Church court to hear three major cases The Presbyterian Layman Volume 33, Number 3 Posted May 22, 2000 BALTIMORE – The highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA) will hear appeals in May in three major cases testing the denomination’s constitutional standard on sexual morality. The central issue is G-6.0106b in the Book of Order. The standard requires candidates for ordination to exercise fidelity in their marriage or chastity in singleness. The highest court, called the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, will hear two appeals dealing directly with G-6.0106b and one case – perhaps the most controversial – on whether Presbyterian pastors will be allowed to officiate at same-sex “holy unions.” The commission will hear the appeals in Baltimore on May 19-20. All three cases are on appeal from decisions by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northeast. Ruling in a case from the Hudson River Presbytery, the synod court said same-sex holy unions, often called marriage by homosexuals, did not violate the PCUSA Constitution because they were not the same as marriage. The court said the practice should be prohibited through constitutional amendment rather than court interpretation. Seven ministers and eight congregations appealed the synod court’s decision. The case arose in August 1998 after a newspaper reported that a number of same-sex union ceremonies had taken place at South Church in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. After complaints from ministers and sessions, the Hudson River Presbytery said ministers had the right to conduct the services and to do so in church facilities. The synod court ruled that the Presbytery of Northern New England erred when it affirmed the right of Christ Church in Burlington, Vt., to declare that it would not abide by G-6.0106b. The presbytery initially told the 70-member More Light congregation to comply, then later reversed itself and rescinded the order. Five church sessions and 18 individuals filed the complaint against the presbytery. The synod court upheld the complaint and ordered the presbytery to continue to “work pastorally” with the Christ Church session, with “the ultimate goal of bringing them into compliance with the law as it exists.” The presbytery voted to appeal the decision. The third case before the General Assembly court involves the Presbytery of West Jersey, which accepted Graham Van Keuren as a candidate for ministry despite Van Keuren’s declaration that he was homosexual and that he intended to have a sexual relationship with another man. The synod commission, in a 7-2 decision, said that the candidacy stage of preparing for the ministry was not the time to impose the “fidelity in [heterosexual] marriage, chastity in singleness” requirement approved by the denomination in 1997. Eleven ministers and six churches appealed that decision. “The evidence clearly showed that the candidate intended to disregard existing church law,” John Sheldon, pastor of the First church, Ocean City, N.J., said.

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