Adapted from the website of the Church in Wales
The Archbishop of Wales has urged church members to put reform of the archbishop’s office back onto the agenda for the benefit of his successors.
The Most Rev. Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales for the past 12 years, warned that increasing demands on the job put the current model at breaking point and he appealed to the church to reconsider alternatives for his successors.
The archbishop is elected from among the diocesan bishops and, once elected, also remains bishop of that diocese, based in that diocese. That means the archbishop does two jobs — leading the Church and running a particular diocese — and does not have a permanent see.
A recent independent review of the church has recommended creating a permanent see for the archbishop.
In his presidential address to members of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, Morgan highlighted the cost on the individual of the existing peripatetic model.
“In 1920, with only four dioceses and a more leisurely pace of life, that was fine, but four of my 11 predecessors have said that this model is at breaking point or have found the post very demanding for different reasons. I add my voice to that chorus,” he said.
