Latest news with #Archbishop
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Archbishop of Wales retires after safeguarding review revealed 'blurred sexual boundaries'
The Archbishop of Wales has resigned with immediate effect after a safeguarding review revealed "blurred sexual boundaries" at a cathedral in his diocese. Andrew John, 61, announced he was stepping down with immediate effect in a statement on Friday evening. He has been the Archbishop of Wales and the Bishop of Bangor since 2021 and 2008 respectively. It follows a safeguarding review at Bangor Cathedral in North Wales that reported a "culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred" and where "promiscuity was acceptable". There were also references to alcohol consumption, hurtful gossip, and weak financial controls. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr John, who commissioned two reports into concerns at the cathedral in October last year. When they were shared on the Church in Wales's website at the time, they warned of "inappropriate language, rude jokes and innuendoes" among the choir, with members feeling "unsafe and marginalised" as a result. Some younger members reported feeling "humiliated", it added. Read more from Sky News Announcing his retirement, Mr John's statement said: "It has been an enormous joy to serve in the Church in Wales for over 35 years. "I would very much like to thank the clergy and congregations of this wonderful diocese before I retire." When the findings were published earlier this year, Mr John described it as a "sobering time" and said they were "hard to hear". "I have begun reflecting on what I must learn from this process - not only as a leader, but as a fellow pilgrim," he added. "While this has been a sobering time, it also offers us opportunity for change. It will mean hard work, but it can also bring healing, and we do not do this alone." Second resignation of archbishop in a year It comes after the former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned from his post in November. His decision followed the independent Makin review into barrister John Smyth's abuse of children and young men revealed the Church of England had covered some of it up. Across five decades in three different countries, up to 130 boys are believed to have been subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual attacks. The report concluded he might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported it to police soon after he was installed as archbishop 11 years ago. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while still under police investigation. Mr Welby is yet to be replaced and a new appointment for the post of Bishop of Wales will also be made in due course.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Archbishop of Wales retires after safeguarding review revealed 'blurred sexual boundaries'
The Archbishop of Wales has resigned with immediate effect after a safeguarding review revealed "blurred sexual boundaries" at a cathedral in his diocese. Andrew John, 61, announced he was stepping down with immediate effect in a statement on Friday evening. He has been the Archbishop of Wales and the Bishop of Bangor since 2021 and 2008 respectively. It follows a safeguarding review at Bangor Cathedral in North Wales that reported a "culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred" and where "promiscuity was acceptable". There were also references to alcohol consumption, hurtful gossip, and weak financial controls. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr John, who commissioned two reports into concerns at the cathedral in October last year. When they were shared on the Church in Wales's website at the time, they warned of "inappropriate language, rude jokes and innuendoes" among the choir, with members feeling "unsafe and marginalised" as a result. Some younger members reported feeling "humiliated", it added. Announcing his retirement, Mr John's statement said: "It has been an enormous joy to serve in the Church in Wales for over 35 years. "I would very much like to thank the clergy and congregations of this wonderful diocese before I retire." When the findings were published earlier this year, Mr John described it as a "sobering time" and said they were "hard to hear". "I have begun reflecting on what I must learn from this process - not only as a leader, but as a fellow pilgrim," he added. "While this has been a sobering time, it also offers us opportunity for change. It will mean hard work, but it can also bring healing, and we do not do this alone." Second resignation of archbishop in a year It comes after the former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned from his post in November. His decision followed the independent Makin review into barrister John Smyth's abuse of children and young men revealed the Church of England had covered some of it up. Across five decades in three different countries, up to 130 boys are believed to have been subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual attacks. The report concluded he might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported it to police soon after he was installed as archbishop 11 years ago. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while still under police investigation. Mr Welby is yet to be replaced and a new appointment for the post of Bishop of Wales will also be made in due course.
Times
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Justin Welby fails to surprise with no hope for Pope
Justin Welby may have said that his ousting as Archbishop of Canterbury was based on a flawed report, but he is courting less controversy by asserting that he is unlikely to become Pope. Asked what his papal name would be, he opted for either Hadrian or Francis, but was keen to stress that a Welby papacy would be unlikely. 'I have had six children, therefore there is some evidence that I've not been entirely celibate,' he said, adding that he was also a 'lousy theologian'. Still, this needn't rule him out as a Pope, if the Borgias were anything to go by. Welby remarked: 'It was a Borgia who said, 'Since God has given us the papacy, we may as well enjoy it'. ' Glastonbury brings together the revolutionaries and the posh, and this year is throwing together particularly strange bedfellows. The other night, the same backstage VIP bar was frequented by the controversial band Kneecap and the uncontroversial Samantha Cameron. It's not like they have nothing in common, though. For instance, as she was a PM's wife, both have benefited from government money. Jeffrey Archer's success is not as impressive as it sounds. The former Tory MP's first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, is still topping bestsellers' lists after racking up 25,000 sales last month, but he points out that this is worldwide and it's not all that impressive when you divide it by 151 countries. 'I got a call from Iceland saying your latest book is number one in the bestsellers' list,' he tells the Rosebud podcast. Archer, right, was filled with pride, until he asked how many copies had taken him to this giddy height. The answer was 83. Much excitement on the left this week about the potential for a new Jeremy Corbyn-led party. Many are saying that polls have shown it would get 10 per cent of the vote, but the pollster Joe Twyman offers a note of caution. 'May I gently suggest that 'would' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here,' he said. 'I say that as the official pollster for Change UK.' It is official — politicians don't talk like humans. A study to be published in Comparative Political Studies has found that politicians' speeches become more interminable as soon as they are elected. The study looked at 1.5 million extracts from speeches by Danish parliamentarians across a quarter of a century from 1997. It found that the speeches became less readable after the speaker was elected but this reverted as soon as their career ended. It's cited by the political scientist Philip Cowley in his latest for The House. 'You campaign in poetry, govern in prose,' he says, 'but even the prose suffers when in office.' With books like his new history of St Petersburg, the author Sinclair McKay has become an adept copy editor, but he learnt the craft the hard way. He used to be a diarist and tells me he got into terrible trouble when he wrote a piece about the political salon host Lady Carla Powell. She was furious about one word. He admits it was probably an error to call her 'fawnlike' in the first place, but what was worse was that he also got the third letter wrong and had to explain to Powell that he hadn't meant to suggest she was half-man, half-goat.
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- The Guardian
Archbishop of Wales stands down over Bangor cathedral scandal
The archbishop of Wales has stepped down after a culture of excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, bullying, bad language and inappropriate banter at Bangor cathedral was revealed. Andy John, who is also the bishop of Bangor, released a statement on Friday evening after calls for his resignation gathered pace. He said he was announcing his 'immediate retirement today as archbishop of Wales. I also intend to retire as bishop of Bangor on 31 August'. Neither his statement nor those from senior colleagues in the Church in Wales made any reference to the scandal that has engulfed Bangor cathedral over recent years. Earlier this week, John issued an 'unreserved and unequivocal' personal apology regarding 'the situation', saying he took full responsibility for failings under his leadership. 'I repent and offer no excuses nor justifications,' he said. Calls for John to resign and for an independent inquiry into the cathedral's culture, the behaviour of clergy, staff and volunteers, and alleged financial mismanagement had been mounting. They came after a review by ThirtyOne: Eight, a Christian safeguarding agency, heard accounts of excessive alcohol consumption, inappropriate language and humiliating banter and a 'culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred, and to some … promiscuity was acceptable'. Homophobic comments and an 'unhappy working environment' were also reported. A separate report from a cathedral 'visitation' team recommended the appointment of 'strong leadership' to 'steady the ship', improved scrutiny of governance and finances, and discouraging unkind and inappropriate private communications. According to Tim Wyatt, who writes The Critical Friend, a newsletter on the Anglican church, and who has closely followed events at Bangor, the reports 'pretty much confirmed there was a lot of drinking, sleeping around, backbiting, bullying – basically a whole culture that was completely out of kilter with what a place of Christian worship is supposed to be about'. In addition, six 'serious incident reports' have been sent to the Charity Commission in the past 18 months, four relating to safeguarding and two relating to financial matters. Financial irregularities reportedly include more than £400,000 being spent on new furnishings for the cathedral with inadequate consultation, and £20,000 spent on trips to Rome and Dublin for senior staff. A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: 'We have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess a number of concerns that have been raised related to Bangor cathedral and diocese, including matters reported directly to us by the charities. We are actively examining these matters with the charities' trustees to determine our next steps. 'As regulator, if we find evidence of wrongdoing, we take robust action using the powers available to us.' Many of the concerns about the cathedral centre on a period when Siôn Rhys Evans was its acting dean – in effect chief executive – while continuing in post as secretary of the Bangor diocese. Both posts are senior full-time jobs, and it is unprecedented for one person to manage both sets of responsibilities and workload. In another highly unusual move, Rhys Evans – who was seen as a protege of John – was made acting dean only a few years after being ordained as a priest. To be elevated so quickly to a high-profile job was an 'astounding over-promotion', according to Wyatt. In February 2024, Rhys Evans stood back from both roles without explanation. He was absent from work for 10 months, after which he quietly left to take up a new post as dean of a Westminster theological college in Cambridge. On Friday, Westminster college confirmed that Rhys Evans' probationary period was 'unsuccessful' and he had left his job in mid-May. The Guardian has been unable to contact Rhys Evans. Last month, two members of the cathedral's college of priests, Rev Dr John Prysor-Jones and the Very Rev Prof Gordon McPhate, called for an independent inquiry into events in Bangor. 'The reputational damage to the cathedral, the diocese, and the Church in Wales is considerable,' they said in a letter to the Church Times. John Pockett, a member of the Church in Wales for almost 70 years, called for John to consider his position as its head. 'He is the archbishop, he is the leader and it has happened at his cathedral,' he told the BBC. Ruth Jones, the Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, said the church must give a full explanation to members and the public. 'We want openness and transparency in all our church settings and it's really, really important that the archbishop makes clear what has gone on,' she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Italian immigrants new to Canada greeted with special recognition
Toronto Watch The Archbishop of Toronto blessed the commemorative installation part of a celebration of Italian Heritage Month. CTV's Janice Golding reports.
