been brought in to help change things...
The issue isn't so much that we haven't talked about it enough -
the issue is that we haven't acted upon it enough.
..but the church has been here before...
I mean, look, that does shame the church, doesn't it?
Well, it... Yes, it does.
So, will it finally act, and practice what it preaches?
I tried my very best for the Church of England, I couldn't...
I can only be me.
Michelle Delves is a junior vicar here at All Saints
Church in Hartlepool.
She's mixed race, and working class.
She's happy now.
But when she started out, she says she was shocked by the lack
of diversity in the church.
It's mainly male and female, middle and upper class.
I got there, and I've just never felt as black and poor.
I felt like I'd landed on an alien planet.
She enrolled at Cranmer Hall in Durham in 2016.
It's a bible college that's been training students
for more than a century.
Only one in ten accepted for training into the Church
of England are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
I often had things I wanted to say or to ask and, you know,
I would sit with my hand up for a while and then
just put it down.
There's almost, like, there's a covert...
It's a silent threat.
Growing up in Bradford in the 80s, racism was a fact
of life for Michelle.
I've had the most horrible things said to me but,
it was very in my face and I could deal with that.
The thing that really scares the pants off me about this
institutional racism is that you don't know it's
happening to you.
A few months into her studies, she even tried
changing her appearance.
I'd stopped wearing wraps on my head, I'd kind of tone down
the colours that I wore.
So, it's not that anybody's saying, "You've got to take your wrap
off your head," but you start to kind of accommodate this thing.
She says her growing sense of isolation was made worse
by a lack of understanding within the Church.
All through those two years of training, you know,
people kept saying, "Oh, play the game."
So, you go to your tutorial, which is supposed to be
where you air these things, and you try and air them honestly -
and straightaway it's like, "Oh, you need to deal
with your emotions."
Instead of being heard, I felt I was managed.
Michelle says she told friends and lecturers
at the college how she felt, but at the time was advised not
to make a formal complaint as it would go on her record.
But, after leaving college, she took her complaint to the very top.
I wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury because I just
felt I was so tired and nobody was listening.
This is who I am, and I can't tell you how heartbreaking
it is when you feel like you're coming close to losing that -
not because you can't do it, but because other people
think you can't.
In response to her note, the Archbishop's office told
Michelle of their "anger and sorrow" on hearing about her "experiences",
saying, "much more needs to be done about institutional racism
in the Church".
Cranmer Hall told Panorama...
It says because it "received no formal complaint from this
student" at the time, it was "not able to
address the allegations".
It says it's "keen, if Michelle would be willing, to explore these
concerns thoroughly."
# Jesus is here...#
The Church of England welcomes more than 800,000 worshippers every week.
Of the clergy who lead them, only one in 25 is from an ethnic
minority background.
For seven years, Dr Elizabeth Henry was the Church's top
advisor on race relations.
Is the church for everyone?
It should be, shouldn't it?
Because of the teachings of Christianity, there is one body
and we are all members of the one body.
She was so disillusioned, last year she quit.
I felt frustrated by the lack of progress with issues of racism.
I wanted to start to put my energy and my focus where I felt that
I could genuinely and truly make a difference.
Elizabeth continues to support minority and ethnic clergy.
Like this junior vicar, who doesn't want to reveal her identity
because she fears losing her job.
I felt trapped, and I just remember counting down
the minutes and seconds, hoping that I was going to get out.
When she was at bible college, she says she was racially abused
in class by a white student.
I was told to make a complaint.
I made a complaint and I was told to turn the other cheek.
How did that make you feel?
Devastated.
Silenced.
I realised I was on my own, and that what had happened
they were going to do nothing with it.
Elizabeth has counselled many others, who say even
complaining about racist abuse carries its own risks.
The issue that came up again and again and again was the feeling
that they were not safe within the church.
It wasn't safe to complain.
That in taking that complaint of racism further, that that
will then somehow mark them out as being a troublemaker.
Professor Robert Beckford has spent a lifetime studying
issues of faith and race.
He says the Church's complaints system needs a complete overhaul.
The situation on complaints is an absolute mess.
Clergy do not know who the complaints are going to,
there is not one single system.
And as a consequence of that, people don't know how their complaints
are going to be dealt with.
The situation is archaic, it's out of date, and it's
not fit for purpose.
Meet Alwyn Pereira, originally from Kenya.
When he finished his training as a junior vicar in 2015,
he spent two long years trying to find a job.
It was really difficult.
I couldn't work out why I wasn't getting a job.
You kind of wonder how can I improve, what can I do
to get my application up there, and I fired off an email
to the bishop saying, "My applications are not working,
what's wrong, can you help me?"
Finally in August 2017, Alwyn got a job interview.
After all the knock-backs, he was determined to succeed
and asked to see a copy of his personal record.
The Church calls it a Blue File.
Every member of the clergy has a blue file.
And this blue file contains information about you from just
about anyone you come into contact with.
The Church says any comments should preferably be
made with the agreement of the person concerned.
Now this file follows you wherever you go and it can
come back to haunt you.
When Alwyn got his file, he found a letter that no-one had
told him anything about.
It was from Mike Hill, Bishop of Bristol, who'd
overseen his training.
It started out saying, first of all, that I was Sri Lankan.
And then it made this critical statement in which it said:
"All people from the Indian subcontinent, like Alwyn,
have issues around communications, around clarity and truth."
That was like a blow to my heart, that you could describe
and denigrate an entire group of people, saying that they
are, effectively, liars.
That, to me, was utterly shocking.
So, you can't believe any of this.
The thing is you're not even Sri Lankan.
That's right and it's immaterial of where I'm from,
because why would you draw attention to my ethnicity?
Alwyn, too, wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who forwarded his
letter to another bishop.
But for months the matter still wasn't dealt with.
I lodged a complaint - expecting my complaint
to be taken seriously, to be looked into.
And I found that nothing like that happened.
It was more of a shooing away.
It was kicked into the long grass.
My case demonstrated that there isn't a proper
process or practice.
Angry and frustrated, he took the Bristol Diocese
to an employment tribunal, and asked the Church for any extra
information it held on him.
They handed over emails.
The judge ruled, though, that too much time had
passed since the emails and letters were sent.
But he agreed some of them could "infer discrimination".
One, from another bishop, was about a job Alwyn had
been turned down for.
It was rejected on the basis of "cultural eccentricities."
So, racism?
Racism.
No question about that?
No question, the actual email said: "Alwyn, has more skills,
"more expertise than some of the people we are shortlisting,
"and getting interviewed."
But my applications were resisted on a racist criteria.
Armed now with the emails and the letter, Alwyn
took his complaint to a Church disciplinary tribunal, that deals
with allegations of serious misconduct against clergy.
At the tribunal, Bishop Hill admitted racial stereotyping.
Although he'd already retired, he was formally rebuked and ordered
to attend unconscious bias training.
Unconscious bias training for a year of Allwyn's life,
lost in legal battles and recrimination, fear
that his career is over?
One wonders if that sanction really is enough
to absolve the original sin.
Bishop Hill apologised, saying any racism was unintentional.
Finally, Alwyn got a job as a Vicar in Hampshire.
He still feels let down by the system.
I don't feel I've had justice.
That's probably the biggest factor - that this is the Church.
This is the place that has a moral duty, on behalf of the whole nation.
The Diocese of Bristol says...
Peterson Feital, who's Brazilian, had high hopes for his career
when he moved to London in 2011.
He was hired as a trainee vicar by a church that had a mainly white,
middle class congregation.
His task was to reach out to diverse communities who don't
normally attend church.
The vicar who gave me the job, he said, "You are
everything we need."
And by that he meant: we need energy.
We need you to be you.
Peterson qualified as a vicar and for a couple of years he thrived.
I know it's not my day, but I feel you have to see my face
from time to time...
But when the vicar who hired him left, he says everything changed
with the arrival of a new boss.
Things began to be said to me in a one-to-one situation,
such as, "Your English is not very good.
"I don't like your preaching, and you are too Brazilian
"in your compassion - you're not very coherent."
People of my kind, of my colour, "is just not clever enough."
So, you are convinced it's racism?
Well, I have no other way.
How am I supposed to translate those things said to me, to my face?
Over time, Peterson says, things got worse...
One morning, my new boss comes into my office
and he looks very agitated, and he looks straight
into my eyes and says, "Peterson, you've got to find a job
with people of your kind."
And then he pauses, and he said this most remarkable thing.
"If London diocese is going to give you a job, it's going to be
for a diversity show.
They're going to give you it for a short period of time
and they're going to drop you like we always do".
And then he left.
Shut the door behind me, I then cried.
That's how it was.
Peterson repeatedly complained to senior staff
at the London Diocese about the bullying and racism
he says he was experiencing.
And then I'm beginning to be told, "Keep your head down."
"Because no-one is going to be able to prove there is any racism.
"No-one is going to really believe you, and if you are going to create
"any problem, you're not going to get a job anywhere.
I tried to change my personality for them.
I did.
And I'm ashamed of it.
I tried to stand in the pulpit so many times and speak English
in a way that would please them, to speak sermons, to, you know,
do the most eloquent,
"white" as I could,
because I loved them.
But, I couldn't.
Right?
I just couldn't.
I tried my very best for the Church of England, I couldn't.
I can only be me.
The me that I am, they didn't want it.
After ten years in the Church of England, Peterson's
contract wasn't renewed and he was made redundant.
He left with a payment of just £2,000.
Now, he's out of work, and claiming benefits.
The Diocese of London says it's appalled
at what Peterson has experienced.
It says it's spoken with Peterson regarding the process
for bringing formal complaints against those involved.
Making a complaint about racism in any organisation is daunting.
Elizabeth Henry continues to support church staff going through formal
complaints processes.
One case in particular sticks in her mind.
A really shocking incident was a young black man who received
a picture of a banana.
But that banana had his head superimposed upon it -
and underneath it said "Bananaman".
That is a deeply offensive and deeply racist image.
He took it to HR, and he did file a grievance.
And the decision was that it wasn't racist.
But that wasn't the end of the story, Elizabeth says
the young man finally settled his case - but with
a gagging clause attached.
That person left, and he received a very small compensation,
however he was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
I'm aware of others who've complained of racism and they too
have received compensation, and that's been contingent on them
signing a non-disclosure agreement.
And that doesn't deal with the issue of racism.
That buys silence.
The Church told Panorama that, whilst it can't comment
on individual cases, "Any behaviour of the sort described
by Dr Henry is unacceptable.
Confidentiality agreements
are for use only in exceptional circumstances, where open processes
may not have reached resolution."
It says, "Everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect,
free from bullying and harassment on the grounds of race,
gender or any other reason".
Last year, the Church itself could no longer stay silent.
Elizabeth Henry was sitting directly behind the Archbishop of Canterbury
when he admitted to the Church's ruling body that the
Church had failed.
There is no doubt when we look at our own church that we are still
deeply, institutionally racist.
Let's just be clear about that, it was said to the College
of Bishops last year and it's true.
Three months later, in the wake of George Floyd's death,
Church leaders across the country took the knee to highlight
injustice in society.
Amongst them, the Bishop of Leicester.
He's one of 42 Senior Bishops in England.
Only one of them is from a minority ethnic background.
It's almost like, "OK so the job's done."
But the confession, it's not a new phenomenon, or a new awakening
or a new enlightenment in the Church.
For the Church to survive, the Church needs to reimagine itself.
That's exactly what the Church says it's doing.
It's set up an anti-racism taskforce to "ensure greater equality".
One of its chairs is the Vicar of St Nics in Durham, Arun Arora.
A former employment lawyer, he's held senior positions
within the church.
I've experienced my fair share of...
Slights and humiliations.
Being invited to a conference and pulling up outside
and being told that I wasn't allowed to go there to pick up my
client, as a taxi driver.
Taxi driver?
Being asked by another priest, actually, whether I
was his taxi driver.
Driving up to the office where I was director
of communications with my keys in my hand - to be asked
by somebody in reception, if I was her taxi driver.
It happens once and you can say, "Oh, OK, you know,
that's a funny story."
It happens twice, you begin to go, "What is this?"
And it happens a third time, then you begin to think,
"What is wrong here?"
There's been a lot of talk about racism within the Church.
The issue isn't so much that we haven't talked about it
enough, the issue is that we haven't acted upon it enough.
Is this then a watershed moment?
It has the potential...
To ask of ourselves, why have we failed?
Why have we failed to implement those actions?
This isn't the first time the Church has attempted
to address issues of race.
I can remember in 1985 when the church produced the Faith
in the City document.
It demanded urgent action.
And that was 35 years ago.
It's sobering looking back at all the words the Church has
written about racism over 35 years.
Report after report - more than 20 of them.
This is Faith in the City - it talks about "the alienation
experienced by black people in the Church of England."
The Passing Winter.
"Congregations need to be familiar with minority ethnic people
exercising leadership skills within the Church, otherwise
the Church will be regarded as having a hidden racist agenda".
And this is An Amazing Journey - "Dioceses should work
at implementing recommendations and not just tinker at the edges."
If these reports had been implemented, would we still need
a task force in 2021?
The Archbishop of York is second in command of the Church of England.
He helped set up the taskforce and is embarrassed by the lack
of action, despite all the previous inquiries, some of
which he took part in.
I
I mean,
I mean, look...
Yeah.
You don't need to tell me.
But, that does shame the church, doesn't it?
Well, it, yes, it does.
As I say, I'm, I'm somebody who wrote those reports, some of them.
Um...
But, Archbishop, did you say to yourself after you wrote these
reports and you didn't see them implemented, this is not
the place for me?
Did you reflect on any of that when none of this was implemented?
Well, some of it has been implemented.
Some of it has.
But some of it hasn't.
I'm not sitting here to defend the Church's record.
I want to make this change.
It is simply the case that UK ME people are underrepresented
and disadvantaged in many of the structures and systems
of our church, and that has a terrible knock-on for our mission
in the wider communities we serve.
I don't believe the Church of England is full of racists,
I believe most people in the Church of England want to
make these changes.
We have not found the way of doing that yet.
Which is what is so appalling about the situation.
This isn't the British Army, or the BBC, or the Metropolitan Police.
This is the Church of England.
But it doesn't mean to say the whole Church of England is wrong.
It means we've got some things we need to address,
and they're really important, and we're going to address them.
The Church faces an existential crisis.
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attending
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Sonic market the vast majority attending on Sunday are
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elderly.
attending on Sunday are white and elderly. Quite
attending on Sunday are white and elderly. Quite frankly,
attending on Sunday are white and elderly. Quite frankly, they
attending on Sunday are white and elderly. Quite frankly, they won't
be
elderly. Quite frankly, they won't be around
elderly. Quite frankly, they won't be around much
elderly. Quite frankly, they won't be around much longer.
But we have a lot of black and brown people also going to church
who want to be part of the Church's future and its ministry.
And I think appointing black or brown bishops go a long way
to showing these people that they matter.
And this is what I understand the taskforce is going to say.
They will recommend quotas for ethnic minority clergy
and non-white candidates for every top job - and overseeing
it all, they'll call for a Racial Justice Unit.
With this, the Church does seem to recognise that
there's a lot to be done.
One major reason is its own numbers.
In the last decade alone, Church attendance has
gone down by around 20%.
This is Bromyard in rural Herefordshire.
Here, a new vicar joined five years ago and the parish is thriving.
We just think, what she's brought to the Church
has been so refreshing, new, vibrant, and really
what the Church is about.
It is quite refreshing to have her.
And I feel that God does work through Kina,
and you can sense that.
Kina Robertshaw came to the UK from Zambia.
If the Church is going to thrive, should it perhaps be looking to
learn from communities like these?
I have never experienced any animosity from the congregation.
It's interesting that one time I did a funeral for this
family and, bless this man, he just came and walked towards me,
then he said, "Little did I know that one day it was going to be
a black person doing the funeral for my mother."
So he just came and said thank you for doing my mother's funeral.
Despite the fact 50 years ago when they saw a black person,
they just shut the door.
Well, you've got a Norman church in rural England.
Yet what's going on inside that building is a very modern concept.
It's diversity, it's multiculturalism.
It's a woman of colour, who is the Vicar, ministering
to a predominantly white parish.
But even Kina had been told, during her training,
that she wasn't the right material for the job.
The person who was helping me, to see if I can be a Vicar,
said this to me, "Well, Kina, I really can't seem
to see how, you know, where you would fit."
She even said,
"Oh, because of your spirituality, your background, your
colour, or whatever - I don't think you'll ever feel
at home in the Church of England."
Kina wouldn't accept that she didn't fit in,
and wouldn't give up.
She feels, though, that until the leadership changes,
nothing will really change.
The challenge is the Church of England, the leaders.
How come we don't have representatives in leadership
of black people, people of, you know, Asian or other ethnicity?
Why aren't we seeing more of that?
What is the future for the church?
I don't know if there is, because based on the racial
reckoning of the church, I'm afraid they've abysmally failed.
and it's not fit for purpose.
A tough assessment, but one perhaps that some in the Church
itself now acknowledge.
It's told Panorama, "The Bible teaches that we're all made in God's
image and all one Christ.
We must reject the sin of racism and now make urgent changes
so all God's people are welcome and can flourish in the Church."
But can it really deliver on these promises?
I think we need to recognise that the Church is a
fractured institution.
It's a fallen and broken institution - made up of fallen and broken
individuals just like me.
That there comes a time when apathy and complacency will not cut it any
more and that a time arrives for vigorous and positive action.
That time is now.