A REVIEW carried out by a former barrister for the Church in Wales has confirmed a decision to unfrock the former Bishop of Swansea & Brecon Anthony Pierce after he was jailed for indecent assault (News, 14 March 2025).
Mr Pierce, who is 85, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court last March to four years and one month in prison, and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely, after admitting five counts of indecent assault on a male child below the age of 16 (News, 14 February, 2025). The offences were committed between 1985 and 1990, when he was a parish priest in the West Cross area of Swansea.
A Church in Wales press release said that the review was commissioned after it was found that senior clergy had apparently been aware of allegations when he was appointed Archdeacon of Gower in 1995 and then Bishop of Swansea & Brecon in 1999. “These allegations were not reported to the police until 2010. As a result, the Church appointed Gabrielle Higgins to carry out a review which has now been published.”
Ms Higgins is a former diocesan secretary of Chichester.
While the review was being prepared, the Church in Wales made a referral to its disciplinary tribunal, as a result of which the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, the Rt Revd John Lomas, deposed Mr Pierce from Holy Orders.
“This is clearly a case which demands the most serious of sanctions,” the review says. “We briefly considered whether disqualification from holding a position in the Church in Wales, without limitation of time was appropriate, but the gravity of the offending, the gross abuse of trust and the concealment of his subsequently acknowledged wrongdoing persuade us of the high level of outrage that right minded people would justifiably feel were he to continue to be able to hold himself out as a Bishop or Priest.
“We find that the only appropriate sanction that is consonant with the gravity of his offending is for Mr Pierce to be deposed from Holy Orders.”
It continues: “The Church in Wales has never before found itself in the circumstance of deposing a Bishop from their Orders. Section 42 of Chapter IX of the Constitution envisages the duty falling to the Bishop of the Diocese where the cleric holds, or last held, office. It does not make separate provision for Bishops, although a Bishop clearly falls within the Constitutional definition of a Cleric.
“However, we are mindful that powers of deprivation of Bishops (and other disciplinary sanctions) were vested in the Metropolitan prior to disestablishment. For the avoidance of doubt and uncertainty, we believe the appropriate way forward is for the Archbishop and the Diocesan Bishop jointly to execute a deed of deposition.”
Responding to the review, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, said: “The welfare of the victims of sexual abuse must always be our paramount concern, and we offer our most heartfelt apologies to those who have been failed by the Church in the past. I want to thank Gabrielle Higgins for her painstaking and conscientious work on this review, which has engaged in a deep examination of complex and difficult issues dating back many decades. . .
“The review shows in painful detail the missed opportunities, the harmful assumptions and the inadequate processes which characterised the Church’s response to these allegations of abuse for far too long. This catalogue of failures can only be a source of shame for the Church and will have caused further trauma to abuse victims and their families. . .
“I welcome and fully accept the review’s findings and recommendations, and we are implementing all the changes that need to be made.”
Bishop Lomas said: “The trauma experienced by victims of abuse within the Church is made all the worse by the breach of trust they have suffered, and, as this review has shown, by the failings of the Church as an institution. While nothing can undo the wrongs of the past, and while we can only apologise unreservedly for the failings this review has brought to light, we hope that this review will go some way towards showing our determination to be clear and robust in ensuring these issues can never happen again.
“It is only through doing the right thing that we can begin to restore confidence in the Church, and the publication of this review, and our commitment to the actions arising from it, shows that we are resolved to do that.”
Professor Medwin Hughes, who chairs the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, said: “In commissioning this review, the Church in Wales has shown its willingness to confront its past failings and to ensure that its processes are fit for purpose for the present and the future.”
A spokesperson for the Church in Wales said: “The Church in Wales is determined to demonstrate that it is a safe place, and that anyone coming forward will have their concerns or disclosures taken seriously, treated with compassion, and taken forward according to the highest current standards. If our people and processes have failed victims and survivors of abuse in the past, we intend to take responsibility for that fact and to fully apply the lessons which have been learned.
“There is no place for any form of abuse in the Church in Wales. We give the highest priority to the care and protection of children and vulnerable people in our communities. To this end we regularly review our safeguarding procedures and provide extensive training to staff and volunteers.”
Anyone with safeguarding concerns is encouraged to contact a member of the Church in Wales safeguarding team via the Church’s website. churchinwales.org.uk
