A Presbyterian
minister from Pittsburgh is again facing charges for
performing a wedding for a lesbian couple in June 2005.
A Presbyterian
minister from Pittsburgh is again facing charges for
performing a wedding for a lesbian couple in June 2005. The
investigating committee of the Pittsburgh presbytery's
permanent judicial commission will pursue new charges
against Reverend Janet Edwards.
Edwards said in a
statement released Tuesday that she is dismayed
that marrying gay and lesbian couples like Brenda Cole and
Nancy McConn has been a divisive issue in the church.
"I believe with
my whole heart that my decision to perform Nancy and
Brenda's wedding was faithful to my pastoral call. I did not
arrive at the decision overnight," she wrote. "I spent
many months in prayer and met with Nancy and Brenda
numerous times before concluding that it falls within
the Presbyterian tradition of reform to extend the
blessings of marriage to all couples who show deep love and
commitment for one another within the context of their
faith in God."
Edwards also said
that she has spoken with several other Presbyterian
ministers who initially disagreed with same-sex marriage but
now support it. She cited the Presbyterian Book of
Order, which instructs the church to "give full
expression to the rich diversity within its
membership," which she said would be consistent with
allowing gay marriage.
"As a
Presbyterian, I belong to a tradition of reform in which
change is both possible and necessary in Christian
life," she wrote. "In that centuries-old tradition,
difference and dialogue are welcomed. I am also called
to the ministry of reconciliation that Christ entrusted to
us. It is in this spirit of reconciliation and reform that I
work to reconcile my church with the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender faithful who have been
shunned by our spiritual community, even as their
lives testify to their love for God and neighbor."
Charges by the
Presbyterian Church were dropped against Edwards in 2006
after the committee voted 8–0 that the case had
been filed too late. The church's constitution
defines marriage as a strictly heterosexual
institution, though ministers are allowed to bless other
types of "holy unions," the Associated Press reported
in 2006. That same year another Presbyterian minister,
Reverend Jane Spahr, was acquitted for marrying
two lesbian couples in 2004 and 2005, though that
ruling has been appealed. (The Advocate)
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