by Tim Wyatt, The Critical Friend
On the last Sunday in August, the choir at Bangor Cathedral in North Wales rose to their feet one last time. As the congregation took communion, they sang what sounded like a fairly ordinary piece of traditional choral music. I doubt many of those in the cathedral paid much attention to the words. But once they were finished – as communion was drawing to close – rather than leading the congregation in their final hymn, the dozen or robed choristers turned on their heels and silently filed out of the cathedral entirely, never to return.
When last we left Bangor Cathedral in North Wales earlier in the summer, it was mired in controversy and scandal. Plus ça change. Financial misconduct and allegations of other bad behaviour on the part of its acting dean, Sion Rhys Evans, had led to first his departure from the Church in Wales, but eventually also his bishop, Andy John, who was also the Archbishop of Wales.
After Rhys Evans and John had been forced out, the national bodies of the Church in Wales swept into action. An Oversight Board, chaired by the chair of the Representative Body (RB, the governing trustees of the national church), was set up to effectively place the cathedral into special measures. Not only had two separate reports found a disturbing culture of excessive drinking, bullying, toxic communications between staff and sexual promiscuity, but the cathedral was also facing a financial crisis.
Rhys Evans had doubled up his job as acting dean by also being the Diocese of Bangor’s chief executive, and in this capacity he freely spent diocesan money on the cathedral without any meaningful checks and balances. Hundreds of thousands was lavished on new vestments, pews and jollies overseas for cathedral staff. Now he’s gone, the diocese wants its money back. Money which the cathedral doesn’t currently have. Part of the role of the Oversight Board was to help steer the cathedral back into the black, as well as marking its homework to ensure it was fixing the cultural problems too.