Gay Clergy Issue Is Divisive for Many Denominations

The decision by the Episcopal Church on Wednesday to dismiss heresy charges against Bishop Walter Righter narrows the spotlight on one of the most controversial issues in modern church history: gay and lesbian clergy.

“Homosexuality is an expanding question, both for society and the church,” said Claire Randall, who served 11 years as general secretary for the National Council of Churches, the interdenominational organization with 49 million members. “Homosexual ordination as well as marriage are the newest struggle. Every denomination has a divided constituency that plays into the issue.”

As the Righter case demonstrates, the intimate lives of gays and lesbians are now a topic for open debate. Dissent from official church policies, both by clergy and laity, has led to disciplinary actions in many Christian denominations, as well as threats of schism on the part of conservative members opposed to homosexual priests and ministers.

Most mainstream Protestant denominations--including United Methodist, Presbyterian and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--do not ordain practicing homosexuals.

Among more conservative traditions, the Baptist, Orthodox Christian, nondenominational evangelical and Roman Catholic churches officially refuse ordination to any homosexuals.

Members of the National Council of Churches first addressed the question in the mid-1980s when a gay church unsuccessfully applied for admission, Randall said. “The black churches and the Orthodox Christian churches were unanimously opposed to the admission of gay churches into the council,” she said.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the United Church of Christ--perhaps the most liberal of all mainstream Christian denominations--allows ordination for celibate and practicing homosexuals.

“We do have clergy who have been in long-term relationships,” said Davida Foy of Los Angeles, a UCC conference minister. “The denomination holds that same-gender relationships are ethical and ought to be evaluated on the same basis as heterosexual relationships.”

With increasing regularity, official church teachings have been tested by clergy, particularly in denominations where church policy is considered a guideline, open to a certain amount of interpretation. Some recent incidents:

* In January, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expelled two San Francisco congregations, St. Francis and First United Lutheran Church, for ordaining practicing homosexuals.

One year earlier, a bishop defied church policy by allowing St. Paul’s Church in Oakland to keep its actively gay pastor.

“It’s led us to realize that homosexuality in the ministry is an issue we must wrestle with,” said H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “Every issue that agitates the culture affects us. We’ll begin conversations this year.”

* In April, United Methodist bishops exposed the discord among their ranks when 15 of the 60 bishops in the United States rejected the church position that homosexual relationships for clergy are incompatible with Christian teaching. Now, ordination is permissible if a homosexual promises to remain celibate.

Los Angeles Bishop Roy L. Sano was among those who signed the more liberal statement. “It might reopen discussion and hopefully move beyond retrenchment,” he said.

* In June, the annual assembly of the Presbyterian Church will once again take up the question of gays and ordination. The church, which is deeply divided over the issue, does allow ordination for celibate homosexuals.

At next month’s meeting in Albuquerque, two-thirds of the petitions calling for open discussion have to do with questions of homosexuality for clergy and lay ministers, said Mark Tammen, manager of polity guidance for the Presbyterian Church.

Constituencies on both sides are expected to voice their arguments. Among them: the arch-liberal Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns; the archconservative Presbyterian Layman, and the more moderately conservative Presbyterians for Renewal.

“If the General Assembly approves ordination of practicing homosexuals, there’ll be an uproar,” said Elizabeth Achtemeier, a biblical scholar at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and member of Presbyterian Layman. “A good number of churches have said they’ll leave.”

“Only one other issue competes with this for ferociousness,” said Robert Patenaude of Los Angeles, a moderator for Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. “That is the abortion issue.”