CAPE TOWN - The Synod of Bishops of the Anglican church has stripped an Anglican cleric from the Diocese of Natal of his priest status after his conviction of sexual harassment.
The Bishops resolved at a meeting last week to confirm a sentence of “degradation” of Reverend Roland Prince.
This follows after a board of preliminary inquiry recommended that charges of sexual harassment be brought against him in April.
Prince had resigned at the end of that month, the church said in a statement.
He was convicted under the Canons of sexual harassment, conducting himself in “a sexually immoral manner”, and involving himself in “inappropriate relationships and activities which gave just cause for scandal or offence”.
“The disciplinary tribunal sat in July. Two days after Mr Prince confirmed he would attend, he indicated on the day of the tribunal he would not attend. The tribunal went ahead in his absence.
“Mr Prince's name will now be placed on a register maintained by the church's Safe and Inclusive Church Commission to ensure that he cannot be licensed as a priest in any other diocese of the Anglican Church.”
The victims worked at, or were associated with, workers at the church in which Prince served as a priest, the church said.
Cape Times