The Bishop of St Asaph will use his St David’s Day letter to clergy to ask what sort of Wales should emerge from lockdown.

In the letter, known as an Ad Clerum, Gregory Cameron offers his three wishes for a future Wales after Coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

They are:

• a nation that prioritises the health and well-being of the most needy

• a Wales in which diversity can thrive

• a Wales in which faith can flourish

He goes on to encourage others to have their say, using the hastag #futureWales to encourage debate and discussion.

Bishop Gregory, who will celebrate 12 years as Bishop of St Asaph in April, opens his letter, saying: “Our nation of Wales will have a future which is defined by two events that happened last year – the arrival of Brexit, and the arrival of Covid-19. The second has rather eclipsed the first, but they will both change the nature of our nation. As we celebrate St David’s Day, I find myself asking what sort of Wales do I want to emerge from lockdown?”

Later in the letter, Bishop Gregory says: “I am proud of the way in which Wales has led the roll out of the vaccine. I must admit that my initial scepticism has been proved wrong.”

In his call for diversity to thrive, he expresses his concerns that a proposal going through the Senedd at the moment, seeking “to guarantee a basic entitlement to an education curriculum…could deaden the diversity of education offered.”

In his final wish, Bishop Gregory says: “We have to accept that Christianity is ceasing to be the majority faith in Wales, but that does not mean the triumph of secularism. It is about allowing the finest of what different spiritualities, including humanism, can teach and contribute, and a freedom of conscience in which the strong expression of individual faith and Religious Education is not seen as something to be feared, but to be celebrated.”

Bishop Gregory is calling for people from all sorts of backgrounds to express their wishes for Wales post-lockdown.

You can read the text of Bishop Gregory’s letter in English and Welsh below and it will be available online on Monday at https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/bishopgregory/ad-clerums/