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Archdeacon of Rochester v Tripp and Northern

Disciplinary Tribunal, Diocese of Rochester, December 2008 Adultery – desertion – public scandal – penalty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2009

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Rector of Girton, Ely Diocesan Ecumenical Officer
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2009

The respondents, who were, respectively, Rector and Associate Rector of the same benefice, admitted deserting their respective spouses and setting up home together. The tribunal therefore considered only the penalty to be imposed. The Bishop of Rochester recommended that both be prohibited from ministry for life, on the grounds that abandoning their parish without notice, deserting their spouses, causing a public scandal and forming an inappropriate relationship meant that he could never again be able to recommend them for ministry. The tribunal found that there was a realistic possibility that the second respondent could, at some point in the future, take up ministerial functions again. She was prohibited for twelve years and the first respondent for life. Both were removed from office and placed on the Archbishops' List. [WA]