{"id":219445,"date":"2025-06-27T20:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/219445\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T20:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:00:14","slug":"archbishop-of-wales-stands-down-after-bangor-cathedral-scandal-anglicanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/219445\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop of Wales stands down after Bangor cathedral scandal | Anglicanism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The archbishop of Wales<\/a> has stepped down after a culture of excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, bullying, bad language and inappropriate banter at Bangor cathedral was revealed.<\/p>\n

Andy John, who is also the bishop of Bangor, released a statement on Friday evening after calls for his resignation gathered pace.<\/p>\n

He said he was announcing his \u201cimmediate retirement today as archbishop of Wales. I also intend to retire as bishop of Bangor on 31 August\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neither his statement nor those from senior colleagues in the Church in Wales made any reference to the scandal that has engulfed Bangor cathedral over recent years.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, John issued an \u201cunreserved and unequivocal\u201d personal apology regarding \u201cthe situation\u201d, saying he took full responsibility for failings under his leadership. \u201cI repent and offer no excuses nor justifications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Calls for John to resign and for an independent inquiry into the cathedral\u2019s culture, the behaviour of clergy, staff and volunteers, and alleged financial mismanagement had been mounting.<\/p>\n

They came after a review by ThirtyOne: Eight, a Christian safeguarding agency, heard accounts<\/a> of excessive alcohol consumption, inappropriate language and humiliating banter and a \u201cculture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred, and to some \u2026 promiscuity was acceptable\u201d. Homophobic comments and an \u201cunhappy working environment\u201d were also reported.<\/p>\n

A separate report from a cathedral \u201cvisitation\u201d team<\/a> recommended the appointment of \u201cstrong leadership\u201d to \u201csteady the ship\u201d, improved scrutiny of governance and finances, and discouraging unkind and inappropriate private communications.<\/p>\n

According to Tim Wyatt, who writes The Critical Friend<\/a>, a newsletter on the Anglican church, and who has closely followed events at Bangor, the reports \u201cpretty much confirmed there was a lot of drinking, sleeping around, backbiting, bullying \u2013 basically a whole culture that was completely out of kilter with what a place of Christian worship is supposed to be about\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bangor cathedral. Andy John, who is also the bishop of Bangor, said he was announcing his \u2018immediate retirement\u2019. Photograph: UK City Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n

In addition, six \u201cserious incident reports\u201d have been sent to the Charity Commission in the past 18 months, four relating to safeguarding and two relating to financial matters.<\/p>\n

Financial irregularities reportedly include<\/a> more than \u00a3400,000 being spent on new furnishings for the cathedral with inadequate consultation, and \u00a320,000 spent on trips to Rome and Dublin for senior staff.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: \u201cWe have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess a number of concerns that have been raised related to Bangor cathedral and diocese, including matters reported directly to us by the charities. We are actively examining these matters with the charities\u2019 trustees to determine our next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs regulator, if we find evidence of wrongdoing, we take robust action using the powers available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the concerns about the cathedral centre on a period when Si\u00f4n Rhys Evans was its acting dean \u2013 in effect chief executive \u2013 while continuing in post as secretary of the Bangor diocese. Both posts are senior full-time jobs, and it is unprecedented for one person to manage both sets of responsibilities and workload.<\/p>\n

In another highly unusual move, Rhys Evans \u2013 who was seen as a protege of John \u2013 was made acting dean only a few years after being ordained as a priest. To be elevated so quickly to a high-profile job was an \u201castounding over-promotion\u201d, according to Wyatt.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, Rhys Evans stood back from both roles without explanation. He was absent from work for 10 months, after which he quietly left to take up a new post as dean of a Westminster theological college in Cambridge.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Westminster college confirmed that Rhys Evans\u2019 probationary period was \u201cunsuccessful\u201d and he had left his job in mid-May. The Guardian has been unable to contact Rhys Evans.<\/p>\n

Last month, two members of the cathedral\u2019s college of priests, Rev Dr John Prysor-Jones and the Very Rev Prof Gordon McPhate, called for an independent inquiry into events in Bangor. \u201cThe reputational damage to the cathedral, the diocese, and the Church in Wales is considerable,\u201d they said in a letter to the Church Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

John Pockett, a member of the Church in Wales for almost 70 years, called for John to consider his position as its head. \u201cHe is the archbishop, he is the leader and it has happened at his cathedral,\u201d he told the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ruth Jones, the Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, said the church must give a full explanation to members and the public. \u201cWe want openness and transparency in all our church settings and it\u2019s really, really important that the archbishop makes clear what has gone on,\u201d she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The archbishop of Wales has stepped down after a culture of excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, bullying, bad language…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-219445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114757109264210533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}