Baltimore Presbytery approves overture to allow gay ordination
The Layman Online, Posted Friday, September 26, 2003
The Presbytery of Baltimore is calling for yet another denominationwide referendum on a proposal to repeal the “fidelity/chastity” clause in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The overture asking the presbyteries to strike the clause – G-6.0106b – from the constitution, approved Thursday night according to a statement posted on the Web site of the pro-gay ordination group That All May Freely Serve, will go to the 216th General Assembly, which will meet in Richmond, Va., in June of 2004.
Based on its past record, Baltimore Presbytery is fertile ground for gay activists, and one of its leaders is Don Stroud, a minister who publicly acknowledges his homosexual lifestyle and is a leader of the latest initiative to end the denomination’s ban on ordaining practicing homosexuals.
The presbytery has voted against the ordination requirement in three national referendums by margins ranging from 65.4 to 69.53 percent.
Meanwhile, in those same referendums among the PCUSA’s 172-plus presbyteries, the ordination standard was first approved in 1997 for inclusion in the constitution by a 55 percent majority and subsequently reaffirmed by majorities of 65 percent and nearly 75 percent.
Stroud, whom Baltimore Presbytery elected a commissioner to the 213th General Assembly in 2001, has openly defied the constitution by publicly declaring that he is a practicing homosexual.
But the presbytery has shielded him from accusations that his gay lifestyle is the same as renouncing the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA). That’s the language that the denomination uses when it strips a minister or church officer of his ordination – tantamount to ex-communication.
Through an investigating committee and a panel from the presbytery court, the Presbytery of Baltimore enabled Stroud to avoid trial on formal charges. The reports from the committee and the presbytery court did not give a reason to allow Stroud to continue as a minister of Word and Sacrament.
The stated clerk of the presbytery, Charles Forbes, and a member of the Presbytery investigating committee are contributors to That All May Freely Serve, which employs Stroud as an “evangelist” for gay causes, according to Paul Rolf Jensen, a Presbyterian lawyer who accused Stroud of breaking his ordination vows.
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic is considering an appeal of the presbytery’s refusal to bring Stroud to trial. But the synod court’s jurisdiction is limited to whether the presbytery acted properly and does not include the right to make Stroud face trial.
At one point, the presbytery approved a policy – which never became effective – of advising local church sessions that they did not have to obey church law.
With the help of the Witherspoon Society, another gay activist group seeking the repeal of the PCUSA’s ordination requirements, Stroud has assumed a leadership role in the latest effort to repeal the standard. On Sept. 16, the Witherspoon Society posted on its Web site Stroud’s “Primer on Overtures and Concurrences” – a political strategy for repealing the ordination requirement.
Stroud has been a political activist for gay causes since he became a member of the Presbytery of Baltimore in 1999.
He was first voted in as a member of the presbytery after saying in a prepared statement,
“Given the present climate within our denomination regarding issues of sexual orientation and being aware that my sexual orientation raises certain matters of concern among some members of the PC(USA), I therefore wish to state that, in acknowledging that I am a gay man, I affirm that God has created me good and that my homosexual orientation is fully consistent with the goodness of God’s creation and is in no way sinful, though I do confess that I am a sinner reconciled to God by the grace of Christ Jesus. As I would never presume to question another person about the particulars of her or his own personal sexual practice, regardless of my knowledge of the person’s sexual orientation, so I shall neither entertain nor respond to questions pertaining to the particulars of my own personal sexual practice.”
Since then, the presbytery has named Stroud to serve on key committees, in addition to sending him to the 213th General Assembly, where he was a strong backer of Jack Rogers, who was elected moderator by that assembly.
Rogers advocated repealing G-6.0106b and allowing Presbyterian ministers to perform “marriages” for same-gender couples.
Stroud was among the General Assembly commissioners in 2001 who argued – and voted – for repeal of G-6.0106b. With Stroud serving as the overture advocate, they succeeded in getting the issue on the ballot for presbyteries. But the presbyteries overwhelmingly rejected the repeal proposal.
The 215th General Assembly in May considered a number of similar overtures, one of which Stroud was the advocate, but voted against calling for another referendum. That assembly instead decided to pray for the work of the denomination’s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, which has the gay-ordination issue on its agenda.
The gay-rights bloc was divided at the 215th General Assembly. That All May Freely Serve, the Witherspoon Society and More Light Presbyterians demanded another referendum to repeal the standard.
But the Covenant Network, the most powerful member of the bloc but not desiring another overwhelming defeat, did not openly lobby with its allies. Instead, the Network has focused on efforts to get the Theological Task Force to pave the way for an open policy that would allow presbyteries to decide whether to ordain practicing homosexuals.