Church of England may ban parishioners who bully vicars
by Gabriella Swerling, Telegraph:
Papers submitted to the General Synod reveal a string of ‘devastating’ and ‘unacceptable’ incidents.
The Church of England will consider banning parishioners who bully their vicars.
The proposal comes as a string of “devastating” and “unacceptable” instances have emerged in papers submitted to the General Synod, the Church’s lawmaking body, which is set to convene later this month.
The papers cite examples of vicars being “hounded out of office” by aggressive congregants, with some parishes having a reputation for “breaking clergy”, leaving their vacancies impossible to fill. As a result, Synod will hear measures in favour of legal sanctions for bullying – including the possibility of disqualification from holding office within the Church, as well as a new code of conduct for Parochial Church Councils (PCC).
The calls for a new code of conduct come amid claims that meetings descend into “aggressive”, “psychologically damaging” and “physically threatening behaviour” with parishioners slamming fists on tables, “continually interrupting when others speak”, withholding keys to store rooms, blocking each other on email and repeatedly trolling and harassing others by printing out messages after being blocked.
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