wfn.org | Judicial Council finds annual conference reorganizations lacking

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

Nov. 2, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
{640}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by two sidebars, UMNS #641 and 642.

HERSHEY, Pa. (UMNS) - The reorganization plans of two annual (regional)
conferences were overturned by the United Methodist Church's highest
court in one of more than 20 decisions rendered during its Oct. 28-30
meeting.

The Judicial Council struck down the reorganization of both the
Louisiana and Holston annual (regional) conferences in action very
similar to that of the spring session this year, when the council struck
down the restructuring efforts of two other annual conferences. Then the
Kansas West Annual Conference was praised for deferring implementation
until the council had reviewed its plan, but Northern Illinois had
implemented its restructure after voting to do so in a special session
in November 1997.  The Holston Conference,  with offices in Johnson City
and Knoxville,  Tenn.,  includes East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and
a few churches in Georgia.  

In the current cases, Holston Annual Conference had deferred
implementation of a plan adopted this spring, and Louisiana Annual
Conference had implemented its plan sometime in the past and had adopted
changes in June 1997 that went into effect Jan. 1. It had voted
additional changes in June 1998. Both were remanded to the conferences
for revision and resubmission to the council.

In the Louisiana case, the council said: "The constitution and
legislation providing for the connectional relationships throughout the
denomination are more than simply a requirement for an organizational
chart listing boards and agencies, names and addresses. The connectional
relationships have resulted in the creation and maintenance of colleges,
universities, schools of theology, hospitals, orphanages, retirement
homes, health care centers, publishing house, relief efforts, food and
love for the impoverished, prison ministries, hope for the hopeless, and
other causes and needs too numerous to mention."

At one point in its analysis, the council observed that Louisiana Annual
Conference relabeled its Conference Ministry Team to include four
conference boards and a commission. "Such action fails to meet the
requirements set forth in previous Judicial Council decisions and denies
the conference membership the representative participation and
involvement of a body of people dedicated to the purposes and causes set
forth in the Discipline for these purposes," the council said.

The Holston Annual Conference reorganization is so vague as to be
unconstitutional, the council said.

As the council did in its fall 1997 ruling that all conference
organizational structures must have a board of laity or equivalent
structure, it laid out guidelines to help conferences develop plans that
meet constitutional and other tests of the council.  For example, one of
the nine guidelines is that the method of funding each structure must be
defined in the adopted plan, including submission in the manner
prescribed by the 1996 Book of Discipline to the conference council on
finance and administration and for final action by the annual
conference.

A presentation representing Holston Annual Conference was given at the
oral hearings Oct. 29 at Rockville United Methodist Church, Harrisburg,
Pa., by Zane Scott and the Rev. Gary Grogg. 

In another decision (see UMNS #641), the council concluded that
conferences and other official church entities cannot identify or label
themselves as an unofficial body because that could put them in conflict
with the church's Book of Discipline. The council also said that
constitutional amendments must be ratified before enabling legislation
can be proposed (see UMNS story 642).

A complex case in the South Carolina Annual Conference involved eight
questions of the bishop relating to the investigation of a complaint
against a clergy member. The bishop was affirmed in his answers to six
of the eight questions. Several of the questions were moot because they
were actually requests for a declaratory decision rather than rulings of
law. Some of the council's decisions included:
* The church does not have a right to an appeal when a judicial matter
does not go to trial, as was indicated in an earlier decision;
* Conditions under which an involuntary leave of absence is imposed must
be satisfied before a pastor is permitted to come off leave of absence;
and
* A bishop is not required to respond to requests for decisions of law
that are improper, but must rule that the questions are improper, as has
been stated in previous decisions..

The Rev. Theodore Walter, a member of the South Carolina Conference, did
not participate in the discussion.

A concurring opinion voiced "serious constitutional concerns" about a
Book of  Discipline paragraph that grants to bishops the authority to
correct errors in church law or defects in judicial proceedings and to
an annual conference the authority to order remedies if injury occurs
from such errors. "This is a constitutional violation of the separation
of the powers of the legislative, executive and judicial bodies of the
church," said council members Wesley Bailey, Evelynn S. Caterson, the
Rev. Theodore Walter, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, the Rev. Zan Holmes
Jr., Tom Matheny and the Rev. C. Rex Bevins.

Four annual conferences' policies on sexual ethics, misconduct or
harassment were remanded for revision by the respective conferences in
one decision. This combined ruling related to the Minnesota Annual
Conference Policy on Sexual Misconduct, the Kansas East Annual
Conference Policy on Sexual Ethics, the East Ohio Annual Conference
Policy on Sexual Ethics, and the North Alabama Annual conference Policy
on Sexual Harassment and Misconduct.

East Ohio Annual Conference's racial harassment policy, which was
considered separately from its policy on sexual misconduct, was found to
be constitutional by the council. Likewise, the rewritten North Georgia
Annual Conference "Policy on Sexual Misconduct by Church Professionals"
was held to be in conformity with the Book of Discipline and the earlier
decision which had remanded it. Council member Sally C. AsKew did not
participate in the discussion because her husband is a clergy member of
the annual conference.

Declaratory decisions were also requested from the council by the
Oregon-Idaho and California-Nevada annual conferences. Both conferences
questioned the constitutionality of the sentence, "Ceremonies that
celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and
shall not be conducted in our churches," which was placed in the Social
Principles by the 1996 General Conference, the denomination's highest
legislative body. The court said the statement is constitutional. The
Rev. Jeanne Knepper of Portland, Ore., representing Oregon-Idaho,
presented the case for declaring it unconstitutional, in one of the
three oral hearings held Oct. 29 at Rockville United Methodist Church,
Harrisburg, Pa.

In other cases, the council reviewed statements of law by several
bishops, each acting as presiding officer in an annual conference
session. These, and the outcomes, were:
* Affirmed the bishop's ruling in the North Texas Annual Conference that
the definition of "self-avowed practicing homosexual" had to include
identification of the person or groups to which the acknowledgment is
made;
* Partly affirmed a ruling in Virginia Annual Conference, agreeing that
assessing a fee from each nominee to General and Jurisdictional
conferences to provide for printing and distributing an informative
booklet about the candidates unconstitutionally adds to the
qualifications of candidates, and disagreeing that the fee would be
permitted if the district or an agency paid it;
* Requested additional documentation regarding the legality of a special
clergy session of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference, deferring the
decision until spring; and
* Did not affirm the presiding bishop and found the restructure plan of
Norway to be lacking in several ways, such as not having a board of
laity.

In another case brought by Northern Illinois Annual Conference, the
council ruled that candidates for ordained ministry who were diaconal
ministers are not excused from the connectional qualifications,
including the prohibition against "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." 

Regarding a case from Florida Annual Conference, the Judicial Council
noted that it does not have jurisdiction. A question related to the
conference requirement that candidates for the ordained ministry must
have completed one-fourth of their seminary education before Jan. 1,
1997, to qualify for conference relationship was asked of the bishop
outside of the annual conference session. Any ruling rendered by a
bishop on a question not properly presented is null and void, the
council added.

Minnesota Annual Conference requested a declaratory decision on whether
defining the judicial process as beginning with the referral of a formal
complaint to a committee on investigation - as the 1996 Discipline does
- violates the church's constitution. The council said this is not a
violation of the constitution and that the constitution does not
prohibit the General Conference from establishing a supervisory process,
which may proceed to a judicial process if an informal complaint becomes
grounds for a formal complaint.

The council also confirmed its refusal by mail ballot to reconsider its
decisions regarding two cases from the spring 1998 session. One was in
regard to a trial appeal from New England Annual Conference, and the
other dealt with questions to the bishop about the discontinuance of a
probationary member by the Nebraska Annual Conference.

The Wisconsin Methodist Federation for Social Action had requested
reconsideration of the decision made at the special session of Judicial
Conference in August 1998 regarding the prohibition against clergy
performing homosexual unions, but the council noted that it cannot
consider a request from bodies other than the parties to the case.

The next meeting of the Judicial Council will be April 21-24 in the
Orlando, Fla., area.
# # #

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