The local press and the Brighton Protestant Defence Association (the forerunner of the Church Association) created a hostile reception of ritualistic priests. The "Brighton Gazette" was vitriolic about any clergy who adhered to the English Catholic Tradition. In 1873 the newspaper reported critically that Fr. Wagner had refused in court to answer questions that would "involve him to breach the confessional". Following this article, Fr. Wagner was physically assaulted on the streets of Brighton. His assailants went to prison. Fr. Wagner, characteristically, supported their wives and families at his own expense. Fr Wagner was not the only priest to suffer violence in Brighton. Fr Thomas Perry, from the most advanced ritualist Church in Brighton, St Michael & All Angels, stood alone at a Brighton public meeting and defended Fr Wagner's cause. He too was to suffer at the hands of the mob by being beaten-up for his courageous stance.