California presbytery dismisses case against practicing lesbian By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, December 16, 2002 The Investigating Committee of the Presbytery of Redwoods in California has summarily dismissed six complaints arising out of the ordination of the Rev. Kathleen "Katie" Morrison, who publicly declared that she was a practicing lesbian well before the presbytery ordained her. Morrison was ordained to serve as the associate minister of a California congregation and outside the boundaries of the presbytery as a national field organizer for More Light Presbyterians, a group whose members include dozens of church sessions that have publicly stated their defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The More Light group has worked closely with the Covenant Network for the repeal of the "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard in the constitution. Now that the standard has been reaffirmed by a 3-1 margin in a recent referendum among the denomination's 173 presbyteries, both organizations have adopted a strategy of forestalling enforcement by lobbying presbyteries to dismiss judicial cases and redefining terms. For instance, before Morrison was ordained, she told the presbytery that "chaste" did not mean abstinence from sex and that she was chaste in her own eyes. The presbytery did not dispute her definition. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) specifically prohibits the ordination of practicing adulterers and homosexuals. It says candidates for church office must maintain fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness. The highest court in the denomination has upheld that standard and has said that it cannot be violated either by practice or statement of intent to be defiant. "This is the first time a LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered) candidate has been open throughout the process and succeeded in having his or her call affirmed by the presbytery," More Light Presbyterians said in a news release. "We celebrate this news with Katie and her partner and pray that many others called by God to serve this church will be able to live openly and answer their calls faithfully." The Redwoods case is the second in which a presbytery dismissed complaints without allowing a court trial by the presbyteries' courts. The Investigating Committee of the Presbytery of Baltimore refused to allow a trial of charges against the Rev. Don Stroud, a practicing homosexual. Later, the presbytery voted to concur with the investigating committee's decision. A synod court is reviewing the Baltimore Presbytery's action. Paul Jensen, a Virginia lawyer and former California resident, filed the complaints against Morrison, Stroud and others who have openly defied the constitution. Some of his complaints date back to March of 2001, but none has gone to trial. Jensen accused Morrison of "misleading, or in the alternative attempting to mislead, the presbytery during her examination as a candidate for ministry that she intended to obey the Constitution of the PCUSA when in fact she intended not to obey the constitution." In effect, Jensen said, Morrison renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA by declaring that she would not submit to the constitution. The Investigating Committee also dismissed other Jensen complaints against: 1. The Rev. Mary Wright Gillespie, moderator of the Presbytery of the Redwoods, for "conducting an irregular examination of Katie Morrison during the Redwoods Presbytery meeting of September 21, 2001." 2. The Rev. Chandler Stokes, chairman of the Committee for Preparation on Ministry in the Redwoods Presbytery, for his role in securing the presbytery's approval of Morrison as a candidate for the ministry and for his participation in Morrison's ordination. Jensen said Stokes failed to heed objections raised at the presbytery meeting before Morrison's ordination was approved. 3. The Rev. Carolyn Osborn for her participation in the ordination of the Rev. Annie Petker at First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, Calif., on Dec. 10, 2000, and later the ordination of Morrison. Jensen's complaint says that Petker, at the time of her ordination, was in the part-time employ of "That All May Freely Serve," an organization that seeks the ordination of homosexuals in the PCUSA. 4. Petker of the Presbytery of Redwoods, who "at all times relevant hereto since July 21, 2000, practice[d] without repentance the sin of homosexuality. As evidence of her defiance of the constitution, she has accepted employment by an advocacy group known as 'That All May Freely Serve.'" 5. The Rev. Barbara Rowe, for participating in Morrison's ordination. In a related case, Jensen had filed a complaint against Steve Morrison, father of Kathleen Morrison and an elder at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, for participating in the ordination of his daughter. The complaint, filed as required with the session of the Pasadena church, asked the session to recuse itself from hearing the evidence. Declining to recuse itself, the session dismissed the charge against Jensen. Enforcement by church courts of the constitutional "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard, G-6.0106b in the Book of Order, has been nonexistent since the presbyteries affirmed it by the 3-1 margin during the last referendum. In 1997, 55 percent of the presbyteries voted to include the ordination standard in the constitution and, in 1998, 65 percent affirmed the standard. Morrison is a former leader of the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, a denominational organization that almost lost its funding because of its advocacy of homosexual activity and Re-Imagining God theology.

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