GAPJC to hear two ordination challenges on July 29
By Jason P. Reagan, The Layman, July 22, 2011
An ordination-nullification appeal facing the Presbyterian Church USA’s highest court next week should stand on its own merits, appellants say, despite recent changes that allow presbyteries to ordain homosexuals.
The complainants in Eric Parnell (and others) v. The Presbytery of San Francisco filed a supplemental brief to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission on July 1 pointing out that the original complaint, which seeks to void the ordination of openly gay minister Lisa Larges, is still valid in light of Amendment 10A’s passage in May.
Seven members and one church filed the original complaint in 2004 after the presbytery granted Larges’ ordination. Largess, who was then involved in a self-described same-sex marriage, claimed a departure from PCUSA fidelity/chastity requirements as then outlined in the Book of Order when she sought ordination to work as a minister with a pro-gay advocacy group.
After securing a nullification of the ordination, the Parnell complainants suffered a setback when the Synod of the Pacific Permanent Judicial Commission (SPJC) sent the case back to the presbytery PJC, which promptly overturned the order. The SPJC then heard a second appeal and ruled Larges’ ordination violated the denomination’s constitution. The presbytery appealed that decision, leading to the July 29 GAPJC hearing in Louisville.
“We do feel confident because our argument rests very firmly on a very strong record both from the trial and from the Scriptures,” Parnell complainant Mary Naegeli said, adding she hoped the GAPJC would stand on that record rather than bow to denominational politics.
“We’ve put a clear choice before the PJC. If intimidated by voices in the church, they could possibly back off of what they should do,” she said, adding “If they will have the courage of the historic faith behind them, they have a chance to do something really, really good here.
The Parnell complainants filed the supplemental brief after being asked by the GAPJC to address the question of whether or not the complaint was moot in light of 10A’s passage.
“The suggestion of mootness implies that when 10A deleted fidelity/chastity from the text of G-6.0106, something new was achieved, either a new standard or a new procedure. Neither is the case,” the brief states.
The brief also claims that “10A focuses on the procedural requirements of ordaining bodies. Neither provision presumes to affect the Scriptural mandate itself. Indeed, both Amendment 10A, and the former G-6.0106 point the church to Scripture, the source of the fidelity/chastity standard, which has not changed.”
The Presbytery of San Francisco filed a motion to dismiss on July 15 claiming just the opposite.
The presbytery rejects the argument that ordination requirements should be based on Scripture but rather denominational standards.
“To try to elevate a contested sexual ethic into an ‘essential tenet’ of Reformed faith and polity – one that is rejected by roughly half of the membership of the Presbyterian Church – is a theological distortion of the gravest kind,” the presbytery claimed in an earlier brief.
“It has been the historical teaching of the Church on a firm unequivocal witness of Scripture that homosexual practices are not part of God’s design,” Naegeli said. “That has not changed and the wording of the [PCUSA] constitution can’t change that,” she added.
The Parnell appeal alleges the presbytery’s incorrectly applied the Knox Authoritative Interpretation, which states a ministerial candidate may depart from ordination standards and still be approved if the Committee on Preparation for Ministry agrees to abide by the departure.
Although the GAPJC will hear the motion to dismiss first, Naegeli said the body agreed to hear the whole case concurrently.
Both sides will have 30 minutes to make oral arguments followed by questions from the GAPJC, which could last up to 90 minutes. The hearing on the dismissal motion is scheduled for 9 a.m. (EDT) followed by the appeal hearing at 9:45.
Naegeli is confident that the GAPJC will uphold the nullification ruling “as long as we’ve got the semblance of Holy Scripture as our only rule of faith and practice.”
“We must obey it,” she added, speaking of Scripture. “We must follow it — our entire case rises and falls on our ability to persuade this panel that, in this particular matter, God’s will is not up for interpretation.”
The Presbytery of San Francisco had not replied to Layman request for comment as of Friday morning.
A similar case involving the ordination of an openly gay candidate will also be heard by the GAPJC on same day.
An appeal by Caledonia Presbyterian Church of Portage, Wis. to overturn the ordination of self-affirmed gay candidate Scott Anderson faces the possibility of dismissal after the respondent, John Knox Presbytery, filed a brief claiming the case had been rendered moot by the passage of 10A.
In October, the Synod of Lakes and Prairies Permanent Judicial Commission affirmed the presbytery’s ordination approval. Like Larges, Anderson declared a departure from the now-removed chastity/fidelity standard. The Caledonia dismissal motion will be heard at 8:30 a.m. while the actual appeal will be heard at 1 p.m.
Both appeals will be heard at the Presbyterian Center, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville.
According to the GAPJC office, the commission will deliberate over the weekend of July 30-31 and expects to send a decision to both parties by Monday, Aug. 1.