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Rev. Beth Stroud came out to her congregation at the United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia two years ago. Last December, a clergy court convicted her of being a ‘self-avowed practicing homosexual’ and stripped her of her ministerial credentials. (Photo by Coke Whitworth/AP)

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EARTHA MELZER




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NATIONAL

Methodist council set to rule on gay clergy
Church appeals reversal of lesbian minister’s conviction in Philly

EARTHA MELZER
Friday, May 06, 2005

The United Methodist Church is headed for a high-level ruling on whether openly gay clergy will be allowed to serve.

The Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church decided last week to appeal a lower body’s reversal of a ban on lesbian Irene Beth Stroud serving as a Methodist minister.

The Northeastern Jurisdictional Committee of Appeals convened at the Sheraton International Hotel on the grounds of the Baltimore Washington International Airport on April 28 and heard Stroud’s appeal.

The next day, the committee reversed the church trial court decision that found Stroud guilty of “violating church law by being a self avowed practicing homosexual,” which had then led to the revocation of her ministerial credentials last year.

The appeals committee ruled in favor of Stroud on the procedural grounds that “practicing homosexual” has never been defined in church law, and while church law prohibits discrimination based on status, status is also undefined. The committee wrote that, “The evidence in support of the charge was overwhelming and would be sustained in the absence of legal error.”

With 8.3 million members, the United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States. For the past decade the church has been deeply divided over same-sex marriage and gay clergy.


Bishops meet with Bush
News of the reversal came as the Council of Bishops, a group made up of all active and retired Methodist bishops, gathered in Washington for its spring meeting. The announcement that the church would appeal the decision in favor of Stroud came on the same day that a group of bishops held a meeting with President Bush. The Methodists said that they presented a Bible to Bush, who reportedly declared that he is proud to be a Methodist.

Bush is opposed to same-sex marriage, a position shared by the United Methodist Church.

The Judicial Council is expected to review the case at its October meeting.

Stroud, 35, was ordained as an elder in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference in 1997. After serving for two years as associate pastor at West Chester United Methodist Church, she was appointed as associate pastor at First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia.

Stroud came out to her congregation in a sermon on April 27, 2003. She said that she had decided that being secretive about her sexual orientation was distancing her from God.

In a sermon titled “Walking in the Light” Stroud told her congregation that she was living in a committed relationship with another woman and introduced her partner, Chris Paige. She asked parishioners not to spring into hasty political campaigning around her case, but rather, to prepare casseroles for one another and host discussions so that the church might more gracefully weather the controversy generated by her announcement.

Bishop Peter Weaver issued a formal complaint alleging that Stroud had engaged in “practices declared by the Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings.” When a nine-month supervisory process between Weaver and Stroud did not lead to reconciliation, Stroud was served with a Judicial Complaint.

Both of the bishops that Stroud had served under spoke highly of her during the Dec. 2 church trial. Bishop Peter Weaver, who brought the complaint against Stroud, testified, “She actually is a very fine pastor and a very fine human being.” He added that she has a “strong sense of call to ordained ministry, that is a sacrament. … And we are brothers and sisters in Christ in a very profound way and she lives that with great integrity.”

Parishioners from her church characterized her as an excellent person and exceptional pastor. Rev. Alfred Day, her present senior pastor spoke highly of her as a person who, “from the formation and foundations of her soul loves God and loves the church.” Multiple potential jurors were disqualified from the jury pool when they said that they would not be willing to set aside their feelings and convict Stroud if she was found to violate church law against homosexuality. Stroud was convicted by a 7 to 6 vote.

Stroud had argued that the ban on gay clergy conflicts with the church law against discrimination based on status.

Methodist rules come from the Book of Discipline, which specifies the process through which disputes are to be resolved. The court process is infrequently used. Criminal matters within the church are to be refereed to state authorities and of the civil matters that the church court has jurisdiction over very few have reached the highest court level.

Bishop Marcus Matthews of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the UMC offered to appoint Stroud to her old job as Associate Pastor at First United Church of Germantown in Philadelphia while her case is in the process of appeal.

Stroud declined the appointment and opted to continue to serve as lay minister at the United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia until her case is concluded, according to a statement published to Stroud’s personal Web site.

“I do not want my ordination to be a symbol of who is ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ in a controversy at any given moment,” Stroud said in a statement e-mailed to the Blade this week. “When I do put my robes back on, whether that is at the conclusion of my case or in a number of years when the General Conference changes its unjust legislation, I want that to be simply a symbol of the sacred trust among me, God and the larger church.

“Ultimately I believe the church will live up to the promises it makes in its constitution and be inclusive of all people,” Stroud said. “The church has been wrong and has changed before — in the case of slavery, for example, and in the case of ordination of women. The church will change again. The church has the resources to do what’s right.”

The Judicial Council is a nine-member elected body made up of lay people and clergy members who serve eight-year terms.

The United Methodist Church has a complicated approach to gay issues. While the church does not allow openly gay clergy and has suspended and deconsecrated pastors who have performed same-sex weddings, the church says it welcomes gay parishioners and supports civil rights for gay men and lesbians including the right to serve in the military. In 1999 the church declined to try a group of 69 Methodist ministers who gathered to bless a union of two women in Sacramento, Calif.

Eartha Melzer can be reached at emelzer@washblade.com.

 

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