Lesbian beats system to gain ordination
The Layman Online, November 15, 2001
Katie Morrison, 29, is being hailed as the new poster child for homosexual activists in the Presbyterian Church (USA) because she beat the system.
She did so at a time when the denomination was saying “no” for a third time in a national referendum on a constitutional proposal to ordain people who refuse to confine their sexual activity to marriage. The early vote among the denomination’s presbyteries was running 15-2 against Amendment A.
The Redwoods Presbytery voted 90-37 to approve Morrison’s ordination as a minister in the PCUSA. That should not be surprising. In 1997, Redwoods voted 147-39 against Amendment B, which was approved nationwide to become G-6.0106b in the Book of Order. It is that “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard that bars ordination of practicing homosexuals.
Morrison won the title “reverend” after presbytery leaders successfully stymied efforts by some commissioners to question her about her lesbian relationship, which she had acknowledged in public. Synod officials also ignored registered mail that would have required a church court review of the process before she could have been formally ordained and installed.
Morrison was not an unknown quantity.
Morrison’s activism began while she was attending Colby College in Winterville, Maine. She became president of The Bridge, the campus organization for homosexual students. A 1992 article in the organization’s newsletter quoted her as saying, “I’m always on stage, putting on a good face. Being the perfect dyke is hard.”
She attended her first General Assembly when she was 21. She became a high-profile lesbian who got some of her training at the denomination’s Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Ky., where she worked with the National Network of Presbyterian College Women. The Network came under fire from the General Assembly because of its advocacy of homosexual activity among students on college campuses. The Network was ordered to destroy its publications that promoted homosexual activity and goddess worship.
In 2000, at the 212th General Assembly, Morrison was one of 81 people arrested in an illegal demonstration sponsored by Soul Force, a national gay group that attacks denominations that do not ordain homosexuals.
At a press conference during the 213th General Assembly in Louisville, Morrison joined other activists in applauding the commissioners’ decision to put Amendment A to a national vote. She said then, “I am an out lesbian, a candidate certified ready to receive a call, a seminary graduate. I’ve passed the ordination exams.
“This [General Assembly] vote was extremely significant for those who have been in this holding place … We’ve been working in the church anyway. I’ve been serving as a lay leader. I’ve been serving as a youth minister the last year and a half, working with junior high and high school students, teaching them the words that were taught to me, the church is a safe place.”
Recently, Morrison was one of the worship leaders during the Covenant Network Conference in Pasadena Presbyterian Church, where she had been ordained as a lay elder. Pasadena Church, the home congregation of Moderator Jack B. Rogers, has been one of the most aggressive congregations in the denomination in lobbying for ordaining homosexuals.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle after her ordination was approved, Morrison claimed that she met the criterion despite having a homosexual partner. She admitted she is not celibate, but contended that the operative word is “chaste.”
She told the Chronicle that the Heidelberg Catechism refers to “‘chastity’ as living in pure and right relation, whether in holy matrimony or singleness. It’s not referring to physical practice. I am in a committed, faithful relationship. Sexuality is one component of the relationship.”
The American Heritage Dictionary defines chastity as: a. Not having experienced sexual intercourse; virginal. b. Abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse. c. Abstaining from sexual intercourse; celibate.
Redwoods presbyters who did not want to violate the denomination’s constitution say it wasn’t Morrison’s manipulation of the definition of “chastity” that won the day, but the tactics of those who supported her ordination.
Bob Davis, executive director of the Presbyterian Forum, detailed those tactics in a commentary. A lawyer and a Presbyterian minister, he said presbytery and synod officials committed a number of irregularities that prevented questions on the floor of presbytery and rejected an official request to delay Morrison’s installation until church law could be sorted out.
Davis said that hand-delivered registered mail was ignored so that Morrison could be installed as a Presbyterian minister without a hearing. Ecclesiastical litigation is pending.
Morrison did her seminary work at San Francisco Theological Seminary, where Rogers ended his career as a professor and administrator. She is employed as a field organizer for More Light Presbyterians.
Bill Moss, co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, said Morrison “came out as a lesbian in college, then at SFTS, and has been honest about being a lesbian Christian throughout her ordination process. She faithfully embodies the Christian life and a church that welcomes all persons. We are delighted to have her working with us to help change and transform our church.”