PJC rules case of gay elder in
Connecticut is moot
Osborne's seat on session has been filled, so case
is "no longer relevant"
by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
[posted here 12-14-01]
Click
here for an earlier report on this case.
LOUISVILLE - 04-December-2001 - In a decision likely
to displease both sides in the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s dispute over
ordination standards, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission
(PJC) has dismissed as moot a closely-watched case concerning a gay
elder in Connecticut.
The surprise ruling was issued Dec. 4 after it was
revealed at a Nov. 30 hearing that the congregation of First
Presbyterian Church of Stamford, CT, had elected and the session had
installed a new class of elders last June.
Therefore, the PJC ruled, the question of whether
elder Wayne Osborne, a self-acknowledged gay man who was elected to a
term of service on the previous session at First church, was eligible
for installation is "no longer relevant to the disposition of this
case."
Once the new session was elected, the church court
held, Osborne "ceased to be eligible for installation."
"The Permanent Judicial Commission said nothing
on the substance of the underlying case," noted the Rev. Mark
Tammen, director of the Department of Constitutional Services in the
Office of the General Assembly, "because there is no longer any
case."
The case against Osborne - who acknowledged his
homosexual orientation after his ordination in 1994 - began in June of
1998 after he was elected to an additional term on the Stamford session.
Due to a series of stays, he was never installed.
The original complaint alleged that the Stamford
session failed to adequately examine Osborne to determine if he was
sexually active, which would violate G-6.0106b (the "fidelity and
chastity" provision) of The Book of Order. By lower court mandate,
Osborne was reexamined in January 2000 and again approved for
installation.
