The next test case in the wake of the report on the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity is approaching the Presbyterian Church (USA) at the San Francisco Presbytery meeting this Tuesday, January 15.  At that meeting the Committee on Preparation for Ministry will ask the presbytery to declare Ms. Lisa Larges, a candidate and acknowledged homosexual, certified ready to receive a call and to undergo examination at the April presbytery meeting.

Like the other two cases ( Scott Anderson, Paul Capetz) this requested action comes with history.  Back in 1991, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area voted to certify her ready to receive a call and informed the presbytery of her sexual orientation.  The decision was challenged in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies Permanent Judicial Commission who upheld the Presbytery action.  It was then appealed to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission who overturned the Presbytery action and Synod PJC decision. ( LeTourneau vs. Presbytery of Twin Cities Area GA PJC Decision from the That All May Freely Serve web site since decisions before 1997 are not on the GA PJC Decision web site.)  So, Ms. Larges has been waiting since then, recently working as the Regional Partnership Coordinator for That All May Freely Serve.  Somewhere in that time of waiting Ms. Larges must have transferred to San Francisco Presbytery since there is a web page on the Witherspoon Society web site indicating that she asked the San Francisco CPM to certify her ready in April 2004 and it was denied at that time by a vote of 15-5.  So now, with the passage of the PUP report things seem to have changed and the CPM must have approved the status change since they are now bringing the business to the floor of presbytery.  There is an article in the on-line edition of the Oakland Tribune on InsideBayArea.com.

Two other notes:
First, regarding that particular presbytery meeting, this is also the meeting where I have previously noted that the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow will be asking to be endorsed as a candidate for Moderator of the General Assembly.  I also found it interesting that the Rev. Joan Gray, Moderator of the General Assembly, will be present and preaching at the worship service.

Second, in a follow-up to the Paul Capetz case, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area (note a trend here) canceled their called meeting of December 1, 2007, to consider his restoration to ordained office.  There is now a called meeting on January 26, 2008 to consider the matter and his “declared departure” and the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry has produced additional documentation on the case that you can presently download from a link at the bottom of the page.