NEW ZEALAND
Dominion Post
TALIA SHADWELL
May 5 2016
The dean of Napier Cathedral has been stood down by the Anglican Church – for an affair he had 25 years ago.
Michael Godfrey says he confessed his adultery years ago, and felt the church had not offered him redemption.
However the Church claims it was the first the New Zealand clergy had heard of it.
He was a 30-year-old married priest when he had an affair in 1991 with an 18-year-old woman in Australia.
“What I have been is always upfront about my feet of clay,” he said on Thursday, after being banned from performing priestly duties by the Bishop of Waiapu, Andrew Hedge.
“I’ve counselled people who have done the same thing that I’ve done. I’ve never in my time as priest claimed that I’m faultless.
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