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Two Judicial Council members add opinions to decision

Nov. 29, 2005

NOTE: Photographs, a related story and two commentaries are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Neill Caldwell*

Amid the debate about the United Methodist Judicial Council's recent
ruling on a pastor's authority to determine membership, two people who
were directly involved in the decision have weighed in with their own
opinions.

The two additional opinions became part of the official ruling for the
Judicial Council's Decision 1032, which was issued Oct. 31 and can be
found on the denomination's Web site at www.umc.org.

In the ruling, the United Methodist Church's supreme court found in
favor of a Virginia pastor who refused to admit a self-avowed,
practicing gay man into membership in his church. The ruling reversed a
decision of law by Bishop Charlene Kammerer and reinstated the Rev. Ed
Johnson, who had been placed on involuntary leave by the Virginia Annual
(regional) Conference.

Johnson has been returned as senior pastor at South Hill (Va.) United
Methodist Church, where he had served before his suspension last summer.

Judge Jon R. Gray of Missouri, one of nine members of the Judicial
Council, filed a dissent to Decision 1032, while the Rev. Keith Boyette
of Virginia filed a concurring opinion.

Gray lamented the "serious ramifications" of Decision 1032, including a
potential loss of credibility for the court because the ruling "abandons
the traditional and limited role of the Judicial Council as interpreter
of church law and assumes a new mantle as creator of church law."

"The majority's decision now condones the denial of the fellowship of
the church to persons in need of its ministry and guidance who are
homosexual," he wrote. "The decision eviscerates our statement that
God's grace is available to all and reduces it to an empty platitude.
More tragically, the same Judicial Council charged with giving effect to
the intent of the enactments of the General Conference has turned a cold
and rejecting ear to its plea that families and churches not reject
lesbian and gay members and friends. ...

"We cannot begin to comprehend the unwanted and undesired consequences
of this ruling," Gray added. "The majority's ruling has dangerous
potential to create adversarial relationships between pastors and
persons who seek membership in our denomination. It encroaches upon the
authority of the office of bishop by judicial whim rather than through a
deliberate legislative process. It upsets the delicate system of checks
and balances inherent in our governance."

Another council member, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe of Atlanta, also
wrote a dissenting opinion, which was included in the majority decision.

Boyette wrote in his concurring opinion for Decision 1032 that "contrary
to what some will assert, our decision here is not a statement that
homosexuals are barred from membership in the local church."

"As one can plainly see from the decision and digest of the Judicial
Council as well as the analysis and rationale, there is nothing in such
language that can remotely be construed as making a sweeping declaration
that the Judicial Council has held that 'homosexuals' are barred from
membership in the church," Boyette wrote.

Boyette - a Virginia Conference member, like Johnson - also addressed
his decision not to recuse himself in the two cases that came before the
court regarding Johnson. Those related to the clergy executive session
of the Virginia Annual Conference placing a fellow clergyperson on
involuntary leave and the subsequent rulings by the bishop.

"The issues raised by these decisions are not unique to Virginia but
have impact on every clergyperson in our connectional system," he said.
"In my view, it would be inappropriate for me to recuse myself under
such circumstances, and I exercised my right as a member of the Judicial
Council to make that determination."

The Judicial Council's procedures allow members to make their own
decision about whether or not to recuse themselves from an individual
case.

Boyette was joined in his concurrence by lay Judicial Council member
Rodolfo C. Beltran, an attorney from the Philippines.

*Caldwell is a freelance writer based in High Point, N.C.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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

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

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