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Church leaders rescheduled their usual Maundy Thursday service - to avoid upsetting a group of prostitutes.

Worshippers were stunned when they were told the Easter gathering was being moved because a group of sex workers were already booked in for a drop-in session.

The Maundy Thursday service and shared meal was instead held a day early at All Saints Church in Wolverhampton, West Mids, this afternoon.

Team vicar Reverend Sarah Schofield defended the decision, saying: “The church is in the middle of the city’s red light district.

“We are the only place in the local community where something like this is organised. We want to be a reliable, safe and loving place for women.

“We throw open our doors and offer support as well as going out on the streets with hot drinks to invite women in.”

(Image: SWNS)

The drop-in session for sex workers was cancelled on Christmas Day last year, which fell on a Thursday, leaving some regular attendees disappointed.

But regular churchgoers slammed the decision to move Maundy Thursday, claiming it has “made a mockery” of the church.

Arthur Wallace, 67, said: “I’m all for the church helping people in that awful trade but why not invite them to join the service?

“To cancel it and move it around makes a mockery of our faith.

“Some dates in the Christian calendar are sacred. Easter is one of those most important times when Christians remember the sacrifice our Lord made.

“Surely even non-believers and sex workers would understand how important that is to us?”

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Another said: “It’s an outrage that one of the most important religious services in the Christian calendar has been moved for a group of prostitutes.”

The Bishop of Wolverhampton, Reverend Clive Gregory, said the decision to move the religious event forward was made by the church council.

He added: “This decision wasn’t taken lightly and there are other churches very close by where people can go to worship.

“It doesn’t come across as strange to me that All Saints would do this. I am very well aware of this project for street workers, it has been a great success in the last six months.

“It performs a very important service for vulnerable women and is exactly what Christian churches should be doing to help their community.”

The church also had support for the decision to move the traditional service from other members of the local Christian community.

Reverend Graham Smith, of The Good Shepherd Church, also in Wolverhampton, said: “If we remember what Jesus was all about, he would always remember the outcasts in society.

“For some of these drop-in sessions it can be quite hard to let people know what is going on if there is a change.

“So if people turn up to see it isn’t on one week, they may not come again.”

Maundy Thursday, known as Holy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and the apostles ahead of Good Friday.