San Joaquin's appeal in Morrison
case dismissed
Redwoods appeal in lesbian ordination case to be
heard Nov. 1
[8-22-02]
by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- August 20, 2002 -- 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.
The case arose from Redwoods Presbytery's decision
last October to permit the ordination of the Rev. Katie Morrison, a
lesbian. Members of the presbytery asked for remedial action from the
PJC of the Synod of the Pacific alleging that the presbytery
"committed an irregularity" and sought a stay of the
ordination. The synod PJC refused to grant a stay and Morrison was
ordained later that month.
In November, San Joaquin, another presbytery in the
same synod, filed a separate complaint with the General Assembly PJC
asserting that the synod PJC had "abused its discretion" by
not issuing the stay and also charged synod stated clerk the Rev. Donald
I. MacInnes with "improper conduct" when he polled absent
synod PJC members about the stay.
Subsequently, San Joaquin rescinded its complaint
against MacInnes -- the senior synod stated clerk in the PC(USA) in
years of service -- though it inexplicably left it in its filing with
the General Assembly PJC.
The Assembly's PJC ruled that though "San Joaquin
clearly has an interest…in holding the Synod accountable for the
conduct of synod staff …" the presbytery's decision to rescind
the complaint against MacInnes means there is "no claim upon which
relief can be granted."
The GA PJC also dismissed San Joaquin's complaint
against the synod PJC because it was not a party to the original
Redwoods members' complaint. "Our Rules of Discipline do not permit
a person to seek remedial relief, as San Joaquin is attempting here,
against a judicial commission based upon that commission's rulings in
another case in which that person was not a party."
The PJC said that San Joaquin "could have moved
to intervene" by joining the Redwoods members' complaint, but chose
to file its own instead.
An appeal by several members of Redwoods Presbytery in
the case is still pending before the General Assembly's PJC -- it is
tentatively scheduled to be heard Nov. 1. But San Joaquin's is gone.
