Minister of Wellington Presbyterian parish St Andrew's on The Terrace, the Rev Dr Margaret Mayman, says she is disappointed that the gifts and calling of a member of her congregation has not been recognised by the church for ministry training. Deborah Gordon, who had her application for ministry rejected because she is lesbian, then accepted after a judicial committee overturned the ruling, learned last week that the church's National Assessment Workgroup had considered her application and decided not to accept it after all. No reasons were given. “This is apparently the general practice of the workgroup but is unhelpful in terms of pastoral responsibility and transparency of process,” Dr Mayman said. “Ms Gordon has been a member of the congregation for eleven years and she has been involved in worship, pastoral care, teaching Sunday School, music and other leadership.” Ms Gordon, who lives with her partner of 10 years Rosie Salas, is undecided as to what she will do next, but her parish says it will support whatever decision she makes about re-application, and was “saddened and dismayed” to learn she had not been accepted for training.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Monday, 15th December 2003 - 12:00pm