wfn.org | Ordination Standards committee inundated with testimony

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Note #6598 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

11-June-2001
GA 01040

Ordination Standards committee inundated with testimony

Committee explores joint recommendation on a theological commission

by Jerry Van Marter

LOUISVILLE, June 11 – The 213th General Assembly's Assembly Committee
on Ordination Standards  today honed in on the most sweeping overture on its
docket – Overture 01-8 from New York City Presbytery, which would not
only delete the ordination standards in the Book of Order, but also
eliminate the "authoritative interpretation" of the constitution that has
been in effect since 1978 barring the ordination of "self-affirming,
practicing homosexuals."

	The committee also expressed great interest in a joint meeting with the
Assembly committees on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church and Theological
Issues to develop a joint recommendation asking the Assembly to create a
theological commission to sort through the myriad of theological disputes
plaguing the divided denomination.

	Assembly moderator Jack Rogers addressed the committee late in the
afternoon and strongly supported the commission idea.

	While the committee gave no indication how it would vote on the overture,
it agreed that the New York City proposal is the overture on which the
committee's decision regarding ordination standards will rise or fall.

	Overture advocates from the 29 presbyteries that have submitted overtures
or concurrences regarding G-6.0106b – which requires "fidelity in
marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" – agreed
with the interpretation of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution (ACC)
that 01-8 is the best way to achieve what they all want: a complete rollback
of the church's ban on the ordination of sexually active gay and lesbian
Presbyterians to church office.

	The ACC has advised that both G-6.0106b and the authoritative
interpretation must be voided in order for gay and lesbian ordination to
become freely possible.

	The debate today was hot and heavy. More than 170 people signed up for the
two-hour open hearing this morning, forcing the committee to conduct a
lottery to determine who would speak during the time allotted.  The
arguments were familiar in this long-running debate.

	Mary Kuhns, a minister member of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery  and supporter of
gay ordination, told the committee, "We've had enough talk. Equal
opportunity has been paralyzed by G-6.0106b. Justice comes first. We cannot
have peace at any price. That is no peace at all."

	Henry Greene, a minister member of Stockton Presbytery, conceded that the
ordination ban "has produced hard times." But, Greene "insisted, "G-6.0106b
is a sign of God's good will for us but God has not forgotten us and will
see us through."

	Jean Holmes, a pastor in Hudson River Presbytery, said her congregation's
"inability in good conscience" to comply with G-6.0106b has left her
congregation "in spiritual turmoil ... with others in the church considering
us 'bad' Presbyterians."

	But opponents of gay ordination rejected the "conscience" argument. Mary
Brondyke, an elder in Boston Presbytery, said, "Biblical obedience is
mandatory, not optional. If we can't call sin 'sin,' how can we have any
credibility?"

	When it came time for the advocates for the 29 overtures and concurrences
seeking the deletion of G-6.0106b to make their case, they opted to make a
single presentation. "Jesus sometimes broke the law in order to fulfill it,"
said the Rev. Susan Andrews of New Brunswick Presbytery. "His ministry was
gracious and flexible ... a purity not based on a narrow legal code, but on
love," she said, introducing a detailed 60-minute, Power Point -assisted
survey of history, polity and biblical exegesis by Doug Nave, the advocate
for New York City Presbytery's overture and the Rev. Nancy Ramsey, a
professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

	Ramsey argued that freedom of conscience is "an essential" in the PC(USA)
and that standards of sexual conduct is not. "No home should force a choice
between authenticity and inclusion," Nave added, "but our family home, the
Presbyterian Church, does just that ... and so people leave home."

	Ramsey argued that the confessions themselves say that scripture is not
clear. She quoted the Westminster Confession of Faith: "All things in
Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all."
Therefore, she said, "scripture must be read very carefully and faithful
Presbyterians may differ. This is not cultural accommodation or relativism.
This is our traditional, historical understanding of the Reformed faith."

	"This issue is not important enough to split our family," Nave said.
"Perhaps we should say what Jesus said about homosexuality: nothing."

	The Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen of Twin Cities Area Presbytery pleaded for
"middle ground." Not all of his session members agree on human sexuality
issues, he said. "We need a win/win position as a church ....We can take
action at this Assembly that puts the church in a position that neither
requires or prohibits the ordination of openly homosexual Presbyterians."

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