 Cincinnati Presbytery ordered to reinstate ousted minister By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, February 11, 2004 The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Covenant has ordered the Presbytery of Cincinnati to reinstate A. Stephen Van Kuiken, the former pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, to active membership in the Presbytery of Cincinnati.
The presbytery voted 119 to 45 on June 16, 2003, to declare that Van Kuiken, who had violated court orders against conducting same-gender marriages, had renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and removed him from the pulpit of Mount Auburn But the synod court said the presbytery did not have the authority to determine that Van Kuiken had renounced the jurisdiction of the denomination. The thrust of the synod court's decision was that Van Kuiken's ouster required a judicial process, not a presbytery vote following an administrative process. In a decision handed down Feb. 6, the synod court sustained Van Kuiken's complaint that the presbytery had committed four errors in dismissing him from the denomination. The court voted 9-0 on each of those alleged errors. "I've been vindicated," Van Kuiken said in an e-mail message to his friends. "The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Covenant decided overwhelmingly that the Presbytery of Cincinnati was wrong to remove me summarily for doing a same-sex marriage." Van Kuiken also said his "career and reputation in the PCUSA have, unfortunately, been irreparably damaged." He said he would continue to challenge the legitimacy of church law that "is being used to deny the freedom of conscience and religious expression and to deny the full and open personhood of gay and lesbian persons." Van Kuiken was tried by a presbytery court on charges of conducting same-gender marriages. The presbytery court issued a reprimand and ordered him not to perform any more such marriages. But he refused to comply with the court's order and conducted another same-gender marriage. In response, the presbytery stated that Van Kuiken, by his action, had renounced the jurisdiction of the denomination – which is tantamount to excommunication. Before the presbytery voted to oust him, Van Kuiken had appealed the presbytery court's decision to reprimand him and prohibit him from conducting same-gender marriages. The synod court said Van Kuiken's appeal also included a stay of enforcement that prohibited the presbytery from taking further action against the minister. "The presbytery's action violated the stay in Rev. Van Kuiken's pending appeal of the decision by the Presbytery PJC," the synod court said, adding that the presbytery used the presbytery court's decision to "justify the presumption of renunciation …, thereby depriving Rev. Van Kuiken of due process." The second error by the presbytery, the synod court said, was its failure to first decide that "his conduct was a disapproved work, as required by section G-6.0502 of the Book of Order." The third error was the presbytery's presumption that Van Kuiken had renounced the jurisdiction of the church "because no proper notice and consultation had first been given." "The results of such a presumption are severe," the synod court said. "Under the circumstances of this case, where a minister may be found to have forfeited his or her career, a consultation and notice must give fair notice and understanding of the minister's actions." The court pointed out that the presbytery's Committee on Ministry had two meetings with Van Kuiken without providing him with the required consultation and notice. The fourth error was "in presuming that Rev. Van Kuiken had renounced the jurisdiction of the church because his conduct was not 'a work' as that term is used in G-6.0502," the synod court said. The decision added that G-6.0502 "may not be used to apply to a particular act of a minister's work and thus be used administratively to impose the highest degree of censure (D-12.0105) by removing a minister from office and membership in the church without the necessity of a judicial process." Since being removed from the pulpit of Mount Auburn, Van Kuiken has conducted off-premises services for many of Mount Auburn's members. |
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