Vittoria Hancock, a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, has announced that she will resign as she cannot swear obedience to “bully” Anne Dyer, the disgraced bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.
Her resignation is set to leave her without a home or paid income. She served as a priest at both St Thomas’ and St Kentigern’s in Aberdeenshire.
Hancock wrote that Dyer’s “continuing inability to admit any fault in the diocesan situation, or apologise when she has been found to have been in error, and her lack of pastoral care and understanding are contributory factors” to her decision to resign.
The SEC’s Procurator, a senior lawyer, considered a range of serious allegations of abuse against Dyer and concluded that there was a “sufficiency of evidence” to provide “a realistic prospect of conviction in respect of each allegation”.
These allegations included that Dyer bullied, harassed and discriminated against a disabled adult to the point she considered taking her own life.
Despite the Procurator’s findings, the SEC dismissed the allegations against Dyer, claiming that it would not be in the “public interest” to take them to its Clergy Discipline Tribunal.
Hancock explained she was due to renew her vows to her Diocesan bishop, Dyer. She wrote that “While I am happy to vow canonical obedience I cannot, with honesty and integrity, vow to support and obey Bishop Anne personally”.
She went on to say that she was “not willing to compromise my vows as a priest and am, therefore, left with no option except that of resigning my post” and told churchgoers that her mental and physical health had been damaged by the stress and tension she felt.
Hancock also resigned as a trustee of the Diocese late last year in the wake of Dyer’s return to work. The other trustees have failed to remove Dyer, who is also a trustee, from the Diocesan Standing Committee. The other trustees are Lorraine Paisey, Lizzie Finlayson, Julia House, Brenda Dowie and Martin Auld.
A churchgoer said, “Clergy are often housed and paid by the Church. They seem to have their noses thrust too deeply into its feedbag to do the right thing and tackle abuse. Its essentially just cash for silent complicity, if not favours.
“Vittoria has strength of conviction and fortitude. We could do with more of that. Other priests need to examine their moral compasses and consider what’s right. The Bible tells us that we need to help others who are in need.
“To take no action is to support Dyer, a priest multiple investigations, including the SEC’s own, have concluded is no good or a bully.”