Two senior members of the Bishop’s staff were installed in St Asaph Cathedral on Sunday 26 September. A congregation which included civic dignitaries, friends, family and church members witnessed the installation of the new Chancellor of the Diocese, His Honour Judge Roger Dutton DL, and the new Archdeacon of Wrexham, the Venerable Shirley Griffiths, at a service of Evensong.
The Chancellor is the Bishop’s chief legal officer, presiding over the church’s internal planning process, deciding what changes can be made to church buildings and calling together a consistory court when a matter is controversial. The Archdeacon is responsible for the clergy and churches within the Archdeaconry of Wrexham, a geographical area representing one-third of the diocese.
In his sermon, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph, said, “If you ask, what ministry is a Chancellor called to, what ministry is an Archdeacon called to, then ‘freedom’ may not be the first thing you think of. The church can dress up the truth in the grandeur of pomp and ceremony. But Roger and Shirley are not called to prop up an institution, but to lead people into the truth that sets us free.”
