Mount Auburn again issues statement of defiance The Layman Online Thursday, April 3, 2003 Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, whose leaders have declared their defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the past 12 years, again has issued a statement of defiance against the ordination standards of the denomination. The statement was released on the eve of a disciplinary trial against the church's pastor, the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, for public defiance of those standards. Van Kuiken, whose trial is April 8, is accused of "participating in the ordination and installation of deacons and elders who refuse to repent of self-acknowledged practice(s) which the confessions call sin." While saying that it will continue to defy G-6.0106b in the Book of Order, the "fidelity/chastity" clause, Mount Auburn said it will welcome gays and lesbians and "promote their full participation in all aspects of church life, including ordination as Elders and Deacons." The statement also admits that Mount Auburn "has ordained gay, lesbian and bisexual persons" and will continue to "ordain self-acknowledged gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, sexually active or not, following the same criteria used to call heterosexual persons to our church leadership." In its rationale for such action, Mount Auburn states that "homosexual practice in and of itself is not a sin and is not inconsistent with the standards for ordination." The fidelity/chastity ordination standard, the session declares, "came out of a different understanding" of the gospel and Mount Auburn "will not comply with G-6.0106b," adding that it "has not complied with and will not comply" with the constitutional standard. In addition, the Mount Auburn session previously declared, again in defiance of the denomination's constitution, that the church authorizes and conducts services for the "marriage" of same-sex couples and that it opens its communion table to non-Christians. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission forbid pastors from "marrying" same-gender couples. A year ago, when Mount Auburn previously affirmed its longstanding defiance, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said the session's intent to violate the constitution's "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard "may subject the session to correction by the Presbytery of Cincinnati." He called the statement of dissent "clearly the result of much prayer and study," and praised the congregation for welcoming "our Lord's Gay and Lesbian children; surely they are vital to Mount Auburn's mission and ministry. Clearly you have answered the call to provide a welcoming place." "Yet, "he said, "I believe two statements in your declaration go beyond the session's authority." He cited Mount Auburn's declaration that it "has not and cannot comply with G-6.0106b," the fidelity/chastity ordination standard, and the session's stated criteria to the congregation's nominating committee for officers to ensure the election of homosexuals – both of which are in the latest statement of defiance. Last May, the Presbytery of Cincinnati decided to deal administratively with the pastor and elders of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church and not to immediately compel them to end their decades-long defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The administrative commission's purpose is to consider what steps should be taken in the aftermath of the repeated statements of defiance. Late last year, the Synod of the Covenant, acting on a complaint from Mount Auburn that it was unconstitutional to have two judicial cases on the same issue proceeding simultaneously, issued a stay of enforcement until the disciplinary complaint against Van Kuiken is resolved. Mount Auburn's longstanding defiance of the constitution continues – even though the highest court in the denomination once ruled against the congregation's leaders. But no compliance resulted from that order by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly, which was reported in the 1995 Minutes of the 207th General Assembly (pages 125-128). And none has resulted from the current complaint against Van Kuiken. Mount Auburn's defense of its 1991 statement of defiance was similar to the recent case in which Mount Auburn's session asked the Synod of the Covenant court to prohibit the Presbytery of Cincinnati from having an administrative commission review Mount Auburn's unrelenting defiance. But the synod courts responded differently. In late 2002, the synod court ruled in Mount Auburn's favor. In 1993, the synod court ruled against Mount Auburn's contention that administrative review was unwarranted. In both cases, Mount Auburn's session declared that it would not comply with church law prohibiting the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Before the "fidelity/chastity" clause was inserted in the constitution, the denomination's historic ordination standard was restated in the 1978 General Assembly's "Definitive Guidance," a constitutional interpretation that said homosexual practice was sinful and that practicing homosexuals could not be ordained. After the General Assembly's statement, homosexual activists and their advocates repeatedly challenged the ordination rule. In response, the denomination's presbyteries constitutionally affirmed the ordination standard in a 1997-98 referendum on what was then known as Amendment B. Subsequently, there have been two additional denominationwide referendums in which presbyteries have reaffirmed the ordination standard by increasing margins. The margin in 2001-02 was 3-1. The 2001-02 referendum also reaffirmed the 1978 Definitive Guidance. (An overture that again seeks to remove the ordination standard from the constitution will be considered by commissioners to the 215th General Assembly in Denver.) In its 1991 statement, Mount Auburn's session attacked "prejudice in the church and society" and said, ""We are gratefully open to the service and leadership of gays and lesbians, including those called to ordained positions in our congregation." In November of 1992, the presbytery voted to order Mount Auburn to "reconsider and correct its irregularity," which the session ignored. Instead, in January of 1993, Mount Auburn "ordained a self-affirmed homosexual," according to the General Assembly court. In May of 1993, the presbytery voted to form an administrative commission – which would have had far-reaching authority, even to remove pastors and elders from their offices. Mount Auburn appealed the decision to the synod court, but the synod ruled against the church's complaint. In 1994, the General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission affirmed the synod court's ruling and authorized the Presbytery of Cincinnati to proceed with an administrative commission's review of Mount Auburn's defiance. Nothing resulted from that order by the denomination's highest court and Mount Auburn's session has continued to issue statements of defiance.

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