Bishops’ emails show hostility over gay cleric’s bid for election
EMAILS released to a gay cleric who was denied election as Bishop of Llandaff have revealed the degree of hostility that existed towards his possible appointment in the Church in Wales’ Bench of Bishops.
In March, Llandaff diocesan representatives unanimously gave their votes to Very Rev Dr Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans.
But he failed to secure enough votes overall and in May the Welsh bishops decided to appoint the Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev June Osborne, instead.
After he failed to get elected, Dr John, originally from Tonyrefail in Rhondda Cynon Taff, accused the bishops of blocking his appointment purely on the grounds of his sexuality, in spite of his avowed celibacy.
He wrote: “To ride roughshod over the very clearly expressed, unanimous view of a diocese in this way is extraordinary, unprecedented and foolish.”
Using the Data Protection Act, Dr John has now obtained partially redacted emails sent between the Welsh bishops in the run-up to the electoral college vote at which he failed to secure a sufficient number of votes.
Extracts of the emails have been published in the Church Times.
An email dated February 8, apparently from John Davies, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, and the senior bishop in the Church in Wales, said: “My instinct is that JJ’s stance on the matter of same-gender relationships and his own situation might be unwelcome to many in the Diocese who would suspect that Barry’s [the former Bishop of Llandaff and Welsh Primate, Dr Barry Morgan] evident liberal agenda was being perpetuated by his election. It would probably do the perception of the Bench, at home and elsewhere, no particular good either.
“Personally, I also think that his election would be an immense distraction in the Province at the wrong time.”
In another email, another writer, understood to be the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Rev Gregory Cameron, writes: “If, in the end, God wants Jeffrey to shake us up and the entire Anglican Communion, then so be it, but he has still got to get 32 votes... I don’t think he has any episcopal vote, and he certainly doesn’t seem to attract the St Asaph electors.
“However, I think we have to stand back and try not to manage the process, even if we can be honest with our electors.”
In an email dated February 17, Bishop Davies confirmed that he would be seeking to influence his own diocesan representatives. He said: “I will be meeting with my electors in Cardiff, probably on Monday evening, and expressing my anxieties.”
He also wrote: “I am still of the view that JJ’s election could set off a media circus.”
Writing about the state of the Llandaff diocese, he said: “Whilst neither sexuality nor age are conclusive factors here, I think that the depth of problems in Llandaff has yet to fully emerge... Getting to grips with all this, becoming known and trusted and turning things around will take a deal of time, possibly more than JJ has given his age.”
Dr John is 64 – the same age as Dean Osborne, shortly to be consecrated as Bishop of Llandaff.
Bishop Davies concluded the email: “I am not sufficiently anxious to think that, at the College, I would need to say that there are anxieties or cautions which need to be taken into account.
“I tend to think that those who might have these are better at sharing them privately with our electors.”
Two hours later, he again wrote to the other bishops that he had heard of Llandaff’s continued support for Dr John, stating: “What is clear is that, if there are to be candidates proffered by other dioceses, the homework on them needs to be well done and that they need to be well presented as very credible. Heigh-ho!”
The electoral college met from February 21-23.
Afterwards, having been given an account of the confidential meeting, Dr John attracted significant press interest when he accused Bishop Davies of colluding with “anti-gay discrimination”.
The accusation was firmly denied by the Welsh Bench of Bishops in a letter to the Church Times.
The letter said: “In matters of same-sex relationships, we strive towards inclusiveness and equality, with initiatives deemed of sufficient national significance to be reported upon in the pages of this newspaper.
“In April 2016, the Bishops issued a pastoral and apologetic letter to the LGBT community and accompanied it with prayers approved by the Bishops for use with couples in same-sex relationships; LGBT chaplains are already in post in some dioceses; gay clerics and civil-partnered clerics are in post in the Church in Wales, where they exercise both welcome and affirmed ministry; in December 2016, the premiere of the LGBT+ film All One in Christ, produced by the organisers of the Iris Prize – the world’s largest LGBT short-film prize – was hosted at St Asaph Cathedral with the full blessing of the entire Bench of Bishops.
“In a diverse Church of diverse theological opinions, homosexuality and civil partnerships are matters that some legitimately wish to consider; but neither of them is a bar to ordination or preferment in our Province. What is a bar to preferment to the office of bishop is a failure to secure a two-thirds majority of votes in the election process – nothing more; nothing less.”
Responding to the publication of the bishops’ emails, a spokesman for the Church in Wales said: “We understand that the private correspondence of the Church in Wales’ Bishops concerning the process to elect a Bishop of Llandaff has again been put into the public domain by others.
“We are satisfied that the entire process of electing and then appointing the Bishop of Llandaff was carried out properly and fairly, and will not be commenting further.”