CHURCHES on Pen Llyn have welcomed the news that the Bishop of Bangor has been elected as the new Archbishop of Wales.

Andy John takes over from the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies, who had served since 2017.

Nick Golding, ministry area deacon for the Bro Eifionydd Ministry Area said he was “delighted”, and looks forward to the new archbishop’s support on a number of local projects.

He said: “I am delighted that our Bishop, Andy John, Bishop of Bangor has been chosen by the Bench of Bishops to be the next Archbishop of Wales.

“This is a great thing for a relatively poor and northern diocese like ours that often feels a long way from seats of power.

“Above and beyond that he is a progressive Bishop, a modern Bishop, who embraces difference and supports the outsider, the marginalised. No more so than his support for the same sex blessings act that was passed in September and his Episcopal Letter giving his biblical views as to why he also supports same-sex marriage. His support for refugees was made very clear when to travelled to Calais to see the misery of displaced for himself.

“More locally he is supporting an exciting project, headed by Bro Eifionydd Ministry Area Leader, Reverend Canon Kim Williams, to create a new worship space and to include social engagement projects in Porthmadog by purchasing a premises in the heart of the town where we can be ‘with the people, for the people, by the people’.

“We look forward to Archbishop Andy being a very 21st Century Archbishop of Wales.”

Archbishop John, who was ordained as a deacon in 1989 and became Bishop of Bangor in 2008, becomes the 14th Archbishop of Wales after securing a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College on the first day of its meeting.

He said: “As we look forward to the future, I’m very conscious that we’re not yet out of those restrictions that have inhibited our lives for so long.

“We face many challenges, but we do so not alone - we do so with God’s grace and with one another.

“I’m confident the Church in Wales will be able to respond with energy, with vision and with vigour to all the challenges which lie ahead of us.”

He will be enthroned at St Deiniol’s Cathedral in Bangor, and will continue to serve as Bishop of Bangor.