NYT: Presbyterians set to allow gay ministers

May 10, 2011

Presbyterians Set to Approve Gay Ministers

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

With a vote in Minneapolis, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is expected to pass a measure on Tuesday afternoon allowing openly gay people in same-sex relationships to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons.

Although Presbyterians have been debating the issue since 1978, the news will most likely come as a surprise to many church members. Only two years ago, a majority of the church’s regions, known as presbyterys, voted against ordaining openly gay candidates.

This time, 19 of the church’s 173 presbyterys so far have switched their votes from no to yes. The Twin Cities presbytery, which covers the Minneapolis and St. Paul region, is expected to cast the deciding vote at its meeting on Tuesday.

The Rev. Heidi Vardeman, senior minister of Macalester Plymouth United Church, in St. Paul, said in an interview, “Finally, the denomination has seen the error of its ways and it will repent, which means, literally, to turn around.”

“I’ve had young people who have been exemplary, obviously good candidates for the ministry,” she said, “but then you have to have this weird conversation in which you say that, umm, because they might be gay or lesbian, it’s not going to work. But now we’re free! We can endorse and propose and assist and elect those whom God has called.”

Some congregations opposed to the change could leave the denomination, but there has already been some attrition. The Presbyterian News Service estimates that approximately 100 congregations have left the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the last five years. Some of those were large congregations, which could help explain why the vote in some presbyterys switched from two years ago.

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Really.

Yay.

i can easily believe it WAS 1978 when they first starting talking abt doing this, good lord, a person could have had a whole career since 1978

silly to lose good caring people over this issue

i know it has been years and years since the presbyterian church went over the bible book by book and failed to find ANYTHING where jesus said it was a sin to be gay

It's about time they joined the 21st century. Hopefully other denominations will follow suit.

. . . among them: Disciples of Christ, United Churches of Christ, The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Methodists are in the midst of grappling with the issue.

They are not quite there yet, but they are getting close.

UCC and MCC already do.

It's long past time for this crap to be over with.

I would perhaps consider doing so if they liberalized their treatment of gays.