Some of these articles appeared before the announcement of Archbishop John’s retirement.
Gavin Drake The Living Church Welsh Primate Resigns in Cathedral Leadership Scandal
Church Times Archbishop of Wales steps down, with immediate effect
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Archbishop of Wales stands down after Bangor cathedral scandal
Gwyn Loader BBC News Archbishop retires amid cathedral behaviour failings
Martin Shipton Nation Cymru Church in Wales charities probed by Charity Commission
Here is the personal statement by the Archbishop issued on Monday this week: Statement on Bangor Cathedral Visitation Report implementation.
The process for electing a new Archbishop is in the Constitution. Within thirty days after a vacancy arises in the archbishopric, the senior Diocesan Bishop (currently the Bishop of St Asaph) shall summon each member of the Archbishop’s Electoral College to a meeting to be held not less than fourteen and not more than thirty days after the date of such summons. So the meeting must be held not later that 26 August.
The only reason for delay is if a see is vacant or becomes vacant within 14 days of the archbishopric becoming vacant. In that case the process does not start until the vacant see has been filled. But Bishop John has delayed his resignation from his see by more than 14 days, so the timetable above must be followed.
The letter from Rowena Lewis is to be found in the Martin Shipton report. It is worth reading to get some idea of the depth of feeling about the situation in the diocese of Bangor.
This is an unusual process.
It would be good to hear the thinking behind this decision to have an immediate archiepiscopal election when the diocese of Bangor will be vacant.
This is unprecedented.
Of course archbishops have previously resigned from both positions at the same moment.
Thus the election of a new Archbishop has been delayed until all the Sees are filled..
So why this change?
Why now?
What is the reasoning around this ??
It needs to be made clear.
On further reflection … It has been obvious for a few months that Andy John couldn’t survive this series of decisions and the extraordinary consequences of his judgment. It seems that in the last few weeks the bench of bishops have been discussing the Archbishops exit strategy and have come up with a plan. The plan can only work if there isn’t a sixth bishop as that sixth bishop might not help to contrive the outcome. Under the threat of potential implosion with further scandals to come it seems that it has been decided there will only be one candidate… Read more »
The problem they’ve got is that +StAsaph was complicit in John’s questionable appointment, and the others are all new enough to be unproven. Add to that, that all of them have been silent while the Bangor mess has grown and grown, and it’s hard to see that any appointment will command sufficient assent to be viable.
Except that’s not true! You have no idea whats been said – robustly – by some of the bishops in the right place and in the right way. I am not sure what you mean by + Gregory being complicit.
I’m not going to make comment on the appointment of the current Archbishop, but the only Bishops in Wales currently who it would appear owe little to the current Archbishop or former Archbishop Barry Morgan, whose name is frequently mentioned by those who know far more than I do about the origins and foundations for the issues in Bangor, are +Monmouth, +St Davids and +Swansea and Brecon. Each of them is held in high esteem in their dioceses, and each, in different ways, has done a very commendable job of cleaning up and rebuilding in their dioceses. In my view,… Read more »
“You have no idea whats been said – robustly – by some of the bishops in the right place and in the right way”
Given that the appointment ended in a major scandal, they either didn’t say it robustly enough, or they said it in the wrong place, or they said it in the wrong way. Could you outline the thought process which says that the humiliating resignation of senior cleric amidst a cloud of drunken adultery is proof that any process worked well?
What I meant was that the comment that they have all remained silent whilst the ‘Bangor mess has grown and grown’ is not true. How would the author possibly know? I am pretty positive that some of the bishops have been very robust indeed, albeit not in a forum that would satisfy some commentators, hence ‘in the right place, and in the right way.’ I wasn’t referring to his election but to the last few weeks and months.
The argument that there have been deep discussions behind the scenes of which the little people know nothing, and therefore they should not worry their pretty little heads as the grownups have it in hand, is the genesis (and revelation) of many scandals. The process clearly failed. There should be honest reflection on that.
A great number of the ‘little people’ (I am one of them) in Wales have been in contact with their bishops and other ‘grown ups,’ and have made their feelings abundantly clear. Some of the ‘grown ups’ have also been extremely robust in their critique. What they haven’t – to their credit – done is air everything via social media.
Surely Gregory Cameron was the disappointed candidate defeated by the appointment of Andy John .. far from being complicit .. and perhaps justified in his disappointment by Andy John saying both publicly and privately that he would not stand for election and then….oops!
The newly nominated bishop of Llandaff made a strong showing in the first round … Now.. that would have been another sort of catastrophe.
I am not comfortable with, as well as baffled by the innuendo about +Mary being a potential catastrophe at the end of your posting, Martin. It’s more on keeping with postings on that vile, utterly unchristian Welsh Ancient Briton blog. Either substantiate, if you can, or graciously retract, please.
I was cross when I last posted so l may have phrased it poorly. But I don’t understand how Martin’s implied, unsubstantiated criticism of a hard working, new bishop is helpful right now. As for archbishop Andy, he too worked hard for the Province. I am saddened by his resignation. The Harries review of the Church in Wales made many recommendations, including a challenge to our culture of excessive episcopal power. Sadly we cherry picked the stuff about mission or ministry areas, arguably the worst bit, and parked a lot of the rest. If only bishops had been banned from… Read more »
I have to say that I had read this as not referring to Mary but to her predecessor.
I had also read it as referring to her predecessor.
I am glad that it wasn’t a snipe at a currently serving bishop. I got in a chronological muddle. How time flies as you get older. I can’t comment on Martin’s references to an earlier bishop of Llandaff whom I never knew, and speculating on alternative history is a luxury anyway. I am more concerned with seeing structural reform in the present so that bishops,.always imperfect, can perform as best as they can.
Yes – it was. Nothing to do with the present bishop of Llandaff.
But surely the author of, and most of the contributors to, the Ancient Briton blog believe that they are very Christian indeed – the only righteous and true believers?
My only conversation with the previous bishop of Llandaff was at an ordination – she (like James’ inference) her first out of the blue words accused me of being the author of the Ancient Briton blog. Odd really, having been the Press Officer for Welsh MOW. But it seemed afterward when I publicly questioned the previous Archbishop (John Davies) about the scandalous pastoral care of suspended bishop Richard Payne and then the outrageous way those who complained about him were hung out to dry, he too said I was the Ancient Briton. i have never hidden my views behind false… Read more »
Anglican Unscripted 920 has a short discussion about the resignation of the Archbishop of Wales, beginning at 24.35 and ending at 30.26. The final few seconds are very telling.
I listened to that – it’s full of so many factual errors and misrepresentations that I couldn’t find it useful, sorry. From the small but telling (Bangor Cathedral isn’t “the biggest cathedral in his diocese”, it’s the only one; the sub-dean went on to be bursar at a Cambridge college not an Oxford one – well, actually it’s an affiliated institution not a full college, but it’s certainly not in Oxford), to the major (there were 6 reports to the charity commission in 2024 specifically about the former sub-dean – actually some were in 2025 and we don’t know their… Read more »
I cannot say anything about the former Sub-Dean’s personal behaviour (I met him once, after a service, and quite liked him!). However the Thirtyone:eight “visitation report” on the Cathedral specifically mentions “excessive consumption of alcohol …. inappropriate language being used in front of younger members of the choir and … a culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred, and to some in their view promiscuity was acceptable”.
Absolutely, and that’s all terrible. But as far as I’m aware, no accusation has been made that it was the sub-dean personally who had an alcohol problem or was sexually promiscuous, which is what that podcast said. That he presided over a culture in which such things were accepted is really bad, not to mention all his other misdeeds, but the podcast says he was personally a drunken and sexually promiscuous priest, and I don’t think that can be supported at least from the evidence currently in the public domain.
Yes, I’d agree with all that and should have been clearer. (I haven’t accessed the podcast, by the way).
Rowena Lewis’s letter, extensively quoted in the Martin Skipton piece, contains the interesting fact that the selectors unanimously advised against the Sub-Dean’s ordination. If I understand it correctly the Archbishop disregarded that advice. He then subverted the rule that a dean must have been ordained for at least six years by keeping the deanery vacant and making his protege sub- dean and effectively acting dean. This despite the fact that he already had a full time job as diocesan secretary. None of which shows that the sub- dean was either promiscuous or prone to excessive drinking. It does suggest that… Read more »
A problem that afflicts many of the above contributions – and will afflict this one – is that a great deal of known and proven fact is not in the public domain. This concerns both deeply reprehensible behaviour on the part of some and highly creditable behaviour on the part of others. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming Electoral College will be sufficiently apprised of what has gone on to help them discern what God is saying about the one choice before them. My repeated experience of Welsh electoral colleges has been deeply discouraging, even when I have… Read more »
Yes, I agree with all that