THE next Bishop of Swansea & Brecon is to be the Ven. John Lomas, Archdeacon of Wrexham, it was announced on Thursday.

He will succeed the Rt Revd John Davies, who retired in May after three and a half years as Archbishop of Wales and 13 as Bishop of Swansea & Brecon. (News, 7 May).

Before his ordination in 1994, Archdeacon Lomas was an aircraft engineer, serving in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War. Since then, he has served in the diocese of St Asaph, and helped to secure a £1.9-million church grant to establish Hope Street, Wrexham, a new Christian centre in a former branch of Burton’s (News, 19 July 2019).

Archdeacon Lomas said on Thursday: “I feel very privileged to have been appointed as Bishop of Swansea and Brecon and am looking forward getting to know the diocese.

“My motivation has always been to work with people and clergy to release them and resource them to build church in the community and to be the very best interpretation of the Good News of Jesus in whatever situation we find ourselves, whether we are in a large urban setting or a small deeply rural setting. Helping people on the road to living their best life in Christ is a huge privilege.”

The Bishop of Bangor and senior bishop in the Church in Wales, the Rt Revd Andy John, said that Archdeacon Lomas “has a passion for evangelism and for supporting clergy in pastoral ministry. Above all, he is people focused — he knows how to get alongside others and to help them. His experience in the Royal Navy, in particular, gave him an appreciation that life can be tough and he faces challenges with hope and energy, as well as a gentle sense of humour.”

Archdeacon Lomas’s appointment is to be confirmed on 22 November at a sacred synod of the Bishops in St Giles’s, Wrexham. The appointment was passed to the Bishops after the electoral college failed to elect a candidate in September. The date is yet to be fixed for Archdeacon Lomas’s consecration in Brecon Cathedral.