The stay means that Anderson’s ordination, which had been scheduled for May 15, will be postponed as the courts of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) consider a challenge to the John Knox Presbytery action.
The presbytery voted 81-25 on Feb. 20 to ordain Anderson, who currently serves as executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. More than two decades ago, Anderson, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, worked as a Presbyterian pastor in California before setting aside his ordination in 1990, after two people from his congregation publicly revealed that he is gay.
On March 4, the session of Caledonia Church in Racine, Wis., and five Presbyterian ministers filed a remedial case against John Knox Presbytery with the synod’s Permanent Judicial Commission. They argue Anderson should not be ordained because he does not comply with the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which require those being ordained to practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
The complaint also states that the presbytery should not have allowed Anderson to declare a “scruple” – a conscientious objection – to the fidelity-and-chastity standard. Under a procedure recommended by the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PC(USA) – a task force on which Anderson served – a governing body can approve a candidates who declares a scruple if it determines that the objection doesn’t involve an essential of Reformed faith and polity.
Anderson’s case could prove to be the first test in the church courts of the question of whether a presbytery can allow the ordination of a gay or lesbian who is involved in a committed relationship and declares a scruple to the fidelity-and-chastity standard. Anderson and his partner, Ian MacAllister, have been a couple for nearly 20 years.
