Presbyterians Reject Hiring of Gay Minister

In an unprecedented action, the highest ecclesiastical court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has overruled a New York congregation’s decision to call a lesbian minister in California and ordered the church to withdraw its offer.

The decision, in a 12-1 vote in Dallas by the national church’s Permanent Judicial Commission, bars the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr of San Anselmo from becoming co-pastor at the Downtown Presbyterian Church of Rochester, N.Y.

Spahr, a divorcee and mother of two grown sons, was ordained by the denomination four years before its General Assembly halted the ordination of gays and lesbians in 1978. She is executive director of Spectrum Center for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns in San Anselmo.

A spokeswoman for the Rochester congregation said there was no appeal of the church court’s decision and that the congregation would comply. But the congregation said it was “deeply saddened” by the development.

“Lesbian, gay and bisexual persons have served Christ’s church faithfully throughout the ages,” the congregation’s co-pastor Rosemary C. Mitchell said in a prepared statement. “Please join your prayers with ours that one day God will open the hearts of the whole church to receive their gifts.”

The development is expected to prompt efforts to amend church law on which the decision was based.

Spahr said her sexual orientation was made clear from the beginning, but she was called on the basis of her qualifications.

The congregation issued a call to Spahr last November after meeting Spahr’s lover, a move that prompted complaints from about 10 of the 75 congregations in the presbytery of Genesee Valley.

The presbytery upheld the church’s call, a decision that was later affirmed by the Synod of the Northeast on a 9-1 vote. But opponents appealed to the national church’s Permanent Judicial Commission, the denomination’s highest court, which ruled against Spahr and the Rochester congregation on Wednesday.

In a telephone interview, Spahr said she was astounded by the turn of events. “This decision in the end really says that if we are celibate, repentant or if a person lies, they can be in leadership in the Presbyterian Church,” she said. “You can imagine how I feel about that when I know I’ve been called to that church and know my sexual orientation is a gift.”

In Southern California, reaction to the decision of the 2.5-million-member denomination was swift.

“This is the first time they have gone against a local church’s call to a pastor (on these grounds),” said the Rev. Peg Beissert, director of the Lazarus Project in Hollywood, which ministers to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. “This is a point of power at stake here. We consider it unethical and out of order in Presbyterian procedure.”

She said that when the ordination of homosexuals was banned in 1978, the church’s General Assembly said the action would not interfere with the ministry of gay and lesbian ministers ordained before then. But the court said calls to the pastorate can be approved “only for those who meet the requirements for ordination.”

Chris Glaser, an active gay layman in the Presbyterian Church and author of three books on gays and Christianity, said he was outraged.

“I could not think of a worse blow that the judicial commission could deal to lesbian and gay Christians, and especially Presbyterians,” said Glaser, who lives in West Hollywood.

“It says to us once again that the church does not want our gifts of ministry. It also says that the church . . . refuses to honor its own determination to protect the rights of those gays and lesbians who were ordained prior to putting the ban on ordination in place.”