wfn.org | Judicial Council sets special session on issues related to

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

homosexual unions

April 24, 1998     Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
{246}

By United Methodist News Service

SEATTLE -- The United Methodist Church's highest judicial body has
called a special session for Aug. 7 and 8 in Dallas to consider the
meaning of language related to the denomination's prohibition of
homosexual unions.

A question about the language was submitted April 8 to the United
Methodist Judicial Council by the College of Bishops of the South
Central Jurisdiction, one of five such geographic areas in the United
States.

"We may well hear other petitions concerning the same subject and
related ones from other parties," the council said in an April 22
statement. Council members considered when and where to deliberate on
the issue as they began their regular spring session here April 22-25.

South Central bishops have asked for a declaratory decision from the
council. They want to know whether it is a chargeable offense if a
minister violates the denomination's prohibitions against performing
"ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions" and conducting such
ceremonies in United Methodist churches. 

One area of controversy concerns the location of the prohibition, which
was placed in the denomination's Social Principles by the 1996 General
Conference - the denomination's highest legislative body. Found in the
Book of Discipline along with the church's constitution and historical
and doctrinal statements, the Social Principles have not traditionally
carried the weight of church law, according to many church members.

The bishops asked for the ruling following the March 11-13 church trial
of the Rev. Jimmy Creech, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church
in Omaha, Neb. Creech, who performed a covenanting ceremony for two
women last September, was charged with violating church law. A jury of
Nebraska clergy members came one vote short of conviction, with eight of
the 13 jurors voting guilty. Creech, who had been on paid administrative
leave, was immediately restored to his pulpit. 

To be considered by the Judicial Council, briefs and requests for oral
hearings must be filed with the secretary of the council by June 30.
# # #

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/