wfn.org | UMNS# 05097-Stroud appeal hearing set for April 28

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Stroud appeal hearing set for April 28

Feb. 16, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05097}

NOTE: A photograph of Beth Stroud is available in the Photo Gallery at
http://umns.umc.org.
A complete archive of UMNS Stroud coverage, with additional online
resources, is available at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=6102.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*

An April 28 hearing date has been set for the appeal of a former United
Methodist clergywoman who lost her credentials after a church trial.

The hearing for Beth Stroud will be 9 a.m. to noon at the Sheraton
International Hotel on the grounds of Baltimore-Washington Airport.

Stroud, who was serving as associate pastor of First United Methodist
Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, was found guilty Dec. 2 of
violating the denomination's prohibition of "self-avowed practicing
homosexuals" in the ordained ministry. Since losing her clergy
credentials, she has remained on staff at that church as a lay member.

The December trial was conducted by the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual
(regional) Conference, which is a part of the denomination's
Northeastern Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction's committee on appeals will
hear the appeal.

The committee will meet in private on April 27 to consider questions for
the hearing, said the Rev. William "Scott" Campbell, committee chairman
and pastor of Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church in Cambridge,
Mass. Committee members already will have received briefs from Stroud
and the conference as well as transcripts of the trial, he said.

Stroud has requested the hearing be open to the public, Campbell said.
After the hearing, the committee on appeals will begin its
deliberations, which could continue into the next day if needed. The
committee's decision will be announced at the hearing site, but no time
has been set.

According to the United Methodist Book of Discipline, Paragraph 2715.7,
"the appellate body shall determine two questions only: (a) Does the
weight of the evidence sustain the charge or charges? (b) Were there
such errors of church law as to vitiate the verdict and/or the penalty?"

"There will be an opportunity for each party to present its case
orally," Campbell said.

Substitutions have been made for two of the standing members of the
appeals committee because those who come from the same episcopal area as
Stroud - which includes the Eastern Pennsylvania and the
Peninsula-Delaware conferences - are not eligible to participate in the
hearing.

The committee's clergy members hearing the appeal will be Campbell; the
Rev. LaGretta Bjorn of Spring Valley, N.Y.; the Rev. Ronald McCauley of
Buckhannon, W.Va.; and the Rev. John Topolewski of Owego, N.Y. Lay
members will be Joy Wilcox of Etters, Pa., diaconal minister; Dale Dobbs
of McVeytown, Pa., full-time local pastor; Julius Archibald of
Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Sharon Bassett of Cicero, N.Y.; and N. Sharon
Leatherman of Williamsport, Md.

# # #

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

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

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org