Former Navy aircraft engineer appointed Bishop
An aircraft engineer, who served in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War, will be the next Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.
The Archdeacon of Wrexham, John Lomas, has been chosen as the 10th Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, a diocese which stretches south to the coast of the Gower and north into much of mid-Wales…
Just listened to an old video of when John Lomas was appointed Archdeacon of Wrexham and I must say, he doesn’t sound very Welsh!
Now that all six Welsh dioceses are filled I suppose that the next step will be to elect a new archbishop.
Neither the present Bishop of Durham, nor Justin Welby, his predecessor, speak with broad Geordie accents.
Indeed so,, neither the present Essex born Archbishop of York, nor John Sentamu, his predecessor, speak with a broad Yorkshire accent. Owzat?
Further to Fr. David’s remarks, I note that Archdeacon Lomas was educated in Wales, and appears to have spent the greater part of his 27 year period in orders in Wales, with 9 of those years as a naval chaplain (2001-10); he is not yet in Crockfords, but he is in Who’s Who. The great sin of the Church of England in Wales prior to disestablishment had been that, at the level of the higher clergy, and in some of the wealthier parishes, it had been ‘colonised’ by Englishmen, relatively few of whom knew Welsh or had any wish to… Read more »
I remember Froghole going back to my Anglican days and when I was a Vowed and habited Anglican Franciscan Friar under Private Religious Vows after my time as a Monk at Roslin, I was considering the possibility of ordination in the Church in Wales, as I knew I would not be able to do this than in the C OF E as my position as a than Religious was considered somewhat irregular due to the fact I had renewed my Vows before the than Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Bishop Riah Abu El Assal, when he was Coadjutor Bishop in the… Read more »
At last! Wales has a home-grown bishop, rather than someone from Caroline Boddington’s (soon to be late of this parish) reject list. The significance of this is that Swansea & Brecon will have a mission-minded pastor who knows Wales and the Church in Wales very well. Yes, I know it’s always good to have someone from outside to bring a new perspective; but I’m afraid recent episcopal arrivals in this province have not come with grounded experience of the terrain, let alone displayed any urgent desire to get stuck into the language, still less understand why the vocabulary of ‘my… Read more »
I agree – the Bishop of St. Asaph is the best person qualified to be the next Welsh Primate.
Jane Manon-Thomas – there are only six candidates to chose from ie one of the current bishops. It won’t be St David’s because she is gradually returning after serving time out on the naughty step. It won’t be Llandaff because she is near retirement. It won’t be Swansea & Brecon because he’s a newbie. Unlikely to be Monmouth because she’s also fairly new. So a toss up between Bangor or St Asaph. The former has been bishop a few months longer than the latter. Also interesting to note in passing that Bangor recently married for the second time, after divorce… Read more »
Which is why Barry Morgan and his gang were so keen to team up with the remnant of Nonconformity.