The Presbyterian Church accused Pittsburgh minister Janet Edwards on Sept. 12 of violating the church’s constitution for presiding over the marriage of lesbian couple Nancy McConn and Brenda Cole in 2005. The charges could lead to Edwards’ removal as a minister.

Her case is expected to be heard by the Pittsburgh Presbytery’s permanent judicial commission in a pretrial hearing within the month. The verdict can be appealed to the Synod of the Trinity and then to the general assembly, where the ruling would be final. If she is found guilty, Edwards said the punishment could be as light as a reprimand, as severe as revocation of her ordination or anything in between.

“It is absolutely inappropriate for me to comment at all on her case. I am sorry, but it is how we do things in the Presbyterian Church,” he said.

Edwards, who is straight, has been married to her husband Alvise for 25 years and has two grown sons. She was ordained by the Pittsburgh Presbytery in 1977, served as moderator in 1987 and is now an “at large” minister. She also works as a parish associate with the Community of Reconciliation, a multi-faith congregation. She is a direct descendant of Jonathan Edwards, the famous and influential Evangelical theologian who was born in 1703. She said Presbyterians are called to continue the tradition of reform promulgated by her ancestor.

The lesbian couple’s wedding came to the attention of the Pittsburgh Presbytery after McConn and Cole placed a wedding announcement mentioning Edwards as presiding over the ceremony in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The wedding caused a furor among some of Edwards’ more conservative colleagues.

McConn, 65, a retired Xerox Corporation employee, and Cole, 52, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, live in Triadelphia, West Virginia. They were married in Cathedral Hall, a deconsecrated former Catholic basilica turned banquet facility in Pittsburgh. Cole wore a lacy white bridal gown and McConn wore a tuxedo. Guests included 135 family members and friends, including a few new ones. The couple opened the wedding and reception to any other Pittsburgh gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals in the area who wanted to share in their big day.

McConn said the Presbyterian Church permits same-sex blessings, although they may not resemble a marriage rite. She said a blessing ceremony would not have carried the same intent and meaning to the couple as a marriage ceremony. Cole and McConn wanted to be married in every sense of the word, just like heterosexual spouses, they said. They were legally wed in Vancouver, Canada, a short time after their Pittsburgh ceremony.

Stephen Van Kuiken, who is straight, presided over a number of same-sex marriages in his three years as pastor of the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church. He was stripped of his ministerial credentials and membership in the church in 2003 by the Cincinnati Presbytery for violating the Book of Orders. He said he agreed to leave Mount Auburn Church and started The Gathering, a small gay-inclusive faith community in the Over the Rhine section of Cincinnati.

Lesbian activist Jane Adams Spahr was a minister for 29 years before she was charged with violating the Presbyterian Church constitution after performing two lesbian weddings, one in 2004 and another in 2005. She was ordained in the Pittsburgh Presbytery in 1974 and is a good friend of Edwards’. Spahr is minister director of That All May Freely Serve, a group working for full inclusion and participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians in the church. She said she has performed “hundreds” of same-sex weddings since she was ordained.

The Redwoods Presbytery appealed the ruling and the case is now headed for the Synod of the Pacific and then to the general assembly for a final ruling.

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