Assistant priest with dog had a meal (6)
I believe the answer is:
curate
'assistant priest' is the definition.
'curate' can be an answer for 'priest' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'assistant' bit.
'with dog had a meal' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'dog' becomes 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person).
'had a meal' becomes 'ate' (ate a meal).
'cur' put next to 'ate' is 'CURATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for curate that I've seen before include "Assistant to a parish priest" , "He didn't really want an egg" , "A truce (anag)" , "look after collection" , "Member of the clergy" .)