09252
March 27, 2009
Synod court rescinds San Francisco Presbytery vote on open lesbian’s readiness for examination for ordination
Examination, not certification of readiness, is proper time for ‘scrupling’
LOUISVILLE ― The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Synod of the Pacific has rescinded a January 2008 decision by San Francisco Presbytery that long-time candidate and open lesbian Lisa Larges is “ready for examination [for ordination] with a departure.”
The court ruled on March 25 that the presbytery erred by prematurely considering Larges’ declaration of a “scruple” (conscientious objection) to G-6.0106b ― which requires of church officers “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.”
“The examination for ordination is the proper time for (the) Presbytery to determine whether or not a candidate's departure constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity,” the court said.
Larges, 45, has been a candidate for ordination to the ministry in the PC(USA) since 1986, first in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area and since 1997 in San Francisco Presbytery.
Hers is among the first cases to test an “authoritative interpretation” adopted by the 2006 General Assembly that allows a candidate to declare a scruple against a provision of the Book of Order and the ordaining body to determine whether the scruple is a disqualifying departure from Reformed faith or polity.
In rescinding the presbytery’s 167-151 vote to certify Larges as ready for examination, the synod court ruled that “the examination for ordination is the proper time for presbytery to determine whether or not a candidate’s departure (from the standards) constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”
The court’s ruling gives Larges’ candidacy back to the presbytery but doesn’t take a substantive stand on the authoritative interpretation. The court said: “... the presbytery has not yet properly ruled on the candidate’s departure …”
But the court admonished the presbytery “to faithfully execute its constitutional obligations to the entire church to enforce mandatory churchwide ordination standards” and “to ensure that its Committee on Preparation for Ministry faithfully meets its covenantal obligations to the candidates under its care who insist on departing from mandatory standards.”
Citing a 2001 General Assembly PJC decision ― Londonderry vs. Presbytery of Northern New England ― the synod court affirmed that when an individual or governing body “threatens to move from verbal dissent to active disobedience, it is the obligation of the covenant community to seek to prevent the dissenting party from falling into contumacy. This begins as an act of pastoral care, but may become an act of church discipline
“The larger church depends on each presbytery to protect the interests of the whole,’ the court said.” The mandatory ordination standards are an important part of this covenant.”
Larges, a 1989 graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, is employed by “That All May Freely Serve,” an nationwide organization that works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Presbyterians in the life of the church, including as ordained officers. She is also an ordained deacon at Noe Valley Ministries Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.
She told Religion News Service that “this decision makes it abundantly clear that the Presbyterian church must remove the current prohibitory language that denies ordination to openly LGBT people and adopt a new policy.”
A proposed constitutional amendment to replace the “fidelity and chastity” provision in the Book of Order with seemingly more permissive language is trailing in ratification voting by the PC(USA)’s 173 presbyteries.
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