Paul Thomas (priest)

{{Short description|UK Anglican priest (1955-)}}

{{for|the Bishop of Oswestry|Paul Thomas (bishop)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Paul Wyndham Thomas (born 22 April 1955, in Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan) is an Anglican priest, who was Archdeacon of Salop from 2011 to 2024.{{cite web |title=New Archdeacon of Salop installed |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-13606995 |website=BBC News |access-date=2 December 2022 |date=31 May 2011}}

{{cite web|title=Three-year ban for Archdeacon of Salop over 'inappropriate' relationship|website=Church Times|date=26 March 2024|author=Hattie Williams|access-date=27 March 2024|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/28-march/news/uk/three-year-ban-for-archdeacon-of-salop-over-inappropriate-relationship}}

Thomas was educated at Cardiff High School, Oriel College, Oxford, and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained deacon in 1979, and priest in 1980.{{Crockford | forenames = Paul Wyndham | surname = Thomas | id = 32979 | accessed = 2 December 2022 }} ‘THOMAS, Ven. Paul Wyndham’, Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U254564, accessed 1 Feb 2017] After a curacy at Llangynwyd with Maesteg, he was Team Vicar of Langport from 1985 to 1990. He was Priest in charge of Thorp Arch and Walton from 1990 to 19{{clarify|date=March 2017}}; Vicar of Nether with Upper Poppleton from 1993 to 2004; Parish Development Advisor for the Diocese of Lichfield from 2004 to 2011; and Priest in charge of Forton since 2011.

On 23 March 2024 it was announced that he been made to resign and been banned from ministry for three years after admitting an "inappropriate relationship".{{cite web |title=Archdeaconry of Salop: A statement from the Bishop of Lichfield |website=Diocese of Lichfield |date=23 March 2024 |access-date=1 April 2024 |url=https://lichfield.anglican.org/news/archdeaconry-of-salop-a-statement-from-the-bishop-of-lichfield.php

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329000845/https://lichfield.anglican.org/news/archdeaconry-of-salop-a-statement-from-the-bishop-of-lichfield.php |archive-date=29 March 2024 }}