Clergymen are unfrocked often enough in England that the Times of London, which by a quaint tradition hires deposed clerics as literate proofreaders, is kept sufficiently staffed. But not in 29 years had a cleric been removed from office on the charge brought last week against ex-Vicar William Bryn Thomas, 62: adultery, committed with a Sunday school teacher named Elsie Brandy—and not once but, by Mrs. Brandy's accounting, "at least 75 or 80 times."
Testifying before a church trial, Mrs. Brandy told of "committee meetings" (the vicar's euphemism) on the floor in his study, in his bedroom, and in his automobile. Once,...
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