wfn.org | Synod court dismisses complaints in lesbian ordination case

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Note #7167 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

21-May-2002
02185

Synod court dismisses complaints in lesbian ordination case

Allegations were not specific enough to meet new, higher standard, it rules

by Jerry L. Van Marter

BRISBANE, Calif. - Citing a month old decision in a similar case by a higher church court, the Synod of the Pacific's Permanent Judicial Commission dismissed two complaints that Redwoods Presbytery failed to adequately examine a lesbian candidate for ministry before ordaining her last fall.

The court ruled May 17 that because there were no specific allegations of self-acknowledged practice which the Presbyterian Church (USA) confessions call sin in the complaint filed against the presbytery by several members of Redwoods and the neighboring Presbytery of San Joaquin, "complainants failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."

The case revolves around the Rev. Katie Morrison, an openly lesbian woman who was ordained by Redwoods Oct. 21, 2001. Morrison told the presbytery during her examination that she would abide by G-6.0106b of the Book of Order, which requires unmarried church officers to be chaste.

Complainants in the case argued that the presbytery didn't probe deeply enough into what Morrison meant by the word "chaste." James V. Jones, attorney for the Redwoods Presbytery complainants, told the court: "We don't know what further inquiry may have resulted in determining. The point is the process (of examination) failed, was thwarted and needs to be completed."

But Lynn Reade, attorney for the presbytery, argued that "self-acknowledgement of sinful practice is the key element of G-6.0106b and there is no allegation of sinful practice in the complaints."

Reade based her move for dismissal on an April 14, 2002 decision by the General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission in a case in Fort Lauderdale, FL. 

In that decision, which revolved around the ordination of a gay elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, the high court ruled: "When a complaint alleges violation of a constitutional standard that may have extreme consequences to a person's reputation, career or friendships, a greater degree of pleading specificity is required. A complaint making such allegations must assert factual allegations of how, when, where and under what circumstances the person was self-acknowledging a practice which the Confessions call a sin self-acknowledgment must be plain, palpable, and obvious and the details of this must be alleged in the complaint."

JoAn Blackstone, moderator of the synod's PJC, said, "Although we would prefer to hear the evidence and recognize the difficulty which is imposed on complainants under the current standard, it is the duty of this Commission to order the dismissal of these complaints."

Morrison, who works as a "field organizer" for More Light Presbyterians - an advocacy network for full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians in the life of the church - was not present for the proceedings.
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