In a strongly worded letter to Presbyterian World Mission Director Hunter Farrell, the moderator of a conservative offshoot of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia has reaffirmed that church’s partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) despite its rejection of the PC(USA)’s current ordination standard allowing for the ordination of sexually active unmarried persons, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered church members.
Amendment 10-A — which removed a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Order provision flatly prohibiting the ordination of sexually active unmarried Presbyterians as church officers — was ratified by a majority of presbyteries in 2011 after being approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010). In the first Assembly since then, seven presbyteries have submitted overtures proposing to essentially reverse that decision.
LOUISVILLE -- The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — the highest court in the church — has issued two technical rulings that leave unresolved the extent to which conscientious objection to the church’s sexual conduct standards may disqualify candidates for ordination.
The Nov. 2 rulings involve Lisa Larges, a lesbian candidate for the ministry in San Francisco Presbytery, and the Rev. Paul Capetz, a gay theology professor in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area who set aside his ordination in 2000 and then sought reinstatement in 2007.
The rulings effectively allow San Francisco …
Though the formal results await certification by the Office of the General Assembly, all unofficial tallies show that Amendment B — which would replace the current Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitutional requirement that church officers live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” with a new section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order — has been defeated.
As of April 21, Amendment B — which would replace the current Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitutional requirement that church officers live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” with a new section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order — is within a single vote of being defeated.