NAPA, California — In an unprecedented act of defiance, a California branch of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) refused a ruling from a church court to rebuke a pastor who wed same-sex couples.
The Napa-based presbytery of the Redwoods voted 74–18 on May 15 to instead praise Janie Spahr, who wed 16 same-sex couples when gay “marriage” was legal in California in 2008.
In 2010 the Redwoods presbytery’s own court found Spahr guilty of breaking church rules by representing the ceremonies she conducted as marriages and ordered the presbytery to publicly rebuke her. That decision was upheld by the PCUSA’s top court in February.
But the Redwoods presbytery rejected those rulings mid-May.
“The Presbytery of the Redwoods opposes imposition of the rebuke … as inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the constitution of the PCUSA and the faithful life of ministry lived out in this presbytery,” the motion said. Laurie Griffith, manager of judicial process and social witness in the PCUSA, said she had never before seen a presbytery reject a ruling from its own court. (TAB)
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