LOUISVILLE — Another
disciplinary case has been filed against an openly gay woman minister
— this time for having officiated at a civil ceremony in
San Francisco last month featuring an exchange of vows between
two lesbians.
The Rev. Ann L. Petker of Berkeley, CA, is accused of being
wed to her lesbian partner one day in mid-February, then conducting
a “marriage” service for a lesbian couple the next
day.
Photographs of the ceremony at at the San Francisco civic center
were published on the Web site of the gay advocacy group, That
All May Freely Serve, under the byline of Jennifer G. Shepherd,
news editor. In it, Anne Towler says Petker had “married”
Towler and her partner, Virginia Thibeaux, a former classmate
of Petker’s at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Petker was not quoted in the story, which was headlined, “Novato
couple’s historic wedding.”
The story recounts that Petker “married” her own
partner the previous day, then returning to the center to officiate
at the Towler-Thibeaux ceremony.
On Friday, March 12, the Los Angeles-based Presbytery of the
Pacific was trying to determine whether Petker is still a pastor
in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The presbytery’s stated
clerk, the Rev. Frank Marshall, said Petker had started the process
of transferring to the United Church of Christ, a denomination
that allows the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians,
unlike the PC(USA).
If the transfer has been made, the case would be moot.
In the UCC, according to Barbara Powell, the denomination’s
public information officer, the terms “union,” “commitment
service” and “marriage” are interchangeable.
Efforts to reach Petker were unsuccessful.
The UCC’s Northern California Conference told the Presbyterian
News Service (PNS) that Petker is seeking “privilege of
call,” meaning she would have the right to seek a call in
UCC churches.
Officials said there was nothing in the conference records to
indicate that Petker is not still a PC(USA) pastor.
While the PC(USA) has consistently supported civil rights for
same-sex partners, it does not endorse homosexual conjugal practice
as “marriage.” A 2002 judicial case, Benton vs. the
Presbytery of Hudson River, held that Presbyterian clergy can
perform same-sex unions, but must clearly distinguish such blessing
ceremonies from Christian marriage, which is reserved for a man
and woman.
Four accusations have been filed against Petker by attorney
Paul Rolf Jensen, a controversial member of a Presbyterian congregation
in California who has filed more than 20 cases against Presbyterian
ministers and elders in the past two years, charging them with
violating their ordination vows by ordaining or marrying gays
and lesbians.
When a disciplinary case is filed, a presbytery is required
to form a committee to investigate the allegations.
Only one of the four cases resulted in a revocation of ordination
— that of the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken of Cincinnati, OH
— and that was overturned on a procedural technicality.
The Presbytery of Cincinnati is investigating a second accusation
filed against Van Kuiken by Jensen.
Jensen accuses Petker of:
- Willfully and deliberately violating her ordination vows
and disrupting the peace, unity and purity of the church;
- Performing a “marriage” ceremony of a same-sex
couple;
- Renouncing the jurisdiction of the PC(USA) by refusing to
comply with its constitution and with prior decisions of the
church’s highest court;
- Practicing the sin of homosexuality without repentance.
Jensen argues that, by being “married” in an “illegal
civil ceremony” and then performing what is termed a “marriage
ceremony,” Petker has “crossed the line of acceptable
advocacy.”
“She has no right to disregard her solemn vow to obey
the constitution of the Presbyterian Church,” he says.
Jensen made his previous allegations against Petker in 2002.
They were dismissed by the presbytery’s investigating committee
for lack of evidence.
Jensen accused Petker of deliberating violating her ordination
vows and renouncing the jurisdiction of the PC(USA) by defying
the church’s constitution through “practicing without
repentance the sin of homosexuality.”
But sexual practice is a difficult thing to prove, as Jensen
and Marshall agree.
In the 2002 Benton decision, the General Assembly Permanent
Judicial Commission was unambiguous in its ruling that Christian
marriage is between a man and a woman only. While it gives latitude
to ministers and sessions in addressing the pastoral care of members,
it says it “would not be proper” for a PC(USA) pastor
to perform a same-sex union that “the minister determines
to be the same as a marriage ceremony.”
The PJC also instructed sessions to prohibit the use of church
facilities for same-gender services that may be construed as the
same as a marriage ceremony.
The court also ruled that ministers conducting same-sex may
not use liturgical forms from services of Christian or civil marriage
in the conduct of same-gender ceremonies. “Ministers and
sessions should take special care to avoid any confusion of such
services with services of Christian marriage,” it said.
Most of Jensen’s cases have been dismissed on technicalities,
but Jensen said he feels confident that the Presbytery of the
Pacific will “investigate and reach the right decision”
— assuming that Petker is a PC(USA) minister.
Referring to the exchange of vows, he said, “There is
no lack of evidence this time.” |
