A SELF-styled priest who incurred the wrath of the Catholic Church for planning to carry out mass in a 500-year-old Church last night vowed to go ahead regardless.

Philip-James French had planned to hold a service in St Andrew's, but Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, which owns the redundant church, withdrew its permission in the wake of protests from both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.

The authority said it believed Mr French was a part of the Catholic Church.

But the self proclaimed Benedictine monk is in fact a member of the Holy Catholic Church - Western Rites - a breakaway movement from an American sect.

Despite the setback Mr French vowed last night: "The mass must go on."

He said: "The devil is not going to win, there is going to be a mass."

Mr French who lives in a house which acts a monastery in Skelton, east Cleveland, said: "Mass will be celebrated here, instead."

Mr French faced further protest last night. Upleatham-born Susan Brown who tends a family grave in St Andrew's Churchyard, every month said she hoped the self-styled priest would be banned permanently.

She says to allow Mr French to say a service in the church would be an affront to all local families with relatives buried in the churchyard. "It's very upsetting," she said. "I just want the council's assurance they will never allow this individual inside the church.

"I spent 26 years of my life in the village. Lots of older members of my family are in that cemetery. I don't want anyone like this individual there, it's just horrible. He has no right to be in that church, he has nothing to do with the church," she said.

It emerged yesterday that former Bishop of Whitby, the Right Reverend Gordon Bates revoked the licence for Church of England services to be said at privately-owned St Ninian's, Whitby, 1989 - where Mr French claims he is parish priest.

The Church of England still owns St Andrew's churchyard, while the Church Commissioners have a restrictive covenant on the use of the church which is in the ownership of Redcar and Cleveland council.

A council spokesman said: "We have spoken to Mr French and asked him to postpone the service because of strong representations from both the Roman Catholics and Anglican churches. We feel in the interests of the good community relationships that the service should be postponed.

"This council does not pretend to be an authority on ecclesiastical matters. The council will speak to Mr French next week."