Openly gay man taken under care by presbytery
The Layman Online, March 22, 1999
The Presbytery of West Jersey has voted to take under care an openly gay man as a candidate for ministry.
On March 16, 1999, the presbytery voted 81-61 to receive Graham Van Keuren under care, despite his written and verbal statements that he is “an openly gay man.” He said he is not in a relationship at this time.
Rev. Alison Bucklin asked Van Keuren if he would commit to living in celibacy as a candidate seeking ordination. He replied, “I understand God’s call to encompass all my life – including future relationships.” When asked by a commissioner “Would you practice active sex in a same-sex relationship if given the opportunity in the future?” Van Keuren replied “I intend to participate in a fully sexual way in any future relationship.”
One commissioner asked him why he did not seek ordination in the United Church of Christ. His response was that he loved the PCUSA and that it was time the PCUSA changed to accept him. (Van Keuren’s father is presbytery vice moderator and one of the presbytery’s four GA commissioners this year. He strongly supports his son’s candidacy.)
The Committee on Preparation for Ministry chairperson Rev. Wendy Boer said that in her view, Van Keuren’s gifts and call for ministry were out-standing. She said that since he was not being ordained at the present, and since he was not “practicing” at the present the CPM voted 10-5 to recommend Van Keuren be received as a candidate.
Van Keuren graduated from Princeton Seminary with a master of divinity degree, and has passed all his PCUSA ordination exams.
He said he might like to serve as an ordained college chaplain in a college/university similar to the college he graduated from, helping students work through their identity issues.
A protest filed by one commissioner was signed by more than a dozen others. The protest states that the presbytery has committed an irregularity based on a failure to follow G-6.0108b, “a candidate…chooses to exercise freedom of conscience within certain bounds.”