Synod court dismisses Heartland dispute over ordination of elder By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, November 11, 2005 The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Mid-America has ruled against an accusation that the session of one of the congregations in the Heartland Presbytery violated the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s prohibition against ordaining a self-acknowledged homosexual. The synod court, after a hearing on Oct. 28, upheld a similar conclusion by the presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission in a case that involved the sessions of two of the presbytery's largest congregations – the 1,880-member Colonial Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Mo., and the 738-member Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, Kan. The session of Colonial filed the remedial complaint that asked the presbytery court to rule that Grace had failed to abide by G-6.0106b, the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard in the Book of Order. In March, the presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission dismissed the case, ruling that Colonial's session failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted. The appeal asked the synod court to rule that the presbytery "committed an error in constitutional interpretation." But the synod court affirmed the language of the presbytery's ruling: "The Complaint is based on allegations that the Respondent violated G-6.0106b in the ordination and installation of an unidentified individual. Complaint argues that Respond failed to conduct an adequate examination of this unnamed and unidentified individual. Pursuant to an authoritative interpretation of G-6.0106b by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly in Presbytery of San Joaquin v. The Presbytery of the Redwoods, … it is clear that ' … sexual orientation alone would be no more sufficient or reasonable grounds for further question than would singleness, obesity or any other characterization. In other words, stereotypical profiling is not a reasonable or valid ground for singling out a candidate for additional questioning.'" The Colonial session complained that Grace Covenant's session "failed in its positive obligation to make further inquiry to determine if ordaining a particular elder would cause a violation of G-6.0106b." But the synod court disagreed. "Appellant fails to make the necessary allegations that such elder, in fact, was a self-acknowledged homosexual refusing to repent of what the Confessions call sin. It is clear from the finding of Redwoods that 'there must be a higher pleading specificity as to what constitutes the grounds for reasonable cause prior to inquiry … Reasonable grounds must include factual allegations of how, where and under what circumstances the individual was self-acknowledging a practice which the confessions call a sin." The synod panel said the Colonial session had "failed and omitted to plead the factual allegations required by Redwoods." The synod court also would not sustain Colonial's complaint that the presbytery court "committed an injustice in the process and ultimately the decision," by not applying the proper standards to their review of the evidence and authority in reaching their decision. The decision will be presented at the Heartland Presbytery's meeting on Nov. 19.

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