wfn.org | Church court hears oral arguments in four cases

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 29, 2001 News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202) 546-87227 Washington
10-21-28-71B{496}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #495.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - An unusually high number of oral hearings - four -
marked the autumn session of the United Methodist Church's highest judicial
body.

The docket for the Judicial Council's semi-annual meeting Oct. 24-26
included 12 items, a third of which received oral hearings at the request of
interested parties. The Oct. 25 hearings were in addition to written briefs
submitted in advance of the session.

The nine-member court gave considerable attention to issues related to
administrative process - a set of disciplinary procedures for dealing with
clergy terminations. The docket also included ongoing restructuring plans by
various annual (regional) conferences, in addition to three cases related to
the church's policies on homosexuality.

Two of the oral hearings related to cases that originated with the
California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference. Both required declaratory
decisions concerning administrative processes.
 
In both of those hearings, the Rev. Richard R. Bentley Jr. and the Rev.
Thomas H. Griffith represented the conference in oral arguments. The Rev.
Robert F. Kohler represented the United Methodist Board of Higher Education
and Ministry.

In one case, the council ruled that the doctrine of separation of powers and
the provision of fair process prohibit "the district superintendent named by
the bishop as a representative of the cabinet" from participating in the
deliberations and voting of a conference board of ordained ministry and its
committees on administrative process items. 

"In any such matter, the district superintendent shall not be present for
the deliberations and the vote, and shall not discuss with the board of
ordained ministry and its committees substantive issues in the absence of
the responding clergyperson," the decision said.

The second case from the California-Pacific Conference dealt with the nature
and duties of the administrative review committee. This committee's function
is to review the record of administrative processes to ensure that
procedures specified in the denomination's Book of Discipline have been
properly followed, the council said. The court added that the committee's
purpose is not to review the substance of decisions of the board and its
subgroups. 

If no hearing is held, the review committee must receive a complete written
record of the entire administrative process leading to the action for change
in conference relationship, the council said.  If a hearing is held, the
administrative fair process procedures prescribed in the Book of Discipline
must be followed.

The Pacific Northwest Annual Conference asked the council for a declaratory
decision on the possible conflict of two rules in the Book of Discipline.
One states that "a self-avowed practicing homosexual" may not be accepted as
a candidate for the ordained ministry, become a clergyperson or, if already
a pastor, be appointed to serve a congregation. The other rule guarantees
ministerial appointments to all clergy in good standing.

The council ruled that "fair and due process" must be observed in all
matters relating to a clergyperson's standing or membership in the
conference. The decision further specified that the bishop could not simply
deny a church appointment to a clergyperson who appears to have made an
avowal of homosexuality but must, if no other body has lodged a complaint,
initiate the administrative process. (See UMNS story #495.)

Four council members signed a supplementary opinion: the Rev. Larry Pickens,
Sally Curtis AsKew, Rodolfo C. Beltran and Sally Brown Geis. They agreed
with main points of the decision but stressed the role of the annual
conference. The conference decides whether a clergyperson's relation to the
conference - his or her standing - has been threatened by some action or
statement and, through due process, determines whether that relationship is
altered. 

Speaking on this issue were the Rev. Mark Williams, a practicing gay man
serving in Seattle; Susan Griffin, an attorney representing a lesbian pastor
who belongs to the Pacific Northwest Conference; and Jon Olson, a member of
the congregation that Williams serves.

The fourth oral hearing related to the revised Design for Ministry, a
restructure plan for the Holston Annual Conference. Jay Arthur Garrison,
Jean Henderson and the Rev. Gary W. Grogg represented Holston. The council
conditionally approved the revised plan, provided that the conference makes
three modifications. For example, the council requires that the
responsibility for leadership development of clergy be returned to the
conference board of ordained ministry.

Annual conference restructuring efforts figured in two other cases. The
council supported most of the decisions of law made by the bishop of the
West Virginia Annual Conference, when he was queried about the conference's
restructure plan during the annual June business meeting. The council
remanded the revision of the plan directing that the conference be more
specific in defining the roles, responsibilities and relationships of the
teams and other groups named in the plan. The conference was also told to
detail its staff configuration and to develop its supporting budget and
standing rules. 

The Northern Illinois Conference sought a limited reconsideration of an
earlier decision by the council regarding restructuring. The council ruled
that the lack of enabling legislation based on an amendment to the church's
constitution does not prohibit restructuring as long as other parts of the
Book of Discipline are complied with to provide mandated elements and
connections.

The council affirmed and commended a bishop's decision of law during the
2001 session of the South Carolina Annual Conference, regarding compensation
and other matters related to a clergyperson's placement on involuntary leave
of absence during a judicial process. The court automatically reviews all
decisions of law made by bishops during annual conference sessions.

In a case from the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, some of the
bishop's decisions of law were affirmed and some reversed. The council told
the conference to terminate immediately the leave of absence of a
clergywoman involved in this case or begin the process of involuntary leave.
Meanwhile, she is to be given back pay and benefits dating from July 1,
1999, until she receives another appointment or is declared ineligible for
appointment.

In a separate docket item related to the Pacific Northwest's June meeting,
the council agreed with Bishop Elias Galvan's decision that a request for a
ruling on the appropriateness of spending funds for a called session of the
Western Jurisdictional Conference was moot and hypothetical. 

The annual conference had approved a proposal asking for such a called
session to study ramifications of the "We Will Not Be Silent" declaration,
passed by the Western Jurisdiction in 2000. Only the jurisdiction's College
of Bishops may call a special session. The next regularly scheduled meeting
of the jurisdiction conference will take place in 2004.

The council affirmed a decision of law by Bishop William W. Dew, who ruled
that a resolution adopted by the Desert Southwest Annual Conference
supporting the "We Will Not Be Silent" declaration of the Western
Jurisdiction Conference does not violate the Book of Discipline.  

The council declared unconstitutional a requirement in the Book of
Discipline that the conference director of lay speaking ministries, along
with a young person between the ages of 12 and 17 and another between 18 and
30 from each district, be added to the lay membership of each annual
conference. Western North Carolina Conference had asked the council to rule
on the constitutionality of these requirements, which were enacted by the
2000 General Conference, the church's highest legislative body.

In a declaratory decision, the Judicial Council told the North Georgia
Annual Conference that its flexible benefits program was null and void. The
council instructed the conference to develop a funding plan for its health
insurance program that provides for health coverage and does not use
benefits of current clergy to pay unfunded retirees' Medicare supplemental
insurance. Council member AsKew, who is from North Georgia, recused herself
from the case. 
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United Methodist News Service
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