wfn.org | Complaint process against bishop ends; another begins

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

June 16, 1999   News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.    10-71B{336}

By United Methodist News Service

A process dealing with complaints against Nebraska Bishop Joel Martinez has
ended but new complaints have been filed against him and Bishop Fritz Mutti
of Kansas.

Mutti, president of the South Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops when
the complaints were filed in Dec. 1997, said none of the issues raised
justified referring them to the legal counsel of the church or to the
Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy.

The original complaints were filed:
*	on behalf of Kenneth McQueen by his wife,  the Rev Mary E. McQueen
and lay members of the  Fullerton (Neb.) United Methodist Church where she
continues to serve as pastor;
*	on behalf of Kenneth McQueen by lay members of the Genoa (Neb.)
United Methodist Church which he served previously as a local pastor;
*	on behalf of the Rev. Juanita Dose, now on disability leave, by
herself ;
*	on behalf of the Rev. Jean T. Samuelson-Bruhn by herself and lay
members of Calvary United Methodist Church in Lincoln where she once served
as pastor.

At issue in each complaint  were matters related to ministerial status
and/or clergy appointments.

All formal complaints against bishops go first to the president of the
college of bishops of which they are a member.  Nebraska is located in the
eight-state South Central Jurisdiction, one of five United Methodist
jurisdictions in the United States.  If complaints are against a bishop who
is serving as president of the college,  they are directed to the bishop who
is secretary.

Mutti said he had determined that resolution to the satisfaction of all
parties involved was not possible dealing with original complaints.  Thus,
he said he found no basis for forwarding any of the complaints to the next
step in the process.

"We have followed the directive in Paragraph 413 (of the Book of Discipline)
through this process, seeking for just resolution and/or reconciliation
among the parties involved," Mutti said. "While nearly all of the agreed
upon steps were achieved, and all options were fully explored; agreement is
not possible. We have carried the supervisory response as far as possible,
so I have brought it to a close."

Mutti said the process had involved hundreds of pages of documentation,
scores of phone calls and three visits to Nebraska. In addition, voluntary
mediation and consultation with the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy
were part of the process. After several months and Mutti's second visit to
Nebraska, he asked the Rev. C. Rex Bevins, pastor of Saint Paul United
Methodist Church in Lincoln, to serve as mediator in the process.

"I believed that Dr. Bevins' long-tenure in a leadership role in Nebraska
and his relationship with all parties involved would assist in the process,"
Mutti said. "He has considerable experience and
exceptional skill in the role of mediator. He worked diligently to bring the
parties to resolution. Recently, he notified me that resolution had not been
attained, and he was withdrawing from the mediator role."

Two persons from the Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy also assisted in
the process: the Rev. Rhymes Moncure, pastor of Missouri United Methodist
Church, Columbia, Mo., and Tal Oden, an attorney from Altus, Okla.

Mutti noted that the McQueens' issues were heard by the Judicial Council of
the United Methodist Church which  affirmed Bishop Martínez's rulings. In
Decision No. 830, dated April 25, 1998, the council wrote, "It is noted that
some of the material submitted to the council on behalf of the discontinued
probationary member was so discourteous and abusive that it bordered on
being in violation of Paragraph 6 (d) of the Judicial Council's Rules of
Practice and Procedure."

The council refused a subsequent request by the McQueens to have the matter
reconsidered.  

Kenneth McQueen filed a lawsuit in June of 1998 in federal court in
Nebraska, charging Martínez and conference leaders with breech of contract,
defamation of character and emotional distress. In his lawsuit, McQueen
named the annual conference, Martínez, three district superintendents, a
former district superintendent and members of the conference board of
ordained ministry. 

In November of 1998, U.S. District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, Lincoln, Neb.,
found that the court had no jurisdiction to review the church's decision
regarding McQueen's ordination request. The judge also did not find grounds
for the charges of defamation and emotional distress.

"It is clear that the plaintiff's claim challenges the internal church
discipline as well as internal church matters," Cheuvront wrote.

"The actions for breach of contract, by necessity, involve judicial inquiry
into the terms of the United Methodist Book of Discipline and the
interpretation thereof. This court has no jurisdiction to review actions
taken pursuant to that document."

Cheuvront wrote that the court also found that McQueen's petition did not
state a cause of action for defamation. The judge disagreed with McQueen's
contention that certain statements made by some of the defendants were
libelous. During the course of the supervisory process, McQueen asked for,
and was granted, a stay of the appeal time limit.

McQueen originally was ordained a deacon in South Dakota and transferred to
the Nebraska conference in 1993. He was appointed as a local pastor to the
Adams and Hopewell United Methodist churches.  

McQueen's application for ordination was rejected in 1997.  His subsequent
request for reconsideration in 1998 also was rejected by the Nebraska Annual
Conference.

Just as Mutti was declaring the process closed on the earlier complaints,
new complaints were filed June 11, 1999,  by the same  lay members of the
Calvary United Methodist Church against Mutti and  Martínez for  "failure to
perform the work of ministry," (Paragraph 2614-d) and "disobedience to the
Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church" (Paragraph 2624-e).

Since Martinez is now president of the College of Bishops, the complaints
have been forwarded to the secretary,  Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, of the
church's Arkansas Area.  Huie said she will pursue the disciplinary process
to investigate the matter.

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