The Church in Wales has dismissed three submissions claiming that statements against a cathedral dean led to his rejection as Bishop of Llandaff, in succession to the Most Rev. Barry Morgan, the now-retired Archbishop of Wales.
The proceedings of electoral colleges are supposed to be confidential. Media reports claim that the Dean of St. Albans, the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, received more than half of the electoral college votes but fell short of the necessary two-thirds. John is a native of Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taff.
John wrote a public letter claiming that homophobia had prevented his election during the electoral college’s meeting in February. He was backed up by one complaint from church electoral college members, another from members of the Llandaff diocesan standing committee, and another and from five area deans.
The Church in Wales announced that its legal subcommittee advised that the complaints were without merit and that the Bench of Bishops should now proceed to fill the post.