West Hollywood is the first progressive congregation to leave the fold under a so-called “gracious-dismissal” policy church elders devised to avoid contentious lawsuits over congregations seeking to leave the denomination.
Officials from the parent church could not immediately be reached for comment. “We’re ready to be set free.”Ĭlearing a last hurdle for the defection, a regional governing body called the Presbytery of the Pacific voted on Tuesday to let the 99-year-old parish keep property belonging to the parent church when it makes the move. “It’s like being released from an abusive relationship,” he told Reuters. Danny seemed like a good bet when I first met. Dan Smith, a gay pastor who has led the progressive congregation with about 57 members since the 1980s. Somehow I thought that having a gay guy share my apartment me and become my roommate would be a smart idea. The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles plans to formally join the ranks of the more liberal United Church of Christ on Saturday. Presbyterian Church over the ordination of gay ministers, a small gay-led California parish is staging a schism of its own, saying the church has done too little to accept homosexuality. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As throngs of religious conservatives break from the U.S.
