WASHINGTON -- Citing a procedural error, a tribunal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) dismissed all charges Wednesday against a Pittsburgh minister who was accused of violating the church's rules by conducting a marriage ceremony for two women.
The Rev. Janet Edwards, 56, said she was relieved, but also disappointed not to have her day in church court.
"Scripture teaches me that the heart of marriage is the love and commitment between the partners. Life has taught me that gay and lesbian partners can show as much love and commitment as anyone else," she said. "I was really eager to make that case."
Edwards, who has been married for 25 years and a Presbyterian minister for 29, presided over a June 2005 wedding ceremony for Nancy McConn, a Presbyterian, and Brenda Cole, a Buddhist. She could have faced penalties ranging from a rebuke to revocation of her ordination if she had been found guilty.
But just as her trial was to begin, the eight-member tribunal, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, ruled that an investigating committee had failed to bring the charges in time. The committee was appointed on Sept. 8, 2005, and filed the accusations on Sept. 12, 2006 -- four days after the one-year deadline set by church law, the panel said.
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Like many other Protestant denominations, the3-million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been wrestling for decades over homosexuality. In 1978, its governing General Assembly declared that gay men and lesbians "must be treated with the profound respect and pastoral tenderness due all people of God." In 1991, the same body ruled that same-sex marriage ceremonies are "not sanctioned" and "not proper."
Edwards said she interprets the 1991 ruling as "cautionary words" rather than an absolute ban on same-sex weddings.
