Bangor Cathedral had ‘binge drinking culture’ at diocese

Priests and choristers at a cathedral mired in controversy did a “seven last shots of Christ” drinking game at a pub on Good Friday after services at the Archbishop of Wales’ cathedral.

People who sang with the choir at Bangor Cathedral have told the BBC there “seemed to be any excuse to bring out the wine” and “go to the pub” because of a “binge drinking culture”.

The claims come days after Andrew John retired as Archbishop of Wales with immediate effect after two critical reports highlighted safeguarding concerns and misbehaviour at his Bangor diocese.

The Church in Wales said the “abuse of alcohol is always inappropriate” and said a policy regarding alcohol use was being developed.

Mr John will also retire as Bishop of Bangor on 31 August but the church has called for a series of reviews and investigations of his diocese and cathedral.

This comes after reports highlighted “a culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred”, excessive alcohol consumption and governance and safeguarding weaknesses.

While there is no suggestion the then archbishop, the leader of the Church in Wales, behaved inappropriately, the church’s representative body said there must be a “change in leadership, procedures and governance in the diocese of Bangor”.

Jessica, not her real name, said she was assaulted by someone who was trying to become a priest who had been drinking at a Bangor Cathedral Oktoberfest event in 2022.

“He had had considerably too much to drink,” she told the BBC.

“I’d already warned people that night he’s drinking a lot more than everyone else. So these warning signs were ignored and that led to that assault.”

Jessica, now in her early 20s, said another person was also sexually assaulted by the man at the event in the 6th Century Gwynedd cathedral.

She reported it and he apologised, but she said the drinking culture did not change.

“Several bottles of prosecco would be gone through on a Sunday morning,” Jessica added.

“Any sort of external event or big internal event there was prosecco or wine.”

The Church in Wales confirmed that Jessica was one of two people who complained about the man’s behaviour and his priest training was not taken forward.

After a cathedral concert on Good Friday in 2023, members of the choir went for drinks.

“A few of the priests came out with the choir,” recalled Jessica. “It was deemed appropriate to do the seven last shots of Christ.”

The Seven Last Words of Christ refers to seven last sentences that Jesus spoke from the Cross on Good Friday as quoted in the Bible.

“Because Christ has seven last words, therefore we sang seven pieces of the seven last words in the concert – and that somehow translated into seven shots of Christ,” she recalled.

“I think I left after the first shot because I was like ‘I don’t think this is appropriate’. There’s too many people taking shots in dog collars for me to be comfortable.”

Jessica said she went on a tour to Rome with the choir in June 2023.

“Every night we’d go to a bar first and then a restaurant,” she recalled.

“At the time I was teetotal. I would be like I don’t want wine, I don’t want to drink in this situation. I don’t want alcohol.

“That would not be an okay answer, that would be questioned beyond belief. Like, this alcohol is free. Why are you not taking it? You should have it.”

Esme Byrd was a lay clerk at Bangor Cathedral for six months and regularly sang with the choir until leaving in January 2023.

The 29-year-old said the culture and attitude to alcohol was “deeply unhealthy” with some people getting “really catastrophically drunk”.

“There was a culture of binge drinking,” said Esme.

“Not necessarily all the time, but certainly there was a lot of alcohol around almost all the services or various events. It seemed to be any excuse to bring out the wine, any excuse to go to the pub.”

Esme, who sometimes worked directly with the children in the choir, said she became concerned about the wellbeing of younger members of the choir, especially the language used around them.

“It was the level of 18-rated sexual jokes, crude sexual humour done in front of children as young as six or seven,” said Esme.

“In terms of safeguarding training, there was absolutely nothing. There was no training, so in terms of certainly me starting and me doing my job, there was no training of anything whatsoever.”

Esme said she was only asked to do a DBS check a couple of weeks after starting, despite being appointed months in advance.

“I looked around and I just thought, this is not safe,” Esme told BBC Wales Investigates. “This is not a safe and nurturing and good environment for children to be in.”

She added: “It felt a lot more like a badly run after school club rather than a professional organisation.”

Esme said she raised her concerns but eventually left because she became frustrated with the lack of action.

“It’s not a sense of malevolence, but a huge sense of negligence and neglect and not following good practice,” added Esme.

“Creating the space where a malevolent actor could have done almost whatever they wanted.”

The Church in Wales said “concerns about a drinking culture” prompted them to investigate and said alcohol was “not now generally available” after services.

A spokesperson said they did not believe that Bangor Cathedral was unsafe for children, but said improvements to policy and practice were required.

The spokesperson said: “Previous concerns about a drinking culture at the Cathedral contributed to the decision to undertake a Bishop’s visitation.

“The Implementation Group who are addressing the recommendations from the visitation are developing a policy concerning alcohol use. Alcohol is not now generally available after services.

“The inappropriate use of alcohol within and during cathedral-related activities included encouragement by some towards others to consume alcohol.

“This inappropriate behaviour is addressed in the actions which are required following the visitation process.

“DBS checks are required and safeguarding training delivered in line with UK legislation, and the Church in Wales policies.”

Regarding the blessing of beer, the spokesperson said this was occasionally practised in churches but that “the abuse of alcohol is always inappropriate”.