❓WHAT HAPPENED: Cherry Vann has been appointed as the new Archbishop of Wales, becoming the first married lesbian woman to hold the position.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Cherry Vann, Andrew John, the Church in Wales, and the Anglican Communion.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Vann’s appointment follows Andrew John’s retirement last month, after serving three-and-a-half years as Archbishop.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The first thing I shall need to do is to ensure that the issues which have been raised in the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to build a really good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves.” – Cherry Vann
🎯IMPACT: Vann’s appointment follows a critical safeguarding review, and underlines official Anglicanism’s increasing estrangement from traditional Christianity.
The Anglican Church of Wales has named married lesbian priestess Cherry Vann the 15th Archbishop of Wales, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Originally from Leicester, England, Vann has served as the Bishop of Monmouth for five years and succeeds Andrew John, who retired last month after three and a half years in the role.
John’s departure followed the publication of a safeguarding review at Bangor Cathedral, which highlighted issues such as “a culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred” and “promiscuity was acceptable.” The report also noted inappropriate language, rude jokes, and innuendos within the choir, which left some members feeling unsafe or humiliated.
Vann was ordained as a deacon in 1989 and was among the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1994. She later served as Archdeacon of Rochdale in the Diocese of Manchester for 11 years before her appointment as Bishop of Monmouth.
In a statement, Vann acknowledged the challenges ahead, saying: “The first thing I shall need to do is to ensure that the issues which have been raised in the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to build a really good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves.”
Other Protestant European churches are also appointing homosexual women bishops, such as in Sweden, where lesbian Eva Brunne became the Lutheran Bishop of Stockholm in 2009. Brunne was the first ever openly lesbian bishop of a mainline denomination in the world.
Anglican churches are struggling to attract regular parishioners in the United Kingdom, with far more young people in England attending Roman Catholic Mass. If current projections hold, there will soon be more practicing Roman Catholics than Anglicans in England for the first time since the Protestant Reformation.
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