GA says ordaining bodies can shun ban on choosing gays as elders, deacons, ministers
John H. Adams , The Layman Online , June 20, 2006
217th General Assembly
Birmingham, Ala. BIRMINGHAM — The 217th General Assembly voted Tuesday afternoon to declare that ordaining bodies in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have the leeway not to comply with the constitutional prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals and adulterers.
By a vote of 298-221, with one abstention, the commissioners of the national governing body approved an Authoritative Interpretation that included recommendation 5 by the Theological Task Force on Peace, Purity and Unity.
That recommendation was the major dividing issue in the task force report. It provides guidance to candidates for ordination on how they may qualify for selection and installation as deacons, elders and ministers despite sexual behavior that is constitutionally prohibited.
Presbyteries voted in 1996-97 to include that prohibition, the fidelity/chastity clause, in the Book of Order. The policy was affirmed in two subsequent denominationwide referendums, the most recent in 2001 when 73.4 percent of the 173 presbyteries supported the policy.
Many homosexuals already hold offices in the denomination, particularly in the Northeast, but the denomination’s highest court — the General Assembly’s Permanent Judicial Commission — has declared that they have no right to do so.
There was immediate response on the floor of the assembly from commissioners who expressed concern that there might be devastating consequences for the denomination in its sanctioning the right of practicing homosexuals to hold offices in the church.
One commissioner asked where he could sign a dissent. Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick gave him instructions. Soon, several commissioners were moving in that direction, behind the platform.
Another commissioner asked if the Office of the General Assembly was prepared to deal pastorally with Presbyterians who will be angry over the decision. He asked worriedly, “What will this cost? The reality is that this will affect the whole church.”
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said a pastoral letter will be sent to congregations – but he did not say how his office, which is responsible for constitutional matters in the denomination, might respond if congregational leaders decide that the assembly’s action constituted a breech of covenant.
One group, the New Wineskins Initiative, was already poised to act if the General Assembly adopted recommendation 5. Its leaders had declared that action could provoke a separation. The New Wineskins Initiative includes 115 congregations whose sessions have approved a vision statement, moral imperatives, theological essentials and a still evolving constitution. The organization will meet in Kirk of the Hills Church in Tulsa, Okla., in July 19-22.
In addition, two presbyteries — San Diego and Santa Barbara — approved resolutions before the General Assembly to assess the consequences of adopting recommendation 5 and to consider their future relationship with the denomination.
The assembly rejected warnings that the Authoritative Interpretation could have a devastating impact on the denomination, which had a record loss of 48,474 Presbyterians in 2005. The Office of the General Assembly apparently anticipated the approval of the task force’s Authoritative Interpretation — which Kirkpatrick called a “great gift” to the church — in its projection that the denomination will lose 85,000 members this year.
Before the final vote on the task force report, there were several maneuvers to take another approach, but all were defeated. A minority report that called for deleting recommendation 5 was defeated 287-234. A motion to refer the task force to presbyteries so that they can prepare their response for the 218th General Assembly in 2008 was defeated 281-234.
The debate on the issue was intense. One of the most dramatic moments occurred when Marj Carpenter and John Buchanan, both former moderators, teamed up at the microphone.
Carpenter, a conservative, and Buchanan, a liberal, said they agreed with the task force’s recommendation. Buchanan, the senior minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and the founder of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, said he and Carpenter “would like to work as a team.”
Then Carpenter, her voice cracking with emotion, declared, “I am and always have been against the ordination of homosexuals.” But, she added, “I am for those on the far right of the church, with whom I usually agree, but I don’t like them taking people out of the church.” “I’m tired,” she said. “I’m ready to compromise. It’s killing us. I’m ready to try something else. I’ve prayed for this. I have talked with my children about it, who wish I would shut up. I love this church. Let’s get on with being the church.”
She drew a thunderous applause for her remarks — which Moderator Joan Gray later called inappropriate — and Buchanan rode Carpenter’s momentum. He briefly added, “I’ve been following Marj for 11 years. Marj and I don’t agree on a lot of issues. But the task force has demonstrated a new way forward … a great and beautiful moment of hope. We urge all of us forward.”
Their teamwork was an emotional moment even if it did not reflect any critical theological assessment. Another dramatic moment occurred after the Rev. Kathy Sizer of the Los Ranchos Presbytery warned that “thousands and thousands of our Korean brothers and sisters are ready to leave us” and that “many other churches are teetering on the same decision. If you do not vote for the minority report, you will go home and stand in front of your church … presumably in front of God about this great devastation.”
But Syngman Rhee, another former General Assembly moderator, indignantly challenged Sizer’s statement. “I heard one commissioner say the Korean churches, thousands of them, are ready to leave our church. That’s totally incorrect and untrue and I would like to hear where she got that. Korean Presbyterians love this church and we will stay in this church because we love Jesus.”