wfn.org | General Assembly PJC to Hear Cases

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

11-January-2000 
00015 
 
    General Assembly PJC to Hear Ordination, 
    Same-Sex Union, Gay Candidacy Cases 
 
    by John Sniffen, associate editor 
    "The Presbyterian Outlook" 
 
RICHMOND, Va. - Three of four judicial cases from the Synod of the 
Northeast regarding 
homosexuals and their full participation in the church are officially on 
their way to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC). 
 
    Complainants in a case against Hudson River Presbytery's allowance of 
same-sex unions announced Dec. 10 that they were appealing the synod 
commission's decision in support of the presbytery. 
 
    Northern New England Presbytery voted Dec. 4 to appeal a synod PJC 
decision that it enforce compliance with "The Book of Order" G-6.0106b, the 
so-called fidelity-chastity rule for ordained church officers. 
 
    Also being appealed to the PJC is the case of a gay candidate for the 
ministry from West Jersey Presbytery. 
 
    And in the fourth controversial case coming out of the synod PJC, 
Southern New England Presbytery PJC has remanded a synod PJC decision to 
First church, Stamford, Conn., telling its session to complete the 
questioning of a gay elder. 
 
                     Same-sex decision "split hairs" 
 
    In the Hudson River Presbytery case, the synod PJC ruled that, because 
same-sex unions do not constitute "marriage," they are not forbidden by 
"The Book of Order." 
 
    If such services are to be prohibited, the synod commission said, it 
should be done through legislation, not by constitutional interpretation. 
Permanent Judicial Commissions are not legislative bodies," it pointed out 
in its majority ruling.  "The proper method for amending the Constitution 
requires the General Assembly to submit a proposed amendment to the 
presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes." 
 
    Since the decision was announced, the Presbytery of Tampa Bay submitted 
an overture to this year's General Assembly that would flatly prohibit 
Presbyterian ministers from performing or Presbyterian churches to be used 
for same-sex union services. 
 
    Presbyterian elder and attorney Julius Poppinga announced that the 
seven ministers and eight churches which had filed the complaint against 
Hudson River Presbytery were appealing the synod commission's ruling to the 
General Assembly PJC. 
 
    "The [synod commission's] decision ... tries to split hairs," said 
Poppinga in a press release. "While finding that same-sex marriages and 
weddings are not authorized, it nevertheless ruled that church services 
solemnizing same-sex `holy unions' are okay, even in the face of evidence 
that one of the ministers who performed such ceremonies admitted he could 
not tell the difference." 
 
    Poppinga predicted that the General Assembly PJC would agree that "the 
church and its ministers may not endorse relationships that are contrary to 
established church law." 
 
    The case arose in August 1998 after a newspaper reported a same-sex 
union ceremony that had taken place at South church, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 
Subsequently, the session of nearby Bethlehem church asked the stated clerk 
of the presbytery to "investigate, counsel, and as necessary discipline the 
pastors and session" of South church, and to forbid same-sex union 
ceremonies. 
 
               Presbytery opts to appeal rather than enforce 
 
    Meeting in New Boston, N.H., Northern New England Presbytery voted to 
appeal the synod PJC decision that the presbytery should hold Christ 
church, Burlington, Vt., in compliance with G-6.0106b. 
 
    Following the final adoption of G-6.0106b by the General Assembly in 
1997, Christ church notified the presbytery that it would not enforce the 
section which calls for fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman or 
chastity in singleness for ordained church officers. 
 
    Northern New England Presbytery initially told the 70-member More Light 
congregation to comply, then later reversed itself and rescinded the order. 
Five church sessions and 18 individuals then filed a complaint against the 
presbytery which led to an October hearing before the Synod PJC. 
 
    The synod commission unanimously upheld the complaint and ordered the 
presbytery to continue to "work pastorally" with the Christ church session, 
with "the ultimate goal of bringing them into compliance with the law as it 
exists."  It said further that the presbytery must recognize irregular 
actions by its sessions and record its disapproval. 
 
    Presbytery stated clerk S. David Stoner said the vote to appeal was by 
a clear majority and that he had not recorded a count. 
 
    The presbytery's response to the synod PJC decision had two other 
parts. 
 
    The second one gave the presbytery moderator authority to appoint a 
committee "to work pastorally with churches where there is a concern for 
balancing parts of "The Book of Order."  Its purposes will be "to meet and 
discuss with each session the particular areas of `The Book of the Order' 
where there are concerns" and "to report annually to the presbytery on 
their learnings and the sessions' progress toward compliance." 
 
    Stoner confirmed that it was "quite probable" that the committee would 
visit not just Christ church, but also three other congregations: 
Mid-Coast, Topsham, Me.; Londonderry, N.H.; and Litchfield Community, N.H. 
Mid-Coast has also said that it would not enforce G-6.0106b.  Londonderry 
and Litchfield Community churches are plaintiffs in the action against the 
presbytery. 
 
                   Overture to remove G-6.0106b approved 
 
    In addition to appealing the synod PJC decision, Northern New England 
Presbytery also approved a Christ church-initiated overture to the 212th 
General Assembly to remove G-6.0106b from "The Book of Order," and elected 
an elder from Christ church as its vice-moderator. 
 
    The vote to approve the overture was 48-45.  The vice-moderator, who 
will assume the moderator's position next year, was also elected by a 
three-vote margin, according to Stoner.  Last year's General Assembly voted 
to request the stated clerk to recommend to the 212th 
Assembly (2000) that all business related to the ordination issue be 
referred to the 213th Assembly (2001). 
 
    Stoner said the 211th Assembly's recommendation was noted during the 
presbytery's debate on the new overture.  It was countered, he said, by the 
contention that the "moratorium" is one-sided, since it does not forbid the 
taking of legal action to enforce G-6.0106b during the same two-year 
period. 
 
         G-6.0106b applies to ordination, not candidacy, court rules 
 
    Last month, the Synod of the Northeast PJC upheld West Jersey 
Presbytery's support of Graham Van Keuren, 27, as a candidate for the 
ministry even though he is gay and told the presbytery he does not intend 
to remain celibate. 
 
    The synod commission, in a 7-2 decision, said that the candidacy stage 
of preparing for the ministry was not the time to impose the "fidelity in 
[heterosexual] marriage, chastity in singleness" law approved by the 
denomination in 1997. 
 
    The complainants in the case - 11 ministers and six churches - have 
decided to appeal the decision to the General Assembly PJC. 
 
    "The evidence clearly showed that the candidate intended to disregard 
existing church law," John Sheldon, pastor of the First church, Ocean City, 
N.J., told the "Philadelphia Inquirer."  "We believe the synod's decision 
to dismiss our case, if allowed to stand, will weaken both the authority of 
our PC(USA) constitution and the integrity of the preparation process for 
the Office of Ministry of the Word and Sacrament." 
 
    Gary R. Griffith, attorney for the complainants, said the appeal will 
seek to reverse the presbytery's decision, remove Van Keuren from candidacy 
status and require the presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry 
to come into compliance with the requirements of the constitution. 
 
    Van Keuren runs the Presbyterian campus ministry at the University of 
Delaware, a post that does not require ordination. 
 
                Gay elder will be reexamined, presbytery says 
 
    Meanwhile, the Southern New England Presbytery PJC has decided to 
follow the Northeast Synod PJC's decision and tell the session of First 
church, Stamford, Conn., to reopen and complete its questioning of session 
candidate Wayne Osborne. 
 
    Osborne, who was already ordained,  has admitted to being in a 
committed same-sex relationship, but declined to tell the session if he was 
sexually active. 
 
    The synod commission cited three deficiencies in the Stamford session's 
examination of Osborne - a failure to further explore his assertion that he 
is "chaste in God's eyes"; his refusal to answer the question, "Is this a 
sexually active partnership?"; and allowing to pass without further inquiry 
his statement that many sins in "The Book of Confessions" are "outdated." 
 
    The synod commission did not sustain a charge that the session 
"knowingly" acted in violation of G-6.0106b. 
 
    After the synod commission's decision was announced, Dan Sassi, a 
spokesperson for the First Stamford session, told Presbyterian News Service 
that the session would conduct a re-examination only if so ordered by the 
presbytery. 

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