“VERY serious and urgent” safeguarding concerns at Bangor Cathedral have prompted the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andy John, also the Bishop of Bangor, to order a visitation.
It was ordered in October, but has come to wider attention only up to now week, after letters sent by the Archbishop were leaked to the press. The first letter, dated 10 October, and addressed “Dear Colleague”, states: “I’m writing to you about safeguarding issues which have been dropped at my attention in our Cathedral. I think these matters to be very serious and urgent.
“It has turn out to be evident that procedures, designed to assist and keep our churches secure, haven’t been followed as they need to have been. It is feasible that concerns which must have been raised or referred to the Provincial Safeguarding Team (PST) . . . haven’t been progressed nor disclosed.” Recipients of the letter are encouraged to refer any incident of concern to this team.
A second letter, dated 11 October, and addressed “Dear Canon”, refers to a gathering between the Archbishop and the Archdeacon of Bangor, the Ven. David Parry, who had been chairing Chapter meetings within the absence of a dean. It goes on to say that the Chapter must countersign a serious-incident referral to the Charity Commission made by the PST, and that the Archbishop had invited “senior figures, each from throughout the province and outdoors it”, to undertake a visitation. This would focus “on the standard of life, faith, discipline, behaviour and culture of the Cathedral”.
Terms of reference for the visitation appended to the letter discuss with areas of concern, including safeguarding and “the integrity of skilled and private boundaries between colleagues”.
The commissaries are the Ven. Christopher Potter, a former Dean and Archdeacon of St Asaph; the Ven. Mike Komor, a former Archdeacon of Margam and former Acting Dean of Llandaff; Canon Trish Owens, an associate priest within the diocese of St Asaph; and the charity Thirtyone:eight.
It was resulting from happen within the week starting 11 November 2024, and a report was resulting from be sent to the Archbishop on 2 December.
This week, a Church in Wales spokesperson confirmed that a serious incident had been referred to the Charity Commission, and that, along with the visitation, a safeguarding review by Thirtyone:eight, reported by the Welsh news service Nation.Cymru, was under way. Neither process had been accomplished by 2 December, but each reports were now complete, he said.
The summaries were “still being worked on”, and can be made public.
Asked in regards to the nature of the safeguarding issues and the present status of any investigation, the spokesperson said that it was “hugely essential that those engaged within the Visitation process are capable of participate in conditions of confidentiality”.
Bangor Cathedral has been and not using a Dean because the Ven. Kathy Jones left, in 2021. That yr, Canon Siôn Rhys-Evans was appointed Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer by Archbishop John. He had been ordained as deacon two years earlier, in June 2019, and was serving a curacy as an NSM within the Llandudno Ministry Area, within the archdeaconry of the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, now Bishop of Llandaff. He remained in post as diocesan secretary of Bangor, a position he took up in 2013.
On 29 December 2024, an announcement on the diocese of Bangor’s website said: “Canon Siôn Rhys Evans is leaving his roles as Diocesan Secretary and Sub-Dean.” Asked for further information in regards to the departure, the diocesan spokesperson said: “The Revd Siôn Rhys Evans was away from work from February 2024.”
He was listed because the chair of trustees on the cathedral in its annual report, filed in October, and because the company secretary within the annual report of the Bangor diocesan board of finance, also filed last October. The Church Times understands that the safeguarding issues that prompted the visitation don’t relate to the conduct of Canon Rhys-Evans.
Sources who spoke to the Church Times this week raised concerns about Canon Rhys-Evans’s holding the 2 posts, and a possible conflict of interest.
Canon Rhys-Evans declined to comment.
In the Church in Wales, the positions of Dean and Archdeacon are within the gift of the diocesan bishop. Archbishop John has been Bishop of Bangor since 2008. The structure states that no one shall be appointed Dean unless she or he has been not less than six years in priest’s orders.
This week, the diocesan spokesperson confirmed that a former Archdeacon of Meirionnydd within the diocese, the Ven. Andrew Jones, had resigned in 2023 after ten years in post. He had also resigned as a Canon of Bangor Cathedral, an office that he had held since 2005. The spokesman declined to supply a reason for the resignation.
