Kirk minister is suspended after affair with musician
A MARRIED minister has been suspended by the Church of Scotland after admitting to ‘inappropriately intimate sexual relations’ with a musician. The Reverend Professor Ian Campbell Bradley has been stripped of his ministerial status for a year after a church investigation.
The 68-year-old, a St Andrews University emeritus professor of cultural and spiritual history, confessed to a special committee hearing.
It was set up by the Presbytery of St Andrews after a married woman, 61, made allegations about the liaisons.
The accuser also alleged that they continued the relationship during a stay in a cottage in Argyll, between October 22 and October 25, 2016.
Committee members heard the pair did not have sexual intercourse and they had not had intimate relations since then.
But Church of Scotland officials imposed the suspension on Professor Bradley after deciding the claims were serious enough to warrant disciplinary action.
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: ‘An allegation of conduct that would constitute a disciplinary offence was considered by a court of the Church of Scotland on August 25.
‘The individual at the centre of the complaint admitted inappropriate conduct. He was suspended from the status and functions of a ministry for a fixed period of one year.’
Under the Kirk’s Discipline of Ministry Act 2001, engaging in sexual relations while married is classed as conduct ‘declared censurable by the word of God’.
It is understood two allegations made by the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, were initially considered by a special committee – consisting of convener Robert Hynd, the
‘Censurable by the word of God’
Rev Ann Inglis and the Rev Hugh Conkey – and further investigations were initiated.
The first centred on claims by the woman that Professor Bradley bullied her in a restaurant in Glasgow on or around Decem- ber 14, 2017 by shouting at her and using language which upset and demeaned her, causing her alarm and distress.
He denied the allegation of bullying and, given the lack of evidence, the special committee concluded there was no case.
He admitted the allegation of inappropriate conduct and told the hearing he ‘felt, and continues to feel, remorse’.
The woman who made the complaint told The Courier newspaper it was initially lovely to see him, but claimed he ‘laid into me’ in the restaurant and ‘was red in the face, blaming me for everything’.
Professor Bradley declined to comment.