The United Methodist Judicial Council’s recent decision regarding gay clergy is drawing praise and criticism from independent groups around the denomination.
The church’s supreme court ruled in a lengthy decision that two passages in the denomination’s Book of Discipline do not contradict each other regarding the appointment of ministers who are gays or lesbians. One passage forbids the ordination and appointment of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," while the other states that all clergy in good standing shall receive appointments. The Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference requested that the court issue a declaratory decision on the passages after two openly gay clergy members requested appointments to local churches. The two pastors are deemed in good standing by the conference.
In its Oct. 24-26 session, the court ruled that a bishop couldn’t unilaterally deny a clergy person an appointment without going through the due process outlined in the Book of Discipline. It also ruled that the acknowledgement of being in a same-gender relationship is sufficient cause for a pastor to undergo ministerial review.
The ruling was praised by some groups for upholding the denomination’s prohibition against gays and lesbians being appointed in ministry. Other groups expressed concern about the implications that the ruling could have for the rights of sexual minorities in the church.
The executive committee of Good News applauded the Judicial Council’s decision. Good News, based in Wilmore, Ky., is a United Methodist evangelical renewal organization, and it publishes a magazine by the same name.
"This decision strengthens the church’s present position while assuring fair process," said the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, president and publisher of Good News. The decision guarantees that people who publicly acknowledge same-gender relationships, as the Rev. Karen Dammann did in the Pacific Northwest, "must have their ministerial relationship reviewed by the annual conference," Heidinger said. "In that review process, she must be asked if she were involved in sexual activity with a member of her gender, and if she answers affirmatively, it clarifies that she is what the Discipline refers to as a ‘self-avowed practicing homosexual’ and thus ineligible for appointment.
"This ruling prohibits a bishop from declaring unilaterally that one is no longer a ‘member in good standing,’ which protects all clergy from arbitrary dismissal," Heidinger said. "At the same time, it affirms the church’s commitment to fair process as well as to the conviction that the practice of homosexuality remains ‘incompatible with Christian teaching.’"
John Stumbo, representing the Coalition for United Methodist Accountability, found that the Judicial Council’s decision agreed with the main points of a brief that he had filed with the court. CUMA was formed in 2000 by three conservative groups, including Good News, to enforce the denomination’s Book of Discipline.
Now the church must wrestle with the question of how it defines "self-avowed practicing homosexual," said Stumbo, an attorney and the mayor of Fort Valley, Ga. That is a question that he hopes will not be left up to the individual annual conferences but will be decided at the general church level, he said. "We need uniformity across the church," he explained.
"It’s going to take either Judicial Council or the General Conference to bring clarity to that, and I hope it will be the Judicial Council rather than have to wait on the General Conference," Stumbo said. The Judicial Council meets twice yearly, whereas the General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative assembly, won’t meet again until 2004.
The Parents Reconciling Network, representing United Methodist parents of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, expressed "cautious support" for the ruling. "The decision, though narrow, appropriately focused on process and not on the validity of Discipline statements regarding the church’s stance on homosexuality," the group said.
The network "believes this action is a step in the right direction because it honors the directive in the Discipline that gives the duty of determining the gifts and graces of clergy to annual conferences," said Jamie Stroud of Philadelphia, national coordinator. The decision outlines the review process for annual conferences and rules out summary action without due process, she said. "This process should offer a measure of protection to gay and lesbian clergy."
The group is concerned, however, that the decision "implies that gay and lesbian clergy should not be considered in good standing if they are ‘self-avowed and practicing,’ " she said. That position could divide churches and the denomination if annual conferences react with bigotry, she said.
The Parents Reconciling Network and the Chicago-based Reconciling Ministries Network took aim at the United Methodist Church’s advertising campaign and its theme of "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of the United Methodist Church."
"The Judicial Council ruling sounds more like closed minds and closed closets," said Marilyn Alexander, Reconciling Ministries Network executive director. Heterosexual and "closeted" gay and lesbian clergy members will not have their sexual behavior scrutinized, but openly gay or lesbian clergy members will be held to different standards, the group said. Reconciling Ministries advocates the full inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the church.
United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church also was critical, comparing the decision to the church’s "earlier failures to grapple with issues of social justice and civil rights."
"Anyone with the most basic understanding of our denomination’s history can see what is happening," said Dan Vera, director of the Washington-based group. "It is a repetition of the same slow dance with forces of intolerance that brought our church to a split over slavery in 1844. Then, as now, it was a church that looked good on paper, but whose practices were abhorrent examples of the dominant society’s prejudice."
Adapted from United Methodist News Service