Stamford church, presbytery reserve right to appeal case By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, December 20,1999 A Stamford, Conn., church session and a presbytery are mulling the possibility of appealing the decision of a regional church court which ruled that both bodies erred when they approved the installation of an elder who said he is homosexual and living with another man but is "chaste in God's eyes." The Rev. Stuart A. Pollock, who is a member of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northeast that made the decision, said both First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, Conn., and the Presbytery of Southern New England have reserved the right to appeal. In the meantime, both bodies have indicated that they plan to move forward with steps to respond the court's orders, said Pollock, who is stated clerk for the Presbytery of Southern New England. In October, the synod court said the session of the Stamford church failed to question Wayne Osborne, the homosexual elder, sufficiently to determine if Osborne should be installed. It also said the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Southern New England erred by approving the session's decision to install the elder. Synod court's order The synod court ordered the following:
The examination of Osborne was the central issue in the case. Osborne was an elder when he was elected to serve a new term. Prior to that election, he had stated on the floor of presbytery that he was homosexual. But the session and the presbytery's judicial commission decided that there was never a self-acknowledgement by Osborne that his relationship was sexually active. In a speech to the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, Blair Moffett, the minister of First Presbyterian, described what Osborne told the session during an interview after his election. "We asked him, 'Are you in a gay relationship?' And he said, 'Yes.' We asked him to describe it. He did and it was wonderful. I asked him if this is a sexually active partnership, and he said, 'I decline to answer.'" John Harder, the attorney for the presbytery's judicial commission, said the denomination's ordination standard, G-6.0106b, did not require Osborne to "self-acknowledge" his behavior. The constitutional standard requires Presbyterian officers to confine their sexual activity to marriage. It also says, "Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders or ministers of the Word and Sacrament." According to session minutes, Osborne said, "There are many sins mentioned in the confessions that I believe are outdated or out of step with current teachings and beliefs. I find it difficult to say with integrity that I will repent of those particular sins listed when I don't acknowledge them to be sin." He also said his relationship with his gay partner was "chaste in God's eyes." Three deficiencies cited The synod commission found "three deficiencies in the session's examination" of Osborne: "First, the FPC session failed to explore with Osborne what he meant by his expression 'chaste in God's eyes.' Lacking an explanation of Osborne's intended meaning by this characterization means that the session failed to complete their examination. "Secondly, Osborne's indication that 'there are many "sins" mentioned in the confessions that I believe are outdated or out of step with current beliefs and teachings' opens an area of further question that session cannot let stand without further information to enable the session to make an informed decision regarding the candidate's qualification to be installed as an elder in active service. "Finally, Osborne's response, 'I decline to answer this question' when asked, 'Is this a sexually active partnership?' leaves the issue in limbo. Session at this point had an obligation to ask Osborne to explain his response, as pertinent to the issue of eligibility in light of Osborne's earlier comment as well as the express standard in G-6.0106b, second sentence." Dissent written by 3 on court Synod commission members Judith A. Wollenberg, Catherine T.R. MacDonald and Susan G. De George wrote a dissent opposing the re-examination of Osborne and reconsideration by the presbytery's judicial commission. "We believe that, while one's freedom of conscience must be exercised within certain bounds, it is ultimately the 'responsibility of the governing body in which he or she serves' to determine whether or not the candidate 'has departed from the essentials of Reformed faith and polity,'" they said. DeGeorge is pastor of South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., a congregation that was involved in another synod trial. She and her co-pastor, Joseph Gilmore, conducted several same-sex "holy unions" at Dobbs Ferry. The Presbytery of Hudson River was accused of allowing pastors to conduct the rights in violation of the constitution. In the Dobbs Ferry case, the synod court ruled that presbytery did not violate the constitution because nothing in the constitution prohibits "holy unions" between two people of the same sex. |
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