Written by Leslie Scanlon, OUTLOOK national reporter
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 17:52
The Synod Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies has issued a stay of enforcement in a case involving Scott D. Anderson, a gay man who lives in a committed relationship with a partner and who has been approved for ordination by John Knox Presbytery.
The stay means that Anderson’s ordination, which had been scheduled for May 15, will be postponed as the courts of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) consider a challenge to the John Knox Presbytery action.
The presbytery voted 81-25 on Feb. 20 to ordain Anderson, who currently serves as executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. More than two decades ago, Anderson, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, worked as a Presbyterian pastor in California before setting aside his ordination in 1990, after two people from his congregation publicly revealed that he is gay.
On March 4, the session of Caledonia Church in Racine, Wis., and five Presbyterian ministers filed a remedial case against John Knox Presbytery with the synod’s Permanent Judicial Commission. They argue Anderson should not be ordained because he does not comply with the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which require those being ordained to practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
The complaint also states that the presbytery should not have allowed Anderson to declare a “scruple” – a conscientious objection – to the fidelity-and-chastity standard. Under a procedure recommended by the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PC(USA) – a task force on which Anderson served – a governing body can approve a candidates who declares a scruple if it determines that the objection doesn’t involve an essential of Reformed faith and polity.
Anderson’s case could prove to be the first test in the church courts of the question of whether a presbytery can allow the ordination of a gay or lesbian who is involved in a committed relationship and declares a scruple to the fidelity-and-chastity standard. Anderson and his partner, Ian MacAllister, have been a couple for nearly 20 years.
Response from Mike Fazzini,
March 22, 2010 Pittsburgh, PA
Jill Anne, You said it perfectly. Well done. Scott, you must have known this would be coming. Hang in there.
I am truly hoping that a whole generation of Presbyterian leadership doesn't have to fade from the scene before what is already written comes to fruition. Our current standards cannot stand. Even those opposed to changing them must know this in their hearts.
I understand that as long as the standards are what they are they must be enforced but we are losing people in the process. We are especially losing our youth. They see the integrity of the Church in question as we continue to assign gay people special rules.
The standards run counter to the witness of too many families who raised their children in Presbyterian Churches. Families whose bible inspired, spirit centered, neighbor loving children come out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Children who were taught the meaning of Christ's incarnation and life and took it to their hearts.
Very few of them find a home in the church that taught them how to live because the church has not lived out the promise to people that it teaches, that it is the Body of Christ. If it is so, how can we be so broken? How can we chose some and arbitrarily not invite others to the fullness of life in the Body? We tell them they are not worthy when all they want to do is live the life that we heterosexuals feel is our birthright. They want what we have but we say NO. What are we doing to the families of GLBT children?
Our children who are GLBT did not suddenly fall from grace or become lesser lights when they came out. They will not aspire less or throw away their Christian roots unless we lead them to it, unless we continue to insist they are not worthy to be fully Presbyterian. When people as faithful as Scott Anderson are raked throught the coals to live out their Christian calling we are not setting an example that inspires GLBT people to be a part of what we so highly value and love. Quite the opposite.
Let's get this done.
Response from P.W. Gregory,
March 18, 2010 Lambertville, NJ
When the GA approved PUP, local option, without the due-process of the polity of the church in terms of allowing for majority presbytery consent it set up the denomination for processing these type of ordination request through the church courts, rather than the mechanisms of traditional polity. As the Pottery Barn says, "You break it, you own it."
That being said, Mr. Anderson will have his day in court, along with the drama and theator inherent in these types of cases. Apart from his given sexual orientation he may indeed posess the elements of grace, care, emotional intellegence, compassion, love, faith, and empathy one would hope in all clergy. Lord knows we have ordained enough heterosexual idiots in our history that we should be careful of the stones in our glass house. And at the end of the day the Church, national, will have to come to some resolution on this matter of sexual orientation and ordination. Once done though the Church, national, and local will need deal with the effects and fall-out of such. To those in any ideological base who assume they can impose their will on the entire church, via some administrative fiat, or administrative slight-of-hand, are very mistaken though. In the 4 or 5 years since PUP became policy and was supposed to settle these matters, how is that working out for you?
Response from Jill Anne,
March 18, 2010 .Cincinnatus, New York
I'm sorry,really sorry, but I don't care who Scott sleeps with, nor do I care if he is gay or straight. Does he preach well? Is he kind to animals and children? Does a quest for justice move him in any way? Can he, will he, protect the weak? Is he a friend to strangers? All these questions are devoted to the well-being of someone other than Scott. Notice how non-religious they are and are meant to be. I care about global warming; I care about health care for babies whose parents are poor; I care about fresh water and enough food to go around for everybody. I do not care about religion if religion doesn't like people enough to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, free the captives, and so on. How do I know, because the Bible told me so, in so many words and in so many ways, I'm not going to fetch the concordance. No religion is worth a life. That life - Scott's or mine or even one of his detractors, is worth more than all religions combined. A little Heschel and Hillel here might help, not to mention Jesus. Not the Book of Order. How in God's name (in vain?) can a legal document enjoy greater authority than a single living being? How did we sink so low that rules govern grace instead of the other way around? Well, Scott, in for a penny, in for a pound, but doesn't it get wearisome to argue for something that Jesus died for, namely love?
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I am truly hoping that a whole generation of Presbyterian leadership doesn't have to fade from the scene before what is already written comes to fruition. Our current standards cannot stand. Even those opposed to changing them must know this in their hearts.
I understand that as long as the standards are what they are they must be enforced but we are losing people in the process. We are especially losing our youth. They see the integrity of the Church in question as we continue to assign gay people special rules.
The standards run counter to the witness of too many families who raised their children in Presbyterian Churches. Families whose bible inspired, spirit centered, neighbor loving children come out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Children who were taught the meaning of Christ's incarnation and life and took it to their hearts.
Very few of them find a home in the church that taught them how to live because the church has not lived out the promise to people that it teaches, that it is the Body of Christ. If it is so, how can we be so broken? How can we chose some and arbitrarily not invite others to the fullness of life in the Body? We tell them they are not worthy when all they want to do is live the life that we heterosexuals feel is our birthright. They want what we have but we say NO. What are we doing to the families of GLBT children?
Our children who are GLBT did not suddenly fall from grace or become lesser lights when they came out. They will not aspire less or throw away their Christian roots unless we lead them to it, unless we continue to insist they are not worthy to be fully Presbyterian. When people as faithful as Scott Anderson are raked throught the coals to live out their Christian calling we are not setting an example that inspires GLBT people to be a part of what we so highly value and love. Quite the opposite.
Let's get this done.