The synod court ruled on March 20 that San Francisco Presbytery had made a mistake when it allowed Larges in January 2008 to declare a conscientious objection to the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) before she had been examined as a candidate for ministry.
Larges had declared a conscientious objection to the requirement that those being ordained practice fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman or chastity if they are single. In a statement she presented to the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry, Larges declared that requirement to be “a mar upon the church and a stumbling block to its mission.”
Those ministers filing the appeal all are members of the presbytery’s Committee on the Preparation for Ministry who support the “fidelity and chastity” standard and do not want the presbytery to grant Larges a conscientious objection to it. They are asking the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court in the Presbyterian system, to rule on whether candidates can declare objections to the “fidelity and chastity” standard or whether that standard is mandatory.
But the synod court ruled more narrowly in March that the presbytery could not consider Larges’ objection at that stage of the process, because “the examination for ordination is the proper time for presbytery to determine whether or not a candidate’s departure (from the standards) constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”
The synod court’s ruling nullified the presbytery’s vote, sending the question of how to handle Larges’ candidacy back for reconsideration by the presbytery.
