“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 in the past week, after letters sent by the Archbishop were leaked to the press. The first letter, dated 10 October, and addressed “Dear Colleague”, states: “I am writing to you about safeguarding issues which have been brought to my attention in our Cathedral. I believe these matters to be very serious and urgent.
“It has become evident that procedures, designed to help and keep our churches safe, have not been followed as they should have been. It is possible that concerns which ought to have been raised or referred to the Provincial Safeguarding Team (PST) . . . have not 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 meeting between the Archbishop and the Archdeacon of Bangor, the Ven. David Parry, who had been chairing Chapter meetings in 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, both from within the province and outside it”, to undertake a visitation. This would focus “on the quality of life, faith, discipline, behaviour and culture of the Cathedral”.
Terms of reference for the visitation appended to the letter refer to areas of concern, including safeguarding and “the integrity of professional and personal 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 in the diocese of St Asaph; and the charity Thirtyone:eight.
It was due to take place in the week beginning 11 November 2024, and a report was due to 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, in addition to the visitation, a safeguarding review by Thirtyone:eight, reported by the Welsh news service Nation.Cymru, was under way. Neither process had been completed by 2 December, but both reports were now complete, he said.
The summaries were “still being worked on”, and would be made public.
Asked about the nature of the safeguarding issues and the current status of any investigation, the spokesperson said that it was “hugely important that those engaged in the Visitation process are able to take part in conditions of confidentiality”.
Bangor Cathedral has been without a Dean since the Ven. Kathy Jones left, in 2021. That year, 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 in the Llandudno Ministry Area, in 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, a statement 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 about the departure, the diocesan spokesperson said: “The Revd Siôn Rhys Evans was away from work from February 2024.”
He was listed as the chair of trustees at the cathedral in its annual report, filed in October, and as the company secretary in 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 do not 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 two posts, and a potential conflict of interest.
Canon Rhys-Evans declined to comment.
In the Church in Wales, the positions of Dean and Archdeacon are in the gift of the diocesan bishop. Archbishop John has been Bishop of Bangor since 2008. The constitution states that no person shall be appointed Dean unless he or she has been at least six years in priest’s orders.
This week, the diocesan spokesperson confirmed that a former Archdeacon of Meirionnydd in 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 provide a reason for the resignation.
