The absence of requests for prayers for the bishop and his family after missed engagements without explanation have been the cause of much speculation and rumours coming on the heels staff of movements with reports that the bishop was not sick.
A diocesan official has categorically stated that there is "no question of sexual or financial impropriety" adding to the mystery of why there has been no formal statement to end damaging speculation.
Apparently the Dean of Monmouth and other senior clergy in the diocese raised formal complaints that they could no longer work with the bishop.
Unable to resolve the impasse the Archbishop of Wales John Davies says that the bishop's absence will continue into 2019.
There is no mention of the situation on the Church in Wales web site or on the Monmouth diocesan site but the word on the grapevine is that the bishop will not be returning to work fueling further speculation.
Another shambolic episode in the recent history of the Church in Wales.
As one onlooker put it to me, if priests and their bishop are unable to work together how do they expect others to follow their example?
Postscript [23/12/2018]
The Dean of Monmouth has defended his position in this message to friends and colleagues:
Dear Friends and colleagues,
I am sorry to trespass on your time at this busy season.
I understand that some clergy in the diocese have, with the best of intentions, unwittingly been spreading erroneous report about me and the archdeacons within the diocese. I had kept silent about this until now but it is further inflated and fabricated in today’s Western Mail. These accounts appear to have their origins in malicious misrepresentation and I wanted you to be assured about this. If you are in any further doubt the Archbishop of Wales will corroborate what I am writing and I therefore copy him in to this message.
My apologies to anyone who is not copied into this. I do not have many people’s addresses and it is now getting late. Do feel free to pass on this information to whomever you wish.
Please be assured that I bear no ill will toward anyone who has been misinformed or who has carried report with the best of intentions Life is too short and there is a diocese to serve.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas
Lister.
The Very Reverend Lister Tonge
Dean of Newport
+44-(0)1633-259627
Is this a case of the tail wagging the dog?
ReplyDeleteThe glorious day when it's 3:3 on the bench approaches!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a complete clear-out of senior staff is needed - how can you be exonerated and then continue to be suspended because the unsuccessful complainants 'refuse' to work with him? So much for due process.
ReplyDeleteSomething just does not add up here.
Somebody has to get hold of the situation.
ReplyDeleteBishop Richard has to get hold of the situation or does his absence suggest that the situation has got hold of him. Bishop Richard - get on your feet with your pastoral staff in hand. On your feet, soldier of Christ!
The Bench ? Did they deliberate the way they did in case their archdeacons decided on an Absalom job. There are a lot more of them now in these days of realised parity. "You are powerful." Bishop June Tinker
ReplyDelete1549 BCP rubrick; ... And yf one of the parties so at variaunce, bee content to forgeue from the botome of his harte all that the other hath trespaced against hym, and to make amendes for that he hymself hath offended: and the other partie will not bee perswaded to a godly unitie, but remaigne still in his frowardnes and malice: The Minister in that case, ought to admit the penitent persone to the holy Communion, and not hym that is obstinate.
The can of worms has been opened!
ReplyDeleteThere’s no point in the Dean of Newport emailing his friends complaining about misrepresentation in the Western Mail if he doesn’t tell us what the problem is and why the reporter, Martin Shipman, has got it so wrong.
Pegasus
PP. What a sad state of affairs for a once vibrant Diocese. I pray reconciliation and atonement brings healing and faithful leadership.
ReplyDeleteThe Archbishop of Wales will not corroborate the Dean’s account because the Archbishop knows that during the last 5 months it is the Dean who has been making malicious misrepresentations about Bishop Richard.
ReplyDelete"Life is too short and there is a Diocese to serve"?
ReplyDeleteSounds like Tonge is seeking a promotion to the purple himself.
One also hears rumours of Jonathan Williams being in the thick of it and wanting to be the next Dean.
Remember the Janet Henderson debacle, with no official reason having ever been supplied for her resignation from Llandaff after 9 weeks?
Will Shirley provide the truth concerning the real reason for the Bishop's continuing absence?
One seriously doubts it.
Williams isn't the only one.
DeleteBangor had cyanide Sue, Monmouth has sceptic Sue.
Seems that Monmouth also has a poison Tonge!
DeleteThe theme for the Tonge's Christmas sermon is rumoured to be the subversives of Newport and Monmouth.
DeleteA poison pen in the Llandaff Deanery and a poison Tonge in the Monmouth Deanery.
DeleteThe swamp is expanding.
Shirley lacks the cajones to try and drain it.
DeleteToo many skeletons would be exposed to the light of day
PP Sue Mon, appears to have a good reputation amongst the diocese folk. She has certainly move mission up the agenda. Speak as I find.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't tally with reports of zero attendance figures in the Islwyn valley.
DeleteWilliams appears to be the architect behind the attempted coup. He incited others (including the Bishop’s PA) to make complaints about the Bishop. Fortunately, none of these complaints could be substantiated.
ReplyDeleteBut why has the Archbishop failed to deal with those who made the false allegations? Maybe he is hoping the Bishop will go quietly into the sunset.
Tonge has many more problems than 'some clergy in the diocese'
ReplyDeleteA Church at War
During the season of Advent and Christmas we would expect the church to give a message of peace and reconciliation.
However nothing could be further from the minds of some senior clerics in the Church of Wales as they try to oust their Bishop in the Diocese of Monmouth.
Bishop Richard has been out of action since July. Initially we were told that he was ill but this is not the reason for his prolonged absence. We now know that his Dean and Archdeacons raised grievances against him and he was investigated for 3 months during which time he was effectively under house arrest, unable to communicate or meet his friends and colleagues in the church.
He was completely exonerated by the investigation but still remains suspended from work because his senior colleagues have refused to work with him if he returns as Bishop.
The Dean of the Cathedral, Lister Tonge, has told us that the Bishop is unlikely to return and members of the Bishop’s senior team are doing everything they can to prevent him doing so.
The Archbishop of Wales seems unable to resolve the impasse but has recently issued a statement to tell us that the Bishop’s absence will continue into 2019.
Do these people really understand the meaning of peace and reconciliation?
As regular worshippers at the Cathedral we are fearful of putting our names to this letter for fear of retribution but we are sure that you will be able to corroborate our account by talking to priests and officers in the Church in Wales.
Oh how the allure of purple turns the heart......
ReplyDeletePP. More like a purple haze. Such a sad state of affairs at such a Holy and blessed season.
ReplyDeleteWe wants it precious, it’s mine, mine! We should haves it precious, that thieving lot giving our mitre and pectoral cross to another. Maybe, if we says he is doing a bad job, he may leave then we might get it. Yes, we’ll do that! Precious!
ReplyDeleteTolkien memes
Lister Tonge's CV is surprisingly short for a man of 67:
ReplyDelete"Tonge was ordained in 1976. After a curacy at Liverpool Parish Church he was Precentor of Johannesburg Cathedral from 1978 to 1979. From then until 1991 he was at the Community of the Resurrection [at Mirfield]. He was then Chaplain to the Community of St John the Baptist [Cuddesdon, nr Oxford] until his appointment as Dean [of Monmouth in 2012]." [Wikipedia]
Therefore he was ordained at 25, appointed Precentor at Johannesburg by 27 and then spent about 33 years in two monastic communities. Obviously one assumes he was involved in various outward-facing activities: this 2010 article in the American Spectator mentions him as:
"the Rev. Lister Tonge, an ordained Anglican priest who specializes in leading retreats. He previously spent several years as a monk at the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield, Yorkshire, where (and in South Africa) he was mentored by Father Trevor Huddleston."
[https://spectator.org/39420_book-read-byline-look/]
Still, I wonder how he came to be appointed Dean at Monmouth, where he followed the sadly early death of Rev Jeremy Winston in 2011. Could it be a connection to former Bishop of Monmouth Dominic Walker, who was previously Bishop of Reading in the Oxford diocese?
His list of achievements may be short but his list of conflicts in Monmouth is long.
DeleteFor example, his former Organist, former Residential Canon, former churchwardens, former Administrator, members of the Cathedral Chapter, members of the PCC, members of the DAC, the Chancellor, the Provincial Secretary and now the Bishop.
At least he has the support of his friend, the Archdeacon of Newport.
And Shirley so it seems.
DeleteMonmouth Observer, I'm curious as to why a priest who spent most of his life in two monastic communities decided to take up the role of Dean at an urban cathedral when he was already 60. His only relevant experience was the year he spent in Jo'burg Cathedral.
DeleteThe unhonourable school boy! How could you possibly associate Tongy with +Trevor Huddleston who is a national hero - here and in South Africa.
DeleteHas no one thought to simply look at Tongy's Application when he applied for his present post? Surely, there the CinW will get egg on its face or at least get shut... Chaplain where.. Oxford? Which College..
It seems Tongy, upsets everyone and each situation he finds himself in.
Leave the man alone! He is a saint - surely?
Yours,
Bishop of outer Space hoping to be God.
Anonymous comments STINK
ReplyDeleteThere's a distinct lack of "peace on Earth and goodwill to all men" at St Woolos this evening, eh Scholar?!
DeletePlenty of piss on the Bishop though?
DeleteNORAD tells me that Santa has just flown over this nest of vipers without stopping.
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas!
It's like an episode of All Gas and Gaiters, without the comedy.
ReplyDelete“See how these Christians love one another”
ReplyDelete