Concerns over election of new Archbishop of Wales

Martin Shipton

Questions have been raised about the decision to elect a new Archbishop of Wales at a hotel in the south-east corner of the country, instead of at the usual location of Llandrindod Wells.

The election is taking place following the decision of Archbishop Andy John to step down following a series of scandals involving safeguarding and spending. He has already retired as Archbishop and will relinquish his other role as Bishop of Bangor at the end of August.

The Church in Wales Electoral College will meet at St Pierre Church and Hotel in Chepstow on July 29 to choose the 15th Archbishop of Wales. The College can take up to three days to elect an Archbishop.

Bishops

Andy John’s successor will be chosen from among the serving Welsh diocesan bishops – the Bishop of St Asaph, Gregory Cameron; the Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann; the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Lomas; the Bishop of Llandaff, Mary Stallard; and the Bishop of St Davids, Dorrien Davies.

Those making the decision represent churches across Wales. Each of the six dioceses elects three clerics and three lay people onto the College and the bishops are also members. The College President is the Senior Bishop, Bishop Gregory Cameron.

The meeting will begin with Holy Communion at St Peter’s Church, which is on the St Pierre estate. Following that, college members will meet for confidential discussions.

After a discussion on the needs of the Province and a period of prayer and reflection, the President will call for nominations. The bishops nominated then withdraw from the discussion, only returning to vote. A nominee must achieve two-thirds of the votes of the college in order to be elected Archbishop. If after a vote is taken no candidate receives the necessary votes, the process begins again with fresh nominations, which may or may not include those who had been nominated in the previous round.

Once the Archbishop is elected, an announcement is made. The normal practice is for the bishop to confirm his or her election immediately. The new Archbishop will be enthroned in his or her home cathedral at a later date. If The College fails to elect an Archbishop within three days, the decision passes to the Bench of Bishops.

Criticism

The choice of venue for the election has come in for criticism on social media. John Pockett, a longstanding Church in Wales member who used to worship in Llandaff Cathedral posted to X a message stating: “This has always been held in Holy Trinity Llandrindod. Why on earth is it in St Pierre Manor Hotel on the fringe of south-east Wales? No doubt there’ll be dinners etc. Why not hold it in St Padarn’s Llandaff, cheaper & more appropriate? @ChurchinWales really has lost the plot.”

In a further post to the Thinking Anglican, Mr Pockett wrote: “Given the stories swirling around Bangor about utter profligacy – an alleged ordination party held in the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge at a cost of £52000 etc – surely it is not unreasonable for the congregants and contributors to the Church to expect careful stewardship? I’ve dined and stayed at the St Pierre more than once, and I cannot imagine it has changed and is now offering bargain basement prices.

“All that’s needed is a clean room etc, so what would be wrong with, say, St Padarn’s Institute in Llandaff, or St David’s College, Lampeter (which seems to need all the help it can get currently)? If they need to choose a different location from Llandrindod, why not use hotels owned and run by local families and give them support? The St Pierre is a Delta Hotel, owned by the huge multi-national Marriott organisation. It all beggars belief, but they evidently have no regard for the court of public opinion.

“The other relevant and intriguing issue … is why this election is being held in the very south-east corner of Wales, as far as you can get from some other parts of Wales?

“Whatever the rights and wrongs, only the diocesan bishops can be candidates, that cannot be changed; others will no doubt be passing comments on the pool available and the talents thereof. All I would say is that, with the resignation, sorry retirement(!!) of Andrew John, there are only five possible candidates. Of those, surely to heavens, anyone linked in any way with the Bangor debacle cannot be considered until and unless the whole matter has been transparently, fully and independently investigated, full findings published and recommendations made and accepted. This calls for total accountability and honesty from those involved.

“Mary Stallard was Archdeacon of Bangor from 2018 and then Assistant Bishop of Bangor, albeit briefly; she was, in effect, Andrew John’s right-hand woman. Sadly, the affable and very pastoral Dorrien Davies whom I have known since his time at St Michael’s College in the 1980s, publicly endorsed and supported Andrew John during this crisis, and, I understand, was very strong in his backing for him during the relevant ‘crisis’ meetings recently. I feel that neither of these have clear water between themselves and the goings-on at Bangor and Andrew John’s weak and ineffective leadership there. So, for me, there are but three potential candidates. I pass no comment on any of those.

“We need to be able to look forward to a Church in Wales that makes the headlines for the good reasons, rather than the truly appalling stories, rumours, lack of transparency and, dare I say, attempted cover up, of the past few months. There are so many really splendid priests and laypeople working so hard in their communities right across Wales, flying the flag of the Gospel. They, and we, deserve so much better from the leadership. Let us hope that the work of rebuilding trust transparently and openly with us all is seen as the foremost priority. Whoever is elected as Primate will have a very hard job convincing me and, I venture to say, many others of this fundamental change.”

Arrangements

We asked the Church in Wales who decided on the arrangements relating to the election, why and how much the process was expected to cost.

A spokesperson for the Church in Wales said: “The St Pierre Church and Hotel was chosen as the most suitable venue for the Electoral College, based on a combination of factors including venue availability at relatively short notice.

“These alternative arrangements are less expensive than Llandrindod Wells would have been.”