EXCLUSIVE
INMATES at Noranside Prison are today expected to lobby the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the reinstatement of controversial former minister Helen Percy as their chaplain.
They have written to the General Assembly calling for Ms Percy to continue her chaplaincy work at the prison. The move is likely to be ruled incompetent by the Kirk because a call for reinstatement can come only from the former minister herself.
Ms Percy, 32, who resigned as a minister with Angus presbytery last year after an investigation into her alleged affair with a married church elder, is pursuing an unprecedented challenge to the Church's law.
She is seeking an industrial tribunal hearing against the Church which could raise serious questions about its independence from secular law in deciding its disciplinary procedures.
The prisoners at Noranside were yesterday understood to be attempting to bring the petition before the Assembly, which begins today.
Senior Kirk sources have said they will move to question the competency of the petition.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service confirmed inmates at the Angus prison had been in touch with the Church over Ms Percy. ''The prisoners have felt she was a very good, down-to-earth chaplain. A number of the prisoners have been supportive of her and may be helping her in any way they can.''
The petition is one of two set to prompt controversy.
A Fife minister is expected to attempt to bring a petition calling on the Church to recognise a contentious book by a former elder which has criticised Kirk ministers.
The petition, by Rev James McMillan, minister at Christ's Kirk Glenrothes, has already been rejected by the Church's committee on bills and overtures, which is responsible for presenting documents for debate to the Assembly.
Mr McMillan is currently the subject of an investigation by Kirkcaldy presbytery over his connections with Mr Thomas Stevenson, a former elder in Glenboig, Lanarkshire.
Mr Stevenson has published a book, Persecuted: Dark Secrets of the Church of Scotland, which contains accusations directed against the minister at Glenboig, the Rev Sandy Fraser.
It emerged in January that copies of the book which were sent to Kirk office-bearers throughout Scotland may have been mailed from Mr McMillan's manse.
Assembly subjects will cover a diverse range of topics including finance, the National Lottery, and segregated education.
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