The LGBT bishop
Row as cleric who ‘prays George is gay’ tipped for senior role
A CLERIC who caused uproar when he prayed Prince George would be gay is poised to become Scotland’s first openly homosexual bishop.
The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, has been shortlisted to become Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.
In a move which senior clergy members have warned may cause global rifts, Provost Holdsworth’s possible appointment has already sent shockwaves through the communion.
As a key figure in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC), which is affiliated to the Church of England, he has campaigned tirelessly for LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage.
In 2017, the SEC – which governs more than 350 churches north of the Border – overturned a Church of England canon law
‘He will cause ripples... it would cause further pain’
that stipulated only a man and woman can get married.
The decision produced a backlash, culminating in one of the biggest Anglican churches in Edinburgh voting to leave the group last year, and only last month Westhill Community Church in Aberdeenshire followed suit.
Now church officials fear that Provost Holdsworth’s possible promotion to bishop could deepen divisions between liberal and conservative Christians around the world.
Although one priest, who did not want to be named, has praised Provost Holdsworth’s dedication to equality and LGBT rights, he also expressed grave concern at the clergyman’s possible appointment as a bishop.
The priest told The Times: ‘Kelvin is one of the most gifted clergy in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He will be a superb leader and organiser if he gets elected, but theologically he will cause ripples, and not just in Scotland but around the world.
‘Given that two-thirds of the Anglicans in the world are struggling with the position the SEC has taken [regarding samesex marriage], I don’t think it would be particularly well received. It would cause further pain.’
As a clergyman, the flamboyant Provost Holdsworth, who was once pictured being nuzzled by two catwalk models at a wedding fair in Glasgow, has regularly found himself at the centre of impassioned debate, perhaps owing to his progressive politics.
But the former Liberal Democrat candidate was widely condemned after he urged people to pray that Prince George would find the ‘love, when he grows up, of a fine young gentleman’.
His comments about the then four-year-old were met with fury by fellow Christians who said they were unkind and sinister.
Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the Queen and missionary bishop in the Christian Episcopal Church, described the suggestion as a ‘destabilising prayer’ which was the ‘theological equivalent of the curse of the wicked fairy in one of the fairy tales’.
On another occasion, during a Christmas sermon, Provost Holdsworth branded the UK Government ‘wicked’ and ‘cruel’ for its welfare and asylum policies.
He later launched a blistering attack on professional sporting events, which he said were ‘drugaddled, corrupt, nationalistic, sectarian, sexist and homophobic’.
The Provost also courted controversy by inviting a Muslim to recite from the Koran at a cathedral service, with a passage including a denial that Jesus was the son of God. Astonishingly, he also accused the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, of conspiring against him by briefing his Anglican sister church to reconsider its support for same-sex marriage.
Other candidates in the race to become the next Scottish bishop include the Rev Dr Michael Paterson, who is a consultant in spiritual care for the NHS and author of Singing For Our Lives: Positively Gay and Christian.
Also running in the election, which is being held on March 16, is the Rev Canon Dr Scott Robertson, who is the rector of the St Margaret of Scotland Church in Glasgow. He has in the past urged opponents of same-sex marriage not to leave the church.
The Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, has supported the Scottish Episcopal Church despite the backlash to its decision on same-sex marriage and said he was ‘delighted’ with the nominations of the three men.
Last night Provost Holdsworth was unavailable for comment.
‘Superb leader and organiser’