Prominent Minneapolis minister admits affair, resigns Stewart chaired 1991 GA Human Sexuality Committee – Therapists called in to help congregation By Nolan Zavoral, Staff Writer. Reprinted with permission of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul. The Presbyterian Layman Nov/Dec, 1997 The Rev. Gordon Stewart, senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis, was listed as giving Sunday’s sermon on the sign out front and in the church program. But he didn’t give the sermon to the hundreds who had assembled that day at one of the state’s most prominent churches. He waited until another pastor had finished, then took the pulpit and dropped a bombshell. Stewart revealed that his 30-year marriage had “unraveled,” and that he had been having an affair with the Rev. Kay Slaikeu, an associate pastor at Westminster. He said he was resigning, effective immediately, after 3 ½ years and asked for the church’s forgiveness. A few worshipers in the front pews sobbed as Slaikeu followed Stewart to the pulpit. She said that she and her husband had been separated since January and that she was filing for divorce to pursue her relationship with Stewart. Slaikeu, her voice cracking, also said she was resigning, after two years at Westminster. Church officials then assured the congregation that plans to launch a $12 million campaign to refurbish the church at 12th St. and Nicollet Mall and to build a program facilities building would proceed as scheduled. Congregants also were told that the Westminster Town Hall Forum, a critically acclaimed public affairs lecture series moderated by the church’s senior pastor, would continue. Sam Cooke, director of administration at Westminster, maintained that “even in these tragic and shocking circumstances the church will remain strong, because the whole is greater than its parts.” Church officials planned to decide Wednesday who will give Sunday’s sermon. The Rev. Daniel Little, a retired pastor from Ithaca, NY., has agreed to preside over the services for three consecutive Sundays beginning Oct. 12, Cooke said. A personnel committee will talk to Little – a widely respected cleric who has held high offices in the church and specializes in urban churches – about the possibility of his filling in until a permanent pastor is found. At the end of the service, worshipers were invited to share their feelings with five therapists who were on hand. Reactions ranged from shock to “raw feelings and anger” toward the pastors, Cooke said. Surreal quality Kathy Winslow of New Hope, a 14-year Westminster member, said Monday that she felt a surreal atmosphere surrounding the events. “I didn’t feel like I was really hearing what I was hearing in a sanctuary,” she said. “That’s something you catch on TV.” Jevne Pennock of Minneapolis, a 52-year member, said she was “devastated.” “It’s so sad,” she said. “This is a jewel of a church, and something like that happened here. It’s just sickening.” Neither Stewart nor Slaikeu could be reached for comment Monday. Stewart has two grown children, while Slaikeu has three children, the oldest in college, Cooke said. Both formally resigned Saturday during a special meeting of church officials. They received permission to read their letters of resignation to the congregation. Copies were mailed to the church’s 3,000 members. ‘Like Lazarus’ Stewart said he didn’t expect members to accept his relationship with Slaikeu, but added, “At the same time [it] is a source of great personal joy to me, and we both wish to explore the future together in the light of day. “While to you this news must feel like a death, to me it feels like Lazarus coming forth from the tomb. … These months have taught me that sin and grace are sometimes so bound up with each other that the one is inseparable from the other. But it is grace which prevails.” Slaikeu said that her relationship with Stewart “brings me life,” but that she regretted disappointing others. “I am accountable for this harm and it grieves me like a death of something precious,” she stated. “I have never been so happy and so unhappy at the same time.” Editor’s note: Rev. Gordon Stewart was chairman of the Committee on Human Sexuality at the 1991 General Assembly. The “Human Sexuality Report” received by his committee provides the theological framework for the proposed Amendment A that is now before the denomination’s presbyteries. Amendment A would remove the requirement that ordained leaders restrict their sexual activity to the covenant of marriage. |
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