April 21, 2003
by Jerry Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - The Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of Cincinnati Presbytery has found the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, the pastor of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH, guilty of performing same-sex "marriage" ceremonies.

The PJC found Van Kuiken not guilty on a charge of participating in the ordinations of deacons and elders allegedly in violation of section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order, commonly known as the "fidelity and chastity" provision of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The court issued an official "rebuke" of Van Kuiken, the mildest of four punishments it can impose in a disciplinary case.

Van Kuiken, who admitted during his April 8 trial that he'd performed "services of Christian marriage for same-sex couples," said he will appeal the guilty verdict.

"I believe that this decision of the PJC is theologically wrong and contrary to the scriptures," he said in a statement issued after the verdict was announced. "And because it is contrary to the scriptures, it is also unconstitutional."

A person accused in a disciplinary case may not appeal a "not guilty" verdict, so the charge against Van Kuiken having to do with ordinations is concluded.

One member of the Cincinnati PJC, Charles H. Brown III, dissented from the majority opinion. Noting that Van Kuiken told the court that he intends to continue performing same-sex "marriages," Brown objected to the punishment handed down.

"A rebuke does not resolve this case," he wrote. "Based on the facts before us, and taking Van Kuiken at his word, I am convinced that nothing less than a censure of temporary exclusion from the exercise of ordained office as minister will resolve this case."

The PJC told Van Kuiken bluntly: "You are directed to perform marriage ceremonies only for a man and a woman." (The PC(USA) constitution defines marriage in those terms.)

It went on: "If you perform services of holy union, you are directed to take special care to avoid any confusion of such services with Christian marriage. ... You shall instruct same-sex couples that the service to be conducted does not constitute a marriage ceremony and should not be held out as such."

Van Kuiken, 44, said his intention to continue performing such same-sex "marriages" is "a position from which I will not be rehabilitated."

He said on Monday that the PJC verdict "only leaves me and others in a state of limbo, with more accusations and trials facing us in the future. Any substantial resolution has been pushed into the indefinite future. So the rebuke is a warning to me that next time the penalty will be more severe."

Brown also dissented as to the not-guilty finding in the ordination case.

On that charge, the PJC ruled that sessions, not ministers, have authority to ordain and install elders and deacons. A minister is required to officiate at services of ordination and installation, they said, but he or she is only "to describe the nature of the offices of elder and deacon, to ask the constitutional questions, and to pronounce their ordination and installation."

Brown argued that each member of a session has "individual responsibility ... to uphold his or her ordination vows" in making determinations about the suitability of candidates for ordained office. One of those vows, he pointed out, is "to be governed by our church's polity."

Brown said Van Kuiken, the session's moderator, "had the right, power and obligation to step aside and decline to 'preside' at the ordination and/or installation of elders and deacons that he knew could not and would not comply with G-6.0106b."

PCUSA News Service