Bishop Bell, the ‘Rebel Priest’ and a catalogue of lies

Jan 31, 2018 by Jill

by David Virtue, Medium:

A vicar falsely accused by the Church of England and cleared of most of the accusations by a disciplinary tribunal is to deliver the keynote address at a conference organised to restore the good name and legacy of Bishop George Bell on Thursday at Church House, Westminster, the headquarters of the Church of England.

The Rev’d Dr Jules Gomes is an outspoken defender of Bishop Bell, who was posthumously accused of child abuse but exonerated by the Lord Carlile Review, which found that the Church of England’s processes were deficient and failed to give proper consideration to the rights of the accused.

However, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, went on to claim that ‘a significant cloud is left over [Bishop Bell’s] name’ and refused to apologise even after seven distinguished British historians wrote an open letter affirming there was no evidence that Bishop Bell had ever committed such an act.

One of Dr Gomes’ qualifications for defending George Bell is his own experience of the corruption of the Church of England’s operation of trial by tribunal.

In 2015, a Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) was brought against Dr Gomes, a hugely successful preacher and pastor on the Isle of Man, after he filed a Petition of Doleance in Tynwald, the island’s national parliament. The petition called for greater protection from bullying and harassment for clergy, who are not regarded as ‘employees’ by law in the British Isles.

The Archdeacon of Man, Andie Brown, accused Dr Gomes of misconduct by bringing up a wide range of allegations against him. One of these accusations was made by Bishop Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark, who claimed that Dr Gomes was ‘excessively opposed to Freemasonry’ during his tenure as Chaplain to the Old Royal Naval College.

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Read also: Priest banned from ministry to defend George Bell at Church of England’s headquarters by Harry Farley, Christian Today