wfn.org | Church looks to court for guidance on homosexuality issue

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 27, 2001        News media contact: Tim
Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-28-71BP{426}

NOTE: For a related report, see UMNS story #427. A photograph of Bishop
Elias Galvan is available at http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.

A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*

When the United Methodist Church's supreme court meets in October, the
docket item likely to draw greatest public interest will be a matter brought
by the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference regarding rules about gay clergy.

The United Methodist Church forbids the ordination or appointment of
self-avowed practicing homosexuals. In the Pacific Northwest Conference,
however, three clergy members have publicly affirmed that they are
practicing homosexuals. They don't believe their sexual orientation should
disqualify them from leading local congregations. The annual conference and
its leader, Bishop Elias Galvan, are awaiting a Judicial Council ruling on
two passages of church law related to the issue.

As the court date approaches, Pacific Northwest members on both sides of the
homosexuality issue have been meeting, praying and trying to understand the
will of the God whom they share. The council meets Oct. 24-27 in Nashville,
Tenn.

"People are waiting for Judicial Council to act and bring some clarity to
the situation," Galvan said in a telephone interview.

Thirteen briefs related to the matter have been submitted so far to the
Judicial Council, according to Sally Curtis AsKew, a council member from
Bogart, Ga., and secretary for the court. That's the largest number of
briefs received on one issue in her 14 years with the court - except for the
1998 special session, which dealt with another church law regarding
homosexuals.

Despite differences of opinion in the Pacific Northwest Conference, Galvan
perceives that people on both sides of the issue remain willing to work
together. "There are many other issues, obviously, that are important to all
of us, and (on) those issues we can work together."
 
However, lines are being drawn. Advocates for the full inclusion of
homosexuals in ministry met in Tacoma, Wash., and formed a churchwide
alliance to work for changing the denomination's rules. The evangelicals,
historically a quiet minority in the Pacific Northwest, met Sept. 6 in
Yakima, Wash., and formed their own coalition in response, aligning
themselves with the unofficial Confessing Movement (see related story).

The Pacific Northwest has been the hot spot this year in the United
Methodist Church's long-running struggle over issues related to
homosexuality. In February, the Rev. Karen Dammann wrote to Galvan,
requesting appointment to a local church. Dammann had led a Seattle-area
church in 1999 before going on family leave. In her letter, she told Galvan
that she was living in a homosexual relationship with another woman and
their son in Massachusetts. 

Galvan, writing to Dammann and the conference clergy members on April 18,
said he didn't see how he could appoint her without violating the
denomination's Book of Discipline. However, he said, her request would be
handled through the regular church process, in which the conference board of
ordained ministry and the annual clergy session determine eligibility for
appointment.

The issue became the focal point of the June 13-17 annual conference
gathering in Tacoma. The Rev. Mark Edward Williams and the Rev. Katie Ladd
announced at separate times during the conference that they are practicing
homosexuals. They, along with Dammann, received an outpouring of support
from many in the conference. Dammann and Williams didn't get local church
appointments but were placed under the supervision of their district
superintendent, and Ladd was kept on disability leave.

As they dealt with the question of appointments, the annual conference
members decided to ask the Judicial Council to clarify two paragraphs in the
Book of Discipline that many felt were contradictory. One passage forbids
the ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals, while the other
requires that all clergy members in good standing receive appointments. The
three gay clergy members were regarded as having good standing in the
conference.
 
For the time being, Williams is serving as minister of congregational life
at the church where he was pastor, Woodland Park United Methodist in
Seattle. The position was developed in cooperation with the congregation,
and the Rev. Bob Hoshibata, Seattle District superintendent, was named
interim pastor. Galvan said he will review Williams' job after the Judicial
Council ruling. Conservatives have criticized the arrangement.

Williams' assignment is not lawful, said the Rev. Gary Starkey, an
evangelical and pastor of Westpark United Methodist Church in Yakima, Wash.
The will of the church regarding the practice of homosexuality is "not
ambiguous," he said.

The conference worked out a position for Dammann in which she would assist
with ministries at a number of churches, Galvan said. However, Dammann
declined to accept the position, he said. 

Dammann said that the costs of relocation, health insurance and starting the
position two months late in the church year, on top of taxes and normal
monthly expenses, would have reduced her salary to the point where she and
her family would have been in financial jeopardy.

The outcome of the Judicial Council meeting will be important, Dammann told
United Methodist News Service in an e-mail note. "At the very least, we are
hoping that the Judicial Council will find that there was an egregious lack
of due process in not appointing me or Mark E. Williams." She also hopes the
court will address the fact that she has not received the benefits that go
with an appointment - the income, the housing, and the health, dental and
pension benefits.

"Beyond these practical personal matters, the decisions surrounding the two
paragraphs in the Discipline and the definition or lack thereof of who is a
homosexual will have far-reaching impacts on the church and gay and lesbian
clergy," Dammann wrote. "The question of my status seems to be moot, as
there are perfectly sound mechanisms in the Book of Discipline that address
how to change the status of a clergyperson."

The newly formed evangelical coalition in the Pacific Northwest Conference
will also be watching the Judicial Council's decisions with interest. 

"I think we will have some witness to the Judicial Council," said Starkey, a
coalition member. At the least, the coalition will support Desert Southwest
Conference evangelicals, who are asking the court to reject any attempt by
the Western Jurisdiction to hold a special called session, he said. "They
are putting forth an objection to any Western Jurisdictional special called
conference because we know the agenda of that event ... would be to network
those in favor of changing church law, and we believe it would inevitably be
used to further the spread of disobedience." 

The case is drawing attention from across the church. John Stumbo, a layman
and the mayor of Fort Valley, Ga., filed a brief on behalf of the Coalition
for United Methodist Accountability, a group that works to enforce the
denomination's Book of Discipline.

Stumbo, an attorney, argues that the two passages are not inconsistent with
each other. "The predicate for entitlement to an appointment is you must be
in good standing. In my view, if you violate the self-avowed practicing
paragraph, you are not in good standing," he told UMNS.

Moreover, he said, the church has a system for dealing with this situation.
Galvan, as bishop, should file complaints against the elders who are
self-avowed practicing homosexuals and then let the process work, Stumbo
said.

Regardless of how one feels about the issue, Stumbo said, the church's
members are bound internally by their ecclesiastical law. "What really is
important to me is the process, that we follow it," he said.

The reticence of the denomination's authorities to enforce the mandates of
the General Conference regarding homosexuality "is tearing at the unity of
the church," Stumbo said.
"People are growing increasingly resentful of those in authority for not
following the law." 

Dave Sutton, an Olympia, Wash., layman active in the Reconciling Ministries
Network, also prepared a brief for the Judicial Council meeting. The
Chicago-based network advocates the full inclusion of gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgender people in church life.

Sutton argues that one of the passages in the Book of Discipline, Paragraph
304.3, is unconstitutional. The annual conference is the basic organizing
body of the church, charged with ordaining, disciplining, assessing the
character of and otherwise administering the clergy, he noted. Nowhere in
the constitution has he found such power given to the jurisdictional or
General conferences, he said. "Unless we're going to change the
constitution, it seems to me the power lies with the annual conferences."

If the Judicial Council finds that the paragraphs are not contradictory, it
will have to say that one passage has precedence over the other, Sutton
said.

"The issue for me is very little about homosexuality," he continued. "... My
interest is in the church and whether we're going to draw lines about who
gets into the church and who doesn't. It just happens that homosexuals are
the ... minority that we are still excluding.

"It seems to me there's a terrible risk of establishing a litmus test for
ordination, and if it's this today, what's it going to be tomorrow?" he
said.

The Pacific Northwest Conference chapter of the Reconciling Ministries
Network put forth a theological position paper in March, "To Plead the
Cause," by the Rev. Paul Beeman. The paper accused the United Methodist
Church's top legislative body, the General Conference, of heresy for its
policies regarding homosexuals. "Contrary to the General Conference, we
believe that homosexuality and Christian teaching are fully compatible," the
document stated.
 
The idea of using the document as the basis for a legal challenge in the
church was considered but dismissed, Sutton said. "Our purpose is not to
convict our church, but to change it from the errors that have produced the
present broken state," he said. " 'Reconciling' is not only our name, but
our desire for the church."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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