The Cambridge Evening News reported this week:
Vicar of Trumpington ordered to leave parish and
I’ll see you in court, axed vicar tells bishop and
Opponents of ‘spitting vicar’ glad he’s going.
The Diocese of Ely published the following items:
Press Release 9 April The Parish of Trumpington
Report of the Tribunal (PDF) December 2007
Reasons for the Decision of the Bishop (PDF) April 2008
In June 2007 the Bishop of Ely had made this statement to the Diocesan Synod.
And this press release was issued in January 2008: Trumpington Tribunal.
Clearly there has been a breakdown in the pastoral relationship between the vicar and at least one faction in the parish. But correspondence elsewhere (ie, an older piece on Ruth Gledhill’s blog) suggests that the faction may be only a faction. I have trouble taking the faction seriously if the anger, rage and spite is about having toilets (what sort of lunacy is opposed to toilets?). And while I am no fan of PowerPoint (friends don’t let friends use PowerPoint, an effective tool rarely used well), there is nothing uncanonical about it. Finally, I have no hesitation saying that, if… Read more »
I sympathise with the Vicar, actually – because the Church is such a fundamentally corrupt institution, I am not prepared to believe or trust anything it says or does any longer.
The BBC News website had an article on bullying in the church workplace yesterday. The comments of +Ripon and Leeds were depressingly unsurprising.
Perhaps licensings of CofE clergy should henceforth contain the words, “Remember, pal, step out of line and you’re homeless.”
Only three comments… was this blogged to death somewhere else?
Ah, the poor, misunderstood Vicar was only following the spewing example of +Akinola, +Orombi and +Venables who have made it acceptable behavior to spit on the thinking/beliving of some fellow Anglicans at CHURCH.
They call it passionate interpretation of Scripture.
It is difficult to take sides even having read the whole proceedings, but, just like Malcolm+ I am not convinced this story amounts to much more than a faction of sad disaffected parishioners getting revenge over minutiae. It sounds like the Vicar was provoked into reacting, and then blamed for going over the top for over-reacting. I do not know the Vicar but even if he has failings I remain unconvinced that these are serious enough to warrant this over the top reaction from the ‘system’. I think I would rather him have as Vicar than the faction as fellow… Read more »
I am a member of the congregation and supporter of the Vicar. As I see it, this is a group of parishioners who are politically motivated, and whose Political party are no longer in power. They no longer have the ability to control the local political policies – many are also retired and have too much time on their hands – so the Church has become their power base. Along comes a new vicar who probably doesn’t entirely share their political views, has imagination, charisma and gets on with the job in hand. This is too much for the old… Read more »