Tricia Dykers Koening and Michelle Ready, observers at the PC(USA)’s 2010 General Assembly, smile as the church votes to relax a ban on the ordination of homosexuals.
The majority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 173 presbyteries have backed a change to the church’s constitution that will allow willing presbyteries and governing bodies to ordain openly gay men and lesbian women as elders, deacons and ministers. It takes effect July 10, one year after the adjournment of the PC(USA)’s 2010 General Assembly.
The change, dubbed “Amendment 10 – A,” removes “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” as an ordination requirement, and replaces a portion of the church’s Book of Order with new language.
Realizing the controversial move could create divisions in the denomination, 24 former moderators of the General Assembly wrote a letter to churches in the wake of the amendment’s ratification on May 11.
“The decision to adopt Amendment 10 – A does not bind the conscience of any Presbyterian, nor does it create a mandate for ordaining particular individuals,” they wrote. “Instead it directs each congregation and presbytery to prayerfully discern the gifts and call of each candidate for ordination, guided by scripture and the confessions.”
Power over ordinations will remain with presbyteries and governing bodies, which will decide whom to ordain within their bounds.
Although not all presbyteries had voted by press time, the unofficial tally stood at 87 – 62 on May 11.
This was the fourth time presbyteries voted on amendments to the fidelity or chastity requirement, which was added following the 1996 assembly. In previous years, presbyteries upheld the requirement with an increasingly slim margin.
The new language of Amendment 10 – A says standards for ordination “reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life,” and stresses the responsibility of the ordaining body to determine “a candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all the requirements … for ordination and installation.”
The Presbyterian Church in Canada endorses candidates for ordination who are celibate unless in a marriage between a man and a woman. As reiterated in the report of a General Assembly special committee on sexual orientation in 2003, “a celibate homosexual minister or member of the Order of Diaconal Ministries may still be ordained/designated under the present laws and practice of the Presbyterian Church in Canada,” but “on the basis of a precedent derived from an understanding of scriptural authority, a person described as a ‘self avowed and practicing homosexual’ may be refused ordination.”
