The Reverend Bill Wallace, a former convenor of the Church of Scotland’s Board of Social Responsibility, has written to the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly, citing “great dismay and perplexity among many traditionalists” at the decision.
The call for a probe follows The Herald’s revelation that 42-year-old Demetrius Ross, who is in a civil partnership, has been put forward for training.
It deepens a bitter dispute which threatens to split the Kirk. If ordained, Mr Ross would be the first openly gay minister to be approved since a two-year moratorium was agreed on gay appointments by this year’s General Assembly of the Kirk.
Mr Wallace’s letter to “121”, the church’s administrative centre in George Street, Edinburgh, asks if Hamilton Presbytery has acted “contumaciously” -- rebelliously.
The Aberdeenshire minister writes: “Since I understand Hamilton Presbytery sought advice from ‘121’ on the matter, it would appear, on the face of it, that no barrier was put in their way. I would be grateful if the advice given by ‘121’ could be made public. I ask this, not just because many people have expressed to me their confusion and perplexity caused by this decision but also because similar situations may occur in other presbyteries.”
The Reverend David Court, of New Restalrig Church in Edinburgh, said: “Part of what is being asked is whether the spirit of the instruction from the General Assembly has been broken. I think it has been, certainly in spirit.”
Hamilton Presbytery was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article