The recent Visitation of Bangor Cathedral was initiated by the then-Archbishop of Wales in October 2024; this resulted in: Bangor Cathedral Visitation Report, (4 May 2025); Bangor Cathedral Visitation – supplementary statement, (15 May 2025); and Bangor Cathedral Visitation – Statement on Visitation Report implementation. On 24 June 2025, the Representative Body of the Church in Wales issued a Statement on Bangor Cathedral highlighting its concerns, key recommendations and expectations; the text is reproduced in our post, here.

On 2 September 2025, the BBC reported that a Bangor Cathedral spokesperson had confirmed a consultation on potential redundancies at the Cathedral had begun. Documents sent to employees affected by the proposals and shared with BBC-produced Newyddion S4C were said to state “any breach of confidentiality may result in disciplinary action”, adding “If it is unclear who has breached confidentiality, disciplinary action may be taken against all the individuals involved”.

“Newyddion S4C understands the cathedral employs eight members of lay staff (not including clergy) and that the proposals would mean the loss of five and a half roles, including the operations manager, family officer and verger”. It is understood by Newyddion S4C that:

• “the Cathedral is expected to reimburse the Bangor Diocese after tens of thousands of pounds were spent on furniture for the cathedral, vestments and cathedral choir trips abroad to Dublin and Rome;
• the expenditure occurred during the tenure of Sion Rhys Evans as cathedral sub-dean, who was also secretary of the Bangor diocese;
• at the time, there was no instruction to recharge the items to the cathedral or ask for reimbursement and the sub-dean did not have access to the cathedral’s online banking”.

The Cathedral Director of Music faces having his role halved as part of the redundancy proposals and is said to “[feel] the cathedral choir in particular is bearing the brunt of alleged poor financial management in the past” –  a view that has been expressed elsewhere.

Dr Manon Ceridwen James has been appointed as Dean and will officially begin her role on 11 September 2025. Commenting as an external interviewer involved in the appointment process, Dean Shane Forster said: “…Manon is not afraid of a challenge and will grasp the opportunity to bring healing, reconciliation and hope to the Cathedral and Ministry Area…”.

The above post was based upon the BBC report cited; it was updated on 8 September 2025 in Statement: Chapter of Bangor Cathedral following further clarification from the Cathedral Chapter.