bishops
The Most Reverend Barry Morgan,
Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff
Barry Morgan has been Bishop of Llandaff since 1999 and Archbishop of Wales since 2003 having previously served as Bishop of Bangor 1993-99. Born in the village of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, near Neath in South Wales, he read history at London, Theology at Cambridge and trained for the ministry at Wescott House, Cambridge. He studied for a doctorate whilst a university lecturer. He has worked in a range of ministerial contexts – in parish ministry, as a university and theological college lecturer and university chaplain, and as an archdeacon, director of ordinands and as a continuing ministerial education officer. He has served on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and on the Primates Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. He was a member of the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report 2004. He has published a number of articles and books, his latest being a study of the work of the Welsh poet R. S. Thomas ‘Strangely Orthodox’. He is Pro-Chancellor of the University of Wales, a fellow of Cardiff, UWIC, Bangor and Lampeter and until recently, was President of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. He has also chaired an inquiry on behalf of Shelter Cymru on homelessness in Wales. He enjoys playing golf and reading novels as recreational activities.
The Right Reverend Dominic Walker OGS,
Bishop of Monmouth
Bishop Dominic was born on 28th June 1948 in Plymouth, Devon to a Welsh mother and an English father. He was educated at Plymouth College, King’s College London (AKC), Heythrop College London (MA) and Cardiff University (LL.M). He has an hon. Doctorate (D.Litt) from the University of Brighton and is a governor of the University of Wales, Newport.
He belongs to the Oratory of the Good Shepherd and was the Superior from 1990-96. He was ordained in Southwark Cathedral - as deacon and priest in 1972 and bishop in 1997. He served as chaplain to the Bishop of Southwark and then as a parish priest at the Elephant & Castle, London and in Brighton where as Vicar of Brighton he was a Team Rector and Rural Dean. On 1st May 1997 he was consecrated as Area Bishop of Reading until he became Bishop of Monmouth in March, 2003. He is the ‘ministry bishop’ for the Church in Wales.
Bishop Dominic has an interest in the ministry of healing and deliverance, animal welfare (he is a Vice President of the RSPCA) and the consecrated life.
The Right Reverend John Davies,
Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
Bishop John was born at Newport (Mon) in 1953. Educated at Bassaleg Grammar School, he graduated in law from the University of Southampton in 1974. From Southampton he moved on to the College of Law at Chester and was admitted as a solicitor in 1977, specialising in criminal law.
Bishop John left law to enter the ministry and was ordained in 1984. He served in a variety of parishes in the Diocese of Monmouth before being appointed Dean of Brecon. During eight years in that role, he oversaw significant improvements to the fabric and liturgy of the Cathedral. He was elected as the ninth Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 2008.
Bishop John has retained a keen interest in issues of crime and punishment, with a particular concern about the nature of criminality and the effects of poor social and educational standards on those who end up as crime statistics. Having served as the chairman of the trustees of a large hospice in Newport, he also has a deep concern for the just provision of healthcare.
As a former church chorister, organist and choirmaster, Bishop John has a passionate interest in church music, seeing it as an important aspect of worship.
He also enjoys watching cricket and rugby, playing golf, cooking and walking. He is married to Jo, an Organ Transplant Co-ordinator for the NHS Blood and Transplant Service. They have two children: Kate who is studying Sport and Exercise Science at Cardiff University and Christopher who is studying Ancient History at Reading University.
The Right Reverend Wyn Evans
Bishop of St Davids
Bishop Wyn was elected 128th Bishop of St Davids on 1st September, consecrated on 29th November and enthroned in St Davids Cathedral on 6th December, 2008.
Bishop Wyn served as Dean of St Davids Cathedral for 14 years, during which time he was the driving force behind the £5.5m Cathedral restoration project, which included the acclaimed rebuilding and expansion of the historic cloisters area, and has secured the future of the building for generations to come.
He said he was stunned but honoured to have been chosen as bishop of the diocese in which he has served since his ordination. "We are fortunate that Bishop Carl gave the diocese a sense of purpose and direction which I look forward to continuing."
Bishop Wyn Evans, 61, grew up in Aberystwyth, the son of the Vicar of Aberystwyth Efion Evans. He was educated at Ardwyn Grammar School, Aberystwyth, then studied archaeology at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He trained for the priesthood at St Michael’s College, Llandaff 1968-71 and has served all his ministry in the Diocese of St Davids.
Ordained as a priest in 1972, Bishop Wyn served as a minor canon at St Davids Cathedral from 1972-75.
After a period of research at Oxford University he returned to Pembrokeshire, serving as Rector of Llanfallteg with Clunderwen and Henllan Amgoed with Llangan from 1977-82. He was Diocesan Warden of Ordinands from 1978-83, chaplain of Trinity College of Carmarthen 1982-90 and Diocesan Director of Education 1982-1992. He was made an honorary canon of St Davids Cathedral 1988 and served as a canon from 1990 to 1994. From 1990-94 he was Dean of Chapel, Trinity College Carmarthen and head of department of religious studies 1991-94. He was made Dean and Precentor of St Davids Cathedral in 1994 as well as Vicar of St Davids. In 2001, the parish was enlarged into a Rectorial Benefice and renamed Dewisland, where he served as rector.
A keen historian, the bishop is an honorary fellow of the University of Wales, Lampeter, and a leading expert on the lives of the early Welsh saints and St Davids Cathedral. He has recently edited a book titled, St David of Wales – Cult, Church and Nation.
He is married to Diane, a professional potter in St Davids.
The Right Reverend Andy John
Bishop of Bangor
Bishop Andy grew up in Aberystwyth. He went to Ysgol Penglais and graduated in Law at the University of Wales, Cardiff, in 1986 and in Theology at the University of Nottingham in 1988. He studied a Diploma in Pastoral Studies in 1989 at St John’s College, Nottingham. He was ordained as a deacon in 1989 and as priest in the Diocese of St Davids in 1990 and served all his ministry until his election as Bishop of Bangor within that Diocese. He was a curate for Cardigan, Y Ferwg and Mwnt from 1989 to 1991. He was a curate for Aberystwyth from 1991-1992. He served as vicar in the Rectoral Benefice of Aberystwyth from 1992 to 1999. He was vicar for Henfynyw with Aberaeron and Llanddewi Aberarth from 1999 to 2005 – a parish which expanded in 2005 to include Llanbadarn Trefeglwys. He has been vicar of Pencarreg and Llanycrwys since 2006 and Archdeacon of Cardigan since 2006.
Bishop Andy enjoys running, squash and mountain biking, playing the saxophone and the guitar. His is married to Caroline, who is also a deacon in the Church in Wales. Caroline was ordained as a Deacon when Andy was ordained as a priest in 1990. The couple have four children, a son Matthew, Bethany, Hannah, and Harriet.
The Right Reverend Gregory Cameron
Bishop of St Asaph
Bishop Gregory was born in the valleys of South East Wales, and grew up in the village of Llangybi near Usk in Monmouthshire, where he discovered his faith as a teenager, and started attending the local Anglican Church (St Cybi). He was educated in Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School in Cwmbran. While reading Law at Oxford University, he received a vocation to the ordained ministry, and, on being accepted as an ordinand of the Church in Wales, began a degree in Theology in Cambridge. Here he was taught early church history by the young Rowan Williams. After studying at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, Gregory was ordained in the Diocese of Monmouth, serving in the Parish of St Paul, Newport, and then in the Rectorial Benefice of Llanmartin. Subsequently, he undertook ministry as a school chaplain (Wycliffe College, Stonehouse) and as director of an educational charity (The Bloxham Project). In 2000, Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Wales, appointed Gregory as his Chaplain.
In 2003, he was appointed by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion as Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office in London, becoming Deputy Secretary General a year later. In this role, he has been involved in the ecumenical relations of the Anglican Communion at global level, and responsible for staffing the Lambeth Commission, which produced the Windsor Report. He has lectured in Old Testament at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, and is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in Canon Law at the Centre for Law and Religion in Cardiff University. He was granted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the Episcopal Divinity School, Massachussetts, in 2007, in recognition of his contribution to reconciliation in the Anglican Communion.
Gregory is married to Clare, a teacher of music and a composer, and together they have three sons. Gregory enjoys reading, drawing and calligraphy and is a keen Egyptologist. He is a Welsh learner, and became a fan of Eisteddfodau after winning a scholarship to the Bro Dwyfor Eisteddfod in 1975, although six years living in England have blunted his conversational skills. In all his ministry, he has sought to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in fresh and exciting ways, and believes that the Christian faith offers hope and profound challenge to the world and to today’s society. This does not stop him being a strong devotee of Dr Who.
The Right Reverend David Wilbourne,
Assistant Bishop of Llandaff
Bishop David was born in Derbyshire in 1955, schooled in Yorkshire, and studied Natural Sciences and Theology at Jesus College and Westcott House, Cambridge. Prior to ordination, David worked for Barclays Bank for six years and taught as a University Supervisor in New Testament and Koine Greek. Ordained deacon in 1981 and priest the following year, he ministered first in urban Middlesbrough, then as rector of a semi-rural parish north of Pontefract, where, amongst other things, he ran a Ancient Greek class for twenty parishioners. In 1991 he moved on to be the Archbishop of York's chaplain, working with John Habgood for four years prior to his retirement and then continuing to work with his successor, David Hope. He was also Director of Ordinands, selecting men and women for the ordained ministry and taking them through training to their first post. In September 1997 he moved from Bishopthorpe to be Vicar of Helmsley, a moorland market town in North Yorkshire and for six years was chair of governors of Ryedale School, a high-achieving rural comprehensive. Archbishop John Sentamu made him a canon of York in 2008.
A son of a priest, David is married to Rachel, a history and RE teacher and parish website designer, and they have three daughters. His interests include cycling, hill walking and writing, particularly trying to strike a balance between the humorous and the poignant. His first book, An Archbishop's Diary, was published in 1995. This was followed by A Vicar's Diary and A Summer's Diary about which David comments: 'When I was ten my family moved into the deep country 15 miles south east of York.The place was described in Arthur Mee's East Riding as forlorn and far away - I think he was being over kind! But it was a place I grew to love, the fields, the farms, the Derwent and its Ings, the open countryside. It seemed natural to set my two novels there. In many ways I wrote the books in my head when I was ten. Then they simmered for thirty years before I set them down. I also wanted to celebrate people, the Church and the world around us. There's a lot of humour, a lot of poignancy which is worth noting. I'm not very fond of the culture of contempt where we seem to run everything down.' Both books are being sold by Llandaff Cathedral in aid of its Organ Fund.
His other two books are A Virgin's Diary (the diary of a teenage Mary-with-attitude in the run up to Jesus birth) and You were made for me ( a study in how personal pronouns give away our faith and our take on life), and at present he is working on the authorised biography of John Habgood. Prior to moving to Wales, David was a regular diarist in the Church Times for over 12 years and is a Member of the Society of Authors. He is a frequent after-dinner speaker, broadcaster, retreat and conference leader.
David was consecrated Assistant Bishop of Llandaff in April 2009. On his appointment he commented: 'I have always admired the Church in Wales because it effortlessly combines friendliness with holiness, its Gospel one that is unashamed of its own tenderness: that strikes me as Anglicanism at its very best. Chiefly I come empty-handed, keen to listen, to learn and to affirm life in all its fullness. Then let’s see where God leads us from there.'