 After lesbian minister weds, marries couple, complaint filed By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, March 9, 2004 A disciplinary case has been filed against a moving target – lesbian minister Ann L. Petker of Berkley, Calif., who, on successive days in San Francisco, was married illegally to her lesbian partner and conducted a marriage service for another lesbian couple.
Although both her own marriage and the one she conducted are clear violations of Presbyterian Church (USA) law, Petker may be only temporarily parked in the PCUSA. According to a column about her by That All May Freely Serve co-worker, Janie Spahr, Petker has accepted a call to serve as a minister to a congregation in United Church of Christ, a denomination that welcomes homosexual ministers and doesn't flinch when they get involved in same-sex marriages. But Petker is still an at-large member of the Presbytery of the Pacific, according to the Rev. Frank Marshall, stated clerk of the presbytery. He said he did not know she had accepted a call to a United Church of Christ congregation. Meanwhile, Marshall said a presbytery investigating committee will review the complaint and decide whether to recommend a trial before the presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission. He pointed out that the complaint does block Petker from assuming any other validated ministry in the PCUSA until the case is resolved. Spahr did not explain in the column what she meant by Petker being "denied" by the Presbyterian Church (USA). Petker had been admitted to the Presbytery of the Pacific after completing her master of divinity degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2000. She had a part-time job with a More Light congregation and was the northern California coordinator for That All May Freely Serve. She publicly announced that she was a practicing lesbian after her ordination. In March 2002, Jensen filed a complaint with the Presbytery of the Pacific saying that Petker was violating church law by being a practicing homosexual. He asked the presbytery court to declare that she had willfully and deliberately violated her ordination vows and renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA). If a court determines that a Presbyterian officer has renounced the jurisdiction of the denomination, that officer is defrocked – in effect, excommunicated. Petker was never brought to church court trial on the 2002 charges. Marshall said the presbytery's investigating committee dismissed the case because Jensen did not provide the required information. In his latest complaint, Jensen said, "Petker publicized these events [in San Francisco] in order to further her activist pro-gay agenda to change the church's constitution. In so doing, she crossed the line of acceptable advocacy. She has no right to disregard her solemn vow to obey the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church. She should meet with the same fate as the Rev. Steve Van Kuiken." Van Kuiken is the former pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in the Presbytery of Cincinnati. He publicly announced that he had conducted a number of "marriage" ceremonies of same-gender couples – even after he been reprimanded by a church court for doing so. Jensen filed the initial charges in the Van Kuiken case. Eventually, the presbytery declared that he had renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and Van Kuiken was removed from the pulpit at Mount Auburn. However, a synod court recently ordered that Van Kuiken be reinstated as a member of the presbytery, even though he is no longer serving a Presbyterian Church or in a validated ministry. Jensen's second case against Petker is similar to the first although, this time, it focuses on the events in San Francisco. It also asks for a presbytery trial and a determination that she has renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA. |
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