US Presbyterian Pastor Back in Court Over Same-Sex Ceremonies

A longtime Presbyterian pastor who was acquitted of charges that she violated the Church's ban on performing same-sex ceremonies will be back in church court on Friday.

The Rev Jane Adams Spahr, a lesbian activist who claimed to have performed hundreds of same-sex "marriages", faces an appeal by Redwoods Presbytery of the US Presbyterian Church in California.

Spahr was acquitted in March 2006, when the Redwoods Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) determined that Spahr had acted within her right of conscience as an ordained minister when she married two lesbian couples in 2004 and 2005. The acquittal was made on the basis that the PC(USA) views same-sex "marriages" as "improper" but not necessarily "forbidden".

Conservative Presbyterians immediately criticised the decision and predicted a quick appeal.

"We view its' (PJC's) action as schismatic and a threat to the very fabric of our constitutional connection," said a statement by the Presbyterian Forum.

The PC(USA) allows pastors to oversee same-sex ceremonies as long as they are not equated to heterosexual marriages. The PC(USA) Book of Order defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Spahr is hopeful her acquittal would be upheld, according to the Presbyterian News Service.

"I'm hopeful that the same kind of consideration that was done by the presbytery judicial commission will be done with the same kind of careful process which is [the Presbyterian] way," said Spahr, who is set to retire from ministry at the end of this month, according to PNS.

Spahr's attorney, Sara Taylor, said her client would appeal any punishment which ranges from a reprimand to removal from ministry, despite her upcoming retirement.

The appeal will be heard by the PJC of the Synod of the Pacific and will likely be taken up to the denomination's highest court, the General Assembly PJC.

The Rev Robert Conover, stated clerk of Redwoods Presbytery, said any decision by the court would disappoint some people considering the issue of same-sex "marriages" has remained a divisive issue in the PC(USA).

"My sense is that our presbytery more or less reflects the denomination as a whole in that we're relatively evenly divided in our perspective," said Conover, according to PNS. "A significant portion of the presbytery is very supportive of Janie and her actions and a significant portion of the presbytery is not. So regardless of how the case is ruled on, at whatever level, there will be those who are disappointed."