wfn.org | Committee hears Dell appeal; decision expected in 60 days

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 10, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212)870-3803*New York
10-21-28-71BP{419}

NOTE:  A file photograph of the Rev. Gregory Dell is available.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (UMNS) - A United Methodist appeals committee is crafting a
written decision regarding the suspension of the Rev. Gregory Dell for
conducting a same-sex union ceremony.

That decision follows an Aug. 9 hearing at the O'Hare Radisson Hotel. The
eight-member committee on appeals represents the denomination's North
Central Jurisdiction. The Rev. Phylemon Titus Jr. of Detroit is the
committee chairman.

Although the committee was expected to reach a tentative decision on Aug. 9,
Bill White Jr., its legal counsel, said any decision would not be released
for 30 to 60 days. During that time, White will draft the written document
and circulate it among the members for comment. Committee members also can
file a separate concurring or dissenting position.

During a March trial, Dell was found guilty of conducting a same-sex union
ceremony by a 13-member jury of his peers from the Northern Illinois Annual
(regional) Conference. The Judicial Council, the church's highest court, has
declared that a statement in the United Methodist Book of Discipline barring
such unions constitutes church law, making violation a chargeable offense.

The jury, called a trial court, decided Dell should be suspended from his
position as pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago until he
signed a pledge to no longer perform same-sex unions or until the church no
longer prohibited the action. The suspension became effective in July.

Dell not only has refused to sign the pledge, but also has taken on the job
as director of In All Things Charity, an unofficial network of clergy
members and other United Methodists who support full inclusiveness of gays,
lesbians and bisexuals in the life of the church. Broadway United Methodist
has been the base for that organization.

The Rev. Larry Pickens, Dell's attorney, asked the committee on appeals to
reverse the trial court's March decision on the grounds that the weight of
the evidence did not support the charge of disobedience.

In his oral presentation, Pickens said that establishing disobedience "is
not solely dependent upon whether he actually performed the same-sex union."
He argued that Dell's violation of Paragraph 65c must be weighed with other
sections of the Discipline that seem to be in conflict with it regarding a
pastor's charge to minister to all members of the church. About 30 percent
of Dell's congregation are gay or lesbian members.

The fact that Judicial Council decision No. 833 states that a pastor is
"liable" to a charge of disobedience to the order and discipline of the
United Methodist Church if he or she performs a same-sex union "is a far cry
from a mandate" for a conviction of disobedience, Pickens declared.

The trial court, he added, admitted to not having a clear understanding of
what would be considered "clear and convincing evidence" of such
disobedience when it found Dell guilty of the charge.

Pickens also argued that the penalty in Dell's case is unconstitutional
because it is an indefinite suspension. He used a 1966 Judicial Council
ruling from the then Methodist Church, Decision 240, to back that claim.

In the 1966 case, a trial court had suspended a pastor named Gladstone
Risinger but said that suspension would end at the 1965 session of the North
Texas Annual Conference if the pastor was able to show "his conduct is and
has been such as to warrant his reinstatement." But the presiding bishop, W.
Kenneth Pope, ruled in June 1966 that Risinger could not be reinstated.

The Judicial Council concluded that the trial court's penalty for Risinger
was for a specific time only, a "temporary interruption," and that having to
prove his conduct was worthy "imposed upon the appellant a burden not
required of him by the law in cases of suspension."

Pickens argued there is nothing in the Discipline or in past Judicial
Council positions that supports what he considers to be Dell's indefinite
suspension, and he asked the committee to reduce the penalty.

In his arguments, the Rev. Steve Williams, counsel for the church, called
the Dell case "simpler than it may appear."

The Sept. 19, 1998, same-sex union ceremony performed by Dell was "announced
in advance and conducted in defiance of 65c," he said. "The respondent does
not deny performing the ceremony. He celebrates it."

Williams noted that the process for the charge against the Chicago pastor
was followed carefully, according to the Discipline. At trial, "the
respondent's fair process rights were honored and protected."

The facts of the case, he stressed, are not in dispute. In a court of law,
facts equal evidence. If Paragraph 65c is valid, as the Judicial Council
says, "if you prove the violation, you prove the disobedience," he said.

While Dell may indeed have suffered conflicts about his particular ministry,
"the church defends its right to define its teachings and protect its law,"
Williams declared.

The church counsel used Judicial Council Decision No. 240 to show that
"clearly, great power is given to the trial courts." It also shows the
intent of the penalty imposed on Risinger had included an eventual
reinstatement to pastoral duties, he added.

In Dell's case, the penalty is not punitive, Williams said, but an attempt
at "character reform" of a servant who has accepted the gift of ordination
from the church. If the suspension is permanent, he claimed, it is because
Dell chooses it to be so by not signing the pledge.

During his rebuttal, Pickens argued that an infraction of a binding rule
does not necessarily constitute disobedience. Judicial Council No. 833
"speaks to the issue of engaging the process but it does not speak to the
end of the process," he said.

"Rev. Dell's act was not in defiance," Pickens said. "It was not
ecclesiastic disobedience. It was not an act that was designed in any way to
diminish the church."

Williams argued back that if there is no distinction between a violation of
a rule and disobedience, no one would ever be charged with disobedience.

He called the fact that the trial court's suspension would be lifted by the
signing of a pledge "a grace-filled penalty."

"He need not prove anything at all," Williams said. "He need only give
assent to the dignity of our covenant and our law."

In a press conference following the hearing, Dell said the eventual decision
from the committee on appeals "will be a statement about the character of
our denomination. Whatever decision they make, the struggle is going to go
on."

Williams told the press that any reversal of the trial court decision would
result in "a lot of dissatisfied United Methodists."

Besides Titus, members of the committee on appeal at the hearing were Ethel
Johnson, a laywoman from West Ohio Conference, committee vice chairwoman;
the Rev. Joyce Alford, Wisconsin Conference, committee secretary; the Rev.
Thomas Brennan, Minnesota Conference; the Rev. Terry Clark, Illinois-Great
Rivers Conference; Sharon Caine, a laywoman from the Dakota Conference;
Barbara Gurtler, a laywoman from Illinois-Great Rivers; and Shurmaine
McAlpine, a local pastor from the Iowa Conference.

As a sign of support from his annual conference, Dell was among those
elected to its 12-member delegation to General Conference, the
denomination's top legislative body. Pickens also was elected as part of a
slate that supports changing the United Methodist Church's official
positions on homosexuality.

General Conference meets May 2-12 in Cleveland. If the suspension still
holds, an alternate clergy delegate will take Dell's seat.

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