A Presbyterian Church (USA) appeals court has affirmed an earlier ruling that the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr violated the Presbyterian constitution and her ordination vows for marrying more than a dozen same-sex couples during the brief window when it was legal to do so in California.

Spahr, 68, was found guilty in August after a four-day ecclesiastical trial held by a Redwoods Presbytery in Napa, Calif. She appealed that verdict to the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific, headquartered in Petaluma, California. (Synod of the Pacific is a larger regional body covering 11 Presbyteries in Northern California, Nevada, Idaho and Oregon).

…The Standing Judicial Commission, a permanent ecclesiastical court made up of elected members from the 11 Presbyteries, met in San Francisco to hear the appeal of the case from the Redwoods, California Presbytery. The Synod Commission ruled that she violated church policy, which does not allow clergy to “state, imply or represent” that same-sex wedding ceremonies are church marriages…

The retired Spahr plans to appeal the decision to the nationwide General Assembly level. The decision was made public Tuesday.

…The Rev. Carmen Fowler, president of a conservative watchdog group called the Presbyterian Lay Committee, praised the ruling. “The Synod PJC acted responsibly in upholding (the lower court) ruling under the current definition in the Presbyterian Constitution. That’s what their ruling highlights,” Fowler said, that marriage is “between one man and one woman.”

Read More: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/presbyterian-appeals-court-reaffirms-reverend-violated-church-policy-by-marrying-same-sex-couples.html

Editor’s Note: Technical details of the process were added to this report by Aquila Report staff.