At their meeting yesterday the San Francisco Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) discussed the request of Ms. Lisa Larges to declare a non-essential departure from the standards of the church constitution and they approved the departure as non-essential by a vote of 167-151 making her certified ready to receive a call as a Minister of Word and Sacrament and to be ordained to that call.
What did he just say? That is the “polity correct” description of the action taken by San Francisco Presbytery yesterday in the case of Lisa Larges, a self-acknowledged homosexual, who is seeking to be ordained as a minister in the PC(USA). For the background on this and information on her two previous attempts and the associated GA PJC case I would refer you to my previous post on the subject.
Yesterday, the presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry brought her request to the whole presbytery for action. The request was to agree with her declaration that her theology departed from the PC(USA) constitution’s prohibition on ordination of self-acknowledged practicing homosexuals (good old G-6.0106b in the Book of Order) but under the 2006 General Assembly Authoritative Interpretation she requested that the section be declared non-essential to the Reformed faith. By doing that, the way would be clear for her to accept a call and be ordained.
I do not have much on the specifics of the report or the debate but I do know that there was a minority report. Based upon the news accounts (such as this Contra Costa Times story) we know the vote was close – 167 to 151. And based on other information I know the debate went late. I’ll update as information is disseminated since the story is now starting to circulate on the news feeds and blogosphere. The news has been posted on the web site of Ms. Larges’ employer, That All May Freely Serve.
What is next? In the normal course of the ordination process Ms. Larges would receive a call and would be examined on the floor of presbytery for ordination. So there is still another presbytery vote yet to come. That examination and vote has been announced to be in April. But this is now the test case for the 2006 Authoritative Interpretation (AI) so I would expect this ordination exam to be held up by the Synod PJC as a case is filed and whichever way the Synod PJC goes I would expect an appeal to the General Assembly PJC, unless developments at the June General Assembly, like the requested repeal of the AI, change the landscape. The ordination and maybe the exam could be held up for a while.