Covenant Network to oppose same-sex union prohibition
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 19, 2000
The Covenant Network of Presbyterians says it will work to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit Presbyterian ministers from conducting services to bless same-sex unions.
In a statement on its web site, Network spokespersons say they “deeply regret the action taken by the 212th General Assembly to send to presbyteries an overture that would amend the Directory of Worship to prohibit sessions from permitting and pastors from performing services invoking God’s blessing on faithful relationships between same-gender couples.”
Several other special-interest groups have also indicated that they will be allied in a campaign to defeat the proposed amendment. They include More Light Presbyterians; That All May Freely Serve; Voices of Sophia; and the Witherspoon Society.
The Covenant Network was founded to champion changes in the denomination’s standards that have historically declared homosexual activity a sin and, since 1998, specifically forbidden ordination of self-affirming, practicing adulterers and homosexuals.
The organization has also pledged to resume efforts in 2001 to remove G-6.0106b, the ordination standard, from the Book of Order. The Covenant Network was sharply criticized by some of its allies for not working during the 1999 and 2000 General Assemblies to remove the standard. Covenant Network officials defended their silence, saying that they wanted to give the two-year “Unity in Diversity” process a chance.
Covenant Network has been one of the leading proponents of the unity-diversity conferences, which have been heavily promoted by denominational leaders.
The proposed amendment on same-gender unions “seriously impedes the ability of pastors to provide pastoral care and to plan and conduct appropriate worship for members of their congregations,” says Covenant Network Co-Moderator Laird Stuart, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. In so doing “it dramatically overturns our church’s history of trusting the faithful discretion and discernment of pastors and sessions for nurture of their parishioners.”
Covenant Network said the General Assembly’s vote — 51 percent in favor of the proposed ban, 48 percent opposed — was not a mandate for sweeping change. “Such a close vote is not an appropriate basis on which to bind the consciences of pastors attempting to help their parishioners lead faithful and responsible moral lives,” says Co-Moderator Deborah Block, pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee.
Before taking effect, the overture would need to be confirmed by a majority of the church’s 173 presbyteries. The Covenant Network and others will organize actively to oppose ratification of the proposed amendment in presbyteries during the coming fall and winter.