Vicar accused of bullying 'lectured with powerpoint sermons'

The Reverend Tom Ambrose used PowerPoint presentations and slide shows in place of traditional sermons, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Worshippers were particularly upset that the vicar of St Mary and St Michael Church in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, employed his modern methods at the Christmas Day service last year.

Scroll down for more ...

Former churchwarden Janet Hendy, a member of the parochial church council, said: "We started having PowerPoint presentations and slide shows instead of sermons, and the older people in particular do not like this, and a lot of people are very unhappy about this.

"We had this on Christmas morning 2006, but this is not what people expect on Christmas morning."

Mrs Hendy also said that more incense was used during services, which made some people leave the church feeling sick.

And she said she was upset that Dr Ambrose did not consult members of the PCC about other changes, such as the felling of five trees in the churchyard.

On Tuesday, the hearing in London was told that Dr Ambrose, 60, was a "liar and a bully" who would lose his temper if he did not get his own way, and once spat at a parishioner.

Scroll down for more ...

The tribunal, comprising church, legal and lay figures, is investigating whether there has been a pastoral breakdown in Trumpington.

A final decision on what, if any, action to take against the vicar will be made by the Bishop of Ely.

Possible punishments range from admonishment to removal from office.

Marilyn Orson, the parishioner who claims Dr Ambrose spat at her, told the tribunal that the congregation had been upset when cards with their innermost thoughts written on them were put up on a church noticeboard.

She said: "We were given cards to write on why we felt our faith was lacking and how we could try to improve ourselves.

"These cards were taken up to the altar and offered to God with prayers. It was a very nice idea.

"The next week quite a few of the cards, mine included, were arranged in a collage on the noticeboard for all to read.

"People thought this was a very personal thing between them and God."

She said when she told Dr Ambrose that she was unhappy, he turned on his heel and left.

Scroll down for more ...

Edmund Brookes, secretary of the PCC, said he had been vilified by Dr Ambrose in emails and during important decision-making, and claimed the vicar did not comfort him or his mother when his father died a year ago.

PCC member Clare Bartlett, a doctor, said she had become concerned about Dr Ambrose's health.

Asked by Mark Hill, counsel for Dr Ambrose, if she considered the illness to be physical or psychiatric, she said: "I was concerned in case it might have been classified as being psychiatric."

The tribunal continues.