Lisa Larges approved to move forward in Ordination process

Good News!!  The National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians rejoices that Lisa Larges was approved to move forward in her ordination process on January 15, 2008 by the Presbytery of San Francisco.  The Committee on Preparation for Ministry of the Presbytery of San Francisco recommended our beloved friend and colleague in ministry, Lisa Larges, for ordination and the presbytery approved that recommendation by a vote of 167 to 151.

 

 

Special thanks to Keenan Kelsey, Lisa's pastor, and her church family, Noe Valley Ministry, a More Light Church in San Francisco for your support of Lisa; and to John Wichman, pastor, Westminster Hills Presbyterian Church, Hayward, a More Light Church, and many others who offered support for Lisa and her ordination.

 

"We are so delighted to see the Presbyterian Church (USA) recognize and confirm the call and gifts for ministry of our friend and sister, Lisa Larges.  We have known for many years that God called and gifted Lisa for ministry and it's time for Lisa to be ordained by the Church that she loves and so deeply cares about!" declared Bear Ride, Co-Moderator, More Light Presbyterians, Pasadena, CA.

"This is a step forward for the LGBT Equality Movement in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Lisa's statement of conscience is a remarkable teaching about the injustice and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians face within the Church that baptizes, confirms and accepts us as members.  For those of us blessed to know Lisa, we know she is a woman of deep faith with a compassionate heart and a great sense of humor.  We have been praying for Lisa and her ordination process.  Lisa's been waiting for this moment for more than two decades, it's about time!" said Michael J. Adee, National Field Organizer, More Light Presbyterians, Santa Fe, NM.

 

A note of gratitude and joy from Lisa includes her call to keep working to end discrimination against LGBT persons in our Church, and 2 news articles follow this announcement and celebration of Lisa and her ministry with That All May Freely Serve within the National LGBT Equality Movement in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

 

Please join us in keeping Lisa and her family, her Noe Valley Ministry church family, and her That All May Freely Serve family in your thoughts and prayers for the next steps in her ordination process.  Together We are Building a Church for All God's People! 

 

with gratitude and joy,

 

Bear Ride, Co-Moderator, and Michael J. Adee, National Field Organizer, and the National Board of Directors, More Light Presbyterians, National Field Office, 369 Montezuma Avenue # 447, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 USA (505) 820-7082, michaeladee@aol.com, www.mlp.org

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January 16, 2008

 

San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/15/state/n211739S17.DTL

LESBIAN MAY MOVE FORWARD WITH BID TO BE PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER

By Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer

RICHMOND, CA (AP) -- A Presbyterian deacon who has twice been denied ordination because of her sexual orientation can move forward with her bid to join the clergy, after a regional governing body narrowly approved her candidacy late Tuesday. The regional body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 167-151 in support of Lisa Larges' application, despite the denomination's long-standing ban on openly gay ministers. Larges, 44, still must submit to an interview with regional officials.

"I've been preaching as a lay person, but not as an ordained person," said Larges, explaining why she wanted to be able to live as both a lesbian and a minister before Tuesday's vote. "For LGBT folks to have an 'out' person administering communion or baptizing is extremely important."

While the meeting represented a third try for Larges, it was thought to be the first test of a policy adopted by the Presbyterian national assembly giving local presbyteries the right to ordain candidates who declare conscientious objections to specific church teachings, said Jerry Van Marter, news director for the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) says only members in traditional man-woman marriages or who are sexually abstinent may serve as clergy, elders and deacons. Larges has submitted a statement to the Presbytery of San Francisco declaring her disagreement with that policy. "Out of gratitude, love and hope for the church, I am compelled by my conscience and charged by my faith to firmly, clearly and in every way declare that the provisions ... are a mar upon the church and a stumbling block to its mission," she wrote.

The presbytery represents 77 churches and about 29,000 parishioners in the San Francisco Bay area. Eight members of a screening committee who voted against allowing her to move forward in the ordination process last month prepared a minority report saying that the marriage or chastity rule she wants to discount is too essential a precept to compromise. "Given the clarity of the requirements for ordination and given the clarity of Lisa's refusal to comply with those requirements, we believe our obligation leads us to conclude that Lisa is not qualified for ordination," the minority report states.

Like other mainline Protestant groups, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been struggling for decades over the traditional Christian prohibition on gay sex as lesbians and gay men push for full inclusion in their churches. The issue is expected to be back before the church's general assembly when it holds its biannual meeting this summer.

A decision to ordain Larges would not make her the first openly gay minister to be ordained in the church, according to Van Marter. The current policy banning the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians to the ministry was enacted in 1978, and a number of ministers who were ordained before then have since come out to their congregations. Several other openly gay ministers also have been ordained since 1978 owing to technical points of church law, Van Marter said.

[Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this story.]

© 2008 The Associated Press

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Vote boosts lesbian's ministry quest

San Jose Mercury News
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 01/16/2008 02:57:34 AM PST

A gay woman seeking ordination as a Presbyterian minister might achieve her longtime goal before foes can appeal a decision supporting her quest.

After 21/2 hours of debate Tuesday night, the San Francisco Presbytery skirted the denomination's rules, voting 167 to 151 to consider Lisa Larges for the ministry.

Although an appeal could delay a final decision by at least 18 months, Larges could be ordained in her home church, San Francisco's Noe Valley Ministry, before opponents can act.

Tuesday's debate drew record attendance for the presbytery, which meets six times a year.

"I didn't used to think about my ordination because I didn't think we'd get here, but I'm ready to go for it," she said after the debate and vote at Richmond's First Presbyterian Church.

The decision filled her with joy, she said. "I am deeply, deeply grateful," said Larges, 44, who directs That All May Freely Serve, a national organization the supports and advocates for gay Presbyterian clergy.

Others were not joyous.

"What has happened here tonight has violated the constitution of the Presbyterian Church USA," said the Rev. Mary Holder Naegeli, a Walnut Creek minister and a member of the presbytery's committee on preparation for the ministry.

The Rev. Mark Stryker, associate pastor of Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, said the bid to advance her ordination was a disruptive move.

Her advocates spoke of values above sectarian rules and of Larges' personal qualities.

"I believe in the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered people," said Charles Mann, an elder from Ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. "God looks at the heart, not at the race, the gender, the sexual orientation."   The Rev. Will McGarvey, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, spoke to the delegates of "her wit, her humor, her joyful way of being with and for people."

A committee report effusively praised Larges.

"We rarely see people so gifted," it says. "Lisa has proven through her life in ministry that she is a beautiful demonstration of the Christian gospel."

Opponents said they were disappointed and surprised by the close vote, and predicted a nationwide backlash.

The question before the delegates was whether to ignore the denomination's long-standing position that candidates for ordination must be married to someone of the opposite gender or be single and chaste.

In 2006, the denomination's General Assembly affirmed its support for the dictum but permitted local ordaining bodies to make exceptions.

Larges must now submit to an intensive oral exam.

Larges has tread this ground before. After she graduated from seminary school in 1989, a Minnesota committee certified her ready to seek a call. Her appeal of the objection went to the national church court but was ultimately rejected. 

Presbyteries in New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Northern California have actively gay ordained ministers, said Richard Lindsay, a spokesman for That All May Freely Serve.

The San Francisco Presbytery encompasses San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda and San Mateo counties.

Rebecca Rosen Lum covers religion. Reach her at rrosenlum@bayareanewsgroup.