Remedial complaint says Baltimore Presbytery cannot back homosexual marriages By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, January 5, 2005 The Presbytery of Baltimore's 51-35 vote in November 2004 to join an amicus curiae brief on behalf of legalizing homosexual marriages in Maryland has been temporarily put on hold. Two ministers in the presbytery filed a remedial complaint that challenged the presbytery's decision to join an amicus curiae brief in favor of same-sex marriages. The Synod of the Mid-Atlantic's Permanent Judicial Commission issued a stay prohibiting the presbytery's action pending the outcome of a trial. In response to the complaint, the Presbytery of Baltimore scheduled a called meeting at 2 p.m. Jan. 13 in Catonsville Presbyterian Church in Catonsville, Md., to reconsider its decision to support the American Civil Liberties Union's yet-to-be-filed Maryland case. Two ministers, the Rev. Joseph Condro of Churchville Presbyterian Church in Churchville, Md., and the Rev. David Wilson, pastor of Grove Presbyterian Church in Aberdeen, Md., filed the complaint against the presbytery. The Layman Online was unable Wednesday to obtain a copy of the complaint against the presbytery. However, the presbytery published on its Web site a brief summary of what the presbytery described as the "key points:" "The action of the Presbytery was contradictory to the Constitution." [The Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church recognizes marriage as a union only of a man and woman, whether the marriage is conducted in a church or a civil ceremony.] "The Presbytery does not have the authority to sign onto an amicus brief." "The Presbytery had an affirmative obligation to tell the overturing sessions that they were in error in that they had supported a position contrary to the Constitution and that they had improperly signed onto the amicus brief, or were considering such action." The judicial complaint is the second time that the synod has intervened in the affairs of the Presbytery of Baltimore. On March 27, 2004, the synod voted 19-14 to name an administrative commission to conduct a review of the presbytery, including whether it has been obeying the "lawful injunctions of a higher governing body." As of Wednesday, however, the synod had not named the 11-member administrative commission. After being contacted by The Layman Online, the Rev. Jacqueline Taylor, moderator of the synod and an employee of the Presbytery of New Castle, said there had been unforeseen delays in lining up people to serve on the commission. She and Roger Harper, the synod's executive, both said its members should be named in about two weeks. Taylor was opposed to having an administrative commission consider the affairs of the Baltimore Presbytery. The Presbytery of Baltimore also protested the synod's action and threatened retaliatory action in church courts. The synod's decision to call for a second administrative commission review – the first was approved but later disapproved by the synod – was instigated by the Presbytery of Baltimore's decision to dismiss a complaint against the Rev. Donald Stroud. The complaint said Stroud, a self-acknowledged, practicing homosexual, should be dismissed as a member of presbytery because of his defiance of the PCUSA constitution. Stroud is employed by the Baltimore office of That All May Freely Serve, an organization that favors homosexual marriage and opposes the denomination's prohibition against the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Stroud told the presbytery that he could not comply with the constitutional "fidelity/chastity" requirement in the Book of Order "because to do so, for me, can come only at the price of denying my faith in God's grace in Jesus Christ. My conscience will not allow me to do such a thing." The presbytery, which shares office space in the same building with TAMFS, appointed an investigating committee to determine whether to call for a disciplinary trial of Stroud. The investigating committee, with a majority of its members having financially contributed to TAMFS, recommended that there be no trial, and the full presbytery concurred.

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