A vicar kicked an angry parishioner to get her out of his home after she led a campaign of harassment against him, a court heard.
Kay Carpenter went to the home of Reverend Karsten Wedgewood in June 2024 when she had been told not to contact him or go to his house.
The Priest in Charge of St Just-in-Penwith parish church in west Cornwall, near Penzance and St Ives, said he gave the now 62-year-old parishioner the opportunity to leave as she stood in his doorway but when she did not he used his foot to move her back.
He told a hearing at Truro Crown Court last week: "I used my foot and made contact with her stomach or hip area, the middle of her body."
He said he did this so he could shut the door saying it was "a very stressful situation".
The priest told the court there had been years and years of problems with Carpenter which only stopped when she was given police bail with conditions not to contact him.
Rev Wedgewood said the distress led to the diocese being forced to install CCTV at his home so that "any further intimidation on my doorstep can be recorded".