CINCINNATI -- A minister accused of violating church rules by performing same-sex marriages was publicly rebuked by Presbyterian Church (USA) after a church court convicted him of violating church law, according to a report by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, was acquitted on another charge of ordaining homosexuals as elders and deacons because the congregation's ruling board has the responsibility of determining who is ordained.
Van Kuiken, 44, was the first minister to be tried by the church over the same-sex marriage issue, although more than 20 other cases are pending nationwide.
The seven-member Presbytery of Cincinnati commission, comprised of church ministers and elders, voted 6-1 on both charges. According to the news report, the dissenting member, Elder Charles Brown of Wyoming Presbyterian Church, said Van Kuiken should have been found guilty of both charges and should have been at least temporarily suspended. The public rebuke, admonishing him to stop performing the marriages, was the least severe action the court had at its disposal.
Van Kuiken said nothing had been resolved by the church's action.
"This only leaves me in a state of limbo," Van Kuiken told the newspaper. "They know I'm going to continue to do it. I just have to be true to myself."
