Outgoing moderator again presses for the ordination of gays, lesbians The Layman Online Thursday, June 24, 2004 The outgoing moderator, in her final report to the General Assembly, continues to press for the ordination of gays and lesbians despite the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s constitutional prohibition against such action. After bemoaning what she called concerns "about the clergy shortage for small churches," the Rev. Susan R. Andrews, moderator of the 215th General Assembly, ticks off some things that are attempting to cope with the shortage – such as "creative models of bi-vocational ministers" and "commissioned lay pastors." In her report to the 216th General Assembly, which will elect a new moderator June 26 in Richmond, Andrews writes that, "As I have traveled around the church, several people have expressed their dismay that in a time when some are decrying the lack of candidates for ministry of Word and Sacrament, there are a whole category of trained, faithful, and talented people certified and ready for a call, but unable, constitutionally, to receive one. These are the gay and lesbian candidates who are unable to proceed toward ordination at this time." And so, Andrews ends her tenure as moderator as she began it – pressing for the ordination of gays and lesbians. A year ago, after her election, Andrews resigned her position as a board member of the Covenant Network, a pro-gay ordination organization. It was formed in 1997 in opposition to G-6.0106b, the constitutional standard that requires church officers to maintain fidelity in their marriages and chastity in singleness. "It is my fondest dream that in my lifetime we will move beyond this [the constitutional prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals], and open up the full privileges of membership, including ordination, to all of our gay brothers and sisters. I am on record for believing that, and I still do," she said just before her election. In the year since, Andrews repeatedly has used her office to try to muster opposition to the church's law, telling The Toledo Blade in May that she intentionally raises it in her travels. "If the issue is not raised, I raise it," she said. She also told The Blade that she favors "local option" on the issue, meaning that regional presbyteries and local church sessions should have the right to decide whether they will ordain practicing homosexuals as ministers, elders and deacons. Andrews said she favors a policy that would allow a presbytery that objected to ordaining homosexuals for Biblical reasons to continue its policy, but also allow presbyteries that favored ordaining gays to do so. Historically, the PCUSA, as a connectional denomination rather than a congregational network, has followed the principle that the church's constitution applies to all. The PCUSA Constitution prohibits ordaining homosexuals who are not celibate. The law has been sanctioned in three national referendums, including by nearly 75 percent of the denomination's presbyteries in 2001. In October, while addressing Gathering VIII sponsored by the Presbyterian Coalition in Portland, Ore., Andrews talked about a pastor who has "different convictions" from her on the "fidelity/chastity" clause, but who "preaches and teaches an eloquent evangelical gospel, but who includes on his staff and session people who disagree with him publicly on gay ordination." Then, after listing the first names of half a dozen people, Andrews said they were "gays and lesbians, all of them who feel called by the Holy Spirit to serve in our church and remain completely obedient to our constitution, which means that many are still waiting for their gifts to be recognized." Andrews appointed Chris Glaser, a homosexual writer, to be one of the preachers at the meeting of the 216th General Assembly. Although Glaser is a Presbyterian elder, he failed to gain ordination as a minister because of his open commitment to a homosexual lifestyle. He currently works as the spiritual director of a non-Christian religious group in Atlanta and serves as editor of a quarterly publication by More Light Presbyterians.

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