The Rev. Janet Edwards, a Presbyterian minister in Oakland, has been formally charged with violating church law by conducting a marriage ceremony for a lesbian couple in June 2005.

A church court in Pittsburgh Presbytery will hear the case. Its verdict can be appealed by either side to regional and national church courts. If found guilty, Ms. Edwards faces sentences ranging from a reprimand to permanent removal from ministry.

"I do not wish to plead guilty," Ms. Edwards said yesterday. She has been a parish associate at the interdenominational Community of Reconciliation for 13 years.

"I do not understand my action to be contrary to the constitution [of the church]. It was a fulfillment of my ordination vows. It fulfilled the instruction of the Presbyterian Church in 1978 to provide all pastoral tenderness to gays and lesbians."

The Presbyterian Church (USA) permits blessing of same-sex unions as long as the service cannot be confused with a marriage ceremony. But Ms. Edwards intended this to be a marriage ceremony.

The charges, filed Tuesday by a task force that has been investigating a complaint against her for a year, accused her of "knowingly and wilfully performing a marriage ceremony for two individuals of the same sex that was contrary to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."

She also was cited for omitting references to the Trinity, Bible readings and intention to enter into a Christian marriage. A final charge was misstating the authority by which the ceremony was performed.

Officials of Pittsburgh Presbytery said they could not discuss the case.

"The rules of the church are such that I cannot even acknowledge whether or not there are charges or a case with regard to Dr. Edwards," said the Rev. James Mead, pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery.

Ms. Edwards said she welcomed the charges because they were an opportunity to advocate for same-sex couples.

"The Presbyterian Church is obviously in a serious process of discernment on this issue. The judicial path is one way in which the church can engage in that process of discernment," she said.

She worked with the couple for a year prior to the ceremony, and said they discussed what would happen to her if it became public. So, after a wedding announcement appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it was no surprise when two local congregations filed a complaint against her, she said. It took a year for an investigating committee to conclude that charges should be filed.

"I knew that there were colleagues in the presbytery who would disagree with the constitutionality of the action. But I was answerable to God and to my understanding of scripture and the constitution," she said.

The reason that references to the Trinity, the Bible and Christian marriage were omitted was that one of the brides is a devout Buddhist, she said. The liturgy followed recommendations of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for interfaith weddings, she said.

But it was a marriage, not merely a "blessing," she said.

"They are both very deep, spiritual people, and they were clear from the start that they were embarking on a marriage together. The service itself conformed to that, and it was the high point of my Christian life."