wfn.org | Compromise Reached at Emory

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (175
notes).

Note 175 by UMNS on June 23, 1997 at 09:14 Eastern (5570 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue                    363(10-21-28-71B){175}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           June 23, 1997

Emory University announces compromise agreement
regarding use of campus churches, chapels

by Alice M. Smith*

     ATLANTA (UMNS) -- In the future, United Methodist pastors and
chaplains who serve the churches and chapels at Emory University
and Oxford College will have the authority to determine what
religious ceremonies take place in those sacred spaces.
     That's the unanimous compromise approved in Atlanta June 19
by the Emory University Board of Trustees after the denomination's
North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference called on Emory
President William M. Chace to reverse his decision that would have
allowed same-sex union ceremonies on the campuses at Emory and
Oxford, a division of Emory University.
     Although not spelled out specifically, the agreement in
effect prohibits same-sex covenant ceremonies from taking place in
the churches and chapels since United Methodist clergy are bound
to uphold the doctrine and polity of the United Methodist Church.
     "The board of trustees made it very clear," said North
Georgia Bishop G. Lindsey Davis, "they want those sacred
facilities, when they're used for religious services, rites,
ceremonies, weddings, funerals, to be under the Discipline of the
United Methodist Church and by United Methodist ministers."
     Neither he nor the church, Davis noted, wanted to "deprive
gays and lesbians of their civil rights. But I do want the polity
of our church to be respected, and I think this action does just
that."
     The United Methodist Book of Discipline clearly states,
"Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be
conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our
churches."
     Should a chaplain or pastor allow a ceremony on campus that
is contrary to United Methodist doctrine, he/she would be
"accountable to an annual conference and a bishop and a board of
ordained ministry the same way any other United Methodist minister
is," Davis said.
     On the Emory campus the consecrated spaces include Glenn
Memorial United Methodist Church, Cannon Chapel and the hospital
chapels. At the Oxford campus they include the Day Prayer Chapel
and Allen Memorial United Methodist Church.
     The controversy that precipitated the agreement arose when
Dean William Murdy of Oxford College refused to allow a gay
marriage ceremony in Day Chapel, citing as one reason the fact
that the United Methodist Church does not recognize such unions.
     Chace reversed that decision, stating such a denial of the
use of the facilities violated Emory's Equal Opportunity Policy.
In response, North Georgia Methodists in their annual session July
12 called on Chace to reverse his decision and asked the board of
trustees to take up the matter if he did not.
     A series of meetings followed that resulted in the compromise
agreement. Davis met privately with Chace and board of trustees
chairman Brad Currey June 16, but it was during a meeting two days
later attended by other bishops on the board of trustees and Emory
University officials that the compromise was hammered out. In
addition, the board of trustees spent several hours refining the
agreement the next day before releasing it at a press conference.
     "I feel good about what happened," Davis said. "It doesn't
answer all the questions. There are more discussions that we'll
have down the road, but I believe we have a framework in place
that will honor the integrity and values of both the church and
the university."
     It's a statement, he acknowledged, that won't please
everybody. Gays and lesbians will feel the policy is
discriminatory, while more conservative United Methodists will
object to the fact the policy does not cover all facilities on
campus.
     One aspect of the policy says guidelines for the use of the
chapels -- described as "multipurpose facilities" since they serve
both religious and secular purposes -- will be developed and
presented to the full board this fall.  Until that time, said
Currey, no weddings -- heterosexual or homosexual -- will likely
take place at the chapels.
     Early news coverage by television and radio focused on that
statement and included the churches on the two campuses in the no-
wedding ban. This in turn caused a flood of calls, particularly
anguished Glenn church members who were concerned that nuptials
could not take place at the church.
     Davis said the guidelines that would be developed referred
more to non-religious events that could take place in the chapels.
     "I'm concerned about the use of sacred space for other events
that have nothing to do with same-sex covenant ceremonies but have
to do with other events that might be totally appropriate in a
multi-purpose secular facility but would be inappropriate in a
consecrated facility," he said.
     Imparting a sense of the sacred to students should be part of
their education at Emory, Davis said. "We do them a disservice by
not introducing them to that concept. It's part of what it means
to be a civil human being. ... They may reject our attempt to
teach in this area, but we have a commitment to do that."
                               # # #

     * Smith is executive director of the Georgia United Methodist
Communications Council.

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