 Vermont session again spurns order by highest PCUSA court By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, December 10, 2002 In the aftermath of a case that helped to plunge the Presbyterian Church (USA) into its current constitutional crisis, Christ Church in Burlington, Vt., has once again defied an order by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly to comply with the constitution. It has done so by declaring that:
The Christ Church statement declared that its own officers have the right to "faithfully and properly" interpret the Constitution – and, by implication, that the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly, the highest court in the denomination, had failed to meet that interpretation standard. In a statement adopted on Nov. 11 and made public on Dec. 9, the Christ Church session said it would no longer honor its agreement to "set aside" its 1999 resolution in which it publicly declared its intent to defy G-6.0106b, the "fidelity/chastity" clause in the Book of Order. The new resolution said Christ Church will consider practicing homosexuals eligible for ordination as elders and deacons. "With full confidence that we are abiding with the Constitution, including the provisions of G-6.0106b, the Session of Christ Church, Presbyterian vows to continue welcoming persons living singly or in committed relationships, regardless of sexual orientation, into the life, membership and leadership of this congregation on an equal basis, including eligibility for election and ordination as a ruling elder or deacon," the statement says. Court: Defiance statements violated constitution In September of 2000, the General Assembly court, ruling in a case called Londonderry v. Presbytery of Northern New England, ordered the Presbytery of Northern New England to require Christ Church to comply with church law. The order said a statement of intent to defy the constitution was tantamount to defiance itself. "This commission reaffirms the right of decorous dissent," the order said. "An appropriate dissent may be expressed in various ways; however, it may not include an intent by those who have vowed to be governed by the church's polity to violate the Constitution." The court also said, "This Commission finds that there are no constitutional grounds for a governing body to fail to comply with an express provision of the Constitution, however inartfully stated. Assertions of inconsistency, confusion, or ambiguity may justify the right to protest. They do not create a right to disregard any part of the Constitution." Defiance continued for two years The General Assembly court ordered that the Presbytery of Northern New England work with Christ Church – pastorally if possible but with disciplinary action if necessary – to end its earlier statement of defiance. Nonetheless, for nearly two years after the PJC decision in 2000, Christ Church continued to publicly declare its defiance of church law with a resolution posted on its Web site. Furthermore, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick failed, as was his duty, to report the court's decision to the 212th General Assembly in 2001 and how that decision was being handled by the presbytery and Christ Church. Shenango resolution sought compliance Kirkpatrick's silence prompted the Presbytery of Shenango to submit to the 213rd General Assembly in 2002 an overture calling on 1) Kirkpatrick to make his required report to the General Assembly and 2) the General Assembly to take steps to ensure that the court order was being followed by the presbytery. With the possibility that the General Assembly itself might require enforcement of the constitution, the session of Christ Church announced – just days before the 213rd General Assembly convened in June 2002 – that it had set aside its resolution of defiance. Kirkpatrick, who delivered his year-late report to the 213th General Assembly, assured commissioners that the presbytery and Christ Church were working pastorally toward complying with the court's order. The commissioners voted against the Shenango resolution. Compliance 'model' became defiance The commissioners also declared that "the Presbytery of Northern New England is making significant progress toward compliance … In hopeful anticipation of their success, their model should become a model for the rest of the Presbyterian Church (USA)." That "model" response turned out to be yet another declaration of defiance. The General Assembly did not accept the testimony of Shenango overture advocates, who contended that there had been no meaningful progress toward requiring Christ Christ to comply with the constitution. But with Christ Church appearing repentant and the testimony of an array of staff members and representatives of the Office of the General Assembly and the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, the majority of the commissioners to the 213th General Assembly decided that the constitutional process was working. Petition for called meeting of General Assembly That conclusion has been challenged repeatedly since the 2002 General Assembly met in Columbus, Ohio. Dozens of church sessions have publicly declared that they have violated – or will violate – church law on ordination standards, membership, communion practices and gay "marriages." In one case, an entire presbytery – Baltimore – has decided not to take action against individuals and sessions that defy church law. In response to the growing constitutional crisis, a petition campaign is under way for a called meeting of the 213rd General Assembly to do essentially what commissioners failed to do in June – take steps to ensure that the constitution will be enforced. Despite the opposition of Kirkpatrick, Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel, the Committee on the Committee of the Office of the General Assembly and the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, the petition has accumulated the signatures of 92 percent of the number of commissioners required to have a called meeting of the General Assembly. Remedial complaint filed in 1999 The Christ Church case began in 1999 with a complaint by leaders of Londonderry Presbyterian Church, an evangelical congregation in New Hampshire. They asked the Presbytery of Northern New England to take action against Christ Church because of its statement of defiance. In the synod trial, Peter Oddliefson, lead counsel for the Presbytery of Northern New England and a member of the board of the Covenant Network, told the court that Christ Church could not comply with G-6.0106b without "undermining the integrity of its ministry." In its Dec. 9 statement, however, Christ Church said it could now comply with G-6.0106b by using its own interpretation of the ordination standard – notwithstanding the fact that the standard has been approved in three denominational referendums, including a 3-1 affirming vote in 2001-02. Christ Church's interpretation changes Clearly, Christ Church, which worked against the passage of G-6.0106b, once interpreted the "fidelity/chastity" clause in the same manner as other Presbyterians. But now Christ Church says, "Our error was in leaving the interpretation of G-6.0106b to others, rather than exploring for ourselves what it is that G-6.0106b actually says. … When properly and faithfully interpreted, G-6.0106b and other constitutional requirements for inclusiveness can co-exist." "Chastity does not mean celibacy," Christ Church says. "Other possible interpretations of the word 'chastity' include moderation, seriousness, monogamy, modesty and respect. Therefore, 'living chastely in singleness' does not constitute a ban on committed homosexual relationships." Other interpretations The Christ Church statement includes other interpretations:
The rationale for Christ Church's new resolution parallels the strategy introduced by Oddliefson and Doug Nave at the Covenant Network conference in Minneapolis in November. The Covenant Network was established in 1997 with the sole purpose of defeating the amendment that became G-6.0106b. Rather than make statements of defiance, Oddliefson and Nave told a Covenant Network workshop that sessions opposing G-6.0106b should declare their support of the constitution, but challenge the meaning of words such as chastity and repentance. At that same meeting, after Oddliefson and Nave had proposed ways to render the ordination standard meaningless, Kirkpatrick thanked the Covenant Network for its resolution of support for the Constitution. He also thanked Presbyterians For Renewal, an evangelical organization that has supported G-6.0106b, for a similar resolution. |
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