Do you have information to help our safeguarding audits of religious life groups?
5 June 2025
Hello, my name is Abigail.
My experience of abuse in the Catholic Church happened during my time in the religious life.
I hope that we strive for a church that isn’t afraid to admit when they have made mistakes, one that’s able to say sorry and one that weeps at injustice. One that doesn’t await the survivor to seek out support.
I’m grateful for the support offered to us through the CSSA and look forward to seeing the important work of safeguarding become fully embedded into the church’s mission and culture.
Abigail (survivor of church related abuse)
(Abigail’s words are her own, and have not been changed)
Public call for information
At the CSSA we are here to independently judge safeguarding in Catholic church bodies across England and Wales, and to publicly share the results in order to be transparent, and to help drive up safeguarding standards. We are making progress, and we have a long way to go.
Our team is currently carrying out the baseline audits of religious life groups. To do this as effectively as possible, we welcome information from anybody who feels they have something to tell us about safeguarding in any religious life group in England or Wales.
We understand what a huge step this can be. Whether you have experienced abuse, have witnessed abuse, or are concerned about safety or safe culture in a religious life group, we would value your input.
You can email us, and we can call you back if we need to understand better the information you provide. Wherever possible, we need evidence or specific details which can help us build an accurate picture.
Our audits look at the last twelve months of safeguarding. This is because our priority has to be to prevent abuse in the future, by assessing risk today. Examples of practice in how church bodies respond today will help us build a picture of safeguarding culture. If you have had longer term contact with an RLG you may well want to tell us about this too, to help us understand how you feel about your experiences.
Any information you offer us will be treated confidentially with one of our expert and experienced team members. We will not share your confidential information with the religious life group concerned unless you specifically wish us to. But we will take it into account when we assess their safeguarding. If we feel that there are people at risk now, we may intervene or report to the police any unreported crime.
We will respect you, and we will listen to what you say.
If you have any information about safeguarding in a religious life setting in England and Wales, please get in touch.
Ways to contact us:
Click HERE to complete a form with your information which comes directly to the team.
Alternatively, you can email:
qualityassurance@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk or
Paul Threlfall, Safeguarding Quality Assurance Manager: paul.threlfall@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk
If you prefer, you can contact our team member lead for survivors, Sarah Gleadall. Sarah is not an analyst, she can act as a bridge between you and the team, and a neutral contact point: sarah.gleadall@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk
We’d like to thank Abigail for her words and for her courage in working with us in the past and staying in contact with us today. Thank you, Abigail.
Further information:
Click HERE to read more details about what we do with information which comes into us.
Click HERE to access free emotional support services at Safe Spaces.
Click HERE to read some of our published audit reports of religious life groups.