The complainants, pastors David Bierschwale and David Lenz, and Carol Shanholtzer, all members of the presbytery, asked the church court to “declare as irregular” the presbytery’s “action of determining that a declared departure from the [Book of Order’s] G-6.0106b does not constitute a failure to adhere to the essentials of the Reformed faith and polity under G-6.0108.”
The complainants also asked the court to “invalidate any related actions taken” as a result of the restoration. Finally, the complainants also sought to have the presbytery admonished and directed to “refrain from conducting further irregular” action.
Noting the decision of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission in Bush, et al. v. Presbytery of Pittsburg in February 2008 that departures from the fidelity and chastity requirement found in G-6.0106b are not permitted, the synod’s PJC found that ruling did not apply because it dealt with “ordination” while the current case involved the “reinstatement of a pastor already ordained.”
The commission cited Wier v. Second Presbyterian Church, a 1999 case of the General Assembly PJC, that noted, “The ordaining and installing governing body is in the best position to determine whether self-acknowledgement is plain, palpable, and obvious, based on its knowledge of the life and character of the candidate.”
In dismissing the case, the synod’s PJC noted the Book of Order’s G-6.0108b “is a foundational argument.” That paragraph places the ultimate responsibility for determining “whether a person has departed from essentials of Reformed faith and polity” on the governing body in which the person serves.
The synod’s PJC also wrote, “The only acceptable method of denying Dr. Capetz the full rights and privileges of exercise of the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament would be by disciplinary action of the presbytery.”
