A disciplinary process concerning a bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) is set to cost the denomination more than £500,000, according to reports.
Financial accounts published ahead of this week's meeting of the Church's General Synod indicate that £325,000 was spent on legal and other fees related to the process concerning the Rt Revd Anne Dyer.
As Premier Christian News previously reported, Bishop Dyer is due to face a Clergy Discipline Tribunal this autumn over allegations of conduct unbecoming of a cleric.
A spokesman for the SEC told The Sunday Times that the legal costs were “significant but necessary” to complete a “thorough and professional investigation of complaints”.
“That process began in August 2022, and has involved detailed examination of the allegations by the preliminary proceedings committee and then consideration by the Church’s Procurator,” he said.
A spokesman for Bishop Dyer told the Church Times that Bishop Anne is "confident that once all the facts are presented, she will have clearly established her innocence as well as the motivation of the small group of individuals who have campaigned against her".
Earlier this week, a group who had previously complained about Bishop Dyer’s conduct wrote a letter to The Most Revd Mark Strange, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, claiming that Bishop Dyer’s spokespeople had “made the baseless accusation that the complainers are homophobes and misogynists”.
Legal representatives for Bishop Dyer have previous said that “an entirely one-sided and self-serving picture has been presented by a handful of people who fundamentally object to same-sex marriage and to Bishop Dyer’s appointment as the diocese’s first female bishop" and that Bishop Dyer is "clearly frustrated at being unable to respond publicly to the very personal and gruelling attacks on her".
The letter to Bishop Strange was signed by Lord Glenarthur, Dr Stephen Goodyear, Andrew Bradford, the Revd Professor David Atkinson, Dr Alan Cundill, and Richard Murray.
It asks Bishop Strange to "state unequivocally" that he does "believe that complainers are motivated by homophobia or misogyny”.
