THE Bishop of Bardsey, who can be Assistant Bishop of Bangor, the Rt Revd David Morris, is to resign his see, it was announced on Monday.
Bishop Morris, at 38, was the youngest-ever bishop within the Church in Wales when he was consecrated in 2024. He will preside and preach at a farewell service in Bangor Cathedral on St Valentine’s Day.
The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, said that Bishop Morris had been a “faithful servant of the gospel” and a “good colleague”. Speaking for the Church’s bishops, she said that Bishop Morris “goes with our love, our prayers, and our perfect wishes for the long run”.
Bishop Morris said that he “lay down” his ministry as Bishop of Bardsey “with an awesome sense of gratitude for the responsibilities entrusted to me, the experiences I’ve been afforded, but much more importantly, for the chance and privilege to serve in such a lovely diocese and amongst such extraordinary colleagues and church communities.”
Bishop Morris will proceed working with the Representative Body of the Church in Wales over the following three months, before deciding his next steps. During his time in Bangor, he established a vocations discussion group, Yr Alwad (Welsh for “The Call”).
The Church Times understands that his departure pertains to the Church in Wales’s structure, wherein an assistant bishop is appointed within the see occupied by the Archbishop in Wales, with the post effectively becoming redundant on the retirement of the Archbishop.
The former Archbishop of Wales the Most Revd Andrew John, who was also Bishop of Bangor, retired with immediate effect in the summertime, taking “full responsibility” for not addressing failings at Bangor Cathedral “quickly enough” (News, 4 July 2025).
Speaking in regards to the announcement of Bishop Morris’s departure, the brand new Dean of Bangor, the Very Revd Dr Manon Ceridwen James (News, 15 July) paid tribute to his “smart pastoral support of the cathedral at a difficult time”.
After the Electoral College in Bangor decided to not shortlist any candidates for a latest Bishop of Bangor, the Governing Body of the Church in Wales opted in November to as an alternative appoint an Interim Bishop, from outside Wales, for as much as two years (News, 28 November 2025).
That appointment, to be made by Archbishop Vann, has not yet been announced. It is believed that Bishop Morris has not put his name forward.
His consecration attracted attention due to participation of the Bishop of Lancaster, Dr Jill Duff, within the laying on of hands.
Dr Duff has been a vocal opponent of the introduction of blessings for same-sex couples within the Church of England, and likewise opposes changes that may enable clerics within the C of E to enter same-sex marriages.
There have never been any such formal restrictions on clergy within the Church in Wales, and, on the time, Bishop Morris was engaged to be married to his fiancé, Marc Penny.
Both Dr Duff and Bishop Morris talked down suggestions of controversy (News, 17 May 2024). Bishop Morris told the Church Times that he was “delighted” that Dr Duff had attended, and said that there had never been a suggestion that she wouldn’t participate within the laying on of hands.
“I sensed that she’d come to take part in the making of a latest bishop in the best way that any Church of England representative would, and didn’t think anything more of it, really,” he said.
Dr Duff, who live in north Wales, characterised her participation as an act of respect for provincial autonomy. She said that there was a protracted history of English bishops “domineering” in Wales, and that participating was a way of “trying to seek out reconciliation and finding a positive way forward” in the connection between the Provinces.
“Who am I, as an English bishop, to guage a Welsh bishop? But if I’m an English bishop, in an English jurisdiction, that feels quite a special thing to me,” she said.
