Task Force has no proposal on issue of ordaining homosexuals
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 20, 2005
DALLAS – The Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity has reached a stalemate in its consideration of whether the Presbyterian Church (USA) should ordain practicing homosexuals, according to the unfinished final report that will be released in August.
Draft reports releasedThe 20 task force members made no recommendation in their draft of the final report, which was released Tuesday afternoon. They said, “We did not try to convince fellow Task Force members of our own perspectives or to decide whether our church’s position should be changed.”
They added, however, that they had reached “ready agreement” on four points. Point 2 on that list deals with ordination: “Those who aspire to ordination must live faithful lives. Those who demonstrate licentious behavior should not be ordained.”
The draft did not explain what it meant by “faithful lives” – whether faithful to Christ, to the leading of the Spirit, to Scripture or to Presbyterian constitutional standards. Nor does the report explain what the task force members meant by “licentious behavior.”
Noting that its members were divided on the issue and that the differences were “strenuous and serious,” the report stated: “Many believe that, instead of beginning with the question of ordination, it would be more profitable to frame the question differently: ‘How are baptized gay and lesbian persons in exclusive, covenanted relationships called to participate in the church in God’s gracious drama of creation, reconciliation and redemption?'”
The task force’s position on ordination was included in a section titled “The Issues before the Task Force,” which was prepared by Sarah Grace Sanderson-Doughty, John “Mike” Loudon and John Wilkinson.
The report concluded that, from their study of numerous papers on the issues of human sexuality and ordination, the task force members “have been encouraged to stay together, speaking the truth in love, learning from each other and building up the body of Christ.”
The other three points of “ready agreement” are:
1) “It is a grave error to deny baptism or church membership to gay and lesbian persons or to withhold pastoral care to them and their families.”
2) “It is damaging and dangerous to teach that sexual behavior is a purely personal matter that is not relevant for Christian discipleship, leadership and community life.”
3) “Sexual orientation is, in itself, no barrier to ordination.”
Before the task force began writing its final report, it held one lengthy open discussion on the different ways of considering whether practicing homosexuals should be eligible for ordination – ranging from an absolute prohibition to ordaining men and women who are in committed, monogamous relationships. The clear majority of the task force seemed to prefer ordaining men and women in committed, monogamous, same-gender relationships.
But since that debate, the task force has gone into executive session, excluding the press and other observers, to debate the ordination question and other controversial issues.
It was during those sessions that the task force apparently concluded that “the church should seek constructive, Christ-like alternatives to the ‘yes/no’ forms in which questions about sexuality, ordination and same-gender covenantal relationships have been put to the church in recent decades.”