March was a busy month for courts weighing issues affecting churches and clergy in California and across the nation.
Three rulings -- one from a church body, two from secular courts -- involved a California lesbian who hopes to become a priest, a dispute over church property in Colorado and whether children in Texas should observe a minute of silence before starting their school day.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, April 01, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Gay clergy: An article in Monday's Section A about court rulings in church cases referred to a California lesbian's candidacy for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA), saying she had been trying to become a priest. The church ordains ministers, not priests.
In California, a Presbyterian Church commission issued a ruling Wednesday that essentially halted a lesbian deacon's candidacy for ordination as a priest.
Lisa Larges, 45, has been trying to become a Presbyterian priest for more than 20 years. She heads the group That All May Freely Serve, which advocates for gay equality in the church.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) does not allow gays or lesbians to become priests, but last week's ruling sidestepped Larges' sexual orientation. In a highly technical ruling, the commission rejected the process used by the Presbytery of San Francisco to approve Larges' candidacy for ordination.
Still, Larges said the ruling has "deeply personal and painful repercussions" for her and other gay, bisexual and transgender people who want to serve the church. Larges likened the commission's action to the ruling of an appellate court. She said it was unclear whether there would be an appeal to a higher church court.
The commission's ruling came less than a year after leaders of the Presbyterian Church overturned a long-standing ban on the ordination of gays and lesbians. The General Assembly, meeting in San Jose last June, voted in favor of the ordination measure 54% to 46%, but its decision must still be approved by a majority of the nation's 173 regional presbyteries.
So far, the measure to allow gay and lesbian priests is trailing, according to a tally kept by the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, a national group of clergy and lay church members. The network, which maintains the tally on its website www.covenantnetwork.org "> www.covenantnetwork.org , says that 80 presbyteries have voted against the measure and 56 for it.
Larges said she remained hopeful that gays and lesbians would eventually be able to join the ranks of priests in the Presbyterian Church. Asked why she didn't join a denomination that does allow gay clergy, Larges explained that she was raised and baptized in the Presbyterian Church.
