Further pressure on Archbishop of Wales as his home cathedral is put into ‘special measures’

Martin Shipton

Bangor Cathedral has been put into the ecclesiastical equivalent of “special measures” and a “serious incident report” sent to the Charity Commission following the publication of damning reports that raised concerns about safeguarding and financial matters.

However, critics of the Archbishop of Wales Andy John, who is also the Bishop of Bangor, say the moves must not divert attention from what they see as the cause of the crisis: his poor leadership.

Independent investigators reported incidents of inappropriate sexual behaviour and other serious safeguarding concerns that left people feeling unsafe.

The cathedral was led by its Sub Dean Sion Rhys Evans, whose appointment by the Archbishop had been controversial and whose departure under a cloud was eventually announced at the end of 2024 after he had been on gardening leave for 10 months amid concerns about alleged financial irregularities and other matters.

Responsibilities

A spokesperson for Bangor Cathedral said: “The Cathedral Chapter takes 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 has established Bangor Cathedral Oversight Board “to be a place of accountability, oversight and support for the Bangor Cathedral Chapter and, when appointed, the Dean of Bangor, as a healthy spiritual and operational culture is rebuilt.

“The Board is empowered to ask probing questions, to drill down into detail and to have zero tolerance of bad behaviour, obfuscation and lack of candour. It will be given access to the electronic and the physical documents and records necessary to its work.”

DBS checks

The work of the Board will be complete when:

The Director of Safeguarding is content that all necessary DBS checks and all safeguarding training is up to date for all relevant Cathedral staff and congregation members and that the processes, procedures and culture which the Provincial Safeguarding Team would expect to observe in a well-run Cathedral are in place;

A new Dean has been in place for at least 12 months and the Chair of the group is confident that the Board’s oversight is no longer required;

A member of staff with the responsibilities of a chief operating officer has been appointed;

A member of staff with the responsibilities of a chief financial officer … has been appointed;

The Board, to be chaired by Professor Medwin Hughes, is content that the Chapter has become a functional, properly trained trustee body which operates with appropriate boundaries around confidentiality, embraces its fiduciary duties, and can demonstrate good governance.

An Implementation Group, chaired on an interim basis by Archdeacon David Parry, will also be set up to ensure that recommendations made in the two critical reports are carried out.

‘Lasting change’

Archbishop Andy John 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.”

Meanwhile critics of the Archbishop, who has faced calls for his resignation, have continued to make trenchant criticisms of him on social media, including the following:

Is no one to be held to account here as these are major issues? Andy John has made much of cleaning rivers in Wales. There’s very little point in the Church asking to clean rivers of pollution if the Church itself is polluted. Andy John appointed Sion Rhys Evans in the full knowledge that he had been an ordained priest for only some 15 months and was a Non-Stipendiary Minister (in other words in other employment). Normally such people, who have not been in orders long, come under an experienced priest for oversight. He was also diocesan secretary, appointed in 2013, again while A John was bishop. Was he paid for each job? A John was the only one who could offer oversight because in the Anglican Church, the person in charge of the Cathedral is considered to be the most senior priest in the diocese.Yet no one is being brought to book.

Why did A John set up two investigations and also two implementing bodies to introduce and oversee recommendations? In whose interests was it to have only summaries and for the full reports to remain confidential? Who made that decision? By comparison, the investigation into Tony Pierce, former Bishop of Swansea & Brecon now in prison, is to be published in full, with names. It will all, apparently, appear in the public domain and the investigation is to be carried out speedily; is this an attempt to deflect attention from all this in Bangor, and, consequently, deflect any potential criticism away from A John?

Why were the summary reports published a full five months after they were submitted to A John and released on the Church in Wales website on a Saturday night over a Bank Holiday weekend and just days after the Church in Wales’ six-monthly Governing Body meeting so that no questions could be asked or concerns raised in a more formal CinW setting?

A John is attempting not only to portray himself as innocent in all of this but also as the one person making efforts to clear it all up by setting up the investigations when he, in fact, is the very cause of it all.

Where does this leave Sion Rhys Evans and his post as Bursar of Westminster College, [Cambridge]? Did Westminster College request and receive reference(s) from his previous employment in Bangor Diocese?

It is understood that the legal section at the CinW offices have advised A John that he should begin (or should have begun, as it may be too late now as he has left his CinW posts) CinW disciplinary tribunal proceedings against Sion Rhys Evans but that he (A John) has resisted/ignored the advice for fear of what details damaging to him might emerge at any such tribunal.

In all, the allegations made or rather the conclusions drawn by both reports would be pretty shocking for any organisation – financial mismanagement, inappropriate sexual conduct, issues surrounding alcohol and no systems of control. It is proper for these to be identified and remedies sought to prevent them from happening in the future, but what of the perpetrators, those whose actions may well have allowed, or even encouraged, the situations to arise? Is there no action to be taken?

Some very fundamental questions remain utterly unanswered – how was the Sub Dean allowed to hold both the position as de facto dean and also the post of Diocesan Secretary? This surely leads to the questions why did the Sub Dean resign, and, finally, what would have happened had he not done so, and, finally, what should happen now?