 Panel decides not to try pastor in same-sex rites The Layman Online Wednesday, January 25, 2006
It was the second time a Mission investigating committee has halted the case against the Rev. James Rigby. After the first committee rendered its decision, the full presbytery voted to order a second investigation. The committee's decision was sent to the Rev. Dr. William J. Parr, the senior pastor of Nor'Kirk Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, and Robert Brown, a student at the University of Texas and a member of the Carrollton congregation, who filed the charges against Brown. Brown learned of Rigby's involvement in conducting "marriage" services for students on the University of Texas campus in 2004 through a newspaper article that covered the event and included a photo of Rigby performing a service. The mass-marriage event was part of a media attention-getter sponsored by several campus homosexual organizations. One, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Affairs Agency, issued "wedding" certificates to 50 couples. Rigby never contradicted the reports. Instead, he said his conscience would not allow him to comply with the Presbyterian Church (USA) polity that views marriage as a relationship only between a man and a woman. The complaint filed by Parr and Brown accused Rigby of defying the PCUSA Constitution. It sought a trial that could resulted in a determination that Rigby had renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA by violating the requirements of the Book of Order. Shortly before the presbytery committee conducted its investigation, Rigby wrote a public letter outlining his defense. It was posted on the Web site of That All May Freely Service, an activist group promoting same-gender marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. "To affirm Christ is head of the church means that our theology and polity must resemble the humble and nonjudgmental Jesus," he said. "There is nothing clearer in the teaching of Jesus than that we should not judge one other. While we must be selective as we choose our leaders, such decisions must be based on inner qualities of character not on external factors like race, gender or sexual orientation." In that letter and during interviews with The Layman Online, Rigby never denied any of the accusations but repeatedly asserted what he said was his obligation to follow his conscience. He said Biblical passages about homosexuality are not culturally relevant today. Paul Rolf Jensen, a California lawyer who represented Parr and Brown, said the investigating committee's moderator, elder Jeana Lungwitz, notified the parties that the committee had "prayerfully and thoroughly considered" much evidence, including the "testimony of … two elders from Rev. Rigby's church for whom Rev. Rigby had performed a same-sex ceremony." Under the Book of Order, Jensen said Brown and Parr "have no further review, and the matter stands closed." "This decision, wholly contrary to our Scriptures and polity, amply demonstrates that there is no need to adopt the 'local option' recommendation #5 of the PUP report," Jensen said. "We have local option now. Elder Lungwitz' letter demonstrates that there was no factual dispute as to Mr. Rigby's misconduct, and totally usurps the authority of the PJC as the trier of fact." |
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