LOUISVILLE (AP) – The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) says its regional bodies are sending less money than expected to national headquarters, partly out of protest about the direction of the denomination.

The Presbyterian financial officer said the national church will receive about $400,000 less than anticipated for 2005, according to Presbyterian News Service.

The national church had expected to receive about $13.2 million for the year.

The denomination, like other mainline Protestant groups, has been struggling for years to reconcile members who disagree about the Bible and gay relationships, among other issues.

This past June, a Presbyterian national assembly voted to give local congregations and regional bodies some leeway to install gay clergy and lay officers with same-sex partners.

Ten of the 173 regional bodies, or presbyteries, said that some of their churches are withholding the money in protest.

Another 25 presbyteries said they had to underpay because individual churches had sent them less.

Two presbyteries are experiencing severe financial troubles, the church said.

Clifton Kirkpatrick, a top church official, said the national church would adjust by limiting expenditures. The denomination has had a series of layoffs in recent years.

“We’re basically on target with income and expenditures, and we should have a balanced budget by the end of the year,” Kirkpatrick said.

LANSING (AP) – The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments Oct. 18 in a lawsuit challenging the Ann Arbor school district’s same-sex benefits policy.

But for now, the dispute involves a technicality – not the legality of providing health insurance and other benefits to workers’ same-sex partners.

The case is one of three same-sex benefits cases moving through Michigan’s court system. It involves whether 17 taxpayers followed the proper procedure to stop the Ann Arbor Public Schools from offering benefits to same-sex couples.

The taxpayers are represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a Christian-rights group that says governments and other public employers can’t offer benefits to same-sex couples in future contracts under the Michigan constitution and state law.

But the state appeals court dismissed the Ann Arbor case in 2005 and ruled the taxpayers didn’t “demand” that the district stop providing the benefits to employees’ same-sex partners. They had sent letters to school board members asking them to stop the policy.

The appeals court said the letters were merely a request, not a true demand for legal action.

A 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment made the union between a man and a woman the only agreement recognized as a marriage “or similar union for any purpose.”

The appeals court could rule in that case soon.

HELENA (AP) – Attorneys for an East Helena church accused of breaking state campaign laws say they are appealing a recent ruling by a federal judge.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula ruled against Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church and its lawsuit challenging a decision by the commissioner of political practices.

The issue dates back to 2004’s Constitutional Initiative 96, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and passed by about a 2-to-1 margin.

The state commissioner of political practices found that the church should have reported its activity in support of the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. The office decided the church became an “incidental campaign committee” by holding meetings, distributing petitions and being involved in political activities.

The church argued the state campaign laws are unconstitutional, and said the ruling by the commissioner of political practices violated its freedom of speech and religion.

In siding with the commissioner of political practices, Molloy wrote that nothing in the First Amendment prevents the state from exercising its regulatory authority over the political process, “even when the politicking takes place in the ‘sanctuary.’”

Attorneys with the national Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the church, said they filed a notice of appeal Oct. 9 in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Churches should not be punished for speaking out on important social issues of the day,” Dale Schowengerdt, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a news release.

NEW YORK (AP) – The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops said they are developing new guidelines for ministry to gays, reaffirming church opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption by the couples, while condemning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The draft document encourages parishes to make gays feel welcome and provide them pastoral support, and notes that many “are ardently striving to live their faith within the Catholic community so as not to fall into the lifestyle and values of a “gay subculture.”

But the authors repeatedly state any such ministries must be led by people who uphold church teaching on sexuality, and assert that Catholic leaders have a right to “deny roles of service” in the church to people who violate that teaching.

“It is not sufficient for those involved in this ministry to adopt a position of distant neutrality with regard to Church teaching,” according to the document. “Love and truth go together.”

The proposed guidelines, in development since 2002, will be put to a vote and possibly amended by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops when they meet Nov. 13-16 in Baltimore, Md.

Last year, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education issued an “instruction” that men with “deep-seated” homosexual attraction should not be ordained. This latest U.S. bishops’ proposal focuses on support for gay Catholics, not whether they should become priests.

The document explains the Catholic view of same-sex attraction as “disordered,” emphasizing that sexuality was given as a gift from God to draw men and women together to marry and have children. Gay relationships “violate the true purpose of sexuality,” as do adultery and contraception, the authors wrote.

Sam Sinnett, president of DignityUSA, which represents gay and lesbian Catholics, said it was clear the document was prepared “by none of us for whom it is intended.”

“They speak in willful ignorance about people in same-gender families,” Sinnett said.

CLEVELAND (AP) – A new chamber of commerce has been founded in northeast Ohio for the area’s gay community.

The group, called Plexus, will have its first board meeting next week. It will start accepting members in a couple of months.

The new chamber is intended to connect businesses that are gay-friendly or operated by gay people. It wants to improve the workplace environment for gay people and promote benefits like insurance coverage for domestic partners.

The president of the city’s GLBT Center says Cleveland is starting to recognize the importance of that population to the city’s economic health.

The board of directors for Plexus includes executives from KeyBank, Chase and the Great Lakes Science Center.

CHATTANOOGA (AP) – Activists pushing for a same-sex marriage amendment worry that some voters might mistake “no” for “yes.”

The proposal on the Nov. 7 ballot is worded to ask “shall the state constitution be amended to add the following language,” then specifies that marriage is between one man and one woman and the state would not recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

President Bobby Patray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum says her group is working to educate voters to check “yes” on amendment one.

Groups working to get the ban passed say they’re concerned some voters who agree with their position might vote “no,” thinking they were voting against allowing same-sex unions.

A Mason-Dixon poll for the Chattanooga Time Free Press and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis in late September found 73 percent of respondents planned to vote for the proposed amendment.

MADISON (AP) – Madison Bishop Robert Morlino fired back at critics of the Catholic Diocese’s support of a Nov. 7 referendum to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Morlino said seeking to fine the church for its activities backing the proposed amendment to the state constitution was akin to intimidation and persecution.

The nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has asked the state Elections Board to take enforcement action against the diocese for failing to register its activities, which included preparing a flier that was distributed outside a Catholic church in Madison.

In a statement released by Morlino’s office, the flier is described as something that was given directly to church members and therefore is exempt from state reporting requirements.

“To claim that I must pay a fee and report to the state about my teaching activities in Catholic venues blatantly violates the rights of myself and my sister and brother Catholics to the free exercise of religion,” Morlino said in a prepared statement.

State law requires groups that spend more than $25 to support or oppose a state referendum to register with the Elections Board. Those who spend more than $1,000 must disclose their fund-raising and spending.

Supporters of the same-sex marriage ban have avoided the disclosure requirement by stopping just short of advocating a yes vote.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said he had no problem with Morlino or the diocese campaigning against the amendment. McCabe said the problem is they are not reporting their activity with the state as required.