Charges filed against Cincinnati minister
The Layman Online, February 13, 2003
Completing an investigation of allegations made by attorney Paul Rolf Jensen, the Presbytery of Cincinnati filed charges against the Rev. A. Stephen Van Kuiken on Feb. 10, alleging two violations of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Constitution. This is the first of more than 20 cases filed by Jensen that has made it to trial.
The first charge against Van Kuiken states: “That the Rev. Van Kuiken has participated in the ordination and installation of deacons and elders who refuse to repent of self-acknowledged practice(s) which the Confessions call sin, in willful and deliberate violation of section G-60106(b) of the Book of Order of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).”
In filing this charge, the presbytery’s investigating committee lists as evidence published statements by the defendant, session minutes and bulletins from his church.
The second charge against Van Kuiken states: “That the Rev. A. Stephen Van Kuiken performed and/or condoned and facilitated the performance by others of same-sex marriage ceremonies at the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church which were in violation of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) W-4.9001.”
In filing this charge, the presbytery’s investigating committee lists as evidence the defendant’s published “Statement of Dissent and Non-Compliance,” his “Statement on Inclusive Marriage,” published on Feb. 28, 2001, and a copy of a wedding bulletin.
The charges by Cincinnati Presbytery represent a breakthrough for Jensen, whose efforts to halt open defiance of the Constitution have been met with official resistance in several presbyteries. The Book of Order requires that when a presbytery receives a written allegation, it must form an investigating committee to look into the matter. If that committee finds evidence to support the allegation, then it may bring formal charges against the defendant. But it is not required to bring charges, and this is the level at which most of the cases initiated by Jensen have been dropped.
In Redwoods Presbytery, Jensen made allegations against the ordination of the Rev. Katherine Morrison, who describes herself as a lesbian and stated in a San Francisco newspaper report that she is engaged in a sexually active, same-sex partnership. Despite the well-publicized evidence, the Redwoods investigating committee refused to bring charges against Morrison.
In Baltimore Presbytery, Jensen made allegations against the Rev. Donald Stroud, who stated publicly that he is engaged in a same-sex partnership. Baltimore’s investigating committee dismissed the allegations, shored up in its decision by a presbytery action urging its courts not to accept for trial any case involving the enforcement of the Constitution’s ordination standards.
Allegations of defiance in Hudson River Presbytery, Yellowstone Presbytery and other church courts have met a similar fate.
The stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, has kept himself at arm’s length from all of these cases. Kirkpatrick, whose job description states that he must “preserve and defend the Constitution,” has repeatedly stated that enforcement is not his responsibility.
The widespread unwillingness of administrative and judicial officials to ensure compliance with the Constitution was a primary motivation behind an attempt by Dr. Alex Metherell and 56 commissioners to the 214th General Assembly to call a special meeting of that body. Although these commissioners produced more than the required number of names on a petition to call the meeting, Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel, acting on the advice of the stated clerk, refused to issue the call.
No date has been published for the Van Kuiken trial.