Support
The process to appoint a new Dean of Llandaff has started and you can view the Profile of the New Dean by clicking here.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent consultation regarding the appointment of the new Dean. We were very pleased with the response rate, with over sixty contributions received.
Once received, comments were categorised as far as possible, with the categories themselves initially generated by the comments. So, for example, it very quickly became apparent that among the various challenges faced by the incoming Dean Reconciliation and Healing was seen by most people as the main priority, and so became a category.
The process of categorising has necessarily been somewhat subjective, and there were numerous suggestions and comments that were made by just one or two individuals, which weren’t necessarily included in the final analysis.
It was also possible to cluster various categories together, eg. spiritual gifts and personal characteristics that included such qualities as love, joy, peace and patience have been clustered under the heading ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ (see Galatians 5.22).
The chart below gives an indication of the relative frequency of comments of different categories, with those in brightest green being mentioned most often, and those in brightest red being the least mentioned.
The Chapter, which is responsible for the Profile, also went through its own process of discernment about the questions posed. The final document takes into account the outcomes of these two processes, as can be seen from the following extracts.
Challenges
Based on feedback from the Chapter and the Cathedral congregations, the main challenges are:
- Working with the Chapter, the Cathedral congregations, the local community, the city of Cardiff and other partners to develop a vision and strategy for the mission and ministry of the Cathedral, which connects with the vision strategy of the diocese
- Strengthening the congregations, making new disciples who will build our capacity for good
- Bringing healing and reconciliation to sections of the Cathedral community, and help them discover a new unity of purpose
- Leading the Cathedral in its exploration of what it means to combine tradition and heritage with a modern expression of what it means to be the Church
- Improving the financial situation
- Developing the ‘outward facing’ role of the Dean, who should act as an ambassador and engage intentionally with the civic culture, the commercial and other faith institutions represented in Cardiff
- Sustaining and nurturing the worshipping life of the Cathedral, including drawing on a variety of liturgical and musical traditions, while holding together its dual role as ‘Mother Church’ of the diocese and the local church
- Encouraging increased lay involvement in some areas of Cathedral life.
- Strengthening connections with the parishes across the diocese in light of the Cathedral’s role as the seat of the Bishop and ‘Mother Church’
Skills, Gifts and Experience
The process of consultation with the Cathedral congregations identified the following as being essential for the Dean:
Spiritual attributes
- ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ (cf Gal 5), together with humility, integrity and morality
- Strong in faith and prayer
- Gifts in preaching and teaching
Skills and experience
- Both a leader and a manager, who understands the difference between them
- Competence in the field of change management
- An instinctive and collaborative team worker, and inclusive communicator
- Appropriate experience of a large parish, church or Cathedral
- Strong pastoral abilities
- Understands the importance of distinctive Welsh culture and is willing to use some liturgical Welsh
Personal characteristics
- An engaging, open and accessible personality
- Resilience
- A person of appropriate intellectual breadth and depth
The whole Profile is available to view on the Cathedral website, and Chapter would like to record its deep gratitude to Mark Edwards (a member of our congregations) for his work on the graphic design on the Profile.