Clerk reprimands session; lawyer files complaints By John H. Adams The Layman Volume 35, Number 2 Posted April 8, 2002 A Cincinnati congregation’s public defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has drawn a gentle reprimand from the denomination’s stated clerk and a strongly worded letter – plus two judicial complaints – from a Reston, Va., lawyer. Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said a resolution by the session of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church that stated the congregation’s intent to violate the constitution’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard “may subject the session to correction by the Presbytery of Cincinnati.” Almost simultaneously, Paul Rolf Jensen, describing Mount Auburn as “a church in schism,” initiated such action. He accused Mount Auburn’s two ministers of renouncing the jurisdiction of the PCUSA by refusing to comply with the constitution and asked the presbytery court to remove them from office. Complaint in California In another legal proceeding, the session of Michillinda Presbyterian Church in Pasadena asked the court of the Presbytery of San Gabriel to order the session of First Presbyterian Church in Baldwin Park, Calif., to apologize for a resolution stating its intent to ignore the ordination standard. Jensen’s complaint was aimed at two public statements signed by leaders of Mount Auburn: 1) the intent to violate the ordination standard and 2) its practice of conducting “marriage” ceremonies for homosexual couples. Kirkpatrick responded to Mount Auburn’s statement of dissent by calling it “clearly the result of much prayer and study.” He praised the congregation for welcoming “our Lord’s Gay and Lesbian children; surely they are vital to Mount Auburn’s mission and ministry. Clearly you have answered the call to provide a welcoming place.” But he added, “Yet I believe two statements in your declaration go beyond the session’s authority.” He cited Mount Auburn’s declaration that it “has not and cannot comply with G-6.0106b,” the fidelity/chastity ordination standard, and the session’s stated criteria to the congregation’s nominating committee for officers to ensure the election of homosexuals. Kirkpatrick did not respond to the Mount Auburn statement declaring that it authorized “marriage” ceremonies for same-gender couples. Same sex ‘marriage’ banned The constitution of the denomination describes marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. The highest court in the denomination has said sessions may authorize ceremonies to bless same-sex couples, but that the ceremonies are not to be described as “marriages” or to be viewed as an endorsement of homosexual practice. In his letter to the presbytery, Jensen, a member of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Calif., said Mount Auburn’s public defiance of the constitution “is not a subject on which reasonable men can differ: the resolutions of Mount Auburn to which I refer are as unequivocal and straightforward renunciations of our church’s polity as their session could possibly make them.” Unlike the Mount Auburn case, the Michillinda complaint does not call for punishment of individuals for constitutional violations. The complaint is based on the Baldwin session’s public announcement that it has violated the constitution in the past and plans to continue to do so.

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