Presbyterians censure minister for same-sex marriages

Reporting from Napa, Calif. — A retired minister who officiated at more than a dozen same-sex marriages when such unions were legal in California was found guilty Friday of violating the Presbyterian constitution and her ordination vows for performing those ceremonies.

After a four-day church trial that was equal parts Scripture lesson and celebration of marriage, a panel of leaders from the Presbytery of the Redwoods voted 4 to 2 that the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr should be censured because she “persisted in a pattern or practice of disobedience.”

But the six-member panel voted unanimously that the 68-year-old lesbian’s actions did not disrupt the “peace, unity and purity of the church” and praised her “faithful compassion” and her 35-year ministry to gays and lesbians throughout the country.

“In addition, we call upon the church to reexamine our own fear and ignorance that continues to reject the inclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the panel said in its ruling. “We say this believing that we have in our own Book of Order conflicting and even contradictory rules and regulations that are against the Gospel.”

Spahr vowed to appeal the ruling, marching out of Covenant Presbyterian Church, where the trial was held, hand in hand with the couples who testified during the emotional proceeding.  Read Article

By Maria L. La Ganga