Commission wants to put defiant church on probation By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, January 9, 2004 The Presbytery of Cincinnati will meet Jan. 10 to consider an administrative commission's recommendation that Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church be placed on "provisional status." The recommendation is one of numerous attempts to rein in the congregation, which for more than a decade has openly defied Presbyterian law that forbids the ordination of practicing homosexuals. The Book of Order does not provide a "provisional status" for congregations. Therefore, the administrative commission has asked the presbytery to send an overture to the 216th General Assembly asking for an amendment to allow such a status. As the administrative commission views the matter, provisional status would allow a congregation to continue to have voice – but not vote – at presbytery meetings. Furthermore, congregations on provisional status would not be allowed to have their members in leadership positions in the presbytery. They would also be required to refrain from acts of defiance. Elder Patricia Brown, who was the moderator of the 209th General Assembly (1998), will present the administrative commission's 10-page report to presbytery commissioners. The commission will also present its proposed draft of the overture. The overture would establish a two-year probationary period in which defiant congregations would be under the oversight of administrative commissions or committees on ministry. Included in the proposed overture is an appeal to the General Assembly to annul its "definitive guidance" on the issue of ordaining homosexuals. That guidance, which dates back to 1978 and has been affirmed by later general assemblies, declares that homosexual behavior is sinful. The commission also asks the presbytery to approve a three-year moratorium against its congregations using the church courts to force defiant congregations to comply with G-6.0106b, the "fidelity/chastity" clause in the Book of Order. Essentially, the committee's recommendations would buy more time for Mount Auburn, which has successfully dodged church discipline since 1991, even though the denomination's highest court ruled that it had no right to defy the constitution. The only action taken against the church was the presbytery's 119-45 vote on June 16, 2003, to remove A. Stephen Van Kuiken from his job as minister of the congregation after Van Kuiken violated a synod court order not to continue performing "marriage" ceremonies for same-gender couples. The synod court publicly reprimanded Van Kuiken when it issued its order for him to cease "marrying" gay couples. Shortly after that reprimand, he "married" a lesbian couple and publicly acknowledged it on the Mount Auburn Web site. After that response to the synod court's order, the Presbytery of Cincinnati declared that Van Kuiken's had renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA, which is tantamount to excommunication. His case is under appeal to the General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission. Van Kuiken and Mount Auburn's retired pastor, Harold Porter, have conducted several same-gender "marriages" over the years. Since 1991, the session of Mount Auburn has publicly declared that it will continue to ordain practicing homosexuals. The commission's report does not address another type of constitutional defiance at Mount Auburn. The church allows non-baptized, non-Christians to take part in its "open communion" services. Much of the commission's report is sympathetic to Mount Auburn. "It must be said that Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church has pursued this stance with courage, integrity and at great cost to the congregation. It is clear that this conviction has become central to their mission and identity," the report says. But it adds, "Yet, over this same time, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has repeatedly reaffirmed the opposite viewpoint that active homosexual lifestyles cannot be validated by practices such as gay marriage or by ordaining persons who are not committed to 'chastity in singleness or fidelity in marriage … between a man and a woman. Yet, it must be admitted that the Church in recent decades has not always spoken unequivocally or univocally on this issue.'" That judgment fails to acknowledge growing votes against ordaining homosexuals in the PCUSA. Since 1996, the PCUSA has conducted three national referendums on ordaining practicing homosexuals – 55 percent of the presbyteries voted against ordaining homosexuals in 1997, 65 percent in 1998 and nearly 75 percent in 2001. The report also praises Mount Auburn for "pledging to Presbytery mission, paying per capita, participating in One Great Hour of Sharing, and donating to the presbytery capital campaign." The administrative commission noted that one of its resources for its consideration of the Mount Auburn case was Mark Tammen, who is Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick's chief constitutional aide.

Respond to this article

Home · Archives · The Layman · PLC Publications Presbyterian Lay Committee · Feedback · Links