Bid to block Morrison's ordination
fails
Not enough COM members object, so Redwoods
Presbytery ordains Katie Morrison
by John Filiatreau, Presbyterian News Service
| San
Joaquin's appeal in Morrison case dismissed
Redwoods appeal in Morrison ordination case
to be heard Nov. 1 [8-22-02]
In a pivotal court case on ordination standards in the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the General Assembly Permanent
Judicial Commission (PJC) has dismissed an appeal by the
Presbytery of San Joaquin seeking to overturn decisions made by
the Synod of the Pacific's court, relating to the ordination of
the Rev. Katie Morrison, now a staff member for More Light
Presbyterians. |
| Case
dismissed
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the
Synod of the Pacific has dismissed two complaints against
Redwoods Presbytery, claiming that it has failed to examine
Katie Morrison adequately about her sexuality, before
permitting her ordination. [5-21-02] |
LOUISVILLE -- 22-October-2001-- Presbyterians who opposed the ordination
of Katie Morrison, a lesbian ministerial candidate endorsed by Redwoods
Presbytery in Northern California in September, failed in their effort
to prevent or delay it. Morrison's
ordination took place as scheduled on Oct. 21.
Morrison has said she will abide by the Presbyterian
Church (USA)'s constitutional requirement that unmarried clergy be
"chaste."
Redwoods presbyters on the losing end of the 90-37
vote to proceed with Morrison's ordination charged that the process was
illegitimate, voicing a suspicion that her understanding of
"chastity" is different from the church's historical position
that forbids any sexual activity between unmarried partners.
They questioned whether the examiners in Morrison's
case probed deeply enough into sexual matters, beginning with the
Committee on Preparation for Ministry and continuing through the floor
debate at a presbytery meeting.
Though the stay was denied, the complaint filed by
those opposed to the ordination itself will still be heard by the
synod's PJC. The hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Redwoods Presbytery voted to approve Morrison's
ordination as a "field organizer" for More Light Presbyterians
(MLP), an advocacy network for gay and lesbian Presbyterians. She would
be MLP's second field organizer.
Mitzi Henderson, a co-moderator of the organization,
said it gets so many calls for speakers that it needs another organizer
to help congregations learn to provide pastoral care to gays and
lesbians and their families and to assist in dialogues about
homosexuality - a subject that has been at the center of PC(USA)
political debates for nearly three decades.
The constitutional provision at the center of the
debate, G-6.0106b, is itself in dispute. The provision, which requires
"fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman
or chastity in singleness" for church officers, was added to the
constitution in 1997. An attempt to delete it was decisively rejected by
the presbyteries the following year. It is now facing another challenge:
This year's General Assembly asked the church's 173 presbyteries to vote
over the next several months to retain or strike it. A majority vote is
needed to settle the matter.
The Rev. Chandler Stokes, the chairman of the
presbytery's Committee on Ministry, said the examination process in
Morrison's case "seemed to be no different from our usual
process," and Morrison met "all of the usual criteria"
for ordination He added: "We don't ask our heterosexual candidates
about their fidelity in marriage, or investigate their sexual behavior.
I think to do so in this case would clearly have been
discriminatory."
The Rev. Ed Hart, of Napa, CA, a member of the
Committee on Ministry, had said he would seek a stay from the synod PJC
to stop the Oct. 20 ordination ceremony.
Efforts to reach Morrison for comment were
unsuccessful.
