Archbishop intervenes in row with Winchester
A REVIEW of the relationship between the Channel Islands and the Church of England will be carried out after the Archbishop of Canterbury stepped in to defuse a row between Guernsey, Jersey and Winchester.
The Archbishop, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, pictured, announced yesterday that, as part of an interim measure, the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev. Tim Dakin, would no longer have oversight of the work of the Church in the two islands.
Instead, that will be delegated to the Bishop of Dover, the Right Rev. Trevor Willmott – one of two senior bishops to visit the island in December to discuss the relationship.
The Dean of Guernsey, the Very Rev. Canon Paul Mellor, said the temporary split was 'necessary and wise'.
Tensions between the Channel Islands and the Diocese of Winchester, to which the islands are linked through legislation, have been running high for months.
Although Mr Mellor would not be drawn on who was to blame, he described it as a 'family spat'.
The Archbishop had stepped in as a mediator, he added.
'This is the result of a period of difficulty, which primarily involved the Deanery of Jersey but affects Guernsey because the two deaneries relate to the church under a unity legal framework,' he said.
'Part of the tension has arisen because of the complexity of keeping a church which operates in different sovereign jurisdictions.'
