SPJC Upholds Spahr Conviction for Performing Legal Same-Gender Marriages
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific (SPJC) has upheld the conviction of the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr for performing marriages of same-gender couples during the period of 2008 when such marriages were legal in California.In its March 25 decision, the SPJC acknowledged that these marriages “remain legally recognized marriages in California.” But it followed the recent Southard decision of the GAPJC in holding that Rev. Spahr had a duty to make clear that she was not performing “an ecclesiastical marriage ceremony as defined by PCUSA polity, whether or not the civil jurisdiction allows same-gender marriages.”Although the SPJC denied all 13 Specifications of Error filed by counsel for Rev. Spahr, it made several comments that raise important issues for the GAPJC when it considers the expected appeal. It commented:
In a time when increasing numbers of states permit same-gender weddings and civil unions, it is important for the church to clarify how its clergy might pastorally participate in such secular occasions while honoring the PCUSA's definition of Christian marriage.
[Editorial comment: The 2010 G.A. has sent out to the presbyteries the reports from the Special Committee on Issues of Civil Marriage and Christian Marriage, and urged Presbyterians to study and discuss them. We can hope that, informed by church-wide discussion in coming months, the 2012 G.A. may help respond to this question and allow for faithful pastoral discretion in providing pastoral care to LGBT parishioners and others.]The SPJC also noted appreciatively Rev. Spahr’s decision to remain in the PCUSA and subject to its discipline, in order to minister to members of the LGBT community and to advocate for them. Her ministry, the SPJC wrote, “provides another example of engagement and commitment. May the church, as it continues this debate, find friends among colleagues in ministry and work with them, remaining subject to the ordering of God's Word and Spirit.”
