In one sense, I cannot argue with the experiences of the former Assistant Bishop of Llandaff’s views of the Church in Wales. They are found here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/15-may/features/features/church-in-wales-still-bleeding-after-all-this-time?fbclid=IwAR0DerE2PUEn4iMPIdi1tSU7q0aL1gyO1nSBiM9E1DDrWi8fUyEZ7hzVe0k. They are his. However I am sure that Bishop David Wilbourne’s Wales is not mine. This could be because much of what I know of Wales and the Church in Wales is from the viewpoint of Anglesey and through the Diocese of Bangor.

I would agree with the Bishop that disestablishment and disendowment of the Church was not done always in a kind or constructive way. However, that said, apart from having shared Yorkshire roots, Bishop David and I agree on very little when it comes to how we have experienced the Welsh Church. I think this is because he has misread Wales and the place of the Church in Wales within it.

In his article, he writes:

Apart from ever-faithful Roman Catholics, she (the Church in Wales) is the only Church still standing in most communities, now that Nonconformists have run out of wind.

Both Church and Chapel attendance has declined consistently for a considerable period, and chapel and church buildings have closed. Chapels have not ceased to be, and in many places in Wales, people on the fringes of faith look to the Chapel rather than Church in the first instance, if they look anywhere. To suggest that this is not the case is quite simply wrong.

Bishop David is right that episcopacy is exercised differently in Wales. With in general smaller diocese numerically, a Bishop can know his or her clergy with ease. Here in Bangor, I know I am prayed for by my Bishop and that he knows the names of my wife and son. When I was at my mother’s deathbed, he called to assure me of his prayers. If anything at times, Bishops and Clergy in Wales however are treated more deferentially across the border.

Wales is a wounded place, and her Church’s genius has been not to shy away from the wound, but be in the wound, to be as Christ to the wound

Bishop David is correct to write the above words, but what he fails to appreciate is that colonialism has caused the wound. Wales is not a mini-England existing in a time that England has moved on from. Wales is a proud nation in its own right. The Bishop goes on to comment, emphasising the fact that he sees Wales through English eyes

I adored the strangeness. Ministry was local, resourced by faithful parish priests, mingling with their flock. 

One of the problems he and I face in being English priests in Wales is that we forget we have moved to another country, that was is strange is because we have crossed into another culture; one that is different and distinct. It is no stranger than customs I have experienced in Cumbria or Birmingham. Of greater importance is how we describe such difference. The Bishop sounds like a colonialist in his description of Wales. It does not matter for the moment whether or not that was his intention, and, I rather suspect not. We, English, have form when it comes to colonialism and we need to listen and learn before we speak.

The Church in Wales has its faults. It is not all it could be. The changes it is making and will continue to make (now in the light of the challenges of covid-19) will be welcomed by some and embraced by others. It does stand with a people that have been exploited, as do our friends and colleagues from the Chapels and the RC churches. The creation of Ministry and Mission Areas has been done so that the Church in Wales can minister more effectively to a nation in the 21st Century. Some of the decisions have been pragmatic, but some have been intensely missional. Wales is not what it was, but then neither is any other nation.

Wales has since devolution become increasingly self-confident and secure in its own identities. It is proud of its language and history. The First Minister in standing up for Wales and setting a different course to England in the current covid-19 crisis may represent a seismic shift in Welsh understandings.

The Church in Wales has reason to be proud as well as to admit its failure. It sometimes as hung on to its mother’s apron strings, but this is not to do with fees and offerings, but because it is part of Wales, and is learning to adjust to life outside of England’s shadow.

The Bishop writes

Wales is a very distinct place, embracing lock-out rather than lockdown suspiciously enthusiastically. The Archbishop’s PA once told a caller that our boss was out of the country, which seemed a bit of a fib, since he was actually playing golf in Gloucester.

Herein lies the heart of the article’s problem. Gloucester is in a different country. That needs to acknowledged.

Coming to Wales has made me a better, more confident priest. I love being here, learning its language and our histories. The Church in Wales is still healing by being alongside its people. Long may that continue.