Monmouth’s Gregory Cameron is elected Bishop of St Asaph

The Rev Canon Gregory Cameron, 49, was chosen as the next Bishop of St Asaph by members of the Electoral College of the Church in Wales meeting at St Asaph Cathedral on 5th January. Gregory will be the 76th Bishop of St Asaph, an area covering the north-east corner of Wales. His election follows the retirement in December of the Rt Rev John Davies who served as Bishop of the diocese from 1999.

Gregory grew up in Llangybi, near Usk, where he discovered his faith as a teenager, and started attending the local St Cybi’s church. He was educated in Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School. While reading Law at Oxford University, he received a vocation to the ordained ministry, and, on being accepted as an ordinand of the Church in Wales, began a degree in Theology in Cambridge. Here he was taught early church history by the young Rowan Williams. After studying at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, Gregory was ordained in the Diocese of Monmouth, serving in the Parish of St Paul, Newport, and then in the Rectorial Benefice of Llanmartin. Subsequently, he undertook ministry as a school chaplain (Wycliffe College, Stonehouse) and as director of an educational charity (The Bloxham Project). In 2000 Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth, appointed Gregory as his Chaplain.

Bishop Dominic appointed him an Honorary Canon of Newport Cathedral in 2003 when Gregory moved to become Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office in London. He was made Deputy Secretary General a year later. In this role, he has been involved in the ecumenical relations of the Anglican Communion at global level, and responsible for staffing the Lambeth Commission, which produced the Windsor Report. He has lectured in Old Testament at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, and is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in Canon Law at the Centre for Law and Religion in Cardiff University. He was granted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the Episcopal Divinity School, Massachussetts, in 2007, in recognition of his contribution to reconciliation in the Anglican Communion.

Welcoming Gregory’s election, Bishop Dominic said: I am delighted at Gregory's election as the new Bishop of St Asaph. It will be good to have him back in Wales and I am sure he will be a caring and visionary bishop for the diocese and that he will also have much to offer the Church in Wales from his experience of world Anglican and Ecumenical affairs. It will be good to meet with him at Bench meetings and on other Provincial occasions.

Gregory is married to Clare and they have three young sons.