wfn.org | May 2, 2000 GC-002

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

Judicial Council begins spring session with 2 decisions

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - Only two cases were on the docket of the United Methodist
Judicial Council in the first day of a two-week session that will continue
through the denomination's highest legislative assembly, the General
Conference.

Meeting May 1, the church's supreme court gave conditional approval to the
North Alabama Annual (regional) Conference's sexual misconduct policy for
church professionals. The policy, passed at the annual conference's 1999
session, was approved pending the change of one paragraph to read, "The
procedures for reporting and responding to complaints shall be determined in
accordance with the provisions of the Book of Discipline." The book contains
the denomination's constitution, rules, historical documents and other
items.

In the other case, the coordinating council of the Philippines Central
Conference asked about the election of delegates from one of its annual
conferences. The Central Luzon Philippines Annual Conference in April 1999
had cast many ballots in an unsuccessful effort to elect its delegates to
the Philippines Central Conference. As a result, the annual conference voted
to change the two-thirds majority requirement for electing delegates to
first a simple majority and then a simple plurality.

The Judicial Council ruled that the Book of Discipline and the church's
constitution do not specify the procedures for these elections. Instead,
that matter is left to the annual conference as long as the elected
delegates meet the criteria mandated in the constitution.

The council will remain in recess until asked to rule on something by the
General Conference or until the assembly ends on May 12. In the meantime,
General Conference will elect five members to eight-year terms that begin at
the end of General Conference, and a sixth member will be elected to fill
four remaining years on an unexpired term. The nine-member council
alternates between a majority of clergy and lay members each eight years.
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-- Joretta Purdue

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United Methodist News Service
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