LONDON (CWNews.com) - A Worcestershire, England, priest has admonished his parishioners who leave Sunday Mass before the end by reminding them that the traitor Judas was the first to leave the Last Supper.

    Father Patrick Brannigan shocked some of the congregation at St. Peter's Church, Bromsgrove, by telling them he knew that people were disappearing from the back pews the moment his back was turned.

    "I know it was a bit naughty of me," he told today's Universe newspaper, "but I am tired of people tripping out while I am turned to face the altar during the final hymn. The back pews are full when I do this and then by the time I turn around they are empty."

    "I reminded them that Judas was the only person to leave the Last Supper early," he said.

    Some of the escapees claimed they had no choice as they risked missing the bus home but Father Brannigan said the excuse didn't explain such an exodus. "I am sure that many do have to catch a bus," he said. "But if everyone was doing so the bus would be full before it set off."