Say sorry to parish, Bishop tells feud vicar
AVICAR locked in a vicious feud with her church’s choir has been ordered to apologise “without reservation”.
The Rev Catherine Relf-Pennington, 64, has faced complaints about her “authoritarian style” – as well as a claim she assaulted a chorister she banned from the choir.
She also allegedly reversed her truck into a parked car, then left the Abbey car park.
Ms Relf-Pennington, who denies the claims, has in turn said she has been bullied by people who are “anti-woman priests”. She also says she received poison pen letters and had the tyres of her truck slashed.
Now the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham Usher, has told Wymondham Abbey’s vicar “to apologise to [those who complained] without reservation” as he says she must “set an
example of repentance”.
In a report following 19 complaints, he admits there are parishioners “who are appreciative of the vicar’s ministry and the work she has done” but stated that she has “alienated many”.
He also called Ms Relf-Pennington’s “continuing grievance” about the house she was allocated in the Norfolk town “irrational and unsupported by legal opinion”.
The report ends with a prayer that the parish would “find new stability and much-needed healing so that God’s love may be revealed”.
Australia-born Ms Relf-Pennington, who was an AI researcher before joining the priesthood, denied the claims “in the strongest possible terms”.
She said her actions “did not even come close” to assault and it was “highly improbable” her truck hit anything. The vicar has not yet responded to the report.