Bishop of Bermuda Ewen Ratteray is threatening to flout immigration rules after Government said permission must be given for pulpit-swapping vicars.

His statement came after a rector was threatened with arrest if he filled in at a vicar-less church. Yesterday a Government spokesman said rectors on work permits were permitted to do any thing other than swap pulpits but even this was possible if written permission was given by Government.

But the Bishop said yesterday: "I am not prepared to tolerate having to ask for permission to administer my dioceses.

"I am not answerable to them, God is the only one I answer to."

Asked what he would do if a similar situation arose again he said: "I would rather not say. We will deal with that situation as and when it arises.

"If they want to arrest them they will have to arrest me as well."

The row blew up when expatriate Reverend Canon Alan Tilson was told two officers were waiting for him if he showed up to take the early service at St. Paul's Church in Paget.

The threat from immigration was branded by The Bishop of Bermuda as being reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

He said he wrote on Tuesday to Immigration asking for clarification of the rules but had not heard back.

When The Royal Gazette told him of the Government's latest pronouncement on getting permission for vicar swapping, he said: "Pah!! The right channels to get permission? Never. Since when? This is getting beyond ridiculous."

The Bishop said the church was well within its rights by doing what it did at St. Paul's.

"There was never a question about that. It's always happened.

"It there's a change it's the wrong kind of change. Next we'll be asking for permission to breathe. It's nonsense."

Asked what was motivating the Government clampdown the Bishop said: "I have some ideas but I don't want to speculate.

"The ball is in the court of the Government to answer my letter in detail so we know where we are. We are completely in the dark."

Leonard Santucci, who preaches at Heard Chapel AME church, also attacked the policy.

He said: "That's news to me. If that's the case that's the first time in history of the church that I have ever heard such rubbish."

He said in 23 years of preaching he had never heard that policy espoused and that it was a common practice for expatriate preachers in the AME church to preach in the pulpit of other denominations which he said was healthy. "It's symptomatic of this Government - making up the rules as they go along."

He said if the policy existed then Government had allowed churches across the island to abuse it.

Rev. Santucci said the new policy had been brought in to pressure the Anglican church over the St. Paul's appointment.

Church elders there want to appoint a Canadian but the spouse of a Bermudian also wants the job and was only interviewed after immigration intervened. The Royal Gazette has learned that Government threatened Rev. Tilson after getting a complaint from a member of the Anglican Church. When asked about this Bishop Ratteray said: "I would certainly hope it isn't true. If it is true it is absolutely reprehensible."

Rev. Santucci called the new preacher policy stupid and questioned what would happen if it were applied across the board.

"Are you telling me if someone falls in the street that a doctor must step over that person and keep moving because it's outside their office? Are you telling me that if Alan Tilson's church is too small and the family of the deceased want the service in Hamilton cathedral that Tilson can't do the service? "The more I hear the more disheartened I am. I am really at a loss."

He said the policy would hamper the work of the Salvation Army who did outdoors preaching. The Government needed prayers and deliverance, said Rev. Santucci.