Archbishop of Wales Calls for End to Discrimination, Trafficking

The Archbishop of Wales has called for discrimination in the Church in Wales to end against women and gay people.

The Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, who is the head of the Anglican Church in Wales, said that the church was in danger of becoming a place where people feel marginalised, during his Easter message.

The Church of England's Hereford Diocese was recently forced to defend itself against allegations of discrimination when it turned down a gay man for a position. The diocese has strongly denied that the man was turned down because of his sexual inclinations.

The Archbishop said, "For Jesus there were no prior conditions for being accepted by God whatever your sex, status or position. But we still live in a church where it is not possible for women to be bishops."

He added: "And in a church, too, where most worshippers are women but all the major committees and councils of most dioceses and province are run by men."

The Anglican Church leader of Wales gave his Easter address at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, where he also called for an end to sex trafficking, child labour, and homelessness.

He said: "We may this year be celebrating the bicentenary of the end of slavery, but sexual trafficking in young people and women is still rife in this country. Foreign nationals are often forced to live on the poverty line because their employers take back for their keep the little they pay them in wages."