wfn.org | Spring Docket Lists 9 Items

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3447 notes).

Note 3446 by UMNS on Feb. 20, 1997 at 15:58 Eastern (3135 characters).

SEARCH:   Judicial Council, docket, clergy, rules, Discipline,
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Contact:  Joretta Purdue                       92(10-30-71B){3446}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Feb. 20, 1996

Judicial Council to consider
case related to constitution

                 by United Methodist News Service

     When the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church
meets April 23-26, more than two-thirds of the nine-item docket
will be revisiting items previously brought to the court.
     Four items were deferred from the October 1996 session, and
two are to return after being remanded to the relevant bishops. 
     Among these items is a question from the Southwest Texas
Annual (regional) Conference. At the 1996 session of the
conference, the bishop had ruled the question of "whether a person
may be denied the right to lead and/or participate in activities
and programs of the church" to be hypothetical and therefore not
to be answered.
     In a 6-2 vote, the Judicial Council disagreed, saying that
the question did relate to conference action, and remanded the
matter back to the bishop for an opinion.
     The question, as originally asked, had referred to parts of
the church's constitution and the 1992 Book of Discipline -- the
denomination's book of rules and structure -- and included the
phrase "on the basis of his or her sexual orientation."
     Another case from the fall session was remanded to Bishop
Susan Morrison, now bishop of the Albany Area but until last
September of the Philadelphia Area. The constitutionality of
"mission area ministries" in the resolution titled "a Call to
Change" was questioned in the Peninsula-Delaware Conference while
the bishop was presiding. 
     The council will decide whether to reconsider a decision it
made at the October meeting in regard to confidentiality. In this
case, West Ohio Annual Conference sought a ruling on the validity
of a resolution requiring ministers to report allegations of
sexual misconduct and harassment to church officials even if the
statements were made in confidence. The council decided the
resolution violated church law.
     Also to be considered at the spring session are four items
related to procedures, including clergy trials and conference
relations. Deferred at the council's autumn meeting, the four
questions relate to decisions of law made by Bishop Charles Wesley
Jordan of Iowa.
     Two new cases come from California-Pacific Annual Conference.
One asks if the clergy sexual ethics policy adopted by the
conference is in accord with the church's 1996 edition of the
Discipline.
     The other asks for a decision on the meaning of the word
"expelled" as used in the Discipline regarding a clergyperson's
status in a section of rules on trials and appeals.
     The spring meeting will be held in Madison, N.J.
                               # # #
     

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