Tweet
Wonderful news out of Minneapolis, where the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)* held their 219th General Assembly. After about 15 years of trying, the church’s legislative body has lifted the ban on noncelibate gay clergy by a vote of 373 to 323. The old ordination standard was:
Those who are 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, 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.
Cold.
*Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the mainline Presbyterian church in the USA. Not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America, which is a conservative anti-gay splinter group.The proposed new language, which will be considered over the next year, is this:
Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life. The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation. Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.
Much nicer. Theresa Denton, moderator of the Church Orders and Ministry Committee, who apparently was responding to accusations that the ordination standards have been lowered, had this to say about the proposed new standards:
“The standards that the governing bodies will be held to is to evaluate the totality of a candidate’s life, to interview them and see what their gifts are, what their talents are, what their whole life is about rather than one aspect of their life and … all of this to be done under the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” she contended. “I think that is an incredibly high standard.”
Sadly, the Assembly wouldn’t even allow a discussion about performing same-sex marriages to come to the floor for debate.
Instead, the assembly voted to accept a special study on civil unions and marriage, preempting the gay marriage proposal.
So Presbyterian equality advocates have their next years’ work laid out for them: educate their local churches that getting married in church is every bit as meaningful for gay & lesbian Presbyterians as it is for heterosexuals.
4 Comments
hard to get excitedWhile it’s always good news when the General Assembly approves gay ordination, it’s only the start of the process. It now has to be approved by 2/3 of the presbyteries (local governing bodies, kind of like a constitutional amendment goes to the states) and then again back to the GA for another vote. This has happened 3 times now, the last being the GA in 2008. Each time it’s failed in the presbyteries, albeit getting closer each time.
I think most of us who are LGBT PCUSA members want this to happen but we’re finding it hard to get excited about the news, having been down this road before (and before, and before). I read that only 30+ presbyteries have to change their vote for this to pass but I just think those last 30+ are going to be the toughest.
The irony is that if the church would just deal with the gay marriage issue, they wouldn’t have to change ordination “standards” (I put that in quotes because the PCUSA is fine with divorced people being ordained, but not the gays. I don’t think you can have that one both ways.).
a note on ordinationIn the PCUSA, lay elders are also ordained, not just clergy, so this has ramifications for lay leadership as well.
Huzza!The local Presbyterian church has been in the forefront of our ONE Bowling Green campaign to fight for the two non-discrimination ordinances passed by the city council last August, which was put up for a referendum by a cabal of bigots.
They’ve been picketed by one of those cabals, a Christofascist group by the name of Cops for Christ, which is a clone of those deluded people you see with selected bible passages and perverted artwork, claiming society will crumble if we don’t goosestep in time with them…
One step at a timeYou’re right–there’s a lot of work ahead–but let’s take note. People have been working on this for years (thanks, Chris Glaser…).