Now let me get on with normal life, says gay minister

Published on Friday 3 July 2009 22:20

THE clergyman who made history yesterday by becoming the first openly gay minister inducted at a Church of Scotland service said he was determined to return to "normal life".

The Rev Scott Rennie said he had had enough of the furore over his historic appointment and wished to put it behind him.

The landmark service at Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen marked the culmination of six months of controversy that rocked the Kirk and threatened to create a lasting and devastating division in the clergy and church membership.

But Mr Rennie, 37 – whose partner, religious studies teacher David Smith, is expected to live with him in the kirk's manse – refused to be drawn on the turmoil his new charge had caused during a short meeting with the media in the office of his new church.

He said: "I am very happy to be here at Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen where the congregation called me to be their minister.

"I'm looking forward to many happy years serving God in this church, in this parish and in this part of the city."

He added: "I look forward to getting on with the task at hand and returning to some kind of normal life."

The divorced father of one said he was "absolutely adamant" that he did not wish to make any comment about the furore surrounding his appointment.

Asked if he had had enough of media coverage, he replied empathetically: "Yes."

It was a sentiment echoed by the Rev Ewen Gilchrist, minister of Cults Parish Church, who has acted as interim moderator for Queen's Cross while Mr Rennie's appointment to the charge was decided by the Kirk's General Assembly.

In a final note to the congregation, he said: "The Kirk deserves applause for confirming the call of Scott to Queen's Cross. It sends out a very hopeful message and is in keeping with our Kirk's finer traditions of inclusivity, breadth and tolerance."

He added: "The bedrock claim of our Christian Faith is that God became one of us – that God took upon Himself, utterly and completely, our human nature and therefore human sexuality.

"Yet historically, Christ's Church has always got itself into knots about sexuality and how to live with it. We have so much still to learn."

More than 400 people, mainly from the Queen's Cross congregation, attended last night's induction ceremony conducted by the Rev Dr Alan Falconer, minister of St Machar Cathedral and Moderator of Aberdeen Presbytery.

The Rev David Randall, of Macduff Church in Banffshire, who has been a leading opponent of Mr Rennie's appointment, declared before the service began: "I have been a minister of the Church of Scotland for 38 years and I regard this as an utter tragedy."