THE Dean of Llandaff, the Very Revd Richard Peers, is to retire, it was announced on Sunday.
A letter from Dean Peers to the Bishop of Llandaff, the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, was read through the Easter Day services in Llandaff Cathedral.
“It has been an incredible honour to function Dean of Llandaff and to share within the lifetime of this congregation,” he wrote, before referring to a grievance which had been made about him under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) in relation to his time as Sub-Dean of Christ Church, Oxford (News, 26 March).
Dean Peers was accused of creating inappropriate and disparaging remarks concerning the then Dean of Christ Church, Dr Martyn Percy, within the context of Dr Percy’s protracted dispute with the faculty.
A tribunal cleared Dean Peers of all charges after a four-day hearing in early March, and the barrister acting for Dean Peers characterised the case as a “weaponisation of the CDM”.
“Some of it’s possible you’ll bear in mind that recent years have been difficult and at times distressing,” Dean Peers wrote in his letter to Bishop Stallard, intended to be read to his congregation.
“A grievance was made against me, and a protracted Church of England process followed. This concluded with a church tribunal dismissing the grievance in full and ruling that my honesty and integrity were unimpugned. I proceed to hope for all those involved in the method and that we may find healing and peace.
“While this has now been resolved, I actually have decided the time is true for me to retire. I look back with joy on my three a long time of ministry. I actually have been blessed to have the opportunity to devote a lot of my life to my faith and the communities by which I actually have lived and worked, and I wish my successor and all at Llandaff well for the long run,” he wrote.
Dean Peers has been Dean of Llandaff since November 2022. Before his move to Christ Church, he was Director of Education for the diocese of Liverpool.
In a press release, Bishop Stallard wrote: “Richard’s instinct to (literally) open the doors of the cathedral and to grow a way of prayerful welcome will remain with us as a crucial a part of our on-going ministry.”
She announced that the Canon Chancellor, Canon Jan van der Lely, could be Acting Dean until a everlasting appointment was made.
