A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) panel has upheld the denominational leader's refusal to call a special meeting where conservatives wanted to push for greater enforcement of a ban on gay clergy.
The Permanent Judicial Commission still rebuked the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, however, saying Wednesday that he overstepped his authority by imploring those who sought the showdown to reconsider.
Abu-Akel, an Atlanta minister, is the church's moderator, the elected titular head of the denomination. The church has 2.5 million members.
Wednesday's ruling "could not have been worded more strongly," said Paul Rolf Jensen, the attorney for the Rev. William Pawson, who pressed for the church trial over Abu-Akel's actions.
In January, a Presbyterian elder in California presented Abu-Akel a petition seeking a "special assembly" to address the gay clergy issue. The petition had the required number of signatures from clergy and lay members to force the meeting under church law.
But Abu-Akel wrote to petitioners, lobbying against the special assembly he said would cost $500,000 and divert attention from other church work. Thirteen signers withdrew their names, leaving petitioners short of the minimum needed to call the meeting.
The special assembly would have been the first held by the 214-year-old denomination, based in Louisville, Ky.
The flap underscored the tension within the denomination, where conservatives have been critical of what they view as the refusal of top church officials to discipline congregations that are willing to ordain non-celibate gays in defiance of church bans.
On Monday, Jensen argued that Abu-Akel, in light of the petition, had a duty to call the special meeting. He had pressured petitioners to recant, Jensen said.
But Abu-Akel's attorney countered that the church leader "took every reasonable, prudent and expeditious step" to ensure the petition was proper and that those who recanted were not under pressure.
According to Wednesday's 10-page ruling, petitioners may join or withdraw from a request for a special meeting until the moderator Abu-Akel issues the call for one.
Still, Abu-Akel's letter "had the appearance of seeking to undermine the rights" of the petitioners, the ruling read.