SACKED VICAR BACK IN PULPIT
CHURCH DENIES HE’S MINISTER DESPITE THIS SIGN STATING HE IS
A VICAR sacked for having an affair with a parishioner is back in the pulpit.
Reverend Clifford Williams was at the centre of a scandal that rocked the Church in Wales in the late 1990s.
He was a married Anglican clergyman working as Rector of Benllech, Anglesey, when an ecclesiastical court found him guilty of a six-year adulterous affair.
The father-of-three now undertakes preaching duties at The Presbyterian Church in Castle Square, Caernarfon.
Despite his name being printed on the door as minister, the church insists he is only a member of the congregation who carries out “some preaching duties”.
Mr Williams’ return to the pulpit came to light when he posted a picture of himself wearing a clerical collar on Facebook, an image that was later removed.
He was suspended by the Church in Wales at the end of 1996. In 1997 The Provincial Court of the church recommended to the then Bishop of Bangor, the Rt Rev Dr Barry Morgan, that Mr Williams should be stripped of his Holy Orders.
Dr Morgan confirmed in November 1997 that the suspended Rector would be sacked.
He was convicted of seducing a parishioner who went to him for support after the death of her son, and of repeatedly lying about the affair to his bishop.
He was held guilty of “conduct giving just cause for scandal or offence”, and his attempts to appeal the decision were quashed before he was evicted from his rectory.
The Provincial Court of the Church in Wales had only met twice before since its disestablishment from the Church of England in 1920.
Throughout the proceedings, Mr Williams, now in his mid-60s, continued to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct and said he was the victim of a “miscarriage of justice”.
A spokesman for the Presbyterian Church said Mr Williams is not listed as one of their ministers, contrary to what is stated on the church board outside.
The spokesman added: “Mr Williams is not ‘the Minister’ in Castle Square.
“The official interim Minister (an appointment when there is a vacancy in a church) is the Rev Marcus Robinson, Llanrug.
“Mr Williams is a member of the congregation at Castle Square.
“Mr Williams, as a church member, undertakes some preaching duties and these are agreed between him and the church elders/trustees locally.
“The arrangement, being an understanding within a congregation, does not need to be, and therefore has not been, referred to our church courts.”
A spokesman for the Bishop of Bangor said Mr Williams has no connection to the Church in Wales.
The Mail has made several attempts to contact Mr Williams directly for comment.