The Bishop's Biography
Bishop Dominic was born in 1948 to a Welsh mother (from Abertillery) and an English father. He was educated at Plymouth College and read theology at King’s College London. He completed an MA in pastoral theology (specialising in the psychology of religion and religion and mental health) at Heythrop, the Jesuit College of the University of London and a law degree (LL.M) in canon law at Cardiff University. He is an honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) of the University of Brighton.
Bishop Dominic is a life professed member of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, an Anglican Religious Community and served as its Superior from 1990-6. He was ordained a deacon and priest in 1972 and ministered in south London as chaplain to the Bishop of Southwark and then as Rector of Newington (Elephant & Castle) and Rural Dean of Southwark & Newington. In 1985, he was appointed Team Rector, Vicar and Rural Dean of Brighton and a Canon & Prebendary of Chichester Cathedral. He was appointed Area Bishop of Reading in the Oxford diocese and ordained a bishop on 1st May, 1997.
In December 2002, Bishop Dominic was elected the ninth Bishop of Monmouth to succeed Archbishop Rowan Williams following his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop Dominic was welcomed and enthroned as Bishop of Monmouth in St Woolos Cathedral on 30th March, 2003.
Bishop Dominic has particular interests in the ministry of healing and deliverance, the monastic and solitary life and animal welfare. He was a member of the group that produced the A Time to Heal report in 2000. He is co-chair of the Christian Deliverance Study Group and has written The Ministry of Deliverance (DLT 1997).
Bishop Dominic acts as Bishop Visitor to six religious communities including the Society of the Sacred Cross (Tymawr Convent) and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in the Monmouth Diocese. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on the Relations between Bishops and Religious Communities and chairs the Personal Vows sub group.
A former chairman of the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals, he is now its President and is also a Vice President of the RSPCA.
Bishop Dominic is the bishop with the ministry portfolio in the Church in Wales and is involved in policy and practice concerning the nurturing of vocations, the selection and training of candidates for lay and ordained ministry and other ministry issues. He is a trustee of St Michael’s Theological College, Llandaff.
Bishop Dominic says, ‘I feel very blessed to be serving in such a wonderful diocese. It has such variety – the city and urban areas, the valley communities and the beauty of rural Wales. Nevertheless, clergy and laity have some real challenges to face together if we are to share the gospel and make new Christians. It will involve risk taking, sacrifice and courage – all of which are an inescapable if we are to be disciples of Jesus’.