CLERGYMAN CHARGED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 186, 31 March 1932, Page 5

CLERGYMAN CHARGED

(Pi*eds. Assri.-

GRAVt ^LLi.GATiONS CONSTANT ASSOCIATION WITH WOMEN OF BAD CHARAGTEjit PLEADS RESCUE WORK

— By Telegraph— Cbpyright) .

LONDON, . fuesday. The . Rev. Haroid Davidson^ rector of Stiffkey, , Norfolk) was - charged -vat Norwich Consistory . Court at the instande of the Bislxop of Norwich, with a series of gfave acts of misconduct under the Glergy Disbiplihe Act, incliidin^ cdh'stant assoeiation with Wbmeh of 16ose character ; The rector's defeniie is'fhat he was engaged. in rescue w'ofk. There is jgreat public ihter.est ih the case, wnich is being heard at - the tlhUrch Hoiise, Westminster, the newsjiapers devoting'pages to the evidehce. . Mr, Davidsoh, ig 60 years oi -age, is marri'ed and has flve childrenl He Went" bahkr upt ih 1925 when his stipend was reduced'frohi £800 to Jd400. Gouri sel stated that the fectof habitually neglected his parish, stayihg ih London frohi Mbnday to Saturday. ! A girl' aged lol year s,_ gave evidence that Mr. DaYidsoh, dressed as a' civilian, aSsociated with her fbr months before she discoverea he was' a cl'ergymah. fle posed as her' uncle, She admitted that there was niuch kissing but nb" mis'c6h(!ubt hetween them. It is further alleged that Mr Davi'dson took a woinah on a holiday to Baris. "Other evidence was that Mr. David-1 son met girls ih theit hed-sittihgrobihs at all hours of the day and night, and pestered respeclable waiti* es'seS ih cafes, with the result that he whs barred from one cafe. • The case is likely to la§t many days, as there are numerous witriess'es iin attendance. Mr. Davidson repiied from the piilpit of his fourteenth centufy church' !a few Sundays ago to the' charges \ made against him. At the morhing serj vice he pleaded with his cbngregation : for their prayers. ; "In your prayers," he sdid, "I also i ask you to include all those conhected | with the. case, as well as the Bishop • of Norwich, who throughout all my time here has always heen quite a : good friend to me, and who I feel at the present time has heeri acting : r ather in the dafk, prompted hy sonie infiuence which one is not yet ahle to trace." In a dramatic sermon he declared: "I have heen greatly misunderstobd in my work — work Which J have not specially sought. I came not ib call the righteous, but sinners to repentarice." (Mark ii., 17), Was the rector's text. He showed how Christ had heen condemned for consorting with publicans and sinners — even as he, a ciergyman in 1932 was being condemhed because he had tried to heip a class of unfortunates in the West Erid'of London. "Rememher," he said, "that God does not sit all day in church waiting to minister to a few saved souls — those icebergs of untempted chastity who are so ready to criticise their fellow creatures. "I have always felt that th'e Phariseeism and superficiality which char-

acterises the English religious respectahility, the timidity of the Church iii striking at public vices, the inahility of legislators to state the real facts, have created and allowed to exist iii London a class of persons numbering over 80,000 compelled to exist in con4 ditions of degrading slavery. They haunt the streets iike painted vampires pleading and cursing." After the service the rector stood bhreheaded in the lamp-lit churchyard aiid shook hands With everyoh'e of his ' congregation as'they left.