Ban Against Non-Celibate Clergy Officially Lifted in PCUSA

from Stand Firm by Matt Kennedy

From here

During the past several years, the debate has rambled on with a majority of church members previously rejecting changes that would allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to be ordained.

More than 100 of the 11,000 Presbyterian churches in the United States have already left the denomination over the issue.

"We are entering a new era of equality," Michael Adee, the executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a Minnesota-based church group, said a statement to the media. “Across this country members of welcoming and affirming congregations and ministries are telling the stories of faithful candidates who can now be considered for ordination."

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He said he knew of several "closeted gay clergy who are planning on coming out" because of the new rules.

Adee also said the historic moment “returns us to ordination standards that focus on faith and character rather than one's marital status or sexual orientation."

The new policy will change the actual language in the church constitution, which actually banned homosexuals from serving as church ministers, elders and deacons. Presbyteries voted to delete the constitutional requirement for clergy to live “in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”

“It allows each presbytery, or regional governing body, to decide what sexual standards to place on ordination,” according to the church's official press release...more

Now that the "gay clergy" ban has been lifted, how long will it take before new rules are passed to "protect" congregational property?