A long running complaint against a Church of England parish who were accused of performing an ‘exorcism’ on a church member who opened up about his homosexuality has been settled with a five-figure payout.
Matthew Drapper, 37, was volunteering at St Thomas Philadelphia in 2014 when he was told he had become under demonic possession due to his “sexual impurity”. At a church event he was told that the ritual would rid his body of homosexuality, and release the demons from his body.
The ‘exorcism’ was suggested and performed by a couple who were involved in the running of the event. They called on Drapper to “break agreements with Hollywood and the media”, telling him that this is what had caused his demonic possession.
In an interview with The Times, Drapper recounted the experience.
‘For someone to be standing over you saying they can see the demons leaving your body is quite terrifying. But when you are deeply tied into the church, as I was at that time, it is easy to believe anything they tell you.’ he shared.
The experience left him feeling depressed, and over time he began to lose his Christian faith. Two years later he left the church, and in 2019 he made a complaint about the experience.
At first the church rejected his concerns saying there was no evidence that the events he described had occurred. In 2021 the diocese commissioned the charity Bernardo’s to investigate the claim, and they found the Matthew Drapper was telling the truth.
He launched legal action against the church that was settled out of court this week, with a five-figure payment part of the settlement.
Lawyer Richard Scorer said the settlement “demonstrates that churches which engage in these abhorrent homophobic practices may face legal claims and damages awards”.
The church made a public apology after the Barnardo’s report was released, saying their initial investigation into the claim was flawed.
“We have accepted the outcomes of the first investigation and are saddened that eight years ago one of our community was not cared for in the way we would have liked. We sincerely apologised to them for this.’ they said.
The church denied that they were supporters of conversion therapy.
“We do not practise or support so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ and we reject any coercive or controlling use of prayer. We also want to affirm that St Thomas Philadelphia welcomes all people.
The church has not made any comment about the settlement of the legal action. The report comes as the British government continues to promise legislation to ban conversion therapy and attempts to surpress and change people’s sexuality or gender identity.
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