A former Angus minister at the centre of a bullying row at Glasgow Cathedral has been backed by a senior Church of Scotland official.
Glasgow Cathedral’s first female elder Mhairi Coutts has come out in support of the Rev Dr Laurence Whitley, who was minister at Old and St Andrews Parish in Montrose until around four years ago.
The under-fire minister became embroiled in a dispute involving church elders this year after making the move west to take up post at Glasgow Cathedral in 2007.
The row involves elder Gordon Wyllie, who was asked to leave the cathedral’s kirk session after being found guilty of victimising Dr Whitley.
It had been claimed the departure of long-serving organist John Turner who won an out of court settlement led to the beginnings of a split in the cathedral.
Some elders believe he was forced to leave and claimed they themselves were pushed out of the kirk session for supporting him.
Glasgow lawyer Mr Wyllie believes he was victimised for speaking out on behalf of Mr Turner, after it was judged he undermined Mr Whitley by raising questions over the running of the cathedral in emails to selected senior congregation members.
However the Church of Scotland commission upheld Glasgow Presbytery’s decision to remove Mr Wyllie from the kirk session.
Mrs Coutts claimed a group of elders had been throwing up a series of accusations against Mr Whitley and accused the kirk session of having a “boys’ club mentality.”
She went on to claim there was a divide before Mr Whitley arrived in 2007 and the present trouble was not of his making.
Former elder Dr Derek Hutcheson also claimed the kirk session had become “riven with conflict.”
It is understood Mr Wyllie is considering further action.
Mr Whitley served 21 years at Montrose but was born in Port Glasgow and his father was a minister in Partick in the 1950s.
The move to Glasgow Cathedral represented a homecoming as his first appointment was to Busby East and West on the city’s south side.
The venue was packed for his induction service in February 2007.