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.

"I’ve had time to think about how crushed my spirit would be if being a minister of word and spirit were taken away from me," she said. "All I feel I was doing was preaching the Gospel. Jesus said, ‘When I am lifted on the cross I will draw all people to me.’ He didn’t say, ‘But not gays and lesbians.’"

"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.

"Jonathan Edwards would share with me that God has revealed to us the rich variety of human sexuality," she said. "And that the church is called by God to reform, to change toward embracing all of God’s children, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender."

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.

"We knew there was a good chance Janet would get in trouble," said Cole. "But she had some assurance that she would be OK. She had talked to several people in the presbytery who were mentors of hers. Since the ceremony was not performed in a Presbyterian church we didn’t think it would be a big deal."

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.

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, after their Pittsburgh ceremony.

Two other ministers, Jane Adams Spahr of San Rafael, Calif., and Stephen Van Kuiken of Cincinnati, have also battled with their presbyteries after presiding over marriage ceremonies for gay couples.

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.

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