15 JULY 1922, Page 3

The Rev. Conrad Noel, Vicar of Thaxted, was ordered by

the Consistory Court last Saturday to remove the Red flag and the Sinn Fein colours with which he had persisted in decorat- ing the church for some years. The Chancellor of the Diocese pointed out that the flags had been introduced without authority and had been a cause of disorder. Many parishioners had ceased to attend the church, and indignant but ill-advised patriots had caused disturbances in trying to remove the symbols. The case illustrates the harm that an oceentrio clergyman can do in a country parish where there is no alternative place of worship for Churchmen. But it shows also that the aggrieved parishioners have a remedy, slow and costly though the Church courts may be.