Response to Judicial Council Decisions
On October 31, 2005, the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church, the denomination's highest court, issued rulings in a number of cases. Of particular concern to many United Methodists were the rulings in two cases, one concerning the defrocking of the Rev. Beth Stroud, an openly lesbian pastor, and the other concerning a pastor who had denied membership to an openly gay man (short case briefs are below). The Judicial Council ruled that Rev. Stroud should lose her clergy credentials and that the pastor who had excluded a gay man from membership in the church was within his rights to do so.
In response to these decisions, our Bishop, John R. Schol, and the Council of Bishops, the 'executive branch' of the denomination, have issued the following letters:
Pastoral Letter from Bishop John Schol, Baltimore-Washington Conference, October 31, 2005
Letter from Bishop John Schol, Introducing Statement from Council of Bishops, November 3, 2005
Pastoral Letter from Council of Bishops, November 3, 2005
Teaching Document on Judicial Council Decisions, by Wesley Seminary Faculty
Case Summaries
Beth Stroud Case
Who: Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud
Where: Germantown, Pennsylvania
What: Beth Stroud, who had been serving as an assistant pastor of First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa., admitted in a 2003 sermon and in a letter to her congregation that she was "a lesbian living in a committed relationship with a partner." Last December (2004), she was found guilty of violating church law, which forbids the ordination and
appointment of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," (Para. 304.3) and lost her ordination credentials. Then in April 2005, the Northeastern Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals reversed and set aside the verdict and penalty decided by the trial court. The conference then filed an appeal with the Judicial Council.
Decision: The Judicial Council, after reviewing the case, found that the Eastern Pennsylvania trial court had ruled correctly and mandated that Beth Stroud surrender her clergy orders.
Rev. Edward Johnson Case
Who: The Rev. Edward Johnson
Where: South Hill, Virginia
What: a man who had been attending Rev. Johnson's church for several months, who sang in the choir, who was well known in the community, asked to become a formal member of the church. The pastor turned him down because the man is gay.a) Johnson was placed on unpaid leave after he rejected calls from his superintendent (and his bishop) to admit the man.
b) Last June 13, Rev. Johnson was placed on involuntary leave of absence from the Virginia Conference by a vote of the conference's clergy. The yearlong leave began July 1.
c) The Judicial Council was asked to rule on two items.1) The first concerned Bishop Charlene Kammerer's decision related to the disciplinary purview of the conference relations committee of the board of ordained ministry and the fair process rights of a pastor. (The issue here was due process.)
2) The second is the bishop's decision of law related to the authority of a pastor under Paragraphs 214 and 225 of the 2004 Book of Discipline to exercise judgment in determining who may be received into membership in the local church.
Decision: the pastor has the right to exclude people from membership