Bishop of St David's resigns

After weeks of pressure and speculation, Bishop Carl Cooper has finally stepped down. This is what the Church in Wales is saying: 'The Bishop of St Davids, the Right Rev Carl Cooper, has resigned. He has apologised for any of his actions that have caused offence and made it impossible for him to continue his ministry as Bishop of St Davids. The Archbishop and the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales have accepted the resignation as being in the best interests of the diocese and the Church in Wales at this time.' So nothing there about the speculation concerning his chaplain and press officer, the Rev Mandy Williams Potter. I am told this morning that people locally are asking, if there was nothing going on, why has he stepped down? And if there was something going on, why don't they come clean and admit it? More detail to be found at an earlier blog. Read our online news report here.

Comments

[Clifford Williams]

In relation to the discussion on this blog on the former Bishop of St Davids, a leading Anglican lawyer wrote to me this week, and with his consent, I quote:
" The Church in Wales has a Provincial Court which it can never again operate, because of the risk entailed of litigation and defamation.
An accused cleric has now only to deny the charges,and the Church in Wales have three options, sack him directly and face the Employment Tribunal, to drop the charges, or to pay him off.In other words it now has to live in the real world like any other employer".

As I have maintained on this blog, regardless of all the good work he may have done in the past, Bishop Carl Cooper will be remembered for this one thing, namely, that justice, mercy and reconciliation were denied. [snip]

[John]

Malcolm, as far as anyone can tell the system in the Church in Wales can only be "activated" if the Archbishop receives a formal request from incumbents in the diocese to do so. They have a duty to do so if they believe that there are good reasons for asking for an inquiry. We do know that they went through the formal channel provided, by writing to the Archbishop.

Without knowing what they knew, and without knowing who was responsible for leaking the story to the media, it seems somewhat unjust to accuse them of seeking publicity, and now that the bishop has resigned, the public will never know whether the source of the story was local people in the Diocese of St David's, or the media office of the Church in Wales.

[Clifford Williams]

May I once again reiterate to Malcom that it was not a group of diocesan clergy who were responsible for the trial by media of Carl Cooper and his chaplain. It was the spin of a liberal authoritarian Archbishop towards a fellow bishop who was, among other things, probably too orthodox in issues of human sexuality. It'll will be interesting if not amusing to learn who his successor will be.

[Malcolm+]

The clergy petitioners may or may not have been right.

It nonetheless seems to me that, were they "decent," and not "weirdos or extremists," they would have pursued their complaint through appropriate channels rather than seeking to charge, try and convict the bishop in the broadsheets.

The only logical reason to start off with the broadsheets, as far as I can see, is to spread the slur as far and as fast as possible - as distinct from seeking the truth.

[Clifford Williams]

My sincere apologies to Malcom for misspelling his name.
It is understood that the complainants took their complaint, in this case, to the proper authority, namely the Archbishop. It appears that the PR section of the Church, as I maintained, bent over backwards in allowing the scandal to break out.This they could have avoided.
The 'antiquated' Provincial Court of the Church lies outside the jurisdiction of the 'Royal Courts of Justice'. Its procedures are open to libel and defamation. As ridiculous as it sounds, it is an internal and private 'court' which can be held in public. A 'legal' Employment Tribunal would insist that Carl Cooper and his co- accused exhaust all internal avenues first.Having done all that they would have won, hands down, and be able to sue an authoritarian liberal Church whose inclusivness,it seems,is only open to those who do as they say and not as they do.
Furthermore, professional legal people who sit as 'judges' in such 'courts' are themselves doing so outside the legal system,and,according to the rules, have to be 'communicants' or members of the church. It is not a legal court. Eating in McDonalds does not make you a hamburger. The use of the term 'Kangaroo' could well prove appropiate.

[James Brown]

Sadly, part of this is about money and the cost of the truth coming out which the CIW cannot afford, which is tragic as Malcom+ stated.

Secondly, the recently retired Bishop is no loss at all, being a typical CIW Bp with little vision or dynamism unlike Bp Carl and not v pastorally orientated towards his clergy sadly.

The petitioners by the way are very decent clergy not weirdos or extremists and would not have entered lightly into what they did.

I know that it is not conclusive, but if they didn't believe something serious was happening they most certainly wouldnt have gone down the path they did.

In many ways I take my hat off to Bp Carl sparing the CIW at the expense of his own reptutation.

It would be interesting to know when he applied for his new post and also to see if at some point he and Mandy get together.

Finally, with regard to Robinson isn't there a passage in the Bible (you know that book Christians are meant to take seriously) that says a Bishop is meant to be the husband of only one wife? The implication being that Bishops are heterosexual and maintain certain standards.

[George Parr]

Whilst I am sure thast you are not suggesting Mr Williams that because he has been hung drawn and quartered it is somehow wrong that Mr Cooper should be successful in taking up other remunerated employment, having been effectively forced out of his job in the church? Although I am sure that there are those who think that the 'scandal' and its reverberations should dog his footsteps, as he wisely and possibly for the sake of others, walks away from the collection of predatory kangaroos waiting to jump all over him?

It is of course a nonsense to pretend that the human condition does not apply to clerics, or that they are in someway different and because of it their sexual predilections or aspects of their private relationships should form the basis for scrutiny by these self-appointed courts.

To endorse Mike Homfray, the antidiluvian disrespect for the private lives of their peers, in a climate bristling with severe judgmentalism, circumscribes and isolates these ridiculous 'authorities'. They exist alone, basing their perceived 'values' on imaginary notions of probity, thoroughly overshadowed by reality. They are also in denial of the sexual hypocrisy that surrounds their churches and have far to much to say about how others should behave.

I wish Mr Cooper and Ms Williams-Potter well in this less than perfect life. Why should they be interrogated and measured morally against a crumbling hypothesis - nobody else is?

I should breathe a long sigh of relief if I were him, having wisely chosen to avoid these people.

It would be a step forward in my humble opinion for faith groups to embrace human rights and thoroughly dilute their prolonged and unbalanced obsession with human sexual behaviour. The real world unfortunately exists and, in order to minister to it, it has to be seen for what it is - not defined against an idealistic and distinctly unachieveable blueprint.

[Malcolm+]

I miss many things - though I generally don't misspell my name.

Would it not have been a good thing, Clifford, if the complainants had presented their complaint to an appropriate authority instead of attempting to try the Bishop in the media?

That, it seems to me, is a very significant point.

[Clifford Williams]

It seems that the writer named Malcome continues to mis the point.
Because of the strenous denial of the Bishop and his former chaplain to any misconduct it would have been impossible, even on probabilities, and the archaic procedure of the Church Court, to prove guilt.
However, had the Provincial Court concluded that there had been 'cause for scandal' and sacked him he would now have the right of appeal, which was not previously availabe to clergy, to a 'legal' Employment Tribunal. For the sake of justice and reconciliation he should have stood his ground.
Having said that, we learn today that Bishop Carl Cooper has landed himslef in a new role as Chief Executive to a National Voluntry Organisation.It seems that resignation has its benefits for some.

[Malcolm+]

It appears that one of two things has occured. Either an innocent man and an innocent woman have been bullied out of a job by scurrilous scandalmongers, or two people have escaped any sanction for misconduct. Either way, this is the worst possible outcome.

Part of the problem is, in cases of alleged sexual impropriety, the accusation tends to be what does the damage. Any subsequent finding which clears the accused is too little too late.

We'll never know the truth with any certainty. But I do note that the petitioning clerics chose to go public with their charges immediately. This leads me to believe, on the balance of probablilities, that the resignation of the bishop is based on the fact that his reputation has been destroyed, regardless of the truth of the matter.

[Clifford Williams]

It appears that the Church in Wales regarded the unfortunate circumstances of the beleaguered Bishop of St Davids a matter of public interest so much as to allow him to be hung out to dry under a blaze of publicity.Bending over backwards, the Archbishops office, once again appears selective whose dirty washing will hang out on the line this time.
Equally of public interest is the archaic procedure of the 'Provincial Court' with which Bishop Cooper was threatened with if he refused to resigned. However, it needs to be reminded that, unlike the previous 'Provincial Court of 1997', the ordained clergy, of which the Bishop is one, are now able to appeal against unfair dismissal in a 'legal' Employment Tribunal not affoarded to them previously.
Seeing that the Bishop and his co-accused have strenously denied any impropiety, he, or possibly both of them, could have been in line for the compensation which the Church in Wales claimed, that they were not going to give him, or her. They should both have called the bluff of a maverick Archbishop, and for once, in the history of a Church which often resembles a dying dinosaur, give justice, and more importantly, reconciliation a chance.

[Dr Alan Marsh]

What a pity that the Bishop did not see fit to use the tribunal to clear his name publicly, once and for all.

[Mike Homfray]

Marriages break up, its something which is bound to happen.
The problem is with organisations which set themselves up as authorities in these matters - when they actually have nothing of any value to say. They are so blinded by their theories of how things should be that they cannot cope with the realities of how things are

Carl Cooper is well rid of the church and their judgmental, out-of-touch 'values'.

[stephen clark]

While it is no doubt important sometimes for people to get out, I can't help but think that so often we are a very poor community.
We don't grapple with relationship breakdown, instead we pull the plug and say no more.
That's not the way I can relate to my family!
I think we should stop pretending that churches are good at community, and certainly stop calling ourselves 'family'

[Robert Ian Williams]

Just shows you that human sin transcends all churches, and that marriage is not necessarily the answer to sexual immorality, that some would advocate for the Catholic Church.

A married clergy have as many if not more problems than a celibate one.

[Peter Kirk]

Even if there was nothing going on, it seems clear that Bishop Cooper had lost the confidence of a good number of his clergy and congregations. So he did the right thing to resign. His example should be followed by other bishops here in England who have lost the confidence of their flocks. Meanwhile let's hope and pray that Cooper will find a worthwhile ministry elsewhere so that his gifts are not lost to the church.

[A Renegade Priest]

Dear Ruth
A very terse statement from the CinW:

"The Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Reverend Carl Cooper, has resigned. He has apologised for any of his actions that have caused offence and made it impossible for him to continue his ministry as Bishop of St Davids.

The Archbishop and the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales have accepted the resignation as being in the best interests of the diocese and the Church in Wales at this time.

There will be no further comment."

The Bishop and his chaplain, and their spouses, have all previously denied these rumours. Are we to assume that they lied? How can the forced resignation of an innocent man be "in the best interests of the diocese and the Church in Wales at this time." Has the Bishop been sacrificially immolated on the altar of bad publicity by the 'no smoke without fire' priests?

Whatever the truth, our prayers for all involved. Please pray also for the hundreds priests in this country, who through misconduct, are no longer exercising ministry.