About Faith

By Amy Umble

BACK to BLOGS | Back to Amy Umble's main blog page | Amy Umble Archive | |

San Francisco Presbytery Approves Ordination of Lesbian

Nov. 11, 2009 6:52 pm

Lisa Larges has waited more than 15 years to be called the Rev. Lisa Larges. And last night, it looks like she might be an ordained Presbyterian minister in the near future.

The Presbytery of San Francisco late last night voted to ordain Larges, the first openly homosexual minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The vote was 156-138 in Larges' favor.

The PC(USA) technically does not allow the ordination of openly gay clergy. The church requires ministers to be married and faithful or unmarried and celibate. However, the church does allow regional presbyteries to consider cases if the candidate declares a scruple--basically, a written statement saying they disagree with the church policy.

Larges submitted a scruple against the so-called chastity clause which requires church officers to have "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity and singleness."

Her ordination was first approved in January 2008 but appealed. That appeal was rejected Nov. 4.

Larges, a deacon at in a San Francisco church, has been a ministry candidate since 1986.

The vote can still be appealed. 

If you would like to post a comment about this blog, please log in. You can use your FredTalk user name and password here. If you don't have one yet, REGISTER Now...

Amy Umble is the religion reporter for The Free Lance-Star.

Contact
• Send an e-mail to Amy Umble

Discussing religion, spirituality and values.