c. 2008 Religion News Service

Presbyterians test new rules on gay clergy

(RNS) Minnesota Presbyterians have voted to restore the ordination of an openly gay man who has refused to pledge celibacy, the latest test of revamped pastoral guidelines in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Paul Capetz, a seminary professor, asked to be removed from ministry in 2000 after the PCUSA voted to require that ministers be married to a member of the opposite sex or remain celibate.

But changes made in 2006 to the Presbyterians’ Book of Order allow candidates for ordination to declare a conscientious objection to church rules. Local presbyteries, or governing bodies, then must decide whether the objection “constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”

On Saturday (Jan. 26), the Presbytery of the Twin Cities voted that Capetz’ objection, or “scruple,” did not violate the “essentials” and restored his ordination as a minister of word and sacrament.

Earlier this month, the Presbytery of San Francisco became the first to test the “scruple” policy when it voted to allow Lisa Larges, a lesbian, to continue on her path to ministry. A number of obstacles, including an appeal of the presbytery’s action in church courts, still stands between Larges and ordination, however.

An openly gay Wisconsin man is also in the beginning stages of seeking ordination.

Capetz told the Minnesota presbytery that he would follow the pastoral guidelines on sex if the church allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry, saying “if that were the case, I would have no difficulty abiding by the standard of chastity in singles and fidelity and marriage.”

A minority report by the presbytery _ 197 voted to allow the re-ordination, 79 did not _ said that the decision “essentially allows the will of the (presbytery) to supersede the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”

“Furthermore, we are uncomfortable with the hermeneutical or interpretive gymnastics required to provide biblical sanction for sexually intimate same-sex relations,” the minority report added.

_ Daniel Burke

Catholics agree to probe role in school abuse

TORONTO (RNS) Roman Catholic bishops in Canada have agreed to take part in a truth commission on abuse that occurred in church-run Indian residential schools.

The bishops, whose participation was in doubt until now, said the hearings will provide “balance” to a decades-old controversy that pitted Christian churches against the schools.

“Certainly, mistakes were made and we’re open to acknowledging that and being responsible but, most of all, we’re hoping that the story is really … balanced,” said Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie, one seven northern Canadian bishops who met Tuesday (Jan. 29) in Ottawa with Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

From the 1870s to about the 1970s, Canada’s federal government, together with the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, removed aboriginal children from their villages and sent them to some 130 residential schools for training in Christianity and Western ways.

Thousands of former students have alleged they were beaten, neglected, and sexually abused. They have also charged that their native tongues and cultures were brutally suppressed.

Last year, the government approved a $1.9 billion compensation deal for the estimated 80,000 surviving students of the school system, to be split between the government Ottawa and the churches.

But the Catholic Church did not agree to the deal. Instead, it said it would pay $25 million toward a healing and reconciliation fund, open the church’s archives, and provide counseling and other services to survivors.

Part of the out-of-court settlement was the creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” which will hold public hearings across Canada.

The bishops made no promises to apologize for wrongdoings or to bring the perpetrators to justice.

_ Ron Csillag

Lost bird helps raise funds for English church

LONDON (RNS) A tiny bird blown across the Atlantic Ocean from America on winters winds is helping raise funds to repair the roof of an ancient church in the tiny English village where it landed.

The white-crowned North American sparrow, a rare visitor to Britain’s shores, has become an attraction for “twitchers” _ bird spotters _ in the Norfolk village of Cley-next-the-Sea, and a fund-raiser for the settlement’s Church of St. Margaret of Antioch.

The twitcher tourists turning up in their thousands to view the seven-inch sparrow have already chipped in more than $6,000 in donations _ with possibly more to come _ that will be used to mend the east England church’s 13th century roof.

Cley resident and bird expert Mark Golley suggested the small creature could linger until spring, when its instincts probably would prompt it to wing its way further north on migration.

Meanwhile, Golley told London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that the sparrow “ranks among the all-time crowd pullers” among Britain’s bird watchers, much to the church’s delight.

“The money is going into the church’s restoration fund,” said Richard Bending, a retired clergyman whose cottage is visited by the sparrow for sprinkled food. “It is most welcome, as significant amounts of money are always needed to keep it in good repair.”

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: Former President Jimmy Carter

(RNS) “Not only young people in America, but in the many countries where Rosalynn and I have worked, when you mention Christianity, the first thought that comes into people’s minds is dissension and divisiveness.”

_ Former President Jimmy Carter, in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor, about his effort to forge unity among Baptists. The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant kicks off in Atlanta this week.

KRE/CM END RNS