Church sets SR trial for minister in gay weddingsPresbyterians accuse San Rafael lesbian evangelist of violating rules on marriageBy GUY KOVNERTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT, Santa Rosa, CA February 25, 2006, Front Page, above the fold A longtime Presbyterian minister goes on trial next week at a Santa
Rosa church for marrying two lesbian couples in a case that reflects a
painful schism among churches across the nation over gay marriage. |
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| Spahr, who leads
a a lesbian and gay ministry based in Rochester, N.Y., freely admits she
has married same-sex couples and hopes the trial at Church of the Roses in
Santa Rosa, which is open to the public, will help dispel prejudices. "I want the court to hear how seriously they (the couples) take their marriages and how much they love one another," Spahr said Friday by phone from Rochester. Spahr, ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1974, said the tribunal members are "wonderful people," some of whom she has know for years. An official with the Presbytery of the Redwoods, the regional church group that is trying Spahr, said the case reflects the church's 30-year struggle to come to terms with homosexuality - just as other faiths and the nation as a whole are doing. |
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT |
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"The Presbyterians are hardly alone in this," said the Rev. Robert E. Conover, stated clerk of the local presbytery. Among the U.S. Presbyterian Church's 2.4 million members there are "deep differences of opinion" on homosexuality, rooted in contrasting interpretations of the Bible, Conover said. Consequently, there is some ambiguity, and plenty of dispute, over church rules on marriage and ordination of homosexuals, he said. The highest Presbyterian court ruled in 2000 that ministers may bless same-sex unions but cannot equate them with marriage. Blessings can be given to many things, such as a baby, a home, a vehicle or a human relationship, Conover said. Whether the ceremonies Spahr conducted were marriages or unions may be a key issue at the trial, he said. Spahr said she was proud to officiate at the ceremonies involving two lesbian couples: one in Rochester on Aug. 21, 2004, the other near Guerneville on May 27, 2005. Asked if they were marriages, she said: "That's what the people called them. I honor what the people ask of me." Lesbian and gay couples have begun to "reclaim the word marriage" in recent years, said Spahr, the former wife of Petaluma gay rights activist Jim Spahr. State law limits marriage to heterosexuals. The case against Jane Spahr dates back to March 2004, when a Seattle Presbyterian minister, the Rev. James Berkley, then leader of a group that opposes the ordination of homosexuals, notified church officials that Spahr had allegedly married two men in Canada. The church launched an investigation and subsequently charged Spahr with the two lesbian ceremonies conducted in the United States. Her trial, supervised by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of the Redwoods, will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in Bowen Hall at Church of the Roses. The local church was chosen as a "neutral site" for the proceedings, Conover said. Both the church investigating committee, which will prosecute the case, and Spahr will be represented by attorneys from San Francisco. If Spahr is deemed guilty, she could be reprimanded by the commission or either temporarily or permanently removed from church office or membership. Spahr's attorney, Sara Taylor, told the Presbyterian News Service that her client would appeal any penalty to a higher church tribunal. Spahr's selection as co-pastor of a Rochester Presbyterian congregation was invalidated by the church's highest court in 1992. The next year she was named as a "lesbian evangelist" by the Rochester church in collaboration with the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, a job Spahr has held since. At least one other Presbyterian minister has faced charges for marrying same-sex couples. The Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken was ousted from church membership and his job as pastor of a Cincinnati church in 2003. He successfully appealed the ruling but never applied for reinstatement, the Presbyterian News Service said. © The Press Democrat. For copyright information view our User Agreementpressdemocrat.com |
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