Earlier this month we noted the reports on the visitation of Bangor Cathedral.
A supplementary statement was added to the original Church in Wales press release on Tuesday of this week (13 May); this is copied below the fold. Following the release of the statement these news reports have appeared.
Also of relevance are these reports from last week.
Supplementary statement on Bangor Cathedral
The Chapter, the Cathedral’s trustee body, met on Monday, a week after two reports were published which had been commissioned by the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, after several concerns had been brought to his attention.
In response to these concerns, the Archbishop commissioned a Visitation which was conducted by former Archdeacon Mike Komor and former Dean and Archdeacon Chris Potter, together with a safeguarding audit by the independent organisation thirtyone:eight, which specialises in safeguarding advice in church settings.
Summary reports of both reviews were published on May 4th and are available on the Bangor Cathedral, Diocese of Bangor and Church in Wales websites.
The reports set out a range of shortcomings and identified a number of necessary improvements. In response, the Archbishop has set up an Implementation Group to ensure that the recommendations are acted upon promptly and decisively. In addition, he has commissioned an externally-chaired Oversight Board to exercise overall supervision of the delivery process against a set timetable.
The Cathedral Chapter met on Monday to agree the terms of reference of the Implementation Group. These together with the terms of reference for the Oversight Board are now available on the Bangor Cathedral, Diocese of Bangor and Church in Wales websites. Each terms of reference document contains the names of those who will be members of these groups.
At its meeting on Monday, the Cathedral Chapter discussed financial record keeping and procedures. As a result of this discussion, it decided that a Serious Incident Report should be sent to the Charity Commission. This follows five Serious Incident Reports which were sent to the Charity Commission relating to Bangor Cathedral in 2024. Four of these related to safeguarding: three have been closed. The remaining report remains open as the commissioning and undertaking of the Visitation/safeguarding audit was one of the necessary responses. The Commission has been updated following the publication of the Report Summaries and we will update the Commission further on the implementation of the recommendations. The fifth report related to a financial matter and was closed in March this year.
A spokesperson for Bangor Cathedral said: “The Cathedral Chapter take their responsibilities for good governance very seriously and have decided that, given information which has come to their attention, the Charity Commission should be sent a Serious Incident Report. While we cannot provide ongoing commentary on the individual case, we will be working with the Charity Commission to ensure that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible and that any improvements which need to be made in our procedures are put into place without delay.”
The Archbishop of Wales said:
“I am grateful for the work the Chapter is carrying out to take the necessary steps to bring about lasting change. I want to thank those who have agreed to serve on the Implementation Group and the Oversight Board, and to express my appreciation of the support we have received from the Representative Body of the Church in Wales.
“It is already clear from the steps which have been taken so far that this will be a robust process which will involve detailed changes and which will be accountable to external scrutiny. All who are involved are committed to regular communication and updates so that the changes can be taken forward in a clear and positive way.”