“The appropriate way to redefine marriage and permissible practice within the PCUSA is not through individual reinterpretation of the advice of the larger church, but by means of an amendment to the Constitution approved by the General Assembly and ratified by the presbyteries of the church”

The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s highest court declared that one of its ministers violated her ordination vows by performing same-sex weddings, setting the stage for a debate that is likely to underline the denomination’s upcoming General Assembly.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the PCUSA’s General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) affirmed the decisions of lower synod and presbytery commissions in the case of the Rev. Jane Spahr.

Spahr performed 16 same-sex ceremonies between June and November 2008 in California. Although same-sex marriage is now legal in several states, PCUSA rules prohibit ministers from performing same-sex ceremonies.

Same-sex marriage issues have been simmering within the denomination and, with at least seven overtures on the table, may come to a head during the 220th General Assembly in Pittsburgh later this year.

The PCUSA constitution doesn’t explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage and describes marriage as “a gift God has given to all humankind for the well being of the entire human family.” Marriage, however, is currently defined as “a civil contract between a woman and a man” – a definition many in the denomination, including some of the judicial commissioners – advocate changing.

After the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of the Presbytery of Redwoods found Spahr guilty on three of the four charges related to same-sex marriages in 2010, she filed an unsuccessful appeal to the Synod of the Pacific’s PJC. The synod court affirmed the Redwoods decision in 2011, prompting Spahr to appeal to the GAPJC.

Although several commissioners filed concurring or dissenting opinions sympathetic to Spahr, the GAPJC said that the key issue of the case “is not simply the same-sex ceremony. It is the misrepresentation that the [PCUSA] recognizes the ceremony and the resulting relationship to be a marriage in the eyes of the church. By the definition of W-4.9001 [the denomination’s prohibition of same-sex ceremonies being defined as ecclesiastical marriages], such a result cannot be,” the decision stated.

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