New bishop 'very excited' to be elected at scandal-hit cathedral

A new Bishop of Bangor has been elected a year after a complaints about "blurred" sexual boundaries, inappropriate language and excessive drinking emerged at the scandal-hit cathedral.

The Very Revd Manon Ceridwen James was chosen by the Church in Wales Electoral College to succeed former Archbishop of Wales Andrew John, who announced his retirement from the role in June 2025.

Dr Manon James became the Dean of Bangor Cathedral in October, where she has been "addressing numerous challenging governance and finance issues", the Church in Wales said.

Archbishop of Wales Cherry Vann said James was "well-known" and "will be a huge asset to the diocese and the Province and the Bench of Bishops".

James, who grew up in Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, was ordained as a deacon at Bangor Cathedral in 1994 and was among the first women to be ordained as a priest in the diocese in 1997.

She has previously performed stand-up comedy and enjoys attending football matches and concerts and travelling with her husband, Dylan.

Her election took place at Holy Trinity Church in Llandudno, Conwy, where 45 clergy and lay representatives from across the Church in Wales, as well as the diocesan bishops, met to reached the required two-thirds majority vote.

Speaking about her new role, James said it felt "very daunting, but I'm also very excited".

"I was brought up in the dioces, so I'm just very excited to be working with a great team here and looking forward to future," she told BBC Radio Wales Drive.

James said that, over the past few months, she had been "working very hard" to address issues raised in a governance review.

She added she had been working closely with other members of the senior team and the diocese to tackle some of the challenges facing the diocese.

James added she "looks forward with colleagues to be able to help people feel confident in the church again and know its for them".

"With a bishop now in place we have more capacity to work together so I'm very hopefull for future," she said.

The Archbishop of Wales said: "Manon is well-known to the people of the diocese and she will be a huge asset to the diocese and the Province and the Bench of Bishops.

"We are delighted at her election and wish her every blessing as she steps into this ministry."

James now has up to 28 days to formally accept the position before the election is ratified by the bishops of the Church in Wales.

In May 2025, the summaries of two reports were published on the Church in Wales website which revealed "a culture in which sexual boundaries had become blurred", inappropriate language had been used and alcohol consumed excessively at the north Wales Cathedral.

It was later revealed a series of serious incident referrals had been made to the Charity Commission in relation to the Bangor Cathedral and diocese in little over a year.

In September the BBC reported the cathedral was considering making more than two thirds of its staff redundant, while threatening those affected with disciplinary action if they discuss the plans.