A “CULTURAL AUDIT” of the Church in Wales has been announced by its Representative Body (RB), in the wake of the immediate retirement of the Archbishop of Wales and “deeply troubling” reports from the diocese of Bangor.
Archbishop John announced his retirement on Friday of last week, three days after the RB met in Cardiff to discuss events in Bangor, in the wake of two reports that recorded concerns about “weak financial controls” and “inappropriate behaviours” (News, 27 June).
The full motion agreed by the RB was not published for a week, after the retirement was announced. It had called for “change in leadership, procedures and governance in the Diocese of Bangor”.
The Charity Commission confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that it had 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”. It continued: “We are actively examining these matters with the charities’ trustees to determine our next steps. As regulator, if we find evidence of wrongdoing we take robust action using the powers available to us.”
Since last year, a total of six serious-incident reports have been sent to the Commission relating to Bangor Cathedral.
The RB motion states: “The revelations of safeguarding failures, blurred boundaries, inappropriate conduct, weak control environment and lack of transparency in management at Bangor Cathedral are deeply troubling.
“Trustees are legally bound to ensure that the charities which they oversee uphold the highest standards of governance, safeguarding and record keeping. It is vital that there is public trust in any charity which is part of the Church in Wales family. Stewardship of charitable assets demands that funding is used to further the Church’s mission and benefit the public in a manner consistent with our values and legal obligations. It is incumbent on the RB Trustees to ensure that the financial support they provide is properly and accountably used.”
The RB sets out “clear expectations and directives” for the diocese of Bangor, its board of finance, the Bangor Diocesan Trust, and the cathedral. A total of four new reviews have been announced, in addition to the two already commissioned by Archbishop John last year. There must be co-operation with an RB-commissioned independent financial audit, it says, with particular attention given “to the appropriateness of governance, financial systems and oversight and how effectively these separate legal entities function and relate to one another”.
The Dean and Chapter have already agreed to pay back funds spent by the diocese which should have been borne by them (News, 16 May). This occurred when Canon Siôn Rhys Evans was both diocesan secretary and Sub-Dean of the cathedral, having been appointed to the latter post by Archbishop John in 2021. There has also been acknowledgment of “inadequate consultation and information” about expenditure of £418,000 on new furniture for the cathedral.
The RB statement warns: “Future funding to support the Diocese of Bangor and its Cathedral are entirely dependent on the RB satisfying itself that appropriate management structures and financial and administrative procedures are in place to demonstrate effective governance.” These include “transparent channels for reporting concerns, with assurances of protection for whistle-blowers”.
In January, a whistle-blowing group in Bangor sent a 4000-word list of concerns to the Charity Commission. A safeguarding audit last year — commissioned by Archbishop John alongside a Visitation — heard concerns that there was “no protection for those raising concerns”.
The RB has stipulated that the senior leaders of the diocese, the DBF, and the cathedral Chapter must now participate in an “externally-led exercise whereby all parties agree to engage, critically discern and reflect upon the incidents that have led the Diocese to this situation”. The Chapter must commission “an external investigation into the behaviour, culture and activities of the Cathedral Choir”, after concerns raised with the safeguarding audit about “rude jokes and innuendoes in the choir that left some feeling unsafe and marginalised”.
The RB will also establish a “leadership taskforce . . . to work with the officers of the Diocese of Bangor to offer more capacity and drive structural change”. It will commission a provincial safeguarding audit of all the cathedrals in Wales and a cultural audit of the Church in Wales.
The Revd Dr Mark Clavier, Canon Theologian for the diocese of Swansea & Brecon, has noted during a series of blogs in favour of reform that, since 2008, one quarter of its diocesan bishops have “either resigned under controversy or else later faced serious allegations” (News, 6 June).
