wfn.org | Civil crowd overflows ordination hearings

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

01-July-1996 
 
GA96036 
 
    Civil crowd overflows ordination hearings 
 
    The Ordination and Human Sexuality committee of the 208th General 
Assembly heard a long stream of two-minute pro and con arguments made in a 
tone of civility at times warmed by emotion.  Nearly 230 people signed up 
to speak, but only 103 were able to do so because of time constraints. 
Even so, the committee heard arguments and testimonies from 9:15 a.m. until 
12:20 p.m., then from 1:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. when they began hearing 
overture advocates.  The wall divider into the next-door ballroom had to be 
removed to allow all 700 people to sit. 
 
    The arguments ranged over the whole spectrum, as expected, covering 
scripture, the Church's constitution, experiences of healing and 
experiences of rejection and pain. 
 
    Katie Moffit, an elder from St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Richmond, 
Va., said she had been sent by her session to pray for the committee and to 
say, "We love this church whose constitution rests firmly on the Bible and 
has for 200 years."  She held up a Bible with a copy of the Book of 
Confessions and the Book of Order on top as symbols of the church resting 
on the Bible.  "Don't move the church off the Bible,"she said, then pushed 
the Book of Order and Book of Confessions onto the floor. 
 
    Merrill Proudfoot, a pastor from Heartland Presbytery who said he was a 
gay man, described his 25 years of struggling to overcome his sexual 
feelings toward men "through all kinds of counseling" only to have them 
changed "not a whit."  He described how in 1978 he was overcome by joy in 
accepting his gay-ness.  He said his neurosis was lifted. "Please consider 
that God's will might work for healing in this way also," he said. 
 
    John Sloop, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Va., 
said his church had engaged in study over the last three years, and at the 
end had reaffirmed their signature on the "Witness to Biblical Morality," a 
document affirming the standard that sex is reserved for Christian 
marriage, which he said had been signed by 2,918 sessions representing 
churches with 30 percent of the membership of the PC(USA).  As one with 
experience on the mission field, he also appealed to the committee to 
consider what damage ordination of practicing homosexuals would have on 
PC(USA) mission partners who, he said, would not be able to understand it. 
 
 
    Chris Glasser, a Presbyterian from Greater Atlanta Presbytery, said 
gays have experienced "spiritual abuse" and asked that their "baptismal 
rights be returned to us." 
 
    Maria Cardenas, an elder from San Diego, said she was a lesbian who 13 
years ago began to be transformed.  She said she was welcomed at a PC(USA) 
church which gave her "tough love" to help in her difficult transformation. 
 
    An African-American pastor from Charlotte, N.C., told the committee 
there was no comparison between the civil rights movement and the gay and 
lesbian struggle.  He said the civil rights movement "had its basis in the 
Word of God, and did not try to reinterpret it or change it..." 
 
    The last speaker, a 10-year-old girl, spoke powerfully for ordination. 
Danielle Thibeaux-Milner from Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church in San 
Francisco, said: "In the past, the Presbyterian church has found ways to 
justify their prejudice towards African-Americans and women.  Now 
African-Americans and women can be ordained.  Does that tell you something? 
My mom has worked her butt off in seminary doing the same papers, studying 
for the same tests, trying to make good grades, trying to get an internship 
just as well as straight, white men, who get ordained.  And I know that 
women can be ordained.  But if they [men] aren't straight, they have to lie 
about it, lesbian women have to lie about it.  Gay men have to lie about 
it, trans-gendered people have to lie about it, and bi-sexual people have 
to lie about it.  The Presbyterian Church says we shouldn't lie, and they 
say God's love is inclusive.  My mom deserves to be loved, to live happily, 
and she deserves to have her call to ministry recognized.  You can vote no, 
and you can justify your fears through Scripture.  When you vote no, you 
will hurt us with your fears and condemnations.  Thank you." 
 
    Following the hearings, the committee heard arguments from overture 
advocates. 
 
 
Bill Lancaster 

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