wfn.org | UMNS# 04563-Stroud expects to lose ministerial credentials

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Stroud expects to lose ministerial credentials 

Dec. 1, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04563}

NOTE: For ongoing coverage and photographs of the trial, go to www.umc.org.

By Linda Green*

PUGHTOWN, Pa. (UMNS) - The United Methodist clergywoman on trial for being in
a lesbian relationship said she does not expect to be able to remain a pastor
in the denomination.
 
The Rev. Beth Stroud, 34, said she expects to lose the credentials that have
given her the full rights and privileges of an ordained minister in the
United Methodist Church. She spoke during a Dec. 1 press briefing on the
opening day of her clergy trial, being held by the denomination's Eastern
Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference at Camp Innabah.
 
Stroud, assistant pastor of First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa.,
stated in a sermon and in a letter to the 1,000-member congregation that she
is "a lesbian living in a committed relationship with a partner."
 
During the briefing, Stroud said that a victory in the trial would be the
work of the Holy Spirit. "I don't expect that."  
 
She said she would become a layperson on staff at First Church if she is
found guilty and stripped of her credentials. A 13-member trial court of
fellow pastors will decide whether she is guilty of engaging in "practices
declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian
teachings." Nine votes are needed to convict. Penalties could range from loss
of credentials to a less severe punishment.
 
Asked why she chose to come out as a lesbian in a partnered relationship when
she knew the ramifications, Stroud said she could have remained silent and
kept her credentials, but that would have compromised her growth as a
Christian "and my integrity in my ministry."  
 
She called her ministry a gift from God and said that keeping her sexuality
secret caused her "to not be as effective as a minister as I could have
been." Since she made the decision to "come out" 18 months ago, she said she
has been much more at peace, and she is happy that she did so. 
 
Throughout the trial, Stroud said she would continue to pray for peace within
herself, try to remain calm and "present myself with as much grace and
dignity as I can."
 
She told reporters that she hopes the United Methodist Church will change its
law about appointing self-avowed practicing homosexuals to churches. "Whether
that will happen with my case, I do not know."	 
 
"I believe God created me to be a lesbian," Stroud said, with her partner
Chris Paige by her side. "I feel profoundly that God called me into ministry
in the United Methodist Church." She said she has tried to walk as a person
of faith, take risks and take a stand for her beliefs.
 
The complaint, brought by the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, charges
that Stroud is in violation of a church law that bans the appointment of
self-avowed practicing homosexuals and that she is engaging in "practices
declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian
teachings."
 
Alan Symonette, Stroud's assistant counselor and co-lay leader of First
United Methodist Church in Germantown, said two issues are involved in
Stroud's defense, one dealing with church law and the other with her ability
to follow her calling as an ordained minister. 

Stroud, "who happens to be gay and in a covenanted relationship ... has been
called to ministry by God," he said. "We contend that the church should not
depress her, and the law is inconsistent with the denomination's
constitution. It is separating Beth from who she is and from her ability to
practice ministry."
 
A portion of the defense's strategy had focused on Article IV of the
denomination's constitution, dealing with inclusiveness, but church counsel
objected and Presiding Bishop Joseph Yeakel sustained the objection. Allowing
that portion would have enabled six witnesses to take the stand on Stroud's
behalf.

"The bishop ruled that it was inappropriate to raise constitutional issues at
this point in the trial," Symonette said.
 
"Beth has been true to her calling as a minister," he said. "She has been a
person called by God in the ministry and at the same time looking into the
fullness of who she is." She should be allowed to remain in ministry, he
said.
 
The Rev. Fred Day, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Germantown,
expressed the congregation's support of Stroud and noted that the United
Methodist Church is not of one mind concerning homosexuality.

The annual conference's lead counsel, Tom Hall, emphasized to reporters that
Stroud had violated church law. Referring to Paragraph 304.3 of the United
Methodist Book of Discipline, he said that although the trial of a colleague
is painful, "when someone steps over the line, we are to be accountable."
 
"We are faced with a person who is open and honest about her sexuality," and
that is why the trial is occurring, Hall said. Noting the difficulty of
confronting a colleague based on the Book of Discipline, he said the "the
trial is to determine guilt or innocence, not to debate a word."

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green or Linda Bloom, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service