Homosexual Ordination Raises Concerns Among PC(USA) Conservatives
by Jim Brown
November 21, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Yet another congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has defied scriptural requirements and the denomination's official stance on homosexual ordination. South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, New York, recently ordained a homosexual man who refuses to abide by the denomination's ban on practicing homosexuals in the ministry.
Raymond Bagnuolo was ordained November 13 and is now serving as pastor of the Palisades Presbyterian Church. According to an Associated Press (AP) report, when the homosexual pastor was asked whether he would abide by the church's constitution, he said he would -- except for a measure that says ministers must practice fidelity if married and chastity if single.
Dr. Parker T. Williamson with the Presbyterian Lay Committee says the Dobbs Ferry church is no stranger to controversy, having conducted same-sex weddings in the past. "Our highest court ruled in the year 2000 that Presbyterian ministers are prohibited from conducting same-sex marriages," he notes.
However, Williamson asserts, the officials on the church court "kind of hedged it a little bit," in that "they said [ministers] can conduct 'blessings' if they want too, as long as the blessing ceremonies don't look like marriages." He adds, "I don't know how much of a victory it was -- but, anyway, that was the same church."
Meanwhile, AP notes, the presbytery that approved Bagnuolo's ordination, the Hudson River Presbytery, has been described by the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee as "an unvanquished Alamo of homosexual activists" in the church. Committee members fear this latest ordination of a homosexual pastor may lead to changes in ordination standards at the PC(USA) June General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama.
"There's a very active and vocal gay, lesbian, bisexual lobby that hammers away at the church on that subject," Williamson says, "so that's not new. But, certainly, an incident like this where a minister and a Presbytery openly defy the constitutional standards does heighten the concerns."
At the 2006 General Assembly meeting, the PC(USA) will consider a proposal that would allow local churches or presbyteries to defy ordination standards with impunity if they decide those guidelines are not essential for them. Williamson says homosexual activists in the denomination have been trying to take ordination standards out of the church's constitution for years.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
