Bishop Ewen Ratteray said that there is a possible local candidate to replace Canon Alan Tilson who is being axed this summer.

Some parishioners are angry the Bishop of Bermuda has refused to back Canon Tilson?s work permit renewal after 16 years of hard work in which he has built membership at Holy Trinity in Hamilton Parish.

Vestry member Miles Outerbridge claimed there were no Bermudians pushing for the post. But the Bishop said there was one local candidate although it was not a given that he would get the job. Nor would he reveal the name or experience of that candidate.

?Every position is advertised locally at first but if there is no local applicant we advertise abroad,? said the Bishop.

He said: ?I am extremely grateful for all Canon Tilson has done during his time in Bermuda. However all of us in any position, whether serving the church or in secular employment, have to arrive at a point in which we reassess our future. That time came for him last year when he asked me if I would support another application for the renewal of his work permit.

?Since becoming Bishop in 1996, I have been happy to support all his previous applications. I said no this time because I perceived a need for a change, both for him and the parish.

?He has served the people of Hamilton Parish long and well, but the time to move on had come, hence my decision.?

Bishop Ratteray would not say why he had decided to move Canon Tilson on. Canon Tilson has refused to comment about the Bishop?s decision.

In April, 2003, Canon Tilson was threatened with arrest when he was about to take a service at St. Paul?s Church in Paget, which had no minister at the time. The case sparked a war of words between the diocese and Immigration officials.

?Yesterday, the Anglican Church announced the appointment of the Rev. Nicholas Dill as priest in charge of the parish of Pembroke which covers St. John?s Church, St. Monica?s Mission and St. Augustus.

The 41-year-old Bermudian father of five replaces the Rev. Gary Colville who returned last year to Rochester in England. Rev. Dill studied at Saltus and Oundle School in the UK and holds degrees from Trinity College, Toronto and Queen Mary College, London.

Before ordination Rev. Dill worked as an associate lawyer at Conyers Dill and Pearman.

Rev. Dill was ordained in Bermuda in 1998 after training for the priesthood for three years at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, England.

Since ordination he has served in the parish of All Saints, Linfield, Sussex within the Diocese of Chichester where he currently holds the post of associate vicar.

He is set to be licensed as priest in charge of Pembroke at the feast of Bartholomew on August 24 at St. John?s Church.