The Church of England (CofE) is investigating a vicar after he called the institution’s first transgender archdeacon a “bloke”.
The Rev Brett Murphy faces an official rebuke from the CofE over “intentionally derogatory and disrespectful” remarks he made about the Rev Canon Dr Rachel Mann shortly after her appointment in June.
LGBT+ campaigners had hailed her appointment as a “beacon of light and hope”.
The Rev Murphy, in a 32-minute-long YouTube video, criticised the CofE for putting “a radical rainbow activist” in a “position of high authority in a diocese”.
The Rev Murphy, who quit the CofE a month after the broadcast, had said in reaction to the appointment: “Now you may wonder ‘is that really newsworthy, Brett?’
“You may roll your eyes, if you are a complementarian, that another feminist is getting a prominent high-ranking position in the CofE, but this is worse than that.
“The Rev Rachel Mann is in fact, biologically, a bloke, who identifies and lives as a woman.”
He goes on to question whether the appointment is “positioning” the Rev Mann to become the CofE’s first transsexual bishop and questions how she would deal with a member of her congregation who sees her lifestyle as in “complete rebellion against God’s word”.
“So what you are seeing here is someone who is a radical rainbow activist being put in a position of high authority in a diocese.”
The Rev Mann declined to comment.
She previously told The Telegraph: “I’m self-evidently a woman, but I’m glad I was once a man.”
The Rev Murphy, now a member of the Free Church of England, faces being formally disciplined by the CofE over his comments.
An earlier complaint about his comments was dismissed by the Bishop of Loughborough, the Rt Rev Saju Muthalaly, who said no further disciplinary action needed to be taken.
However, following a review of the complaint by the tribunal arm of the CofE, the investigation has been reopened.
The Rev Murphy said he risks being barred from any future employment in the CofE and of having a permanent mark on his “blue file”, a clergy member’s personal record.
Bishop Muthalaly, in a strongly worded letter to the Rev Murphy, called his language “intentionally derogatory and disrespectful” and “not appropriate as a Clerk in Holy Orders, irrespective of the right you have to hold and express views”.
He added: “You clearly recorded your vlog wearing clerical attire aware that this would give you both status and make it clear you were a Church of England priest (further reinforced at the time by your description of yourself on your YouTube page).”
He accused the vicar of trying to spread his views to “as wide an audience as possible”.
‘Penalty of rebuke’
The Rev Murphy’s YouTube channel has 13,000 subscribers.
Bishop Muthalaly said he was “minded that a penalty of rebuke should be imposed”.
He added that this was not a final decision and invited the Rev Murphy to offer written submissions explaining his comments.
A rebuke, in canon law, is a censure on a member of the clergy and is the least severe censure available, given in person by a bishop or by an ecclesiastical court.
The CofE has been approached for comment.
The Rev Murphy, who is originally from Australia, said: “As a Christian minister it is my duty to proclaim the gospel whenever I can. I make no apology for that.
“The decisions by the CofE to investigate and pursue me for stating biological truth has reinforced and vindicated all the concerns that I raised in the original vlog.
“The re-opening of the complaint especially exposes the drive within the CofE to censor and banish any dissenting voice that does not agree or celebrate extreme LGBT ideology.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Leicester said: “As the letter provided to The Daily Telegraph indicates, a complaint was laid against Mr Murphy under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003.
“The complaint is being dealt with under the procedure set out in the Measure and will be finally determined by the Bishop of Loughborough in due course. No further comment will be made about this matter.”
