An Appeal Will Be Filed

The Complainants’ Counsel in the matter of Parnell et al v. San Francisco Presbytery will appeal the Synod of the Pacific Permanent Judicial Commission (SPJC) Ruling rendered on September 17. They have until the end of October to file the Notice of Appeal with the General Assembly PJC.

The GAPJC in August remanded two specifications of error to the Synod, which wrote a new ruling to respond to the biblical, theological, and historical evidence presented to it. Rather than judge the claims made by either complainants or the presbytery according to the Scripture and confessions, the Synod PJC came to an absurd conclusion. As noted here last Monday, the SPJC wrote, “This Commission holds that in the case of this particular candidate and her particular departure, the Presbytery of San Francisco’s ordination decision did not constitute a doctrinal error, nor was it an abuse of discretion.” The main reason given was this: “The record and trial testimony make clear that interpretations of scripture and the confessions, and the conclusions that result from those interpretations, have not been uniform in the history and practice of the Church. . . .This range of interpretations reached through thoughtful and prayerful discernment is, in itself, evidence that the candidate’s departure cannot be from an essential of Reformed faith and polity.”

Believing this reasoning is corrupt, unPresbyterian, and unsustainable in the long run, the complainants seek redress with the highest level of judicial review, the GAPJC. It is the only way to avert the confusion that is inevitable if the Synod decision is left to stand without a challenge.

It was a difficult decision to commit to an appeal. But in the end, we realized that if we did not, we would be quitting the race before it was over and would have failed in our main objective: to gain clarity on PCUSA ordination standards, the essentials of Reformed faith and polity, and the consistency of church discipline. So, one more step and then this case has run its course. If Complainants prevail, the church will have declared its intention to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and abide by clear scriptural teaching. If Respondents (San Francisco Presbytery) prevail, the church will retreat from, if not deconstruct, Presbyterianism, which will no longer have reliable essentials of Reformed faith and polity nor a workable system for discipline and theological integrity. We simply cannot let such a sea change like that happen without getting a final answer from the body ultimately responsible for doctrinal and behavioral discipline.