A Church of England Bishop who lost a discrimination case against a gay Christian has been ordered to undergo equal opportunities training.

Cardiff Employment Tribunal ruled that the Bishop of Hereford, the Right Rev Anthony Priddis, had discriminated against John Reaney, 42, by blocking his appointment as a church youth worker because of his sexuality.

In its final judgment yesterday the tribunal ordered the Bishop, 60, to pay Mr Reaney £47,345 in compensation. The ruling also stated that “staff [in the diocese of Hereford] involved in recruitment should receive equal opportunities training”.

A spokesman for the gay rights charity Stonewall told The Times: “There is only one member of staff involved in this case, so that is them saying the Bishop should receive equal opportunities training.”

He said that Stonewall, which funded the claim by Mr Reaney, had written to the office of the Bishop offering to help him with the training.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, said that this would involve helping the Bishop, who was appointed the 104th Bishop of Hereford in June 2004, to develop an understanding of how to deal with people from minority communities as well as explaining to him that asking intimate questions about people’s private lives is not an appropriate thing to do during a job interview.

During the tribunal Mr Reaney described how in a private, two-hour interview with the Bishop he had been questioned about his personal life, previous relationships and sexuality. Despite being recommended for the job by a diocesan interview panel the Bishop rejected Mr Reaney’s application because, he said, “Mr Reaney’s lifestyle had the potential to impact on the spiritual, moral and ethical leadership within the Diocese.”

Mr Summerskill said: “Normally training would take half a day or a day but [the Bishop] might need slightly more intensive work. The key priority is not just the compensation. It is ensuring that no one else is put in this incredibly humiliating position.”

Anni Holden, the spokesman for the Bishop, said yesterday that he would not be accepting the offer of help with training from Stonewall. She said that Stonewall was completely out of order and that the diocese had already fulfilled the requirement by the tribunal for equal opportunities training. “We have an HR [human resources] person who will be present at all recruitment interviews and will give advice before and during interviews if necessary,” she said. “The HR person will implement equal opportunities training as appropriate and the tribunal is happy with that.”

Mr Reaney, from Llandudno, Wales, works for the Weston Spirit charity. He left his job as a youth worker in the Diocese of Chester in 2002 after he was asked to choose between his partner and his job.

Carolyn Salter, from Wellingborough, who had Mr Reaney as her youth worker when she was a teenager, described him as a very good role model to Christian children. “He was everything the Church could want in a youth leader and his sexuality should not have been an issue,” she said. “Attitudes like that of Bishop Priddis have no place in the church or in this century.”