Readers will recall that the see of Bangor has been vacant since Bishop Andrew John retired at the end of August. Since then the Church in Wales’s Electoral College has met twice to discuss the election of the next bishop and to invite potential candidates to respond to the vacancy. However the College has decided not to proceed with this, but instead has proposed that an experienced bishop should be invited to Bangor on an interim basis, for a period of one to two years to provide leadership and stability and to work with the diocese to strengthen leadership, finance, governance and management in advance of the election of a new diocesan bishop.
This does require some time-limited changes to the Constitution, and the Governing Body will meet on Tuesday 25 November 2025 to discuss these proposed changes.
More details are in this press release, and the agenda and papers for the meeting are here.
This seems like an eminently sensible suggestion/decision. A safe pair of hands could settle things, set up processes and procedures for the future, get key staff in place, if needed, and take the flak for the decisions that others won’t like, enabling a new diocesan to come in with a clean slate.
f things stick out for me. Firstly the new assistant bishop may attend but not vote at the bench or college of bishops. This seems odd to me. what happens if there are descions made on any issue which affect the diocese. i would hope that the person in place would be able to advocate on its behalf Secondly I would hope that all short listed candidates for the full role have access to all the information on changes which are made as this may or may not impact on their call to the role. it would seem to me… Read more »
the flying scotsman – Are you misunderstanding the purpose of this meeting? It is to change the rules to allow the appointment of an interim bishop. It will not be choosing that bishop. If the meeting agrees the changes to the rules the appointment will be made by the Archbishop at some later date.
I did misunderstand sorry but i think some of the points are relevant to the recruitment process when it does happen
It is possible, but not clear, that you are correct to surmise that the reason for removal of the age restriction is that there is a specific person in mind. Another possibility is that, given the nature of the task, the aim is to keep open the possibility of a retired bishop filling the role.