Openly Gay Ordained Presbyterian Minister Acquitted On Charges He Violated Church Constitution By Legally Married His Partner; Appeal Certain

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church was acquitted Monday by a church panel of charges that he violated the church constitution when he legally married his same sex partner in California in 2008. The case of the Reverend Erwin Barron, who was associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in the 1990s, is likely to be appealed. It is the first time the divided church, which avoided the issue of same sex marriage at its national convention last summer in Minneapolis, has dealt with the possible discipline of an openly gay pastor who legally married a same-sex partner. Barron, a college professor in San Francisco whose church credentials remain with the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, faced a two and a half hour trial before a presbytery panel of six at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Minnesota, and after almost three hours of closed deliberations, the panel deadlocked 3-3. A two-thirds vote was required for conviction, which lawyers said could have led to de-frockment. "I'm relieved," Barron said. "I wish it was more definitive. ... The decision is not clear for the church." The Reverend Neil Craigan, a White Bear Lake pastor on the prosecuting committee, said his group will consider an appeal. The case could rise to the synod level and possibly to the national church for final disposition. "I think there is a high probability that we will appeal to get more clarity on the issues that we face as a denomination," Craigan said. "We've never had a trial of this kind before." The historic hearing, held in a church community room, featured defence and prosecution lawyers who were Presbyterians, and who volunteered their services. About 25 people attended, most of them Barron supporters from Westminster. The six-person judicial commission comprised of three pastors and three church elders, sat with files and copies of the church constitution at a table facing a witness table and a lectern, where the lawyers argued their case. The issue was whether Barron violated the church constitution, which states that church officers must "live either in fidelity with the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers."