Fired: Spitting Anglican Vicar given the sack
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fired: Spitting Anglican Vicar given the sack*
* Sam Jones
* The Guardian,
A Church of England vicar accused of spitting at a churchwarden and
using the pulpit to settle personal scores was ordered to leave his
parish yesterday.
The Bishop of Ely decided to remove the Rev Tom Ambrose from the church
of St Mary and St Michael in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, after a rare
ecclesiastical tribunal heard "evidence of the arrogant, aggressive,
rude, bullying, highhanded, disorganised and at times petty behaviour of
Dr Ambrose".
The tribunal, held at St Mary le Bow in the City of London last year,
ruled Ambrose's position should be declared vacant.
During the five-day hearing, which had been sought by the parochial
church council (PCC), the panel was told that a "pastoral breakdown" had
occurred in Trumpington. It was alleged that Ambrose had spat at a
churchwarden, inundated critical congregants with letters and emails and
had five trees felled in the churchyard without consulting the PCC.
The vicar was also said to have upset older parishioners by replacing
sermons with slide shows and using so much incense that some people felt
sick.
Ambrose said he and his wife had been victimised by a "gang of four"
troublemakers on the PCC and had received death threats signed "the
Archangel Michael".
A spokesman for the diocese of Ely said: "After careful consideration,
the Bishop of Ely, Dr Anthony Russell, has accepted the advice of the
tribunal. He has executed a declaration of avoidance declaring the
benefice vacant from July 9 2008. "
In the letter to the vicar and those who brought the tribunal, the
bishop wrote: "I am astonished and dismayed that there are recorded two
occasions on which it is said that Dr Ambrose spat at parishioners,
allegations which were not challenged in cross-examination.
"These incidents may be seen as among the lowest points of what plainly
became an increasingly unhappy relationship between Dr Ambrose and his
parishioners, as charted in the report."
A diocesan spokesman said that despite being removed from his post,
Ambrose remained a vicar.