 Hudson River Presbytery rejects G-6.0106b, but says it will abide by the constitution By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Saturday, May 24, 2003
At the same time that it said it will abide by the constitution, the presbytery said it rejects G-6.0106b, the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard, and that these two opposing stances are "true at the very same time." The presbytery said it will abide by the constitution "with a heavy heart and a troubled conscience because of the presence of G-6.0106b. We believe G-6.0106b is an abhorrent section of the Book of Order, which we find to be theologically and morally unacceptable. We reject G-6.0106b." Despite Hudson River's opposition to the ordination standard, which it voted to repeal by a margin of nearly 80 percent in the most recent balloting, three denomination-wide referendums have affirmed the standard:
Since then, some of its congregations have made public declarations that they conduct same-sex unions and recognize them as marriages, as well as practicing open communion, both in defiance of the constitution. In another case, the presbytery promoted by e-mail to its ministers a "Universal Worship Service" in which the participants offered prayers to a smorgasbord of gods – including those who, "whether known or unknown to the world, have held aloft the light of truth through the darkness of human ignorance." The service included readings from Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the tradition of the "Divine Female," Native Peoples and Judaism. Christianity got scant mention. After an invocation to the "Only Being, united with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the master, the Spirit of Guidance," the service had a ritual of candle lighting for various religions – plus the unknown. Christianity was next to last on the list. Jesus was mentioned as a peer of prophets, but not as the son of God, when the congregation read from the Salat: "Allow us to recognize Thee in all Thy Holy Names and Forms, as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, as Zarathustra, as Moses, as Jesus, as Muhammed." No disciplinary action After the 16 congregations in the Hudson River declared that they would not obey the standard, the presbytery formed a committee to discuss the matter with those sessions. To date, the presbytery has initiated no disciplinary or remedial actions to require these congregations to comply with the constitution. The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly, also has declined to take any administrative action that would require the presbytery to ensure compliance. According to the standing rules of the General Assembly, Kirkpatrick's duty is to "preserve and defend the Constitution," but his office has told leaders of the Presbyterian Coalition who have criticized his inaction that ensuring constitutional compliance is not his job. And, notwithstanding the continued acts of defiance, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly has declared that the denomination's "constitutional process is working." Late last year, while an effort seeking a called meeting of the General Assembly to deal with constitutional issues was under way, church officers in the presbytery held a public worship service to reaffirm their acts of defiance. "Christian conscience calls us together to support our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) sisters and brothers," the invitation read. "Churches and individuals from across the Tri-State Area of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey will celebrate the gifts and diversity of all God's people." The preacher for the service was the Rev. Hal Porter, who also has been in the forefront of the defiance movement. Porter is pastor emeritus of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, a congregation whose session has issued declarations saying that it is violating – and will violate – the constitution's "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard and that its ministers "marry" same-gender couples. Until recently, there were 94 congregations in the Presbytery of Hudson River, but the evangelical and growing Circleville Presbyterian Church left to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church because of its theological and moral differences with the presbytery. The presbytery required Circleville to pay it $112,000 – a 10 percent tithe on the value of its property – before it would allow the congregation to leave with its buildings. Christ Church statement The timing of the Hudson River's statement, just before commissioners will consider an overture from the Presbytery of Redstone dealing with constitutional defiance during their meeting in Denver on May 24-31, is reminiscent of a similar action last year by Christ Church of Burlington, Vt. In a 2000 case called Londonderry v. the Presbytery of Northern New England, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission said that a resolution by Christ Church violated church law because it stated an intent to defy the constitution. The court instructed that presbytery to work with Christ Church's session to resolve its noncompliance pastorally or through disciplinary action if necessary. b"This commission reaffirms the right of decorous dissent," the court said. "An appropriate dissent may be expressed in various ways; however, it may not include an intent by those who have vowed to be governed by the church's polity to violate the Constitution." The court also said, "This Commission finds that there are no constitutional grounds for a governing body to fail to comply with an express provision of the Constitution, however inartfully stated. Assertions of inconsistency, confusion, or ambiguity may justify the right to protest. They do not create a right to disregard any part of the Constitution." Kirkpatrick was required to present the court's order to the 2001 General Assembly, but failed to do so. With media attention focused on Christ Church's unrestrained defiance, Kirkpatrick did report the case to the 214th General Assembly in 2002. Also in 2002, the Presbytery of Shenango in Pennsylvania submitted an overture calling for the General Assembly itself to exercise oversight and bring Christ Church into compliance. Opponents of the overture argued that the constitutional process should be allowed to go forward without the intervention of the denomination's national governing body. For nearly two years after the Londonderry decision, Christ Church and the presbytery virtually ignored the church's order. Then, a few days before the 2002 General Assembly met in Columbus with the Shenago overture looming, the Christ Church session announced that it had set aside its declaration of defiance. Some commissioners at the 214th General Assembly argued that the "set-aside" was a diversionary tactic, intended to persuade the commissioners that the constitutional process was working. That argument failed, and the General Assembly voted not to take the steps in the Shenango overture that would have required the Presbytery of Northern New England to discipline the Christ Church session. But Christ Church's "penitence" was short-lived. On Nov. 11, 2002, the session of the congregation adopted a new statement of defiance that essentially overruled the Londonderry finding of the highest court in the denomination. Declaring its own right to "properly and faithfully" interpret the constitution, Christ Church now says it may ordain practicing homosexuals and not violate the fidelity and chastity ordination clause in the Book of Order. It came to that conclusion, according to the statement, by "reinterpreting" virtually every word of the standard and some sections of The Book of Confessions as well. A report of the statement by the session of Christ Church was approved March 8, 2003, on a voice vote by the Presbytery of Northern New England. "It is our opinion that the statement [by Christ Church Presbyterian] does not defy or violate the Constitution," the presbytery's Pastoral Committee reported. In addition to accepting the report, the presbytery agreed to forward it to Kirkpatrick as the final report on the presbytery's compliance with an order by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission. In essence, the report by the presbytery's Pastoral Committee said Christ Church produced a rationale for "complying" with church law by reinterpreting key words, such as "chastity." In the statement, Christ Church said, "Chastity does not necessarily mean celibacy" for homosexual couples. Other excerpts:
"Our error was in leaving the interpretation of G-6.0106b to others, rather than exploring for ourselves what it is that G-6.0106b actually says," Christ Church said. The presbytery committee concluded that "almost all of the [current] statement falls within the boundaries of Presbyterian Church (USA) Constitution. The statement acknowledges the authority of the Constitution, the courts of the church, the presbytery, and the Pastoral Committee acting on behalf of presbytery. It states that CCP has found that it can comply with G-6.0106b, the provision it earlier said it would not apply." The committee called Christ Church's statement "remarkable for its clarity and care of expression," and noted that the statement and others like it are "of limited usefulness, because the proper time to interpret and apply any constitutional provision, including G-6.0106b, is when a particular candidate is being examined for office. … It should also be noted that if others differ on how CCP's session interprets or applies G-6.0106b in a particular case, the Constitution provides both administrative and judicial means to challenge that action." By declaring itself no longer in violation of church law, Christ Church has poured more fuel on the constitutional fires raging across the denomination. Dozens of sessions have adopted resolutions saying they will violate church laws on ordinations, membership, communion and same-gender "weddings." While Christ Church's defiance of the constitution is now approaching its sixth year, it is not the most prolonged record of defiance in the denomination. Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, has dodged court orders and administrative procedures challenging its defiance of church ordination standards for 12 years. |
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