Highest Presbyterian court will hear gay candidate case
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, December 15, 1999
The highest court of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will hear on appeal a case in which a homosexual man was accepted as a candidate for the ministry in the Presbytery of West Jersey.
Complainants appealed the case to the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly after a synod court ruled that the denomination’s constitution does not specifically forbid homosexual candidates from seeking a call to ministry and ordination as ministers of Word and Sacrament.
The West Jersey candidate, Graham Van Keuren, told the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry that he was not involved in a homosexual relationship while he was seeking to become a candidate for ordination. However, Van Keuren also told the committee that he intended to become involved sexually with another man at some point.
Gary R. Griffth, attorney for the complainants, said the appeal will seek to reverse the decision of the presbytery, remove Van Keuren from candidacy status and require the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry “to bring its process into compliance with the requirements of the constitution.”
Presbytery voted 81-61
On the recommendation of the Committee on the Preparation for Ministry, the Presbytery of West Jersey voted 81-61 on March 16, 1999, to elevate Van Keuren from inquirer status to candidate.
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northeast voted 7-2 to affirm the presbytery’s decision. Dissents were filed by the Rev. D. Dean Weaver and Fred L. Denson, moderator of the commission. “By voting to enroll an inquirer as a candidate who is outside of the constitutional standards of those who ‘seek office’ and has no intentions to come into conformity with such standards, the presbytery acted irregularly and the action was therefore erroneous,” they said.
During the trial, Griffith said the presbytery’s decision “ignores the constitution of the church as a whole. The integrity of the ordination process is weakened in this accommodation to the candidate seeking to administer the Word and Sacrament …”
One witness testifies
Only one witness, the Rev. William F. Getman of Woodstown Presbyterian Church, testified during the synod trial in Newark. Getman was a member of the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for the Ministry that recommended Van Keuren for candidacy.
He said the committee talked with Van Keuren about his sexual orientation and his intentions. “He described himself as an avowed, practicing homosexual, but he indicated that at that time he was not practicing.”
Getman said the committee told Van Keuren that if he remained insistent on being sexually active as a homosexual he would not be eligible for ordination under the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” clause, G-6.0106b in the Book of Order, unless the General Assembly changed the standard.
He also said members of the committee suggested alternatives to being ordained as a Presbyterian, including the United Church of Christ.
“We were reasonably satisfied that the individual (Van Keuren) understands he was not eligible at that time to become ordained,” Getman said. “Yes, we made that quite clear.”
But Getman said he knew of nothing in the Book of Order that prohibited the presbytery from accepting Van Keuren as a candidate. He said G-6.0106b applies only to persons who are being considered for ordination.