A divisive debate in the Presbyterian Church (USA) over
ordaining gay ministers threatened to reignite Tuesday with a petition seeking
a historic meeting of its legislative body. Alex Metherell, a church elder from
California, presented the petition to the denomination's top leader during a
meeting of church leaders. Metherell exercised an obscure section of church law
to seek a first-ever special meeting of the denomination's General Assembly. He
said he wants strict enforcement of the ban on ordaining noncelibate homosexual
ministers as well as other activities that defy church law. "The whole
fabric that holds the Presbyterian Church together is our constitution,"
Metherell said in an interview. "What is happening right now, that fabric
that holds us together is disintegrating."
The denomination's moderator, the Reverend Fahed Abu-Akel, said he received the
petition with a "heavy heart" and asked for prayers for himself, other
church leaders, and the entire denomination. He said a special session would
cost more than $500,000. Abu-Akel said the petition seeks to have the General
Assembly bypass the church's court system and impose its own will."It
doesn't work that way," he said.
Metherell, an elder at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach,
Calif., said that defiance of church law has become widespread and extends
beyond the gay ordination issue. Some Presbyterian ministers have violated a
ruling by the church's highest court on conducting ceremonies for same-sex
unions, he said. The church court said such ceremonies were permissible but
could not resemble marriages. "We have a number of these activist pastors
who are blatantly advertising the fact that they are conducting what are
basically homosexual and lesbian marriages," Metherell said. Other
Presbyterian ministers have conducted communion services for non-Christians,
another violation of church law, he said.
In his petition, Metherell said he hopes a special session of the General
Assembly would heal the denomination, which has been sharply divided over gay
ordination and other issues. Metherell said in the interview that inaction
would lead to a split in the nation's seventh largest denomination, which has about
2.4 million members. "I hope that we will not end up having a split,"
he said. "But I do know that there will be a split if nothing is done
because the whole fabric of the denomination is actually coming apart."
Abu-Akel said gay ordinations are not an overriding issue in most
congregations. "It's individuals here and there that have their own
opinions, but when it comes to the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a whole, I see
a church that is alive for the love of Jesus Christ," he said. Under church
law, a petition demanding a special meeting of the General Assembly requires
signatures from at least 25 ministers and 25 church elders who were
commissioners at the previous General Assembly. Metherell's petition contains
signatures from 26 ministers and 31 elders who attended the last General
Assembly. Metherell said the petition also met geographical requirements. The
petition comes on the heels of a decision by last year's General Assembly to
switch to biennial sessions, starting after the 2004 meeting in Richmond, Va.,
in part to save money.
Abu-Akel said Tuesday that he had instructed church administrative leaders to
verify the signatures and make sure those signing the petition still want a
special session. Metherell began his campaign last summer. If the petition
passes those checks, Abu-Akel said he would issue the call for a special
session. Under church law, the special session could not be held any sooner
than 120 days from now, he said. That means the special session would convene
just before the next regular General Assembly meets May 24-31 in Denver, he
said.