A woman's obsessive infatuation has driven a Catholic priest from his pulpit.
Father Hamesh Wyatt, 40, announced to the congregation at St Patrick's Church in Invercargill last night that he was taking indefinite leave after being stalked by one of his parishioners
The parishioner, Marianne Monteath, hasapparently been infatuated with Father Wyatt for about 10 years, The Sunday Star-Times reports today.
In 2001 the priest took out a restraining order against Ms Monteath. Last Christmas the woman who took out an advertisement in a local paper asking Father Wyatt to marry her.
The paper said Ms Monteath attended church up to twice a day, and liked to linger afterwards in a bid to see the priest on his own.
Father Wyatt took leave from the parish in February. It is believed the priest who had a huge workload was stressed and finding it difficult to cope with Ms Monteath's attention.
The Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Rev Colin Campbell, confirmed the advances were unwanted.
"There have been cases when priests have been subject to unwelcome attention from women and this is such a case."
Father Wyatt had a high profile in the city and appealed to many young people with his love of beer and rugby and, for the even younger, extensive knowledge of cartoon characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants whom he often included in his sermons during children's Mass.
Father Wyatt, who is from Gore, entered the seminary when he was 19 and graduated as a diocesan priest for Otago-Southland in 1993.
