By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken

The Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, the former pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church who was stripped of his ministry last year for performing same-sex marriages and ordaining gays as deacons and elders in the church, got back his standing in the church on Tuesday.

But he won't get back his congregation.

Van Kuiken won an appeal to the regional synod that governs Presbyterian churches in Ohio and Michigan, arguing the Presbytery of Cincinnati wrongfully removed him from his ministry by not following procedures in the church's constitution. Each of Van Kuiken's four issues on appeal were supported by a unanimous vote.

But the former minister signed an $80,000 severance package with the Mount Auburn church over the summer that prevents him from returning there.

"It's been a very difficult past few months for me and I do feel vindicated because (the ruling) said the Presbytery acted improperly," Van Kuiken said. "This lets me keep the fight going in the Presbyterian Church."

That fight - over the right of gays to marry - has gone national.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill last week banning same-sex marriages in Ohio. That new law also bans recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states - such as Massachusetts, where that state's high court ruled last week that the legislature there must allow the marriages.

Same-sex marriage figures to be an issue in the coming presidential debate, after President Bush recently denounced the Massachusetts decision.

The Presbytery of Cincinnati could appeal Tuesday's ruling to the national church, said attorney Kathryn Gonser Eloff.

"The Presbytery is still sorting out the decision," Eloff said. "I can say that everyone involved (with the Presbytery of Cincinnati) did what they thought was appropriate. But I don't know what they intend to do next."

Cincinnati's presbytery was busy Tuesday night hearing a complaint against Van Kuiken's former church allowing gays to be ordained as deacons and elders. Presbytery members want to change the church's national constitution so that congregations that continually violate the rules on such issues are placed in "provisional status." That status would allow them to remain in the Presbytery, but with restricted rights.

Patricia Brown, elder at the church in Kennedy Heights and a member of the presbytery's administrative commission, said Tuesday that the proposal is "a way we can come together and live together within a certain limit."

A vote hadn't yet been taken late Tuesday night. But even if approved in Cincinnati, the constitutional amendment would need approval by the Presbytery USA's General Assembly, and approval by a majority of the presbyteries across the nation. That process could take years.

Van Kuiken, a husband and father of two daughters, said he doesn't like the idea because it still punishes congregations for a practice that they don't believe is wrong. Meanwhile, Van Kuiken is preparing for another fight: He is challenging the same-sex marriage ban in the presbytery's constitution.

The unemployed minister said he wants to pursue that fight within the framework of the church, and that's why winning his appeal Tuesday was so important. His argument is that Scripture allows same-sex marriages and those unions are blessed by God, even if not by the church's constitution. He will take that case to the General Assembly in the spring.

"I think winning the appeal gives me more credibility," Van Kuiken said. . "They didn't just reject my arguments; they insisted on fair play. If the synod had a high-handed, off-with-his-head mentality, it would be more difficult to make my case this spring."

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com