THE Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, has spoken of the difficulty that she experienced as a gay woman in the Church of England.
Archbishop Vann preached during a service in the American Cathedral in Paris for the Fourth Sunday in Lent (15 March). That evening, she and her partner of more than 30 years, Wendy Diamond, met members of the cathedral’s LGBTQ+ community, known as the Rainbow Ministry, and the Archbishop gave an interview to the Episcopal News Service (ENS).
“Wendy and I found the freedom of being able to live openly and being affirmed in our relationship,” Archbishop Vann told ENS of their move to Wales six years ago, when she became the Bishop of Monmouth. The couple have been in a civil partnership since 2015 (News, 1 August 2025).
She spoke of the contrast between her experiences in the Church of England, in which she had felt that she had to hide her sexuality, and in Wales, where she was told that it would not be an issue.
“We’re not here to change people’s minds; I think God does that,” Archbishop Vann said. “But I am here to be me and to be unashamedly the person that God has created me to be, and to reach out in love and friendship and a desire to connect with whoever will connect with me.”
In her sermon, she reflected on the healing of the blind man in John 9.1-41. “The Pharisees become resistant, defensive, and protective, not just of the law as they understand it, but of their own position and standing,” she said. “They can’t allow their hearts to be enlightened and see the deeper truth of who Jesus is.
“This is what following Jesus really means: not holding rigidly to some rules and religious practice, but being willing to walk in the light, open to see new things as God reveals them to us, ready to travel new paths as Jesus walks ahead of us, leading us into fresh understandings, excited to discover the freedom we find as we learn day by day to see ourselves and others as God sees us and to discern God’s heart and God’s ways for us and for God’s world.”
She continued: “I guess we all know what it’s like to want to hide certain things from others, perhaps even from ourselves. It might be something we’ve done or said that we know was wrong. It might be something from our past that we feel ashamed of or guilty about. It could be that we’ve been brought up with negative feelings about ourselves for one reason or another. What Jesus invites us to do and to keep on doing is to bring those things into his light.”
Archbishop Vann spent the first 30 years of her ministry in the diocese of Manchester, where she became Archdeacon of Rochdale in 2008. She was elected Archbishop of Wales last year (News, 30 July 2025).
Speaking about Archbishop Mullally’s installation, Archbishop Vann said: “I really am hoping that . . . when all the Primates will be invited, that they will come and that they will feel able to be in the same room with me, and we can start to talk and to listen to one another and to learn to respect where one another is coming from.”
