Appeal of Jane Spahr Conviction Will Be Heard This Week

The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific (SPJC) will hear the Rev. Jane Spahr’s appeal of her conviction for performing 16 same-sex marriages in California during the period in 2008 when such marriages were legal, and “representing that [these] same sex ceremonies . . . were marriages of persons of the same sex.”  The hearing will be held in Oakland, CA, on March 24.  The PJC of the Presbytery of the Redwoods (PPJC), which heard the original case in August 2010, also found her guilty of failing to be governed by the polity of the PC(USA), by ignoring an Authoritative Interpretation issued by the General Assembly PJC in an earlier case against her.However, in reaching their decision, the PPJC also expressed “thanks for the courageous and heart-rending testimonies of the married couples who shared with us their great hurt through the policies of the church [and] for the joy in marriage they shared with us that has brought healing in their lives and in their families through the ministry of Dr. Spahr.”  The PPJC further stated,

We implore the Synod and General Assembly levels of our church to listen to these testimonies, which are now part of this record, to take them to heart, and to do what needs to be done to move us as a church forward on this journey of reconciliation.

Rev. Spahr will be represented by attorneys Beverly Brewster, Scott Clark, and Sara Taylor.The findings in this ongoing case, and the testimonies that are part of the case record, can contribute importantly to the discernment and discussion of marriage to which the 2010 General Assembly invited the whole church.