Church "appalled" by former Bishop indecent assaults
An external review's also taking place into suggestions a concern about Anthony Pierce wasn't passed onto police for seventeen years
The Church-in-Wales has said it is "appalled", after a former Bishop of Brecon and Swansea pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a male child under the age of 16.
The offences date from 1985 to 1990, when Anthony Pierce was working as a parish priest in West Cross, Swansea, according to the Church.
He is due to be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on 7th March. A disciplinary tribunal will then consider further action.
The Church said one of its safeguarding officers was told about the concerns in 2023, and immediately passed them onto police.
In a statement, the Church-in-Wales expressed "deepest sympathy" with the victim, adding: "It is a cause of the most profound shame that a priest in the Church in Wales should have been convicted of such shocking crimes.
"Our prayers are with the survivor and with all victims of abuse, whose welfare must always be at the heart of our work.
"We hope that the manner with which the disclosure was handled when it came to light in 2023 will give confidence that the Church is serious about dealing firmly and decisively with any such cases."
External review into handling of further allegation
The Church has revealed an internal review into the 2023 disclosure suggested a small number of members were aware of a further allegation in 1993, but it wasn't reported to police until 2010.
Its statement continued: "The Church in Wales Safeguarding Committee has now commissioned an independent external review of the Church in Wales’s handling of this second allegation, which will commence immediately and will be published upon completion. The review will also consider how safeguarding allegations are handled in the Church’s current systems for the appointment of Archdeacons and Bishops and whether any changes to these processes are necessary. The Terms of Reference of the Review will be published shortly on the Church in Wales website.
"The Church in Wales is determined to demonstrate that it is a safe place, and that anyone coming forward will have their concerns or disclosures taken seriously, treated with compassion, and taken forward according to the highest current standards. If our people and processes have failed victims and survivors of abuse in the past, we intend to take responsibility for that fact and to fully apply the lessons which have been learned.
"There is no place for any form of abuse in the Church in Wales. We give the highest priority to the care and protection of children and vulnerable people in our communities. To this end we regularly review our safeguarding procedures and provide extensive training to staff and volunteers."