LOS ANGELES |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As throngs of religious conservatives break from the U.S. Presbyterian Church over the ordination of gay ministers, a small gay-led California parish is staging a schism of its own, saying the church has done too little to accept homosexuality.
The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles plans to formally join the ranks of the more liberal United Church of Christ on Saturday.
“I can’t wait” said the Rev. Dan Smith, a gay pastor who has led the progressive congregation with about 57 members since the 1980s. “It’s like being released from an abusive relationship,” he told Reuters. “We’re ready to be set free.”
Clearing a last hurdle for the defection, a regional governing body called the Presbytery of the Pacific voted on Tuesday to let the 99-year-old parish keep property belonging to the parent church when it makes the move. Officials from the parent church could not immediately be reached for comment.
West Hollywood is the first progressive congregation to leave the fold under a so-called “gracious-dismissal” policy church elders devised to avoid contentious lawsuits over congregations seeking to leave the denomination.
Questions about homosexual ordination and same-sex unions have deeply divided the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and its 2 million members, along with other mainstream Protestant denominations in the United States.
The Presbyterian Church formally opened the ranks of its clergy to homosexuals last spring, prompting dozens of congregations around the country to split off to join more conservative denominations or to form a new one of their own.
The church allows its ministers to bless gay unions but prohibits them from performing same-sex marriages.
By contrast, the United Church of Christ allows gay and lesbian weddings and has long welcomed gay clergy.
The Presbyterian Church’s highest court recently ordered the Rev. Jane Spahr
This article originally appeared on: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/09/us-usa-gays-presbyterian-idUSBRE8481EX20120509