BACK TO DOBBS FERRY Church in forefront of defiance scene of ordination of gay pastor By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, November 14, 2005 On Sunday, in defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Ray Bagnuolo was ordained as a Presbyterian minister during a service at South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. It was an appropriate setting. South Church has been among the leaders of the constitutional defiance movement in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Bagnuolo has repeatedly and publicly stated that he is a practicing homosexual and that he will not submit to G-6.016b, the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard in the Book of Order. South Church is the unvanquished Alamo of homosexual activists and their allies in the PCUSA, having successfully fended off a number of attempts to require the session and the church's senior minister, Joseph Gilmore, to conform to Presbyterian polity. Bagnuolo's next stop is Palisades Presbyterian Church in Palisades, N.Y., where he will be the pastor. The 139-member congregation is one of more than 16 in the Presbytery of Hudson River whose sessions have declared – so far without successful challenge – that they will ignore the constitutional prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals. The Journal News, a daily newspaper for readers in the Dobbs Ferry area, described Bagnuolo's ordination service: Asked if he accepted the Scriptures, if he believed in one God and creator, if he would proclaim the Word and sacrament, Bagnuolo responded yes. But when asked if he would abide by the church's constitution, Bagnuolo said he had one exception. He would not abide by a church amendment that calls for its ordained leaders to practice fidelity in marriage or chastity if single, a measure aimed at excluding gays from being ordained. Bagnuolo … believes the amendment questions God's creation and contributes to violence against the gay community. "This is a happy and wonderful indication of what can happen when you don't give up and when you wait and see what God has in store for you," said Bagnuolo, 54, of White Plains. The Dobbs Ferry church moved into the forefront of the defiance movement after two newspapers – The New York Times and the Journal News – published stories in 1998 quoting Gilmore as saying that he had conducted "numerous marriages" of homosexual couples. After the Presbytery of Hudson River sanctioned what Gilmore was doing, a remedial case arose out of that issue. The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northeast dismissed the case in 1999. But the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly, the highest court in the denomination, ruled in 2000 in Benton et al. v. Presbytery of Hudson River that same-sex couples could be "blessed" during a worship service, but not married. The General Assembly commission ruled on only one issue: whether what Gilmore did constituted a marriage of homosexual couples or merely a blessing. It said the presbytery should have done a better job of making that distinction before giving the green light to Gilmore. Although the decision quoted extensively as describing the events as "marriages," Gilmore was never required to testify during hearings before the synod and General Assembly commissions. Following the Dobbs Ferry case, there arose: 1) a proposed constitutional amendment (disapproved by the presbyteries in 2000) that would have banned a blessing for homosexual couples; 2) another General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission case spelled out in detail why "blessing symbols" could not resemble a marriage ceremony or constitute approval of conjugal relations among same-sex couples; 3) a failed 2001 attempt to repeal the "fidelity/chastity" clause in the Book of Order; 4) the filing of several disciplinary cases that accused homosexual ministers of violating their ordination vows by defying the constitution; 5) a attempt, thwarted by former General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel and the Office of the general Assembly, to have a called meeting of the General Assembly to put some teeth in constitutional enforcement; 6) the flight of Circleville Presbyterian Church, an evangelical congregation, from the Presbytery of Hudson River to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church; 7) today's climate where constitutional violations in the PCUSA are largely ignored. Meanwhile, Bagnuolo, after working with That All May Freely Serve, an organization that promotes defiance of the constitution and lobbies for the repeal of the "fidelity/chastity" clause, gained the approval of the Presbytery of Hudson River to be a minister of the word and sacrament. During the ordination service, Bagnuolo was treated like a hero. "Thank you for your integrity, your honesty and for saying out loud what is just and what is right," said the Rev. Janie Adams Spahr, a Presbyterian minister who faces a disciplinary trial on charges of having conducted a marriage of a homosexual couple in Canada. Although she is still ordained, Spahr lost a Presbyterian court decision that prohibited her from accepting a call to a Rochester, N.Y., congregation in 1991 because she declared that she was a self-professing homosexual. The Journal News reported that the Rev. David Prince, Hudson River Presbytery's interim executive director, said he was proud of the decision to ordain Bagnuolo and that, "It gives me hope that the presbytery of which we are part of will again someday be at the vanguard of social issues."

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