Adapted from the Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is taking a fresh look at the role and responsibilities of its archbishop. A working group will seek views from across the church and wider society at various key stages.
The team, which will report back by Easter next year, is made up of people from each of the church’s six dioceses. It includes two people from outside the church: former Welsh Government minister Edwina Hart and Christina Baxter, former principal of St John’s College, Nottingham.
This review follows a call by the current archbishop, Barry Morgan, to the church’s Governing Body last year. A report about his remarks appears in Highlights (p. 3).
The convention has been that the archbishop is also a diocesan bishop and is elected from among them. Since the Church in Wales was inaugurated in 1920, several of the dioceses have been the home Diocese of the Archbishop.
“There is no doubt that the Archbishop of Wales is a prominent figure, not just in the Church in Wales but also in Welsh society,” said the working group’s chairman, Professor Gareth Lloyd Jones. “We need to be sure that what we ask of our archbishop in future is reasonable, and appropriate for today’s Wales. This is why we are keen to consider the views of people from not only the church but all walks of life across the country our Church in Wales serves.”
