In a letter published in this week’s Church Times, Kieron Wood, Senior Assistant Editor of The Sunday Business Post refutes allegations of ‘hostile publicity’ and ‘press interference’.
He writes–in relation to the report by Greg Ryan ( News,3 May) concerning my story in the Sunday Business Post about the proposed consecration of the Venerable Lesley Stevenson as Bishop of Meath and Kildare there is to my knowledge ‘no press campaign against him’.
My story reported simply that he would be the first divorced bishop in the history of the Christian church in Ireland. It was Archdeacon Stevenson himself who admitted to me in a statement that, after the break-up of his first marriage, while serving as Rector of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland, he had an ‘inappropriate’ relationship with a woman parishioner.
Mr. Ryan reports that ‘the reaction among clergy and laity in the diocese has ranged from incredulility to annoyance at what was seen as outside interference in the episcopal selection.’ A report on such a newsworthy topic can hardly be described as ‘interference.’ As for the allegation of ‘hostile publicity,’ that, too, is nonsense.