Angry church goers are threatening to quit St. Mark's Anglican Church after Bishop Ewan Ratteray backed underfire Rev. William Hayward and called on opponents to resign.

Churchgoers say Bishop Ratteray has done a U-turn after spelling out Rev. Hayward's shortcomings in a letter in October last year which gave him three months to turn the situation around at the Smith's church.

He said that Rev. Hayward was late for church, slack at visiting sick parishioners and poor at preaching. He said that the finances were in an appalling state and professional help was needed to sort out mounting debt. Bishop Ratteray went on: "There is no such thing as a private wedding, and the church should receive appropriate fees for the same.

"Please also refund to the church the fees for all such weddings that have taken place in St. Mark's since your institution."

But Rev. Hayward's opponents say he has done little to sort out problems but, despite this, Bishop Ratteray had given him more time to turn around the crisis-hit church. A letter sent to members of the church's ruling body, the vestry, late last month spread the blame for the situation between the wardens, vestry members and the Rector.

It gave him six months to change St. Mark's.

The letter said: "He can't do this on his own, but will require the assistance of people in the parish willing to support his ministry.

"It is clear to me that the present Vestry is incapable of doing this. I would therefore, request the Warden and all the members of the Vestry not seek election at the forthcoming AGM of parishioners."

Bishop Ratteray urged them to stay out of the vestry for three years.

One church member told The Royal Gazette that vestry members were planning to resign anyway as they sought new churches to join or dropped out of church life altogether.

He said Rev. Hayward would struggle to get anyone to run for the vestry and long standing church members were jumping ship. He said: "They will go to other Anglican churches or the Baptists or the AME."

He said Sunday school numbers had plummeted from around 45 to half a dozen, while about 30 people attended the 10.30 a.m. sermons, less than half of what it used to be.

He said the 8 a.m. Sunday sermon attracted fewer than 20 people compared. "It used to be about 35. People were having to wait for the Reverand to turn up. He should be there 20 minutes ahead of time.

"There's an awful lot of angry people out there. The Bishop's credibility is at stake. He doesn't have the fortitude to dismiss Rev. Hayward. People don't want to be pushed by these two men."

The worshipper said the Reverend's sermon's were terrible and left him feeling "spiritually undernourished" while he neglected other duties.

He said: "He can't do the job. If he was in the secular world he would have been sacked."

Another church member, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: "I am very disturbed. I think the Bishop has let us down.

"At one time he said he would give Father Hayward a three month trial. Now he comes along and says he will give him another six months."

Other church members refused to speak ahead of the crunch AGM later this month.

In a church questionnaire obtained by The Royal Gazette parishioners attacked Rev. Hayward for being old fashioned, interested in dressing up and burning incense but uninterested in reaching out to sick people and bereaved families.

A letter signed by several church members and sent to Bishop Ratteray in March said the church was at the limit of its borrowing capacity and ability to service its debt. It urged the Bishop to sack Rev. Hayward.

It said: "Rev. Hayward's ongoing association will ultimately lead to St. Mark's complete ruin."

Rev. Hayward was appointed by Bishop Ratteray in 2000 but it was opposed from the outset by around 100 "rebel" church goers, who tried to block the appointment, because they said Fr. Hayward was not experienced or married.

He attracted controversy in his previous posting at St John's when he successfully sued the church organist for defamation.

Bishop Ratteray and Rev. Hayward could not be reached for comment yesterday.