wfn.org | United Methodists dismiss Ohio pastor

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

June 1, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-28-71B{260}

By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist pastor from Ohio has been dismissed from the ministry
because of his sexual orientation.

In a May 31 executive session, clergy members of the West Ohio Annual
(regional) Conference voted to discontinue 30-year-old Phil Hart from
probationary membership. He was a "deacon probationary member" and had not
yet achieved final status as an elder with full connection to the church.

Hart, who works for a social service agency in Franklin County, was ordained
in 1996 but told church officials later in 1998 that he is homosexual and
cannot promise to remain celibate. The United Methodist Book of Discipline
has defined the practice of homosexuality as being "incompatible with
Christian teaching" and states "self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not
to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in
the United Methodist Church."

The Rev. Tom Slack, editor of the West Ohio Conference newspaper, said the
vote to dismiss Hart was not unanimous but that no vote count had been
released. Four other probationary members also were discontinued. One had
died, two others had decided to join other denominations, and a fourth had
exceeded the time limit for the probationary period.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Hart is a lifelong United Methodist and graduate
of Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Currently finishing work on a
master's degree in communications, he served eight years as a pastor in
local churches and taught theology for two years at Circleville College.

Last November, Hart was one of six "witnesses" in a conversation on
homosexuality sponsored by the United Methodist Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns. During that discussion, he shared
experiences about both his childhood calling to the ministry and his growing
self-loathing about his attraction to men, even to the point of
contemplating suicide. At the age of 27, he said then, he finally decided to
accept himself as he was.

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NOTE FOR OPTIONAL INCLUSION: A videotape from the November conversation,
called "The Witnesses," is available from the commission at a cost of $10
plus shipping and handling. For more information, call Olga Diaz at (212)
749-3553 or send an e-mail to odiaz@gccuic-umc.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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