A REVIEW of Winchester Cathedral identified “significant failings in leadership and management”, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said on Monday, when a summary of the review was published.
The Dean, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle, has announced that she will immediately hand over leadership of the cathedral, before her previously announced retirement on 1 May. The Vice-Dean, Canon Roly Riem, is to take charge of implementing the review’s recommendations, many of which, Dean Ogle said, were “already under way”.
In a statement, the Dean apologised on behalf of the Chapter to “everyone who has been hurt by the events of the last few months”. The Chapter, she said, had to accept “collective responsibility”, but, as its leader, she was stepping back.
Bishop Mounstephen said that “no one person is entirely to blame.” He also sought to emphasise that Winchester was not a “failing cathedral”, and that the reviewers had found “much to celebrate”.
He said that, while reading the report, he had been struck that “actions that were not taken maliciously or with ill intent, can, none the less, have seriously detrimental consequences”.
According to the terms under which it was conducted, the full report will not be made public, Bishop Mounstephen said. This had “enabled people to be candid with the reviewers”, and was consistent with the Church Commissioners’ “draft statutory guidance for such reviews”.
Although the review was commissioned by Bishop Mounstephen as diocesan bishop, responsibility for implementing its recommendations fell to the Dean and Chapter, he said.
Bishop Mounstephen, paying tribute to the Dean, said that the cathedral had “flourished in so many ways under caring and positive leadership”, and that Canon Riem had his “full support” as Interim Dean.
The review was commissioned in response to the fallout in the cathedral from the departure of the longstanding director of music, Dr Andrew Lumsden, in May last year (News, 18 June 2024).
The review was conducted by a partner at the law firm Winckworth Sherwood, Patti Russell, and a former Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Jane Hedges. They interviewed 47 members of the cathedral community, and reviewed more than 140 submissions.
Upon starting interviews in September, the reviewers “immediately encountered stress and, in some cases, extreme pain at what had happened to the institution, to themselves and to other individuals caught up in the fall-out”, they write in an extract of the introduction to the report, included in the summary.
Mistakes had been made by the leadership team at the cathedral, they write, through “misunderstandings . . . poor judgement . . . inadequate advice . . . organisational culture . . . and some simply due to individual personalities”. It was also their view that the leadership were not “deliberately dishonest or “uncaring”.
The reviewers add that further mistakes were made “as a result of the media hate campaign” that followed Dr Lumsden’s departure. Little detail is provided in the published summary about what the review calls “bad behaviour” by the media.
The published remarks do, though, refer to “people who in their passion for Cathedral music have mis-directed their energies in a such a way that paradoxically they have caused further damage to the institution which they love”.
The reviewers recommend that the posts of Director of Music, which had been occupied by Dr Lumsden for 22 years until his unexpected resignation last year, and Precentor — a position held by Canon Andy Trenier since 2019 — be restructured, and the music strategy be “revisited”.
They recommend that the Precentor continue to manage the Director of Music, but that the latter has “direct access to the Dean as and when necessary”. The reviewers also recommend that all other staff in the music department should be managed by the Director of Music.
Canon Trenier, the summary of the review says, “was appointed to bring change by delivering a new music strategy. There is much to be commended about this strategy. However, it was not properly communicated or consulted upon.”
The reviewers identify “silo working” and the “management styles among certain senior leaders” as contributing to the crisis, but says that these cannot be described in detail “because of the need for confidentiality”.
In outline, these amounted to a “failure to appropriately manage people, including the management of poor performance, unacceptable behaviour and contractual changes”, along with a “culture of secrecy, due to a misunderstanding of appropriate confidentiality and the aversion of key individuals to conflict”.
“Failures in communication” are also cited by the reviewers as a contributory factor. A further report by a “communications consultant” has been written, the summary published on Monday reveals. It is suggested that its findings should be implemented.
The contents of the specialist report are not descibred, but the overall review emphasises that “building relationships of trust” is an essential part of this work, and recommends that the cathedral build a culture based on the principle of “radical candour” — a management-studies concept aimed at integrating honesty and directness into a supportive environment.
In the published portion of the introduction, the reviewers strike a positive note on the outlook for Winchester Cathedral, saying that there is “every reason to have hope for the future and that what has gone wrong in the past can be put right”.
This is expanded in the summary, which praises the Dean, and says that there numerous people “with passion for the life and worship of the Cathedral”.
“Indeed it is widely accepted that prior to the events that precipitated the current crisis, the Cathedral was being very well led,” they write, and ask that their recommendations “be read in this very positive light”.
