On 3 May 2025, the Church in Wales issued a Press Release on the Bangor Cathedral Visitation Report in advance of the address by Archbishop John to the cathedral congregation the following morning. The Press Release and associated material were covered in our post here. The Cathedral Chapter met on 12 May to agree the terms of reference of the Implementation Group identified in the Report. These together with the terms of reference for the Oversight Board are now available on the Bangor Cathedral, Diocese of Bangor and Church in Wales websites. Each terms of reference document contains the names of those who will be members of these groups.
The Press Release on the Bangor Cathedral Visitation Report was updated on 9 May 2025 (same URL) to include links to the Terms of Reference of the two groups, supra, and an additional section Supplementary statement on Bangor Cathedral. Extracts of the Supplementary Statement and the Terms of Reference of the Oversight Board are reproduced below.
Supplementary statement on Bangor Cathedral
The Chapter, the Cathedral’s trustee body, met on Monday, a week after two reports were published which had been commissioned by the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, after several concerns had been brought to his attention.
In response to these concerns, the Archbishop commissioned a Visitation which was conducted by former Archdeacon Mike Komor and former Dean and Archdeacon Chris Potter, together with a safeguarding audit by the independent organisation thirtyone:eight, which specialises in safeguarding advice in church settings.
The reports set out a range of shortcomings and identified a number of necessary improvements. In response, the Archbishop has set up an Implementation Group to ensure that the recommendations are acted upon promptly and decisively. In addition, he has commissioned an externally-chaired Oversight Board to exercise overall supervision of the delivery process against a set timetable.
The Cathedral Chapter met on Monday to agree the terms of reference of the Implementation Group. These together with the terms of reference for the Oversight Board are now available on the Bangor Cathedral, Diocese of Bangor and Church in Wales websites. Each terms of reference document contains the names of those who will be members of these groups.
At its meeting on Monday, the Cathedral Chapter discussed financial record keeping and procedures. As a result of this discussion, it decided that a Serious Incident Report should be sent to the Charity Commission. This follows five Serious Incident Reports which were sent to the Charity Commission relating to Bangor Cathedral in 2024. Four of these related to safeguarding: three have been closed. The remaining report remains open as the commissioning and undertaking of the Visitation/safeguarding audit was one of the necessary responses. The Commission has been updated following the publication of the Report Summaries and we will update the Commission further on the implementation of the recommendations. The fifth report related to a financial matter and was closed in March this year.
A spokesperson for Bangor Cathedral said: “The Cathedral Chapter take their responsibilities for good governance very seriously and have decided that, given information which has come to their attention, the Charity Commission should be sent a Serious Incident Report. While we cannot provide ongoing commentary on the individual case, we will be working with the Charity Commission to ensure that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible and that any improvements which need to be made in our procedures are put into place without delay.”
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Bangor Cathedral Oversight Board
Scope
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The work of the Board will be complete when:
(a) the Director of Safeguarding is content that all necessary DBS checks and all safeguarding training is up to date for all relevant Cathedral staff and congregation members and that the processes, procedures and culture which the Provincial Safeguarding Team would expect to observe in a well-run Cathedral are in place.
(b) a new Dean has been in place for at least twelve months and the Chair of the group is confident that the Board’s oversight is no longer required.
(c) a member of staff with the responsibilities of a Chief Operating Officer has been appointed.
(d) a member of staff with the responsibilities of a Chief Financial Officer (possibly shared with the DBF) has been appointed.
(e) The Board is content that the Chapter has become a functional, properly trained trustee body which operates with appropriate boundaries around confidentiality, embraces its fiduciary duties, and can demonstrate good governance.
The group will report on progress monthly to the Bangor Bishops’ Council and send a detailed report to the RB’s Audit and Risk Committee meeting on 3rd June 2025 and each of its subsequent meetings until its work is complete.
Comment
Further information is included in Madeleine Davies’ report in the Church Times Six ‘serious-incident reports’ on Bangor Cathedral, Church in Wales confirms.
Update
On 26 May 2025, the Church Times published an advertisement for the vacancy of the Dean of St Deiniol’s Cathedral, Bangor, Gwynedd.
Updated: 26 May at 17:17.