‘Fidelity and chastity’ ordination standard will be challenged By Robert P. Mills The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 4 Posted May 30, 2001 G-6.0106b Those called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. 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. More than 30 of the PCUSA’s 173 presbyteries have sent or concurred with overtures related to G-6.0106b, the “fidelity and chastity” clause of the denomination’s Book of Order. These will be considered by the General Assembly when it meets in Louisville this June. Eliminating standards Opponents of the denomination’s historic ordination standards have had two years to prepare their assault and have opened several lines of attack. Some, like that from Mid-Kentucky (formerly Louisville) Presbytery want the paragraph eliminated. Others, like that from New York City Presbytery, not only want the standard removed, but ask the assembly to declare “that our denomination’s pronouncements upon the ordination of homosexual persons and subsequent adoption of G-6.0106b … were in error.” ‘Local option’ A “local option” approach, advocated by Santa Fe Presbytery among others, would move the PCUSA away from its connectional heritage by allowing sessions and presbyteries to establish their own ordination standards. The Advisory Committee on the Constitution, which is required to comment on all proposed changes to the Book of Order, has said that such proposals “do not … accomplish the purpose of the presbyteries who have proposed these overtures. The concept of ‘waiver’ is inconsistent with other sections of Chapter VI, and the vows as they appear in Chapter XIV.” More debate Another option, proposed by John Calvin Presbytery among others, would involve appointing yet another task force to study the issue and report back to a future assembly. In contrast, Midwest Hanmi and Eastern Korean presbyteries ask this assembly for a moratorium on such discussions. Veteran observers have noted that with so many overtures on the topic coming to this assembly, and with an entire assembly committee devoted to this single issue, it is almost certain that some proposal will be approved, most likely a task force or a form of “local option.” If any effort to delete or amend G-6.0106b is approved by the Louisville assembly, it will then be debated and voted on in each of the denomination’s 173 presbyteries. The ensuing year-long debate would take place in the aftermath of Amendment O, the defeat of which effectively authorizes Presbyterian ministers to conduct same-sex union ceremonies in Presbyterian churches, and in the context of the rapidly emerging Confessing Church Movement.

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